Sahra Wagenknecht is in no hurry: the prominent left-wing politician will only answer the hotly debated question of whether she will found her own party in the next few months. “I assume that the decisions will be made within the next nine months. It must be clear by the end of the year how things will continue,” the 53-year-old told the news portal ZDFheute.de. The left tip sharply criticized Wagenknecht’s statements.
In the interview, Wagenknecht gave the reasons for her cautious approach: “The expectation that one could – even if one had decided – just launch such a party from one week to the next, that would be doomed to failure.” Wagenknecht points to the necessary structures, legal considerations and the fact that she needs enough supporters. A new project can only work with a really reliable team that takes over many of the things for which she simply has no talent. “As a one-woman show, I can’t do that.”
Your 2018 project “Get up” failed
Wagenknecht is more of an intellectual lone warrior who likes to write books. According to her own statements, she finds it difficult to do the actual political work. “Controlling the apparatus” is foreign to her, she once said – for example leading party friends, maintaining networks, drumming for support in roundtables. “I can also imagine a perspective as a writer and publicist,” she says in the interview. “But I would also like to make a difference politically, I’ll say that honestly.” But before deciding on “such a project”, Wagenknecht wants to be sure that it can work. “I don’t want to end my political career with a flop.”
She still remembers the failed attempt to set up a cross-party leftist rally. The “Get Up” project, launched in 2018, did not ignite. “New parties always have the risk that not only smart and honestly committed people want to take part, but also difficult people.” With “Getting Up” she experienced that something like this could cause a project to fail.
The politician sees no future for herself in the Left Party itself. At the beginning of March, Wagenknecht made it clear that she no longer wanted to run for the party for the Bundestag. After the end of this legislative period in 2025, there should either be an end to politics “or something new will arise politically”. She has been at odds with her party for years, but they have also been at odds with her. The top of the left criticized Wagenknecht’s actions via Twitter on Saturday. In the face of war, the climate crisis, inflation and strikes, the party is more in demand than ever.
“Announcing that you want to decide on the formation of a competing party in the course of the next few months is irresponsible,” said Linke chairmen Janine Wissler and Martin Schirdewan after a tweet from the party press office. “It offends the thousands of members who work locally for Die Linke and its goals. We call on everyone to reject efforts to divide.”