SNA (Glasgow) — Thousands gathered in Berlin late last month to demand Germany pursue peace talks with Russia over Ukraine. Reaction to the “Revolt for Peace” rally, organized by outspoken leftwing politician Sahra Wagenknecht, has exposed deep divisions within the German left on diplomatic policies.

“Solidarity with Ukraine means working for peace, not war,” she declared during her speech at the late February demonstration.

Germany, under a ruling coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), The Greens, and Free Democratic Party, has progressively increased its military support for Ukraine following the Russian invasion in February last year. Most recently, Berlin has committed to sending eighteen of its most advanced Leopard 2 battle tanks to Ukraine. These tanks will join a plethora of weapon systems, vehicles, and millions of rounds of ammunition already supplied by Germany to Kyiv.

Sahra Wagenknecht, former co-chair of The Left party, is a long-time peace activist and a strong opponent of Western interventionism around the world. Her party is a democratic socialist organization which occupies the furthest left echelon of mainstream German politics. However, Wagenknecht believes that the party has drifted in recent years into a more conventional liberal internationalist mould on many issues, and most disturbingly on Ukraine.

This intra-party divide became painfully apparent last September following Wagenknecht’s address to the German federal parliament, the Bundestag, where she condemned the Olaf Scholz administration’s response to Ukraine, which she contends is “pushing millions of German families into poverty and destroying our economy.” This speech garnered mixed reviews among her party colleagues on the floor. The Left Co-chair Katina Schubert later accused Wagenknecht of “agitating against the party” and harming its messaging.

Undeterred by the halfhearted backing from her party, Wagenknecht joined with feminist author Alice Schwarzer in January to publish a petition calling for peace in Ukraine.

The petition argues that Berlin has ignored its own “red lines” on the nature of military support to Ukraine, especially in light of the upcoming Leopard tank deliveries. It also criticizes the government, particularly Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a member of The Greens, of inflammatory posturing. Baerbock’s militant rhetoric and the government’s ratcheting up of lethal aid, the petition argues, inevitably brings Germany closer to an all-out war with Russia. The petition concludes that–although the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) will not be persuaded–“we can and must hold Germany’s government and chancellor to task.”

More than 750,000 people have so far signed the petition, including around seventy leading German intellectuals and public figures. The huge response inspired the Revolt for Peace movement to take to the streets. The main rally, held on February 25, on a freezing snowy day in front of the Brandenburg Gate, attracted thousands of participants to watch impassioned speeches by Wagenknecht, Schwarzer, and others. The official estimate by the Berlin police put attendance at around 13,000, although the organizers claimed it was much higher.

The Berlin rally received some backing from Wagenknecht’s political allies. The Left’s parliamentary co-chairs, Amira Mohamed Ali and Dietmar Bartsch, both made positive comments about Wagenknecht’s efforts, but they stopped short of fully endorsing the movement. Ali stated that the Revolt for Peace is largely in line with The Left’s platform, and Bartsch commented on what he views as its “justified” calls for peace.

Surprisingly, far right Alternative for Germany (AfD) Chairman Tino Chrupalla openly praised the Revolt for Peace petition and rally, demonstrating the trend seen in many Western nations in which the antiwar left and the populist right are finding themselves largely in accord on the Ukraine issue.

However, the German mainstream has been overwhelmingly hostile to the Revolt for Peace, which many argue serves only to enable Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Moreover, some critics complain that Wagenknecht has not explicitly rejected support for her campaign coming from the political right. Katja Mast, parliamentary secretary of the ruling SDP, asserted that “half-hearted distancing from the far right is not enough.” The head of Germany’s Protestant church, Margot Kassmann, who previously endorsed the petition, added that she could not support the rally because it had been praised by the AfD.

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action Robert Habeck, a member of The Greens, went so far as to accuse Wagenknecht of trying to “politically mislead the population.”

However, the most consequential criticisms came from Wagenknecht’s own party leadership. The Left Chairwoman Janine Wissler and senior party executive Tobias Bank publicly distanced themselves from her campaign. For his part, Bank expressed discomfort with the support received from the AfD and indicated that The Left would not offer official backing.

Responding to the lukewarm attitudes within her political party, Wagenknecht highlighted the reversal of positions about war between the political left and the right during her speech. She argued that too many on the left have gained “an obsession with conflict” and had “completely lost their political compass.”

Wagenknecht appears to be preparing to make her split from The Left official. She confirmed this month that she will not seek reelection as a party candidate in the next general elections. She also hinted about the formation of a new party, suggesting that “something new may arise politically” after she officially leaves The Left.

At least one poll, conducted by Berlin-based Wahlkreisprognose, found at the beginning of this month that a hypothetical party led by Wagenknecht would currently gather 14% of the nation’s party vote, placing it tied at third with The Greens and far ahead of The Left. This seems to indicate that many in Germany are open to her message about the need for a pro-peace diplomatic agenda.

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