Wagenknecht and Díaz disrupt left-wing politics in Germany, Spain

Sahra Wagenknecht in Germany and Yolanda Díaz in Spain have all but annihilated their country’s established left-wing parties, taking over their political space with brand new alliances – but how did they get there?

Spanish left-wing party Podemos certified its divorce from left-wing macro-coalition Sumar – led by chief Yolanda Díaz – as they left the parliamentary group on Tuesday evening following a never-ending series of spats since Díaz defected to form the new leftist movement.

In parallel, the parliamentary group of Germany’s biggest leftist party, Die Linke, officially disbanded on Wednesday over the departure of influential MP Sahra Wagenknecht, who had left the party together with nine other MPs to set up an alternative movement, Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW).

It appears for the moment that Wagenknecht’s and Díaz’s defection have all but marginalised their country’s traditional leftist parties, upending the political landscape in Germany and Spain.

In Germany, the split is not only a blow to Die Linke’s political status within the parliament but also puts the presence of the old left in the Bundestag at risk altogether. Currently polling at 3%, the party would fail to meet the 5% electoral threshold to win seats in parliament at the next election, while BSW is swelling at 7.8%.

In Spain, Díaz’s Sumar pushed once-powerful Podemos out of government while also snapping up progressive voters to reach 8%, as opposed to Podemos at an all-time low of 2%, according to recent polls for the EU election in June. While Sumar keeps its group status, Podemos MPs have had to join the mixed group.

The parallel trends in both countries have not escaped the protagonists’ attention, heralding broader turmoil within the European left.

“I see similarities in the conflicts over the right course that left-wing parties should take, which have probably also contributed to the formation of new parties in Spain,” Wagenknecht told Euractiv concerning Díaz’s Sumar platform.

But how did Wagenknecht and Díaz topple established left-wing parties?

Starting from within

On the verge of the breakdown of the communist system, Wagenknecht joined the communist-oriented SED, Die Linke’s predecessor, “out of defiance”. As a leading figure of the orthodox communist branch, Wagenknecht was quickly promoted to the party’s leadership board in 1990 as it morphed into the PDS. However, influential colleagues forced her out for being too radical.

Wagenknecht retained her influence, though, and returned to the board in 2000. As her party, PDS, merged with other forces and rebranded to Die Linke, Wagenknecht attained increasingly visible offices, first as an MEP and then as an MP.

In Spain, Yolanda Díaz, a member of the Spanish Communist Party and labour lawyer by profession, joined Podemos in 2019 after starting her political career in Izquierda Unida – a left-wing party bringing together several smaller, such as the Spanish Communist Party.

From 2007 to 2017, she held several political positions at the local, regional, and national levels with Izquierda Unida, and after joining Podemos in 2019, socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez made her minister of labour in 2020, in the wake of a brand new coalition government between PSOE and Podemos.

Taking the spotlight

Wagenknecht led Die Linke into two general elections, 2013 and 2017, and intermittently served as opposition leader. Controversial yet rhetorically brilliant public appearances quickly raised her profile.

She emerged as a socially conservative left-wing figure after the 2015 refugee crisis, speaking up against then-chancellor Angela Merkel’s liberal-leaning policies. Her role as a migration policy rebel kicked off years of public altercations with various Die Linke leaders who considered her positions too right-wing.

It was then that Wagenknecht first got involved with an alternative leftist civil movement (‘Aufstehen’), together with disenchanted left-wing MPs, while staying a member of Die Linke. The group quickly collapsed over dubious experiments with AI and bitter infighting.

For the first time, Wagenknecht encountered the limits of what she could achieve with her public charisma. Suffering from burnout, Wagenknecht withdrew from Die Linke’s parliamentary group leadership.

Díaz’s tenure as minister for labour since 2020 raised her public profile as she led the negotiations to increase the minimum wage and prevented massive layoffs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The former leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, announced in May 2021 that he would be stepping out of politics and leaving his vice-president post in the government while nominating Yolanda Díaz his political heir- a decision he told the press without consulting Díaz.

Díaz, who never fully aligned with Podemos, did not want to take over the leadership, leading to internal spats with the party’s secretary-general Ione Belarra and Irene Montero, former minister of equality.

But, while Podemos was not doing well in polls, Díaz’s popularity kept increasing – partly due to her flagship 2022 labour reform, which boosted indefinite contracts and curtailed precarious, temporary jobs.

Seizing the right moment

For Wagenknecht, the right moment arrived in early 2023. Amidst an earlier wave of dissatisfaction with the government and the rising cost of living in the wake of Russia’s war, Wagenknecht made headlines by staging a ‘Demonstration for Peace’ with thousands of attendants in Berlin.

While Die Linke’s leadership and media attacked her for drawing pro-Russian and right-wing crowds, Wagenknecht saw a gap in the market.

However, even though the governing coalition was plummeting in polls, Die Linke, long an opposition heavyweight, was polling at merely 4%.

“[Die Linke] is no longer seen as an effective opposition”, Wagenknecht told Euractiv, having previously claimed that the party had become too much like the Greens, supposedly focusing on climate change and gender issues instead of economic justice, while the far-right AfD hoovered up the protest vote instead.

Following months of rumours, she finally announced her withdrawal from the party and the creation of a rival left-wing party called ‘Alliance Sahra Wagenknecht’ (BSW) in October, due to be launched as a party next year.

“With the new party, we will put [social justice, better wages, migration, and peace] on the agenda and fill a gap in the party system,” she told Euractiv – shorthand for a socially conservative, Eurosceptic agenda.

Díaz’s moment came in July 2022 when, after months of preparation, she launched Sumar, a platform aimed at transcending political parties to bring together all leftist forces in Spain, apart from the socialists (PSOE).

After uncertainty about Díaz’s future at the helm of Podemos, she announced in April 2023 that she would run for the Spanish national elections as head of the list with Sumar, insisting Podemos should join the coalition instead.

What should have been a slow, comprehensive coalition-building process from April to September 2023, when national elections were scheduled, was hampered by the regional elections in May, which saw a landslide victory for centre-right PP and far-right Vox, as Sánchez called snap elections for July.

Instead of six months, Díaz had to finalise the agreements with all left-wing forces and design the structure of Sumar within two months.

Podemos was the last party to find an agreement with Díaz, registering the coalition four hours before the deadline. The main concerns for Podemos remained the allocation of seats and political power within the coalition – as Podemos’ leaders wanted to prevent losing relevance and visibility.

These concerns remained, with constant bickering between Podemos’ leadership and Díaz over the party’s participation in the coalition and top job allocation, ultimately leading to Podemos’ departure from Sumar.

After the national election, during government negotiations, Díaz vetoed Podemos’ Irene Montero from keeping the Ministry of Equality, ultimately kicking Podemos out of Sánchez’s new cabinet, with no ministries.

“The decision has to do with the fact that we cannot do politics in the Sumar parliamentary group: Podemos has not been allowed to do politics in the form of interventions or propositions,” insisted Podemos MP Javier Sánchez on Tuesday.

(Nick Alipour and Max Griera | Euractiv.com and Euractiv.de)