[ad_1]
Usually Susanne Hennig-Wellsow looks quite calm in her public appearances. But when the Thuringian left coach appeared before the press in Erfurt on Friday night, everything was a little different. “Take care of me, I’m a little excited,” says Hennig-Wellsow in a slightly shaky voice, also explaining why: “I want to and will run for the presidency of Die Linke.”
This makes Hennig-Wellsow the second teammate to go on the offensive with the left. Almost exactly six hours earlier, the leader of the Hessian parliamentary group, Janine Wissler, had advanced. At 11:56 a.m., she announced that she was ready to appear at the party’s congress in the fall via Twitter. She had come to the conclusion that “I want to do that,” Wissler wrote.
The fight for the successor to Katja Kipping and Bernd Riexinger officially opened at that time.
The two party leaders announced last week that they would not run again. After eight years at the head of the left, it should now be over. With Hennig-Wellsow and Wissler, exactly those two women who are also considered the favorites of the previous headlines now dare to move on.
Indeed, the women of Hesse and Thuringia could embody exactly the new beginning that comrades desperately await. Wissler is 39, Hennig-Wellsow 42, two young women who will lead the left in next year’s federal elections. Many leftists would like that.
Above all, however, the two are among the most prominent politicians in their party who, despite their age, already have a lot of experience. Wissler has been the leader of the parliamentary group in the Hessian state parliament for eleven years. As the leader in a West German state, he brought his rather radical regional association to parliament several times in a row. A remarkable achievement for the western left.
Wissler can speak well, she is not afraid of the media and even people who are not politically close to her within the party say that she is intelligent, always well prepared and that she reaches the grassroots. Her political talent and skills are as indisputable as they can be in a party where outright dislike is still widespread.
A bouquet of Erfurt flowers
Hennig-Wellsow also considers himself assertive. He made headlines across the country in February when he threw a bouquet of flowers at the feet of FDP politician Thomas Kemmerich, who was elected by AfD votes for prime minister of Thuringia in the short term. Behind Bodo Ramelow, who returned to be head of government, is one of the most important figures in the Thuringian coalition.
She is known for her confident appearances. Also this Friday, despite all the tension, she tries to make clear statements: “I am really willing,” she says about her request. In Er Nashville dau is confident that she can lead the party into a governmental alliance with the SPD and the Greens in Berlin. Hennig-Wellsow herself stresses that she is not talking about “absolutely having to govern.” But she also reminds us that she knows “how the government works.” The goal is to remove the CDU from governmental responsibility in the federal government.
Hennig-Wellsow in the Thuringian state parliament after throwing a bouquet of flowers at the feet of newly elected Prime Minister Thomas Kemmerich.
Photo: Martin Schutt / DPA
However, both candidacies also carry risks. The left wants to defend its prime minister Ramelow in the spring vote in Thuringia. Aside from the federal elections, this is by far the most important decision for comrades in the coming year. Personnel changes in the regional association would come at an inopportune moment, even if Hennig-Wellsow, as party leader, should not immediately turn his back on Erfurt. He does not want to commit himself for the moment, nor does he rule out a candidacy for the Bundestag.
If, on the other hand, Hennig-Wellsow fails at the party’s federal conference, it will weaken before the next state election. A danger that now accepts.
Controversial Trotskyist troop
Janine Wissler, as party leader, could also become a problem for the left. This is mainly due to its proximity to “Marx21”. This organization still appears in the constitutional protection report, which considers it an extremist. Within the left, critics speak of a political sect.
“Marx21” grew out of “Linksruck”, a small group that was part of an international Trotskyist movement based in London and trying to gain a foothold on the left and sometimes the SPD. One thing is clear: information on Marx21 is usually quite scarce. The group is criticized mainly because it distances itself from parliamentarism. On the other hand, some members, including Wissler, have been working in parties and parliaments for years.
But is that proof enough that everything is okay? Doubts remain. Attacks by political opponents are predictable.
In view of the general election, the question arises whether the two women could form a credible team at the top of the party. While Hennig-Wellsow, as a pragmatist, advocates a clear course in the government of the left, Wissler belongs to the left wing, which sees the party more as an opposition force and a parliamentary arm of movements.
Wissler 2019 on left-wing political Ash Wednesday in Passau
Photo: Lino Mirgeler / dpa
The differences became particularly striking in March at the party’s strategy conference in Kassel. Hennig-Wellsow promoted the creative power of the left there on the podium. Soon after, Wissler informed the audience, with a pointed comment: “No higher being, no god, no emperor, no left minister will save us.”
The left must be a “fighting party”, demanded Hessin. Y: The party “will never accept military operations.” If you take them at their word, that would be a decisive criterion for all red-red-green governments. On the other hand, when dozens of comrades recently insisted on top foreign policy demands such as the exit from NATO and the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr on one piece of paper, Wissler’s signature was missing.
From Wissler, some pragmatists who want to accept them can be heard saying that a coalition will not fail. But can you also prepare the party for this?
At least it does not seem to have been decided that in the end there will be a double leadership of the two women. Hennig-Wellsow announces it openly. She is happy with Wissler’s candidacy, she is available for a duet with Hessin, she says. But Wissler is also said to be in closer contact with Parliamentary Managing Director Jan Korte, a proven reformer.
Regardless of this, other potential candidates are negotiated that could revolutionize the candidate field. For example, the vice president of the party Ali Al-Dailami, who is assigned to the field around the former leader of the parliamentary group Sahra Wagenknecht.
It appears that a consensus solution is still a long way off. In the powerful regional associations to the east, where the pragmatists have their strongholds, some of Hennig-Wellsow’s advances seem taken by surprise. In any case, Hennig-Wellsow is not a jointly coordinated staffing proposal, which was sought in several rounds on Thursday and Friday. At least not yet.
