To understand what makes the Left tick in Munich in 2024, it’s worth looking at a four-year-old photo. A month before the upcoming local elections, the party campaigned for a tram offensive. In order to convey the transport policy issue in a less dry manner, the members had crafted small tram cars to hang over. This meant that the more prominent left-wingers formed a train: Brigitte Wolf, incumbent city councilor, went along, followed by Nicole Gohlke, district chairwoman. At the front, however, there was a man driving the procession, someone who even die-hard political observers couldn’t place at the time: Stefan Jagel, a trained nurse and union secretary.
Since this Saturday, the unknown tram driver from back then has finally taken over the helm of the Munich Left. At a party conference in the Kolpinghaus just behind the Stachus, the members elected him co-district chairman with 90 percent. Jagel will now also direct the party’s fortunes in Munich with Marina Dietweger, who has been confirmed in office. He had already taken over the parliamentary group chairmanship in the city council after he moved in in 2020. “In view of the growing gap between rich and poor and the populists playing on people’s fears, it is time to counter with social ideas. Instead of investing billions in armaments, the welfare state must be strengthened and wealth distributed more fairly,” shared Follow along on Instagram after his election. In Munich he wants to fight above all for affordable housing.
However, Jagel, who was born in Traunstein im Chiemgau in 1984, did not have to challenge anyone for his rise to the top of the Munich Left. The previous second co-chair, Bundestag member Nicole Gohkle, is handing over the office by consensus. “I’ve done it long enough now, almost seven years. I would like to do something different on my own initiative,” she said before the party conference.
In these seven years she has experienced more than enough for a district leader: the heyday of the left, just as noticeable in Munich, if not as strong, as in other parts of the republic. With the referendum against the nursing shortage and campaigns for cheap rents and against the new police duties law, the Left was able to reach a disproportionate number of people. “We couldn’t maintain the high phase,” said Gohlke self-critically.
The dispute over Sahra Wagenknecht cost a lot of energy
From her point of view and also from the point of view of the new chairman Jagel, the reason for this has a name: Sahra Wagenknecht. The years-long internal power struggle, which ended with the split last fall, had “worn down” the party, said Gohlke. Our own members and also the voters were seriously unsettled. Around 150 people left the left during that time, including many young activists. The party still has around 700 members in Munich, and since the Wagenknecht wing split off, the trend has been increasing again. “The separation and the clarity now have been good,” says Gohlke.
There is no noticeable competition from the new Sahra Wagenknecht alliance in Munich so far. It’s not really visible to the public in the city. A request to the federal headquarters for a party structure or contact person remained unanswered for days. The previous district chairwoman Gohlke does not see any division in the city either. “We got off comparatively well in Munich, with good local politicians on the city council and the district committees. The structure is right.”
The Left’s election results in Munich have been consistently below five percent for years, after some bitter losses. In the 2020 city council election she received 3.3 percent of the votes, and in the 2021 federal election she received 4.1 percent of the second votes. Things fell even further in the state election with two percent of the total vote. Now it is up to chairmen Dietweger and Jagel to build new momentum again.
If anyone can succeed in Munich, it would probably be Jagel. To the surprise of at least most people outside of the Left, in the summer of 2020 it was not the established city councilor Brigitte Wolf, who was recognized beyond party boundaries, who took over the leadership of the parliamentary group that was formed with Marie Burneleit from “The Party”, but rather the newcomer. In a very short space of time, he established a network of contacts, familiarized himself with issues and strategically cleverly triggered more political movement than one could expect from such a small group.
His connection to the unions is good
Jagel said before his election as district chairman that he had wanted to establish the Left as “a caretaker party” over the past four years as parliamentary group leader. The priorities are clearly set: the fight against the social shift to the right, rents, health. When it comes to these issues, he can also count on the trade unions, to which he has extensive access due to his job. He is heavily involved in heating costs with district heating, additional costs for city apartments, health care in the city districts and the renovation of city clinics, both in front of and behind the scenes.
He always has an eye on the redistribution of wealth from top to bottom, but has no fear of contact with other parties, depending on whether it benefits his goals. After city council meetings, you can see him standing in front of the town hall with CSU local representative Kristina Frank, deep in conversation. Her focus is on purchasing buildings whose tenants are threatened by gentrification. You can meet him in front of the meeting room, discussing and laughing with health officer Beatrix Zurek. The contacts with the Greens’ left wing appear almost friendly.
The Left wants to keep city politics busy with its issues until the local elections. Jagel recently explained his type of politics as follows: Based on social educators who don’t wait in the office for their clients, but go out and visit them at home, he wants to implement “an outreach local policy.” Many parties practice this during election campaigns, calling it door-to-door campaigning or door-to-door campaigning, but this is unlikely to happen during the legislative period.
Jagel and his colleagues were recently out and about, simply rang the bell and asked about skyrocketing additional payments for additional costs, and they say they received a great response. Another pinprick for the Social Democrats and Greens, whose disappointed voters Jagel wants to rally over the next two years until the local elections.