Far Left To Far Right — Germany’s Election Shows How “Extreme” Politics Really Works

-Analysis-

BERLIN — When something very, very big happens — such as the historical shift currently unfolding before our eyes and in our minds — it’s best to approach it cautiously, almost taking one step back. And so, we ask ourselves: Which parties actually emerged victorious in Sunday’s fateful national elections in Germany — and why?

Or, to put it differently: What do the far-right AfD and Die Linke (The Left) have in common? What did they do right, and what could others potentially learn from them?

The obvious, albeit incorrect, answer is that in times of crisis, people tend to gravitate toward political extremes, whether left- or right-wing radical parties. This is wrong, first, because The Left doesn’t qualify as extreme. Politicians like Heidi Reichinnek, Jan van Aken, Gregor Gysi, Dietmar Bartsch or Bodo Ramelow are certainly not radicals. They are simply left-wing, responsibly left-wing, at most cheekily left-wing.

One cannot be called radical simply for pursuing a more dynamic policy than soon-to-be-former Chancellor Olaf Scholz. What’s more, out of unprecedented dissatisfaction with the current political offer, many well-off citizens who consider themselves centrists, ended up voting for The Left for the first time in their lives.

No need to hide

So what else could explain the remarkable success of the AfD and The Left? Both two parties and their key figures, in stark contrast to the CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP and Greens, remained true to themselves. They were unafraid — something that, in times like these, already constitutes a striking and appealing unique selling point.

This became possible because the country, as a whole, has shifted to the right.

Both parties have worked for years to cultivate such political fearlessness. The AfD spent many years trying not to get caught up in its own far-right extremism. This was reflected in this campaign by the persistent questioning from public broadcasters, attempting to confront party leader Alice Weidel and others with their extremist statements.

But the AfD doesn’t even need to do that anymore. It can openly embraces the term “remigration,” it is free to absolve its fascist member Björn Höcke , and is apparently allowed to shrug off the Nazi era as mere “bird droppings” on German history.

​Standing firm

For the AfD, “staying true to oneself” means no longer hiding its dark side but embracing it. Fearlessness means brushing off the establishment’s probing questions with a gesture that says: Your magic wand is broken, your spells no longer work.

This became possible because the country, as a whole, has shifted to the right — because the antifascist stance has worn thin, because Donald Trump, JD Vance and Elon Musk have helped normalize the AfD from abroad, and because CDU/CSU’s soon-to-be Chancellor Friedrich Merz aligned with the far-right party in parliamentary votes. And so, here we are: The party of resentment, hatred and vileness appears freer than most other parties.

The Left (previously the PDS, and before that, the SED) has undergone a somewhat similar history. For a long time, it kept on trying to avoid being caught up in its socialist past. Its politicians were on the defensive, even long after the SED had become The Left, even after the Berlin Wall had been gone for three decades.

The AfD and The Left, managed to be true to themselves because they didn’t fully engage with the problems at hand.

We tend to forget today that The Left prevented a left-wing, red-red-green majority in the Bundestag from seizing power, instead paving the way for Angela Merkel to govern for 15 years. Then The Left fell into internal strife, largely because of Sahra Wagenknecht’s faction. The party was always navel-gazing, but never fully in sync with itself — let alone fearless.

And now, what do we get? Slogans like “Tax the Rich,” “To the barricades,” “We don’t want billionaires, we want to take away Merz’s private jet,” not to mention, “Yes to refugees.”

The Left didn’t succeed because its leader Heidi Reichinnek was doing well on TikTok, but rather, she did well on TikTok because she showed no inhibitions — because she was authentic, freed from Wagenknecht and freed from the party’s past.

Fear and loathing in the political center

Which brings us to the crucial point: The fact that authenticity and fearlessness became such an important success factor speaks to how anxious and constrained all the other parties were, constantly trying to avoid getting caught in something:

– The SPD had to hide its lack of real momentum — except for dusty, defiant anti-fascism.
– The FDP had to cover up the fact that it couldn’t reconcile governing while being the opposition at the same time.
– The CDU had to hide its internal struggle, between Trumpism and conservatism, and pretend to be much more reform-minded than it actually was.
– The Greens wanted to be loved again and therefore avoided appearing too green, too ecological or too vegetarian.

All of this felt twisted and contrived. In this way, all parties — except for the AfD and The Left — fueled the suspicion that they were up to something, behind closed doors.

And indeed, they were. They all sought to manage an epochal break with relatively normal politics. They all (some more, some less) pretended that they could solve the growing crises without fundamentally unsettling people, which, of course, is an illusion. Or in other words: a lie.

Political whispers

The book most frequently read by democratic politicians, especially those in power, during the last legislative period epitomizes this approach: Trigger Points by Steffen Mau. From this book, the entire political class concluded: Best to avoid triggering points at all costs, lest people explode in outrage and turn against you. As a result, politics was conducted by walking on eggshells, whispering in hushed backroom tones — only for The Left’s Heidi Reichinnek, 36, to come along and tap dance on those very trigger points.

The CDU, SPD, Greens and FDP were neither true to themselves nor in tune with the real problems, nor with the people, whom they fundamentally mistrust and fear. Such a mix of arrogance toward the electorate and fear of them has paralyzed politics and made real change impossible.

The AfD, of course, but also The Left, managed to be true to themselves because they didn’t fully engage with the problems at hand. Both parties pretended that the polycrisis could be solved with a single measure: For the AfD, it was the fight against foreigners; for The Left, it was taxing the rich and taking on debt. That is what prevents the established and governing parties to simply copy the formula that made The Left (let alone the AfD) successful.

But what if being true to oneself while also fully addressing problems and engaging with the people was precisely the formula for a future politics of the center? The message that politics should send to citizens right now should be as simple as it is direct: Dear people, we can’t do it without you — and we’re not ashamed to admit it.