[Labour Affairs: This long letter from the leadership of the BSW comes at a difficult time for the party. After a strong showing in regional elections at the end of 2024, the failure to gain seats in the Bundestag at the recent general election in February came as a crushing disappointment. However, the letter is notable for drawing attention to some of the problems that they faced, including a hostile media coverage, as well as lack of coverage, the promotion of rival parties such as Die Linke by the media and possible electoral sharp practice.

There is also some self criticism. The party has been kept deliberately small to ensure that it has a cohesive and committed membership. However, events have moved quickly and there has been a lack of co-ordination between national and regional leaderships regarding coalitions which has led to disillusionment among some supporters. Being a small membership party fighting a general election in a large country has also put a huge strain on personnel and resources. However, the party is adamant that it is a mistake to be hostile to voters who support the AfD as many of these are potential (and in the past actual) supporters of the BSW. BSW is keen to show that it has a broad appeal to working class voters and is committed to detaching them from parties like the AfD which are capitalist but pretend to be on the side of the working class. The party is now taking steps to address the membership issue, while remaining careful about whom it admits. 

BSW’s present position illustrates the challenges facing small socialist parties operating in a hostile media environment fighting on a national scale. Labour Affairs remains confident that they will overcome these challenges in due course, but no-one should underestimate the difficulties. It is also a healthy sign that the party is prepared to acknowledge mistakes to its membership. The ability to look at one’s performance and to learn from it is indispensable to a party that wishes to make progress.]

Dear friends,

It has been a month and a half since the federal election, and we know that many of you have questions about the future of our party. We hope to answer some of them in this letter.

First, the most important news: The BSW is continuing its fight and is needed! In recent weeks, we have received many messages from committed supporters and members with a clear message: now more than ever! In its first year, our party achieved spectacular election successes in the European elections and the state elections, and in the federal elections, almost 2.5 million voters placed their trust in us. Our important project must not now fail because of 9,500 (allegedly) missing votes. Thousands want to continue their commitment to the BSW, and their justified demand of us is to set the course now so that our party has a future.

In view of insane rearmament and a media campaign that wants to make the people in our country mentally fit for war, the BSW is urgently needed as the only consistent party for peace and disarmament in Germany. In view of the economic crisis and the threat of key industries leaving Germany, a trend that is being reinforced by Trump’s trade policy, we are also needed as an important voice that demands effective economic policy responses instead of moral outrage: Without overcoming our energy and digital dependence on the United States, without reimporting cheap energy and without good economic relations with the BRICS countries, we will not be able to stop deindustrialisation. No other party represents this with such clarity and combines the demand for realistic anti-crisis policies with the demand for greater social justice: better wages and pensions, good education for all, an end to two-tier healthcare and a fair tax system. Unfortunately, none of this can be expected from the new CDU-SPD coalition, which is more likely to deliver a repeat of the traffic light coalition, paternalism and continued arrogance towards the interests of those who are not on the sunny side of life.

We are also very concerned about the increasingly authoritarian tendencies in our society, the alarming narrowing of the corridor of opinion and the growing pressure on citizens to conform. Not only, but especially when it comes to the question of war and peace, today’s debate is reminiscent of George Orwell’s famous novel 1984, in which those in power turn concepts into their opposites in order to keep the population docile and loyal: hate is love and war is peace. Anyone who stands up against the mainstream and criticises government action today must increasingly reckon with serious personal consequences: from the loss of career opportunities to fines, and now, for the first time, even a prison sentence has been imposed for a satirical meme. This trend is alarming.

At the same time, surveillance of citizens by the state and digital corporations is being expanded. For the first time, people have experienced this new authoritarianism in all its severity during the coronavirus pandemic. The coronavirus hysteria is over, but the hysterical charged debates, the deliberate stirring up of fears and the development towards an illiberal society remain. The demand for a reappraisal of the injustices of the coronavirus pandemic and the fight against surveillance and authoritarian arrogance for a pluralistic, liberal society are part of the BSW’s DNA. We are needed for this too.

Especially as respect for basic democratic rules is declining. Not only in Turkey, but also in EU countries, attempts are being made to prevent unpopular political rivals from standing for election by undemocratic means. The fact that these are usually politicians on the political right, for whom we also have no sympathy, does not alter the fact that this approach is worthy of criticism. In Germany, too, the future government is debating lowering the barriers to prevent opposition politicians from standing for election. We firmly reject any such attempt to eliminate political rivals.

The BSW itself was also the target of undemocratic attacks during the 2025 federal election campaign. This included a massive smear campaign in many media outlets and the arbitrary downgrading of the BSW to 3 per cent in polls in order to discourage people from voting for us. The prevention of many Germans living abroad, who traditionally vote disproportionately for opposition parties, from participating in the election also belongs in this context.

The fact that the BSW has so far been denied the chance of a recount, despite the extremely close result, obvious irregularities and a far above-average error rate compared to the established parties (as evidenced by the more than 4,000 votes ‘found’ in sporadic checks), is not only a slap in the face for our voters. It also means that the new Bundestag is highly unlikely to be legally constituted and that the CDU-SPD coalition has no democratic legitimacy. We will therefore now file an election review complaint and contest the election result with the aim of achieving a correct recount of all votes.

Of course, we ourselves made mistakes last year and lost voters and supporters of the BSW who initially supported our project with great enthusiasm. We want to do everything we can to win them back. A major challenge in our short party history has been the rapid succession of five election campaigns. Instead of being able to discuss election programmes and our positions on issues with our members and supporters, we had to quickly establish regional associations, draw up regional lists and create the organisational conditions for promising election campaigns.

The results of the European elections and the state elections proved that our assessment was correct: before the BSW was founded, there was a large void in the party spectrum, and many former non-voters and voters who would otherwise have voted for the AfD gave us their votes. However, the major electoral successes at state level also led to a problem: the coalition negotiations were a real challenge for our young party. In Brandenburg, we were at least able to send clear signals on peace policy in the exploratory paper, which is an important achievement in the current climate. The abstention of the federal states of Brandenburg and Thuringia, which are co-governed by the BSW, in the Bundesrat on both the Ukraine resolution, which called for further arms deliveries (we were the only ones to do so), and on the largest arms package in the history of the Federal Republic, proved that the BSW makes a difference in government and stands for the most important issue of our time, the question of war and peace. This is our most important unique selling point compared to all other parties.

However, we have not yet been sufficiently successful in comparable areas of state politics. Due to budgetary constraints, for which federal policy is primarily responsible, we can only achieve very limited improvements for people in the states, insofar as these cost money. But not every improvement costs a lot of money. In future, we must work together to consider how we can place greater emphasis on original BSW policies at state level. Deteriorations in services and budget cuts must, of course, remain taboo. We must also work to ensure that all state politicians represent the policies that define the BSW and for which we were elected. This applies in particular to the handling of the coronavirus crisis and the AfD, but also to other issues. Statements in state parliaments that are diametrically opposed to our programme cost us trust and drive voters away.

The federal election campaign has shown once again that the price for the mobilising effect of the firewall debate on the left is even stronger mobilisation in favour of the AfD. On this side of the firewall, one can feel morally incredibly noble, good and anti-fascist, but in the end, all one achieves is that more and more people gather behind the firewall out of justified outrage at all the unresolved problems, the incompetence of politicians and the undemocratic treatment of a political opponent. It is a serious mistake for the new federal government to continue this course. That is why we stand by our position: Yes to political debate with the AfD. No to undemocratic exclusion rituals, which, as we have seen for years, only make them stronger.

The fact that there are neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists in the AfD should be one more reason to finally take the concerns of AfD voters seriously, precisely because, with the exception of a very small minority, these voters are not right-wing extremists or Nazis. The fact that we too have so far failed to adequately represent these concerns in the state governments has driven a significant proportion of our potential voters, who had still placed their trust in us in the European and state elections, back to the AfD in the federal elections.

According to a January 2025 poll, Thuringian BSW voters were particularly dissatisfied with the Thuringian coalition, even more dissatisfied than voters for Die Linke, whose party is not even part of the government. This should give us pause for thought. This also explains the disproportionately sharp decline in the federal elections in the very state where we originally had by far the greatest voter potential. The fact that the federal and state governments did not initially pull together in the formation of the Thuringian government contributed to voters turning away in disappointment. We must not resign ourselves to this.

The formation of the state associations and state lists and the thin staffing of the BSW in the early days also resulted in a significant overlap of personnel between state executive committees and parliamentary groups, with the state chairpersons in the states where we are part of the government also serving as ministers. This situation should be overcome in the re-election of the committees.

If we do not want to lose our profile in government, we need the state executive committees to act as critical and supportive companions to government action, not as an extension of government members.

The heavy demands placed on our small and young party by the election campaigns also meant that the ongoing development of the party, including the creation of regional structures, working relationships and discussion forums, largely fell by the wayside in the first year. This is another reason why we found it difficult to ensure that every member, and especially every office holder, is aware of the BSW’s position on individual issues. We urgently need to improve in this area, especially now that we want to grow faster and recruit members more quickly.

Many applicants, including committed supporters of our election campaigns, have been waiting for membership for a year, and quite a few have heard little from us so far and have therefore turned away in frustration. We regret this very much and will therefore focus on party building and membership recruitment in the coming months. The focus will be on the many supporters who have helped us through our first year. We are delighted that so many people still want to support the BSW as members and will do everything we can to ensure a swift admission process and better involvement of applicants and supporters in internal party discussions. As a first step, we will admit 1,200 new members by 30 April 2025, as proposed by the regional associations.

We need ideas to counter the media blockade. To this end, we will expand our independent publication channels (newsletter, Telegram) and, in addition to the newsletter, send out regular member letters to keep you up to date on all important activities and issues. We know that we need to improve our communication, including communication with you, our members and supporters. At the same time, we need to professionalise our social media presence in order to reach more people with our content again. We are currently working on this.

Another task ahead of us is the development of a detailed policy programme. We have had initial expert consultations and want to initiate further ones. Above all, however, we need discussion processes about our future programme. There is a lot of expertise in our party, and we want to make the best possible use of it.

Our party also needs a new name, preferably retaining the abbreviation BSW. We are counting on your creativity to come up with ideas for a new name. We will set up a contact point in the spring where you can send your suggestions. Ultimately, we will have to vote on our future name in a democratic process.

Our next federal party conference is expected to take place in November of this year. This party conference will be a delegate conference because our party will soon be too large for a membership conference.

Another key area of action is the upcoming state and local election campaigns. The great willingness and motivation to bring BSW politics to the municipalities and federal states is encouraging, and we want to accompany and support this as best we can from the federal level.

Failing to enter the Bundestag is undoubtedly a setback for us. Even if the official final result is ultimately incorrect, the fact remains that if we had reached significantly more voters, even errors in the count in the one per thousand range would not have prevented us from entering the Bundestag. That is why we must learn from our mistakes and do better in the future. For a strong BSW for the people of our country! Let’s work on this together.

Yours, Sahra Wagenknecht, Amira Mohamed Ali, Christian Leye