The Left Berlin, which grew out of the Linke Berlin Internationals, decided on 14th October, 2024, to end formal ties with Die Linke. One reason for our decision – but not the only one – is the inability of Die Linke to fully condemn the genocide in Gaza, while simultaneously supporting pro-Israel demonstrations. As international socialists, we cannot accept such an approach.
Several of our allies also asked us to clarify our relationship with the party. They told us that they wanted a strong left party in Germany, but not at just any cost. One of the speakers at our recent Summer Camp, representing the French left party La France insoumise (LFI), argued that LFI should not work with Die Linke as long as it maintained its lack of support for Palestine.
This statement is an attempt to clarify our position, and to explain what we think has changed.
What is Die Linke and where did it come from?
Die Linke was formed in 2007 as a merger of the Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus (Party of Democratic Socialism, PDS), the old communist party based mainly in the East, and the Arbeit und soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative (Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative, WASG), a party set up by trade unionists in the West to fight the Agenda 2010 “reforms” implemented by the Red-Green government. One of its first acts was to support the mobilisation against the G8 summit in Heiligendamm.
Over the years, Die Linke has invested more in winning elections than in extra-parliamentary movements. For example, it has played little visible role in movements like Black Lives Matter and Fridays for Future.
October 7th – a turning point
Whereas Die Linke has shown token support for campaigns like Deutsche Wohnen & Co Enteignen (DWE), it has rarely actively supported the movement for a free Palestine. This is nothing new, but has become increasingly important after October 7th, 2023.
Following October 7th, Israel has conducted a campaign of ethnic cleansing and extermination in Gaza that is unprecedented in this century, in addition to expanding its deliberate targeting and bombing of civilian targets to Lebanon and Iran. While the official reports indicate that at least 40,000 people have been killed by Israeli bombs in Gaza, substantiated estimates indicate that the human toll in Gaza since October 2023 is far higher than official reports, exceeding 118,000, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza’s population.
While the near universal reaction by the international left has been to show solidarity with the Palestinian victims of Israel’s genocidal campaign, Die Linke’s response was to join the CDU and other mainstream German parties in calling a demonstration in support of Israel. On 12th October, Bundestag MPs — including those from Die Linke — voted unanimously to support Israel.
At its recent national conference, Linke delegates voted for a compromise resolution, which was slightly better than what preceded it, but was too little, too late. The resolution does call for an immediate ceasefire and refers to genocide, but it also falsely claims that the Palestinian resistance is driven by antisemitism, and clings to the illusion of a two-state “solution”, which is no longer an option, and arguably never was.
The Left Berlin responds
In response to Die Linke’s apparent support for genocide, The Left Berlin organised two well-attended meetings in November and December 2023, to discuss our relationship to the party. At these meetings, we made two decisions.
Firstly, we decided to organise most of our future events not with the Linke Berlin Internationals as we had done previously, but under the name The Left Berlin. The identification with Die Linke, even via the Internationals, was making it harder for us to relate to the solidarity movement.
Secondly, on the request of several internationals who were still party members, we decided that we should “stay and fight”, and keep our links with the party. This was not a final decision, and we agreed that we would review this relationship over time.
This was the background to our Summer Camp in September 2024, where many attendees asked us to clarify our relationship to the party. The feeling which many had held at the end of last year — that we could win the party for consistent solidarity with victims of genocide — had all but evaporated. This discussion led to the decision to cut all ties.
Recent developments
Since we took the decision to end formal ties with Die Linke, there have been a number of developments. First, the right wing Springer press have launched a concentrated attack on members of Die Linke who support Palestine. Articles in the Tagesspiegel and elsewhere have leveraged personal attacks on five party members, all of whom have worked with The Left Berlin to a greater or lesser extent. Curiously, the same articles attacked The Left Berlin, although we have never directly been part of the party.
As a result of this provocation, some members of Die Linke called for the expulsion of the activists under attack. We want to make it clear that we support the right of all five to remain in the party for as long as they want, and will continue to support their struggle against unjust expulsion.
At roughly the same time, a number of leading party members around former Berlin senator Klaus Lederer decided to leave the party because they didn’t think the party supported Israel enough. This has led some to believe that the party can finally be won to a pro-Palestine, pro-social movement position. We do not share this belief.
As of writing this statement, Die Linke remains perhaps the only socialist party in the world which refuses to stand unequivocally on the side of the Palestinians. Die Linke has consistently refused to contend with the reality that Israel represents an imperialist project of occupation, colonialism and apartheid, and we feel that if the horrific events of the last 12 months have not persuaded the party to commit itself to principled socialist praxis, nothing will. The conduct of Die Linke over the past year will remain an unfortunate and deeply shameful reminder of the failure of the socialist scene in Germany for years to come.
Although we are formally breaking with the party, we will retain our contact with reliable Linke partners, such as Ferat Kocak and the International Department, as long as they continue to take a principled stance. We will continue to build social movements alongside party members. We will not, however, receive any financial support — whether direct or indirect — from Die Linke.
We would like to thank Die Linke for the solidarity and cooperation they have given us over the years, and we hope that they come around to a progressive position on the liberation of Palestine.
