Meeting of the Party Executive Committee

Last weekend the party executive committee (PEC) met for a two day session - again online. We welcomed Lars Leopold (Land party chair Lower Saxony) for an exchange on election year 2022. We fight for a re-entry into Land parliament. Member of PEC and Land organisation Saxony, Stefan Hartmann, reported on the Land district and mayoral elections in Saxony. They mainly take place far from the cities in rural areas. We want to defend our mayoral posts in Borna and Flöha. Extensive support from the federal level and the head office  will be offered.

In a first reading we dealt with three drafts constituting the basis for the three leading motions for the party congress in June in Erfurt. It is certainly unusual to present three leading motions; this is done to better structure the contentual debate.

In the debate on the draft on the socio-ecological transformation it was made clear that we fight for socially just climate politics. Fiscal policy is the weak spot of the government here. The challenges are huge but there are no plans yet for any returns. This leads to the current imbalance in political decisions. The recently decided "energy money" for the citizens alone shows the socio-political bias. There is barely any social in climate politics.

The second draft deals with the LINKE as a peace party and our approach to foreign policy. Both, the draft, as well as the debates around it were heavily influenced by Russias invasion in Ukraine. The war needs to be stopped immediately and  there must be a diplomatic solution - accompanied by security guarantees. Furthermore, the new arms race needs to be stopped. Not more weapons create peace  but less.

The third draft deals with party development. It highlights the challenges of changes in the membership structure and shows potential ways to the future. We need to strengthen the local roots of the party especially combined with communal policy. Further aspects of the draft are digitalisation and the creation of spaces to connect.

The PEC offered many remarks and comments on all three drafts. We will further intensively work on them.

Last week we received notice of a report from a meeting of the council of elders. The council of elders is, according to the party statutes, a consulting body whose members are appointed by the PEC. In our resolution on the latest report (see bottom) we strongly reject a certain text passage assessing the war in Ukraine. Furthermore, the party executive board will soon before its next gathering meet with the council of elders. During the next meeting of the committee on April 23/24 we will discuss the future mode of work of the council of elders and in the following meeting the PEC will convene a new council of elders.

On Sunday, we dealt with the results of our membership survey. About 14000 members replied to questions regarding their assessment of the federal election results and party structures. The debate was very intense. The results will be allocated to the land organisations.

The draft "Soften the energy price shock in a socially just way - bring energy transformation consistently forward" was accepted with some changes. With it we demand to rather have a special funding for climate justice instead of armament. We also suggest a socially progressive energy fund. This will bring forward the traffic transformation as well.

The proposal "Culture in the Left" was approved, the Fiesta de solidaridad will be supported.

The treasurer, Harald Wolf, informed extensively on the state of finances and the tariff negotiations. The 2022 budget was approved. Furthermore, Harald Wolf informed about the status of the membership fee working group. It further works on an update of the membership fee structure as a proposal for the congress.

In solidarity,

Jörg Schindler

Addendum: Resolution on the Council of Elders (2022/057)

The party executive committee harshly criticises the explications in the "notification on the meeting of the Council of Elders of DIE LINKE of March 17, 2022". This applies especially to the sentence questioning that the invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine can actually be considered a war. Instead it contemplates whether this could be an internal civil war between "the new Eastern states and fascist elements in the west of Ukraine". We clearly reject this opinion. These musings are inacceptable and contradict the common position of party and parliamentary faction.

Meanwhile a second version of the notification was published which replaced the sentence "The question whether the war in Ukraine is an invasion of Russian troops or presents as an internal civil war of forces in the new Eastern states and fascist elements in the west of Ukraine is open" with "The invasion of Russian troops in Ukraine, which is against international law, poses huge risks for an extension of the war. More than ever politics are challenged." This change was only brought about by the critique and objection of single members of the council of elders. They specifically criticised that the notification in its former draft was neither discussed nor approved by the council.

We condemn the offensive war of Russia against Urkaine which is against international law. There is no justification for this unlawful war. DIE LINKE is committed to peace and international law. This applies always. We do not apply double standards.

The report of the council of elders and the remarks of members of the council show that mode and form of work are dysfunctional.

The PEC will debate and decide on the structure and future work mode of the council on April 23/24th. In the following meeting the PEC will convene a new council of elders. The PEC emphasises that the council of elders is an important body and that in the future there will be closer cooperation between PEC and council..