We were in an existential crisis. Not just because some members left, but because all we really did was argue, because we were only preoccupied with ourselves. People can sense that.

It wasn’t until the party congress last fall that there was a breakthrough. Some people left, but the majority stayed, and they realized that this was an existential crisis and finally started concentrating on a few key issues. The navel-gazing ceased and we left the infighting to the other parties.

I actually wanted to retire but was convinced not to. So, three of us old men — Bodo Ramelow, Dietmar Bartsch, and I — said to ourselves, let’s do our part, and started Mission: Silberlocke. We chose the name for three reasons: Firstly, for the historical “mission” of the proletariat. Secondly, it’s a Christian term, and we thought maybe we could win over some Catholic and Protestant voters. But the more interesting factor was that we figured it would spark the media’s interest, and it did — all of a sudden, we were in the news again.

What we didn’t know was how young people would react. Maybe they would say these three old geezers should pack it in? But the complete opposite is the case: the young people have been so enthusiastic. Everywhere we go, it’s packed. Of course, the next generation is also on board, like Heidi Reichinnek, our lead candidate, and Ines Schwerdtner, our party chair, along with their colleagues Sören Pellmann and Jan van Aken.

We’ve learned from the mistakes of the past, and now focus on six key issues: peace, social justice and a fair tax system, ecological sustainability, education, gender equality, and equality between eastern and western Germany. We neglected the latter in particular too much and ceded ground to the Alternative für Deutschland [AfD], which we are now in the process of correcting.

Well, first of all, it’s one thing to be in opposition to Angela Merkel, and another to the Social Democrats [SPD], Greens, and Free Democrats [FDP] — even though they made a lot of mistakes. But that’s just one problem.

A second problem is that the party has always contained everything from left-wing social democracy to the Communist Platform. Some want to overcome capitalism step-by-step through reforms, others want to do so through revolution and so on. That’s not all that problematic, but new issues came up, such as the impending climate catastrophe — we weren’t prepared enough for that, unlike the Greens. Or Russia invaded Ukraine — against the wishes of the Left — and it was unclear how we should relate to it, there were various positions within the party, etc. The examples go on and on.

But there was another mistake that I always criticized, namely that we focused primarily on the unemployed, refugees, and the homeless, and paid far too little attention to the interests of workers, but also the self-employed and small- and medium-sized businesses. In Germany, the middle class pays for everything, the government doesn’t dare touch those at the top. But if the middle goes bankrupt, then we won’t have anything left to help the bottom. Those at the top could no longer exist, either — they just don’t know it. This was a big problem, and it resulted in a lot of arguments and dissatisfaction.

That’s what has really changed since last fall, we are now clearly focused on six issues. There has also been a renewed focus on the East. The West is important, too, but equality between East and West is long overdue. That’s why I’m satisfied with developments at the moment. Of course, we also need to renew ourselves a bit programmatically, but we don’t have time for that during an election campaign.

Yes, of course, that’s what I meant by programmatic renewal. Leftists sometimes have difficulties with realities when they contradict their ideology, because they don’t want to change their ideology.

We need to analyze exactly what capitalism can and cannot do. It can produce an efficient economy. It can produce excellent science and research — it’s no coincidence that most Nobel Prizes in this area go to the United States. It can produce excellent art and culture — Bertolt Brecht is the product of capitalism, not state socialism. This means that capitalism also produces people who recognize and articulate contradictions, and if they are particularly ingenious, they become fantastic artists or writers. It can be reasonably liberal and democratically structured, but it doesn’t have to be — it can also be something completely different.

Now comes what it can’t do. It can’t secure peace as long as so much money is made from wars and access to raw materials — what we are seeing now in Congo is all about raw materials. The second thing it can’t do is create social justice. It will always concentrate wealth in a few hands and generate poverty. The third thing it has great difficulties with is ecological sustainability, and I’ll tell you why: if you close down a production process that is profitable, that is anti-capitalist. That’s why the parliament finds it so incredibly difficult. And ultimately, it can’t bring about emancipation, i.e., individual self-realization.

If you approach capitalism as I do, then you have to think about two things. Firstly, how do we preserve what capitalism can do? Secondly, how do we overcome what it cannot? We still have to work that out programmatically.

There are many differences between us and the Greens and the FDP but there is one that I would like to highlight here: I have seen the Greens get voted out of parliament, and then be hyped up by the media and voted back in. The same thing happened with the FDP. If we get voted out of parliament, no one will push to get us back in, and that would be terrible for our society, because we make left-wing arguments that no one else does. Without us, the debate is only between the center and the far right.

Well, when Bodo Ramelow became minister president of Thuringia, we made gains in the subsequent election. In the election after that, however, we lost dramatically. That wasn’t because of him, but because of the attitude of our party. There was always the difficulty that he had the Greens and the SPD as partners, and they always had to be convinced, otherwise he wouldn’t get anywhere. After that, it was a minority government. That was also difficult.

But what did Bodo achieve? What I like is that Thuringia is the first federal state where primary school teachers earn the same as secondary school teachers. That doesn’t exist anywhere else in Germany. It looks like a small thing, but in reality, it’s a question of gender equality, because the majority of primary school teachers are women. That’s just one small step, but I can name many other steps that they have taken, which the new minister president can’t abolish. That means that if we are part of the government, we can set certain standards that won’t be broken.

We also had a good cultural senator in Berlin with Klaus Lederer. For all the criticisms you can make of him, what is happening now, for example, is a big difference to the time with us. The city is now cutting back on art and culture, cutting back on schools, cutting back on health care. You can save in many areas, but never in education, not in art and culture, not in health care, and not in the supply of water, energy, basic foodstuffs, etc.

The second thing is that our people, including those in government, understand that when tax revenues fall, you have to invest more and not less, like almost everyone else does. If you invest more, more money will flow in. That’s the simple logic that we have tried to explain to the federal government since 1990, but it’s been pointless. They keep making the same mistake because they don’t understand that a government is not a household. If I personally have less money, I have to think about what costs I can cut in order to make ends meet. But not with the federal government and not with the federal states. If I have less income, I have to invest, even incur debt if necessary, to boost the economy and people’s incomes.

So, what do we have to do? We always have to take certain steps in governments. What we can’t do is take a step in the right direction and then take a step in the wrong direction in another area. That is not possible — all steps must go in the right direction. They can be smaller than what we had in mind, but they must be in the right direction.

It is impossible to achieve these things with the SPD. The SPD has been in government for many years and governed in most states. There, primary school students are separated after the fourth grade. In Berlin and Brandenburg, it’s after the sixth grade. This small difference already means that the percentage of working-class children who graduate from high school is higher in Berlin and Brandenburg than in the other federal states.

But that’s not enough for us. We say eighth grade at least, so that there is more equality of opportunity. This should not be overlooked or underestimated: if we have more equal opportunities in education, if more working-class children attain certain social positions, our ideas about how to overcome capitalism will have a better chance in society.

That’s why I always say it’s tricky. I also know local politicians who vote for revolution at the party congress and then go home to deal with park benches, but someone from the SPD once told me that they have this tendency, too. It’s because what they do at home isn’t enough for them. They need to experience something different at the party congress, then they can get back to worrying about the things happening in the community.

It’s all quite complicated, but I think if you take certain steps at the local and national level, you can achieve gradual changes in people’s thinking, feelings, and culture. It only really gets difficult if we are asked to join a federal government, but there’s no danger of that in this election.

First of all, we are opposed to all arms sales. Germany is the fifth-largest arms exporter in the world. Our weapons are always involved in every war, and usually on both sides, which is completely unacceptable.

The goal of Hamas and Hezbollah is the destruction of Israel — that is out of the question for us. But what Benjamin Netanyahu is doing and that the majority of the Knesset has decided to oppose a two-state solution is just as out of the question. Because if I say that the Jews have a right to a home, then the Palestinians also have a right to a home. For that, a Palestinian state has to be established, and Israel would have to remain within the 1967 borders, or they could agree on a joint exchange of territory.

Well, I would advise the leadership of my party to think about how to organize the new members so that they don’t leave us out of boredom or disappointment. The second thing I would say to young people is that when you join a party, it’s not just fun and games. In other words, you also have to realize that sometimes you’re in the minority, sometimes you don’t win — though sometimes you do.

You should also never forget culture and never forget your family. Both are very important. And you should never forget to enjoy life where you can. You can argue at party meetings, but if you go out for a beer together afterward, you can create a different atmosphere. You always have to think about the culture and the life of the party.

Lastly, I would tell the young people that I’m delighted that you’re coming, because so many young people in our party means that we have a future.