Political organizations, particularly those committed to radical change, face their greatest tests in times of crisis. In 1914, German social democracy, the international socialist movement’s crown jewel, was brought to its knees by its inability to confront the outbreak of World War I.

Two decades later, German Communism’s ultra-leftism proved similarly impotent in the face of the growing Nazi threat, and Europe’s most powerful labor movement was decimated within a couple of years.

Drawing direct historical parallels between 2016 and 1914 or 1933 would be mistaken — but it is fair to say that Die Linke, the largest force on the German left, is now facing the biggest test in its ten-year history.