The Socialist Left (german: Sozialistische Linke, SL) is a political

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

in the Left Party of Germany. It includes political viewpoints ranging from left

Keynesianism Keynesian economics ( ; sometimes Keynesianism, named after British economist John Maynard Keynes) are the various macroeconomic theories and models of how aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) strongly influences economic output and ...

and left

social democracy Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

to reform communism and

Marxism Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

.Sozialistische Linke: realistisch und radikal!
" updated version approved 5 February 2007. SL members share a common goal of orienting the Left Party firmly toward the

labor movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

. Socialist Left was founded on 19 August 2006 in

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...

at a meeting of 50 delegates. Most of its members were initially members of the Labor and Social Justice Alternative, and its membership was centered in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

.Erstes Strömungstreffen der Sozialistischen Linken
" SL website (19 August 2006).Sozialistische Linke will in Entwicklung der neuen Linken eingreifen
" SL website (3 February 2007). Following the merger of the WASG with the Party of Democratic Socialism to form the Left Party, the SL formed a tendency of the new party.Sozialistische Linke
official page a
www.die-linke.de
The position papers of the SL, "Sozialistische Linke: realistisch und radikal!", summarizes the group's views: "Progressive social changes, in our belief, can only be achieved through interactions between the political forces and extraparliamentary social movements. Most important are therefore the trade unions". The SL has strongly endorsed the campaign for a German

minimum wage law Minimum wage law is the body of law which prohibits employers from hiring employees or workers for less than a given hourly, daily or monthly minimum wage. More than 90% of all countries have some kind of minimum wage legislation. History Until r ...

. They support demand-side economic policies, as well as public investment in "educational, social, ecological and transportation infrastructure". "Reforms and the struggle for a socialist society are not contradictory," the SL position papers state. "Economic and social regulation, social-welfare structures, as well as the achievements of representative democracy can be the starting point for large changes to society". The organization is particularly sympathetic to the Dutch

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

and the Italian

Communist Refoundation Party The Communist Refoundation Party ( it, Partito della Rifondazione Comunista, PRC) is a communist political party in Italy that emerged from a split of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1991. The party's secretary is Maurizio Acerbo, who replac ...

, both of which have a strong trade-union orientation. A number of Socialist Left members are prominent in the Left Party, German trade unions and the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

. SL members include

Ursula Lötzer Ursula may refer to: * Ursula (name), feminine name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * ''Ursula'' (album), an album by American jazz pianist Mal Waldron *Ursula (crater), a crater on Titania, a moon of Uranus *Ursula (det ...

(Bundestag member and Left Party spokesperson on international economic policy);

Ralf Krämer Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

(Secretary of the

ver.di (''Verdi'' (stylized as ''ver.di''; �vɛʁdiː; German: ''United Services Trade Union'') is a German trade union based in Berlin, Germany. It was established on 19 March 2001 as the result of a merger of five individual unions and is a memb ...

union's National Committee); and

Hüseyin Kenan Aydın Hüseyin Kenan Aydın (born 22 October 1962, in Pülümür, Tunceli Province, Turkey) is a German politician and member of Die Linke. Professional career In 1980 he was employed by Thyssen-Krupp. From 1991 to 2003 he was involved in the worker ...

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

-born member of the Bundestag and secretary of the

IG Metall IG Metall (; IGM; German: ''Industriegewerkschaft Metall'', "Industrial Union of Metalworkers'") is the dominant metalworkers' union in Germany, making it the country's largest union as well as Europe's largest industrial union. Analysts of Ger ...

union in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

). Adherents of the

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

group

Marx21 Left Shift (german: links=no, Linksruck) was a Trotskyist group in Germany, which was the German affiliate of the International Socialist Tendency (the network founded by the British Socialist Workers Party). In September 2007, Linksruck forma ...

are among the leading members of the Socialist Left, especially in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Marx21 leaders Christine Buchholz and Lucia Schnell are particularly active in the SL.Christine Buchholz: Mitglied des Geschäftsführenden Vorstandes
" Die Linke website.

External links

Official website

Official page
a
www.die-linke.de

References

{{The Left (Germany) The Left (Germany) Political party factions in Germany