Sahra Wagenknecht’s Party Is a Bad Example for the Left
In Germany, the new Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance has scored well in its first electoral tests. Its burial of class politics and imitation of right-wing positions on migration show why its rise isn’t good news for the Left.
Sahra Wagenknecht speaking on stage during a BSW Saxony campaign event for the state elections on August 28, 2024, Dresden, Germany. (Robert Michael / picture alliance via Getty Images)
The good scores for the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) in the recent German regional elections have attracted left-wing attention internationally. Headed by the former Die Linke spokeswoman of the same name, the BSW took over 10 percent support in the states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Brandenburg, and may now even enter government in these three eastern regions.
But if this new self-defined “left-conservative” party is achieving relative electoral success — outcompeting its former Die Linke comrades — is it a good example for left-wing parties elsewhere? In a word, no. BSW copies both the political framework and the key policy proposals of the far right and the Right, especially on migration but also in areas such as economy, climate, and freedom of speech.
Electoral Growth, but Not Stopping the Far Right
There is no doubting the electoral advance itself. June’s European elections saw the BSW running for the first time, scoring 6.2 percent — better than both Die Linke and the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP), the smallest party in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s national government.
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