Germany is set for snap elections on February 23, following a split in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government. The ruling coalition of Social Democrats, liberal Free Democrats, and Greens met its end last Wednesday after a protracted budget row. Since this “traffic light” coalition took office three years ago, the combined effects of the war in Ukraine, soaring energy costs, and the administration’s own austerian mantras have fueled a cost-of-living crisis that has greatly weakened the ruling parties’ support.

Die Linke, for nearly two decades the country’s main left-wing party, might be expected to take advantage of the government’s failures and the loss of its “progressive” image. Yet Die Linke is itself in considerable difficulty, a year on from a split with one of its most prominent figures, Sahra Wagenknecht. Her new Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) vehicle, which combines social democratic economic stances with an anti-immigration line, today outpolls Die Linke, which risks failing to secure reelection to parliament.

Even before the split, Die Linke’s support had long been on the decline, including in its former eastern heartlands. It’s a problem of which Ines Schwerdtner is keenly aware. Formerly editor in chief of the German-language Jacobin, and an activist in the campaign to nationalize the properties of Berlin’s major landlords, she was elected as Die Linke’s cochair last month, alongside Jan van Aken. Schwerdtner calls for Die Linke to reengage with working-class people who have grown detached from the party.