Portside

1. Mexico’s Morena
2. Wagenknecht: Stealing a March on the German Far Right
3. Whatever Happened to Russia’s Communist Party?
4. How the Chinese CP is Set Up
5. Leftist Politics in African States
6. Sordid Sectarianism
7. Watching a UK Labour Party Conference
8. Merger in India
9. Marta Harnecker: Ideas for the Struggle (2016)
10. Perspective for Die Linke

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Mexico’s Morena

Kurt Hackbarth / Jacobin (Brooklyn)

As MORENA faced its first competitive presidential candidate selection in 2024, the youthful party underwent a major test that a number of pundits predicted would end badly. Claudia Sheinbaum won Mexico’s presidential election thanks to her party’s record of passing universal social policies, respecting working-class voters, and rejecting biased media narratives.

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Wagenknecht: Stealing a March on the German Far Right

Nils Adler / Al Jazeera (Doha)

A little more than nine months after its birth, Sahra Wagenknecht's new populist party is rapidly emerging as a major political force in Europe’s largest economy, after stunning gains in recent state elections. On paper, the BSW belongs on the left – the hard left, even. But it advocates an unusual mix of left-leaning economic policies and anti-immigration rhetoric.

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Whatever Happened to Russia’s Communist Party?

Azamat Izmailov / Posle

No other party in post-Soviet Russian history has had as much expected of it, and as persistently, as the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF). Many have wondered if CPRF could potentially disrupt the political and economic order established in the 1990s, still perceived as highly unjust by a significant part of the population.

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How the Chinese CP is Set Up

Jane Cai / South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)

With about 92 million members and nearly 5 million party units across the nation, the Communist Party of China influences and oversees almost every aspect of life in China, from the government to the army, society and business. To an outsider, the sheer scale of the Communist Party’s influence in China can be mind-boggling.

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Leftist Politics in African States

Ken Opalo / An Africanist Perspective (Washington DC)

For a region whose countries are mostly low-income, mired in stark inequalities, and with a rich history of revolutionary left wing politics and accompanying intellectual firepower, it is striking how little traction contemporary Leftist politics gets in African countries. African Leftists have historically exhibited an inherent desire for the kind of structural changes that the region desperately needs.

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Sordid Sectarianism

Aidan Beatty and David Browder / Jacobin

Gerry Healy led a high-profile Trotskyist party in the 70s. But his authoritarianism and abuse of party members took the Workers Revolutionary Party from sect to cult.

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Watching a UK Labour Party Conference

Deborah Orr / Labour Hub (London)

I’ve been in and out of the Labour Party for years and would still like to consider it a broad church. Certainly, my experience in my local area is exactly that. We put our differences aside to work together for the many and not the few. The 2024 Labour Party Conference highlighted everything wrong with the Party and not the overwhelming positives that we do in our communities.

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Merger in India

Dipankar Bhattacharya / Liberation (New Delhi)

The merger of the Marxist Coordination Committee into the CPI(ML) has been greatly welcomed by the broad Left ranks and well-wishers across the country. The historic MCC-ML unification has now enriched the CPI(ML) with the legacy and vision of Comrade AK Roy and other martyrs and departed leaders of the Marxist Coordination Committee. 

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Marta Harnecker: Ideas for the Struggle (2016)

Marta Harnecker / Socialist Alliance (Sydney)

These 12 articles were first published in Venezuela in 2004 and were slightly modified in 2016. Readers should start from the topic that most interests you and then read the rest of the text. As it is impossible to develop all facets of an idea in two pages, only by reading the whole text will readers be able to fully understand each individual article.

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Perspective for Die Linke

Ines Schwerdtner and Jan van Aken / Neues Deutschland (Berlin)

[Translated by Portside. Read the original text in German here.]

The party’s basic program states: “The core strategic task of the left is to contribute to a change in the balance of power in society in order to implement a solidarity-based transformation of society and a left-wing democratic, social, ecological and peaceful policy.” This is more true today than ever: The country is pursuing a deeply anti-social policy, the climate crisis is not being adequately confronted and we are experiencing a militarization of society.

We have set ourselves the goal of improving this country, together with everyone who is involved in unions, clubs, initiatives, associations or movements, in the workplace or in the district. We want to be a source of strength and hope for all those who are excluded from our society, who keep the shop running and still don't have enough left at the end of the month, who are afraid of the future or who wish for a better world.

Die Linke is needed as the only party that is unconditionally committed to the people. As a party of social justice, as a party of international law and peace, as a party of anti-fascism, feminism, climate justice and as a party of international solidarity.

Die Linke is needed as a party that takes concrete action on the ground to address people’s everyday concerns, that takes up their fights for improvements and also advocates radical reforms that will enable people to begin to exit capitalism. That is what a socialist party is all about.

Two goals should be at the center of all considerations for Die Linke:

• In the short term, we want to return to the Bundestag in the 2025 federal election.
• At the same time, we want to strengthen the party so that it can once again have a decisive influence on social debates on the key issues of the future, becoming a social force that is firmly anchored and recognized by all those who want to fight for a better world and against the right-wing threat.

Both are not only possible, but also very realistic. Basically, however, the party must function as a united collective once again. If we can live in solidarity with one another, we can become the strong left-wing force that is so urgently needed in this country. As a team, not as an ensemble of soloists. How wonderful it would be to have a new revolutionary collegiality in the debates, both internally and externally! Only when we ourselves cultivate solidarity can we convince society of the possibility of a different, better world.

We have to admit that we have not lived up to our claim. In the major crises and contradictions of recent years, Die Linke was not clear enough. At a time when people wanted guidance on issues such as war, inflation, ecological restructuring and migration, we were too timid. We allowed ourselves to be torn apart by the contradictions. In recent months, we have had to learn what it means when the house is on fire. But a burning house is not an invitation to move in. Now it is a matter of putting out the fire and drawing up a plan for the renovation.

Winning people back for the federal election

It is true that a damaged image cannot be repaired in a few months. But four strategic orientations at least offer the chance to make the party more visible and attractive again:

1. Dare to have more hope. We offer visionary ideas and solutions that warm the heart, that are realistic and compatible, and yet go a step further. They embody a fundamental, socialist, solidarity-based idea. While others capitalize on fear, we want to encourage people and offer concrete solutions. We show paths to hope, to a world in which capitalism is not the end of history. These are not slogans, but very concrete visions for redistribution and for a strong welfare state – and beyond. This applies to housing, healthcare, pensions and education. We are the party of dignity and social security in times of budget cuts and attacks on the welfare state. In the federal election campaign, we are campaigning for the abolition of the debt brake [legal restriction of government spending] and also for a strong role for the state in economic and structural policy.
    
2. Create clarity. The social question remains our core. The other big questions of our time are without question peace, democracy and climate justice. These are the issues that have torn us apart in recent years. The fight for peace is in our DNA. As a party, we unconditionally support international law and the protection of those who suffer from the wars of this world. For us, there are no double standards; we condemn US or Turkish wars of aggression just as we condemn the Russian one in Ukraine. No human rights violation can ever justify another, whether in Israel, Gaza or elsewhere. Our pacifism means the primacy of the civil: using diplomatic and other non-military means to end wars and de-escalate conflicts. Words instead of weapons! In the new bloc confrontation, we rely on the strategic autonomy of the European Union. And there must be no further rearmament and internal turning point in society; we will put the issue of disarmament back on the agenda.
   Clarity is also needed on the issue of migration. We stand for a humane right to asylum for each and every individual, as well as for humane treatment of immigration and of all those who are already here and are suffering more and more from the shift to the right and xenophobia. This also means developing a realistic, humane immigration concept and being able to stand up to the right-wing culture war. The mother of all problems is the neoliberal drying up of our welfare state and local authorities and the deeply unfair distribution of wealth in this country. We stand for combating the causes of flight as well as for better equipment for local authorities and humane care for all people living here. Adhering to these principles does not exclude taking seriously the population’s fear of losing control. That is why we are fighting for better housing, good jobs and more educational opportunities for everyone.
   The fight against the right is a fight for solidarity and democracy. The left will play an important role in all mobilizations against Nazi marches. It will endure the balancing act of criticizing the traffic light government for preparing the ground for the right with its neoliberal policies on the one hand, and on the other hand working with all democratic forces to improve social conditions where possible. We will defend democracy against all attempts to abolish or undermine it. Together with all democratic forces, we want to oppose the massive attacks on democratic achievements in Germany and Europe.
   And we are an eco-socialist party. The fight against the climate catastrophe is the great human question of our time – socially just answers must be found for it. The ecological restructuring of the economy must focus on the interests of the workforce and wage earners. It is about a sustainable economy in the hands of those who produce. The energy supply belongs in public hands and under democratic control; We are fighting for massive investments in railways and housing; in the core areas of transformation, the employees and the unions are our experts. Together with them, we are developing models of economic control and sustainable production.
   We live by these themes; they are the basis and orientation for every decision we make and the cornerstone of every communication – even if they are not the focus of our core campaigns.
    
3. Focus, focus, focus. In order to be able to develop a recognizable profile again, we need to focus on a few core demands that we constantly emphasize, as we did when we founded the party. This focus will be on one of the pressing issues of our time. To do this, we will develop one or at most two very specific campaigns on the social issue that will drive government policy forward and give the left a practical use. These focus campaigns will help us to become publicly visible again and create spaces in which we can then tell the whole story and spread our ideas to the wider society. One of the most pressing questions of our time is the housing question. We are answering it very specifically with a nationwide rent cap, which would immediately take the pressure off millions of tenants. But we also combine this demand with the vision that not a single square millimeter of land in Germany will be privatized. Municipalities, federal and state governments only lease land to non-profit companies so that no one can ever again buy a Porsche with our rent. The goal is a massive expansion of the social infrastructure with a growing public or cooperative sector that is not committed to maximizing profits, but to improving the lives of the majority.
    
4. Our place in the spectrum of parties is not just to be a corrective to other parties. Our politics aims at improving things for the broad majority. There are people for whom capitalism is not the end of history and who have a deep-seated longing for a world of solidarity in all social circles of wage earners, whether in the city or in the country. We will need them all if we want to have a right to exist as a party. Nevertheless, we need strategic clarity about how we want to address the broad spectrum of the class without becoming arbitrary. Socialist class politics means taking the situation, the perspectives, the pride in one's own achievements, the demands for self-determination and co-determination of the wage-earning classes in all their everyday contradictions as a starting point. We want to lead battles against the wealthy and win majorities for reforms that provide alternatives to the profit economy. In the past, Die Linke was always strong when it connected those at the very bottom of society with those who are worried about their future and long for a better and more solidarity-based world. Let us reunite these people who are separated from each other every day in capitalist competition! We want to be a left-wing people’s party. 

Long-term strategic orientation and party building

A good result in the federal election will secure our existence, but we are not just basing our new beginning on short-term electoral successes, but also on a long-term strategic perspective that will anchor Die Linke in society again, and from there make it a political force that can change things for the better. Die Linke must put itself in a position to be able to decisively shape social debates and become an important focal point for progressive social mobilization.

The following key points of a strategic orientation will play an important role:

• Program process: A socialist party must act in line with the times. That is why we need a program process in the coming years on all the key issues of our time, which will give us new analytical clarity and put us back in a position to be able to speak. This is not about throwing the entire program overboard, but rather making some points more concrete and anchoring them in the present.
• A party that organizes: Die Linke is an active membership party that fights with the people, for the people. We organize counter-power and we provide resources and structures for those who fight against injustice or filthy conditions at work or in their place of residence.
• A party that is urgently needed: Die Linke has always been strong when it made a difference in people’s lives. We are building on this tradition and making individual support in everyday life and on legal issues the center of our daily work again. We do neighborhood work, our offices are social contact points, we want to celebrate festivals, organize football tournaments or free breakfasts and stay in permanent contact with people through information stands and door-to-door conversations. Many of us are already doing this; let’s use these experiences and generalize from them.
• At the heart of rural and urban district associations: Party development will not concentrate on individual federal states or regions, but on all places where there are active structures. It is important to maintain local political bastions in the east and west and to support, as best as possible, those whose work has potential. Those who are actively involved in Die Linke in the municipalities are the backbone of our party. If we strengthen them as a federal party, it will strengthen us all.
• We will take our experience in state and local politics more seriously and develop it together.
• Political education: The experience of our comrades is our greatest treasure. We have neglected to take it up and pass it on to future generations. In the coming years, it will be crucial to develop the skills and knowledge of our members and raise them to a higher level. To do this, we need educational programs and sponsorships between new and experienced members. A party only has a future if it knows its past.
• Alliances with unions, progressive forces, initiatives and organizations at all levels. Our goal must be to be recognized and taken seriously as a party in alliances, in an effort to develop a common, world-changing perspective.
• A different party: Die Linke stands for credibility. We are here to change something in the world with our heart and soul, not to make a career. We need to be much clearer about that. We are therefore campaigning in the Bundestag for a maximum term limit of three terms. All members of the Bundestag will donate at least half of their salary to a social fund. The mandate obliges them to participate in building up the party and to put themselves at the service of the party.

With these steps, we believe, we can succeed in becoming a proud and strong socialist force. Everything that defines this party and what once made it strong is still in it – above all, in its own members. Rebuilding our house means focusing, first and foremost, on our party, but not just on our party. Our house is the world in which we want to live. “Making the world our home” is what Ernst Bloch calls it in his “Principle of Hope.” We follow this principle, not out of naïveté, but out of the conviction that a different world is possible if we fight for it together.