Military aid to Ukraine is fracturing the left in Germany and Spain

This is one of the collateral effects of the war in Ukraine: the question of Western military aid divides left-wing political formations in Europe, and sometimes even within the same current or the same government. This is the case in Germany and Spain.

In Germany, splits within Die Linke

Initially, the left-wing German party Die Linke remained rather discreet about condemning the Russian attack. From now on, the formation finds itself divided between several currents of thought, overtaken by its anti-imperialism and its anti-militarism. Published in February, a “manifesto for peace” drafted by party representatives called for immediate peace negotiations, instead of arms deliveries. In addition to the departure of 10% of members last year, criticism is becoming increasingly clear against the positions deemed too extreme by Sahra Wagenknecht, the group’s former president in the Bundestag. Others, on the contrary, consider the line of Die Linke too close to that of the current government.

In Spain, Podemos against the Socialist Party

In Spain, divisions are growing within the coalition government between the Socialist Party and Podemos, the radical left party. On the one hand, Pedro Sanchez, the head of government from the Socialist Party, authorizes the sending of military aid and on the other Podemos, opposed to all the deliveries of arms voted in Parliament for a year. The formation refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, explaining that it did not want to participate “to the warlike fury of NATO“. Ioné Belarra, the number 1 of Podemos and Minister of Social Rights, attacked without naming him the Socialist Party of Pedro Sanchez last month by evoking a pro-war party.