Bridging the Gap

It’s October 2023 in Thuringia, where Die Linke has led the state government since 2014. Anja Müller starts up the lawnmower. The state parliament member for Die Linke stands in the middle of a roundabout in the town of Bad Salzungen. The grass here is long, very long.

But that’s about to change: while campaigning from house to house, Müller and her comrades were repeatedly told that the vegetation had become dangerous for all road users. Drivers did not have a clear view of the roundabout traffic: “Something could happen there any day. Even to pedestrians, to children. We have already told the city government about it ... with no success so far ... Could you do something about it, Frau Müller?”

Yes, Frau Müller can — with the help of party volunteers, who went doorknocking with her, asking people: “Where are you hurting?”

They listened. Rent increases, garbage disposal, and rising utility bills. The overgrown roundabout grass was also mentioned time and time again.

Then Anja Müller wrote her neighbours a letter. She described the problems that had been recounted to her while doorknocking, and sketched out some possible solutions Die Linke was working on. She announced that she would mow the grass on the roundabout, and gave a date and time.

All of a sudden, there they were. Members of Die Linke, who wanted to support her in her work, and many local residents who had read Anja Müller’s letter. They needed to be convinced that the politician would keep her promise. They wanted to see whether and how their worries, their anxiety about serious traffic accidents, would come to an end. All thanks to an intervention that a woman from Die Linke was about to undertake: mowing the grass. No, they were not powerless, something was finally going to work out — and some of those present wanted to reward that immediately. Four of the onlookers, four participants on the roundabout in a newly developed part of in Bad Salzungen, joined Die Linke during the action.

Bitter Losses

Nevertheless, neither in the local elections on 26 May 2024, nor in the state elections on 1 September, did Die Linke attain the results they had hoped for in Bad Salzungen. In the local elections, Die Linke’s mayoral candidate won 9.7 percent of the vote, the Social Democrats (SPD) 10.8 percent, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) 32.3 percent and the Christian Democrats (CDU) 47.1 percent. In the state elections on 1 September, the AfD won 37.2 percent, and the CDU 23 percent. The SPD, the Greens, and the Free Democrats (FDP) were further pulverized and all slipped below the 5-percent mark, while the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) won 16 percent — 4 percent more than Die Linke which in Bad Salzungen, as in Thuringia overall, slipped to fourth place.

In terms of postal votes, Anja Müller received over 24 percent of votes cast, while her party Die Linke lost over 20 percentage points, attaining 12.5 percent. This was in spite of every effort, every opportunity for intervention and self-determination that Anja Müller and her party had put into practice in Bad Salzungen. Were they simply wrong? Did it really fail to inspire greater democratic participation?

The election campaign was marked by fear, suspicions, and raw emotions. The decisive issues were criminality, anxiety about the social security system, immigration, education and schools, the economy, Russia’s war in Ukraine, climate change, and — not least — fear of a domestic collapse.

A thousand worries every day, each of them caused by a polycrisis and an undefined fear of what may be yet to come. At polling booths, this fear was transposed into rage “at the elites”: “Ha! I’ll show them ... stuffing their pockets full ... they make sure that these foreigners get everything while I get diddly squat!”

Fear leads to rage.

Facts no longer reach such people, they are in a state of emergency, overcome with cognitive dissonance. At Die Linke’s infostand in Greiz, a retiree loudly complained about their retirement pension. “Too low, way too low! It’s hardly enough to get by, let alone to get the occasional gift for my grandchild. And for this I toiled away for almost 50 years...”

He angrily announced his intention to now vote for the AfD. Informed that the AfD has not made any efforts to increase retirement pensions while in parliament, but much to the contrary, he retorted: “I don’t care. I’ll teach all those elites a lesson!” He said that, spat on the ground, and then stomped off across Pushkin Square, grumbling as he went.

In Thuringia, “those elites” whom the retiree wanted to teach a lesson to also included Die Linke, a party of government. Our party was so elite that the state’s minister president was even a member. He is a kind of elder statesman: Bodo Ramelow has long been popular in Thuringia and his approval rating stands at 51 percent. Björn Höcke (the AfD candidate) won only 24 percent, the SPD candidate Georg Maier 23 percent, Mario Voigt from the CDU 22 percent, Katja Wolf of the BSW 17 percent. This makes it clear that we did not manage to capitalize on the high level of approval and support people have for Die Linke’s minister president, and to use that to the party’s benefit.

In his recent book on the differences between eastern and western Germany, Steffen Mau determines that “in eastern Germany, there are historical reasons for there being only a very tenuous link between governor and governed, which has seen increasingly large groups of people develop of an attitude of scepticism, or even refusal, toward the state”. He continues: “the effects of [growing up in East Germany], the course taken during Reunification, and the burdens of the years of transformation are too strong.”

Or, as we heard from a doorstep in Köppelsdorfer Straße in the Thuringian county town of Sonneberg, prior to the election of the first AfD district administrator: “The last time I was so scared was during Reunification. Back then I also didn’t know what would happen, and whether we would even pull through.”

The “Real Interests of Real People”

The fact that Thuringia became a stronghold for Die Linke in the first place was also due to the decisive influence of Dieter Strützel. Strützel, the former deputy leader of the Thuringian branch of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and pioneering thinker of a grassroots party, recognized back in the 1990s that it was a matter of “creating possibilities for intervention, action, and self-determination. Only then will democrats thrive again.” Throughout his entire life, starting as a sociologist in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), he sought to grasp the complexity and contradictions of the social existence of his fellow human beings, by posing the question of people’s actual needs, of the “real interests of real people”.

This task was taken up by Strützel’s PDS, and later Die Linke. UUuntil 1 September 2024, the party had increased its vote share in every state election in Thuringia. To be sure, the PDS embodied a certain trust, it was a piece of GDR history. Yet its everyday use-value was the fact that, with its many members, it was directly and palpably present in people’s lives, and that it actively intervened. It put forward solutions in people’s interests. Its members practically and willingly got involved to achieve that end, and in doing so demonstrated what action was possible. To do this, the party worked together with the population, with its neighbours, who thereby emancipated themselves and gained confidence in their own powers.

The town of Bischofferode is an example of this. The potash plant in Eichsfeld district was a major employer for the region — 1,000 miners worked there. In 1993, they learned that their pit had been taken over by the West German company Kali und Salz AG, and would be shut down. The miners went on hunger strike. An Erfurt-based secretary for the commerce and finance union, HVB, Bodo Ramelow, helped them, although it was not his union’s jurisdiction. The union that was actually responsible, IG Bergbau und Energie, was only concerned with the interests of West German miners, and was in favour of closing the pit in Bischofferode.

Not if Bodo Ramelow could help it. This was not his understanding of how unions should work. He enjoyed the solidarity of various organizations, and of the PDS. The social plan that the arbitrator negotiated with Ramelow and the miners entailed three more years of employment and a severance package. “For us it was a defeat, but it was also the most expensive victory that the Treuhand [the state agency charged with privatizing state-owned enterprises] had ever experienced”, Ramelow later said. “These memories are a part of my life, it is the foundation of my life today. That’s where I place my trust: in the power of the people.” Trust. People can sense it. From it springs hope, the belief that “we can do it”.

This power, the power of the people, was also the impetus behind the two years of free kindergarten passed into law in 2014 by Thuringia’s minister president Ramelow as part of the red-red-green (Die Linke, SPD, and Greens) coalition. A parents’ initiative was established to fight for better family policy in Thuringia. It aimed to revoke the financial cuts to family support, and to codify the right to a kindergarten spot from the first birthday. The CDU rejected both proposals: the parents’ initiative’s successful petition for a referendum was challenged in the constitutional court.

Die Linke and the SPD attempted to help the parents out via parliament. “We were always the parliamentary arm of the parents’ initiative”, emphasized Dieter Hausold, then leader of Die Linke’s Thuringia branch, and opposition leader in the Thuringian state parliament. Members of his party volunteered to collect signatures. They talked with constituents, asked for signatures, and campaigned for a politics that served the interests of families in Thuringia. They also campaigned for their party, knowing that people’s decisions on who to vote for are also made outside of election campaigns.

“The Left gets results — even when in opposition!” Every now and then, state governments take up suggestions from Die Linke’s parliamentary opposition, suggestions formed through members listening to the voices of people in the state and then applying pressure. Solutions are developed, use-value created. “We do what’s right”, Die Linke declared in Thuringia — also when in government.

The electoral result has made clear that in order to succeed, Die Linke needs every member.

In the 2019 election campaign, the party supported apprentices in the district of Greiz. It made no sense to them that the apprentice public transport ticket brought in by the Ramelow government —an affordable option, which was otherwise available state-wide — should not be valid in their district of Greiz. “Apprentice ticket now!” the young people demanded, safe in the knowledge that Die Linke was on their side in their conflict with the CDU district administrator of Greiz.

Die Linke was there when the first signs of the privatization of the municipal housing agency in Erfurt, KOWO, appeared. It teamed up with tenants to share the message “KOWO stays!”, filing motions and gathering almost 9,000 signatures in collaboration with a citizens’ initiative. Today, KOWO remains publicly owned.

In Bad Langensalza the struggle was over the payment of wages in line with a collective bargaining agreement for the staff of a clinic in the spa town — and with the help of the local Die Linke branch, the demands of the workers and their union were met. With tabling and doorknocking, they called for the people in Bad Langensalza to show solidarity with the clinic’s staff. And this in the middle of an election campaign. We do what’s right.

Clearly, the Covid pandemic severed many threads. Not just people, but contact, interaction, and political debate were also quarantined. People’s worries increased. “It’s good to see you here again”, people told us on their doorsteps during the 2024 election campaign in Gera-Bieblach-Ost, “it’s been a while!”

Since the pandemic, did we, Die Linke in Thuringia, not engaged with people, our neighbours and colleagues, as much as we need to? Did we stop intervening in the struggles around us and working toward solutions? Have our efforts to counter people’s fears been inadequate? Have not enough Die Linke parliamentary members from Thuringia, their colleagues and comrades, taken practical measures on the ground to stand up to conspiracy theorists, cranks, and the far right?

Have we become, over the years and particularly thanks to the pandemic, a party that increasingly only really exists during the sessions of the state parliament, in district and city councils, or in special committees? Die Linke — also part of “the elites”? Just like all the other parties?

“Build strong structures for a strong Left”, the Thuringian branch of Die Linke declared at a party meeting in Sömmerda in April 2023, and went on to state in a motion of the same name, that we “collectively face the challenge of providing functioning party structures at all levels in the sense of a socialist party actively shaped by its membership ... Also, the resources of the state branch of the party should be combined to the best possible effect in the staffed state offices and in the local branches … to effectively link volunteers and party professionals.” Educational work in the party needed to be better organized and designed. The motion passed (almost) unanimously.

A Politics of Proximity

Eighteen months later, after the Thuringian state election defeat, the victories in four direct mandate seats showed that success is still possible even in the most difficult conditions. In Erfurt, Bodo Ramelow improved his direct mandate vote result, the state secretary Ulrike Grosse-Röthig, whose support for the people was both visible and palpable, won a direct mandate seat. Jens Thomas and Lena Saniye Güngör are well-established local politicians in Jena: they won direct mandate seats. In an ongoing dialogue with voters, creating use-values together, voters rewarded them.

For Die Linke, there is also a very practical lesson to be learned from this: Get out of your offices! Let’s organize discussions again! Every district electoral office should attempt to knock on, let’s say, 60 doors a week in an area in which we were successful. We ask: “Where are you hurting?” and create solutions, including with our district electoral office staff, who provide social consulting and help with filling out housing assistance applications. All this in the office. Come by, we will find a solution for you, neighbour. Against fear, against the far right.

Fear leads to rage. The AfD is cultivating such rage and encouraging people to “punch down”. Cultivating rage is not an option for the Left. Die Linke does not punch down. If it is to win over a majority, and to overcome political polarization in order to develop a society in which the freedom of the individual is the condition for the freedom of all, Die Linke requires people’s trust. This trust is also earned through proximity to the people. It allows hope to develop. For now, the big left-wing visions, condensed into slogans on banners, hastily written down in press releases, don’t help much here. “Humanity, of course, peace, and socialism — whatever you say. But such lofty ideas won’t pay the rent tomorrow, will they?”

A one-off surge of efforts won’t help, knocking on umpteen thousand doors in a short space of time won’t help. What is required is that we listen, dive in, get our hands dirty.

The electoral result has made clear that in order to succeed, Die Linke needs every member. We need everyone’s knowledge, intelligence, and reasoning in order to live in close proximity to our neighbours and colleagues and to come up with solutions to everyday issues. Die Linke’s ups and downs over the years, including in Thuringia, make clear that we members also need to meet in person, discuss, work together, and enjoy our successes.

That can’t happen without our party leadership: please take a look at what’s going on, get an impression of how things are on the ground and help us to improve our working practices! Of course you have a lot to do. A committee here, a parliamentary session or party leadership meeting there. But again, please show up, and not just for a photo op but to really help out — you will definitely reap the rewards. If you get involved, outside of parliament — and not just at demonstrations! — and if you work in small groups to better people’s lives, to work toward solutions, then they will generally support Die Linke and you personally. Such proximity is how trust in left-wing politics is (re-)built. Now and then you observe elections in distant states. That is all well and good. But also come and help out here where we are, in your grassroots and local organizations. That is how we can build hope for a better future.

13.1 percent. A loss of over 17 percent. Defeat. Pain. Grief. We lost despite Anja and all the work done in Bad Salzungen, despite Bodo in Erfurt, despite Ulrike in Weimar, despite Lena and Jens in Jena. Despite the 20,000 doors we knocked on. Despite the help we got from party branches in other states. The good examples of “being with the people” were not enough. It was not enough to diffuse the rage. They failed to define the overall image of Die Linke, were not able to shape the political narrative. The party did not manage to be a kind of “collective Bodo” on the ground, to win people’s trust also through the volunteer work of party members, and through such proximity to cultivate hope among voters.

For that, a one-off surge of efforts won’t help, knocking on umpteen thousand doors in a short space of time won’t help. What is required is that we listen, dive in, get our hands dirty. Solve problems. Deal with things. In the long-term. Throughout the entire legislative period. That is how trust in left-wing politics develops. That’s what left-wing politics is. It doesn’t only happen in parliament and on committees. It is shaped by everyone, by the members of Die Linke. We change the world. That is our aim. A little bit every day. From the ground up. In spite of everything.

“But as with most defeats, it conceals within it a major victory: the opportunity to bridge the gap between our theoretically and scientifically attained ... ideas and the everyday life of the people whose interests we claim to represent ... that our politics will become more human. And there is great power in such a perspective, that all is not lost so long as we are still here and that renewal can always be ignited out of each and every spark of life.”

These words were uttered by Dieter Strützel shortly before his death in 1999. We need to take them to heart. The sparks of life, sometimes they are right next to us, on the next doorstep. And these sparks of life are often more important for the renewal of our party than every conference, however good it may be, at which we discuss among ourselves the situation, problems, and prospects of our party, getting caught up in self-referential conversations. Let’s get to work.

This article first appeared in LuXemburg. Translated by Marty Hiatt and Rowan Coupland for Gegensatz Translated Collective.