BSW politician on her party's course: "Where Wagenknecht is written on the outside, Wagenknecht must be inside"

In the federal election , the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) narrowly failed to clear the five percent hurdle. How can things go better in next year's state elections? Voters must be able to rely on the party to stand for what they associate with Sahra Wagenknecht's policies, write BSW politicians Alexander King (Berlin), John Lucas Dittrich (Saxony-Anhalt), and Stefan Roth (Brandenburg).

Do voters in Germany have the will and the courage to break new ground, to leave behind the old ways and the old parties? Anyone looking at the newly elected Bundestag might doubt this: Germany and the world around us are changing rapidly – ​​war, increased armaments, economic downturn, democratic crisis, social cuts, growing poverty. And in the Bundestag, everything remains the same. The same parties as before are dividing the seats among themselves. The umpteenth iteration of the black-red coalition is imminent.

But if you look more closely, you'll see: A new party running for the first time achieved just under five percent straight away: the BSW. That's two and a half million voters. And the AfD, which entered the Bundestag for the first time eight years ago, achieved more than 20 percent. By German standards, that's an earthquake. A quarter of voters were prepared to vote for parties that the political and media establishment had actually portrayed as unelectable. This is even clearer in eastern Germany: in the state parliaments of Thuringia , Brandenburg, and Saxony, the BSW and the AfD together each hold roughly half the seats. Voters are therefore definitely looking for alternatives to the current political situation.

The BSW must particularly clearly question the status quo, take up and articulate the protest against the prevailing policies, especially where the desire for change is strongest, namely in the eastern German states.

“Peace is at the heart of our policy”

The fundamental analysis at the time of the founding of the BSW was that there is a representation gap in the German party system. The BSW has begun to fill this gap, as impressively demonstrated by double-digit results in the East and six and five percent of the vote in the EU and federal elections just a few months after the party's founding. A decisive factor in this was that Sahra Wagenknecht has, for many years, represented precisely the political profile with which the BSW launched.

Peace is at the heart of our politics. In the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, all the established parties – from the CDU/CSU to the Left – have recently supported the pumping of billions into armaments. It is no coincidence that these funds are lacking in the welfare state. They are being systematically withdrawn. The economy is being stimulated through arms production, while social infrastructure is being dismantled. Kindergartens, hospitals, and municipal services are falling apart, but there seems to be unlimited money for tanks, drones, and war budgets. This is not a security concept; it is sociopolitical madness. The BSW is the only party standing alongside the peace movement.

Burning all cultural and civil society links with Russia, putting twin towns on hold, and ending economic relations – none of this clearly contributed to ending the war in Ukraine. We consider this policy wrong and even harmful. In our own interest, we need a good long-term relationship with our largest neighbor – and with the many people of Russian descent who live here in Germany.

Defending freedom of expression is becoming an increasingly important political and social task in this country, where citizens who criticize politicians with harmless social media posts face fines and even prison sentences. The new federal government is continuing the same trend. It wants to ban "lies" in the future—that is, the lies of others, of course—and the "non-governmental media regulator" is to determine what this means.

Under the pretext of combating "disinformation," freedom of expression is being systematically restricted. Instead of trusting citizens' sound judgment, those in power want to guide them in their use of the media. Many people no longer dare to openly express their opinions. These people can rely on the BSW to defend freedom of expression and stand up to the increasingly aggressive mainstream.

The other parties refuse to consistently address the repressive, intrusive, and nonsensical coronavirus policies. It therefore remains a central concern of the BSW to conduct an honest review and, above all, to draw political conclusions. This would not only be a health policy necessity, but also a matter of political decency after everything that has happened. This doesn't just affect federal politics. Given the current composition of the Bundestag, nothing can be expected at this level anyway. This also specifically affects politics in the states. We want to give a voice to the victims and critics of coronavirus policies.

The topic of migration has been too often the subject of political exploitation in recent years. The associated problems have not been solved. We want to put an end to the lies perpetrated by left-liberals and truly take the legitimate concerns of citizens seriously. The accommodation of refugees, their care, the comparatively high crime rate among young migrant men, the aggressive behavior of Islamist groups – these are real challenges; people experience them in their everyday lives. We will not be among those who tell them they're just imagining it all. We want to limit migration.

Germany is experiencing a deep and structural economic crisis. It is of its own making. Berlin and especially the eastern German states are also affected as industrial centers. The crisis at the PCK refinery in Schwedt continues to simmer, with repercussions for the entire northeastern region of Germany, which is supplied with gasoline, diesel, heating oil, kerosene, and bitumen from Schwedt. The number of corporate bankruptcies is rising. Energy-intensive industries are sending one urgent letter after another to politicians. Many jobs are at risk.

The challenges are significant: Small and medium-sized enterprises in particular must be relieved, our industrial bases must be secured, workers' rights must be strengthened, and the welfare state must be defended. To achieve this, we seek a good relationship with the unions, as well as with employers and their associations.

“The firewall is not a contribution to saving democracy”

The BSW faces important state elections in the east next year, including in Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin. We are not running there with the goal of becoming part of a governing coalition with the established parties, but rather to convey the desire of many people for fundamental change to the state parliaments. We are neither part of the red-green-left nor the so-called bourgeois bloc. People from diverse political traditions are involved in the BSW. We want to represent the middle of society.

Despite all our criticism of the AfD, we are not part of the firewall, but rather want to treat all political representatives elected by the people equally. The firewall does not contribute to saving democracy in two respects: First, it is itself undemocratic, and second, it does not prevent the rise of the AfD, but rather promotes it.

We are running to implement political change—not to merge into coalitions with the established parties. If our core demands are feasible, we will assume responsibility. Where that is not the case, we will remain consistent: as the opposition, exerting pressure and deliberately organizing parliamentary majorities for BSW positions. Either way, the following applies: Where Wagenknecht is on the outside, Wagenknecht must be on the inside. This applies to the mandates won in past elections and will also be transferred after a party renaming. Sahra Wagenknecht is the defining figure of the party and will remain so. People quite rightly expect this. It's about reliability, straightforwardness, clarity.

The BSW was not founded to distribute as many offices and mandates as possible, like all other parties, but rather to ensure resonance and impact for the political ideas that Sahra Wagenknecht stands for and that are supported by many people. We feel exclusively committed to these people and ideas.

About the authors: Alexander King is co-state chairman of the BSW in Berlin and a member of the Berlin House of Representatives. John Lucas Dittrich leads the party in Saxony-Anhalt and is an associate member of the federal executive board. Stefan Roth is also an associate member of the party executive board and a member of the Brandenburg state parliament.