Amid resounding recent victories for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), on September 20 Germany’s socialist party Die Linke bucked the trend with a spectacular victory in Berlin. It dominated the campaign with its program of ending cuts, capping rents, and socializing housing companies, leaving other parties to respond to the popular demand that Berliners had confirmed in a 2021 referendum. The monster victory for the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt further galvanized Berlin’s diverse urban working class to express opposition to the fascists.

Die Linke’s doubling of its vote in Berlin, winning 25.7 percent support, was no blip. The February 2025 federal election, when Die Linke enjoyed a comeback after years of stagnation, crisis, and splits, already saw a turn to the left in urban centers, among young people, women, migrants, and the Muslim community. At that point already, Die Linke won 20 percent of the vote, with striking gains in inner-city areas of Mitte, Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, and Neukölln. In the September 20 Berlin state election, it did even better.

This victory didn’t just come from the party’s media profile or even its policy agenda. Its result follows a groundswell of coordinated campaigning by local Die Linke branches, whose membership in the German capital has grown from 7,200 members in 2023 to over 19,000 this September. During this campaign, members and sympathizers were visible across the city, on stalls, rallies, and street events, and knocking on doors.