The Left (Germany)

The Left

Die Linke
The Left Die Linke
Leader	Janine Wissler ; Martin Schirdewan
Founded	16 June 2007
Headquarters	Karl-Liebknecht-Haus; Kl. Alexanderstraße 28; D-10178 Berlin
Ideology	Democratic socialism
Political position	Left-wing
European affiliation	Party of the European Left
International affiliation	None
European Parliament group	GUE/NGL
Colours	Red and purple
Website
	www.die-linke.de
	Politics of Germany; Political parties;

The Left (German: Die Linke), sometimes called the Left Party (German: die Linkspartei), is a political party in Germany. It is a democratic socialist political party in Germany. It is considered to be left-wing populist by some researchers. The party is the direct descendant of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). It was formed on 16 June 2007, when The Left Party.PDS joined with WASG to form a unified party. The Left is a founding member of the Party of the European Left. It is also the largest party in the European United Left–Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group in the European Parliament.

According to official party figures, the Left Party had 60,350 registered members as of December 2020. It is the fifth-largest party in Germany.

The party participates in governments in many states including Brandenburg, Thuringia, and Berlin. The Left parliamentarian Bodo Ramelow is the Minister-President of Thuringia.

While the PDS was considered by German authorities as extremist, the WASG was not considered extremist.^[1] The party is the most left-wing party of the six represented parties in the Bundestag. It has been called far-left by various news outlets. The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungschutz) states that the party is not regarded as extremely left or a threat to democracy. However, it does monitor some of its internal factions, such as Socialist Left.

It also calls for capitalism to be overcome.^[2]^[3]