For a left-wing perspective – Berlin after the election: A guest commentary

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The society of the spectacle is in its element. But what we are witnessing in the wake of the Berlin election takes on an entirely different dimension. Whilst the far right in Germany is celebrating electoral successes, the greatest commotion seems to be arising from something else: the fact that a left-wing party has become the largest in Berlin. Let us recall: there have been three elections in recent weeks. In Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the AfD emerged as the largest party. In Saxony-Anhalt, it secured 43.8 per cent of the vote.

A party classified as far-right by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is thus faced with the question of how it can enter government. Its lead candidate has already announced his intention to form an AfD-led state government by the end of the year.

And yet the political uproar over the Left Party’s election success in Berlin seems to be hardly any less intense. This is remarkable. For whilst we are indeed witnessing a democratic crisis, there is simultaneously a debate as to whether the so-called ‘firewall’ against the AfD is still appropriate in this day and age. In Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD may not have enough seats for a majority of its own, but at the same time there is speculation about possible defections from the CDU, and the AfD itself reports that such talks are taking place.

The CDU should be clear about one thing: anyone who helps the AfD secure majorities is not strengthening the centre-right; they are strengthening the AfD. And the AfD has no reason to treat the CDU as an equal partner in the long term. Rather, it is working to oust the Union as a political force to the right of centre.

Nevertheless, following the Berlin election, the old spectres are being conjured up once again. The Left has won 25.7 per cent of the vote and, for the first time, has become the largest party in Berlin. It wants to tackle the housing crisis and push ahead with the socialisation of large housing companies. And suddenly, for some, the fear of communism seems to be greater than the fear of real-life right-wing extremism.

Why? Because this is about something else entirely. It is about property, about power and about the question of who a city belongs to. The call for nationalisation does not threaten some abstract order. It calls into question specific ownership structures. And that is precisely why the reaction to it is so fierce.

In 2021, 57.6 per cent of Berliners voted in a referendum in favour of the socialisation of large housing companies. The political mandate at the time was subsequently not implemented. The Left Party wants to change this and won the election on precisely this issue. And that is exactly what seems to make some people particularly nervous.

Of course, we must talk about anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism is real. It is unacceptable. And anti-Semitic incidents within Die Linke must be identified and combated. But the political exploitation of this debate is another matter entirely.

When legitimate criticism of anti-Semitic positions turns into the delegitimisation of an entire party, when conditions for forming a government are derived from this – conditions that are not formulated with comparable rigour in relation to other political parties – then it is no longer just about anti-Semitism. Then it is also about power. And it is precisely this distinction that must be allowed.

The CDU and sections of the centre-right public are openly discussing the normalisation of the AfD, whilst at the same time the Left is being demonised. Alice Weidel has once again claimed that Hitler was a left-wing extremist – a historically inaccurate and long-disproved myth with which the political right seeks to reinterpret history and discredit the term ‘left’. And yet the debate continues to shift further to the right.

That is what is truly alarming. Whilst the far right is growing stronger, attempts are simultaneously being made to portray any serious left-wing alternative as a threat to democracy, prosperity and freedom. The message behind this is simple: anything is possible, except one thing – challenging the existing ownership structure. This is class struggle from above.

Not as a grand revolutionary programme, but as day-to-day political practice. As a mixture of media outrage, economic pressure, moral delegitimisation and the claim that certain political changes are simply not possible. And that is precisely where the danger lies.

For people who see their rents rising, their social security dwindling and political decisions seeming increasingly beyond their control do not automatically become more democratic. Masses living in fear are susceptible to authoritarian seduction. So anyone who prevents social change whilst at the same time normalising the far right is creating the conditions under which authoritarian politics can flourish.

That is why the crucial question following this election is not whether the Left is perfect. It is not; no party is. The crucial question is rather why a society that is rightly alarmed by the rise of the far right simultaneously develops such a fear of a Left that challenges property and power structures. Perhaps the answer lies exactly where it always does: those who do not want to change social conditions develop a fear of those who try to do so.