The results of the state elections in Bavaria and Hesse saw significant gains for the right. It is now up to us to focus on the material needs of the people 

So now it has happened: After the AfD‘s soaring popularity had been apparent for many months, the past election on Sunday showed in a frightening way that the polls were not wrong. The extreme right-wing party has also established itself in West Germany, and as the second-strongest force in Hesse (after the CDU) and third-strongest in Bavaria (after the CSU and the Free Voters), it has even managed to break through into opposition leadership in the state parliaments. At the same time, the left and the government parties lost heavily.

If one adds up the election results of the CDU/CSU, FDP, Free Voters and AfD, the result is a vote share of 70.4 percent in Bavaria and 61.5 percent in Hesse – in both federal states a crushing numerical majority for the right-wing political camp. With the loss of its seats in the Hessian state parliament, the Left Party loses its last state parliamentary group in a western German Flächenland and faces extinction. Neither in Hesse nor in Bavaria has it succeeded in winning the trust of the voters that was taken away from the SPD and the Greens.

A look at voter migration is even more revealing. The AfD was able to gain a significant number of votes from all parties. Those who voted for the AfD five years ago but not this time could not be won back. Most of their votes went to the CDU/CSU, the Free Voters or the large camp of non-voters. With this in mind, the good performance of the Free Voters in Bavaria is not surprising, after the (alleged) radical right-wing past of their leader was revealed in the affair about an anti-Semitic leaflet. This gives pause for thought.

For most of society, material and, to a certain extent ideal, needs outweigh moral arguments. According to Bertolt Brecht, first comes food, then comes morality. Inflation, cost of living, jobs, housing, health and energy are the most important issues. But in a smaller but growing part of society, the focus is now exclusively on culture wars and the reassurance of one’s own privileges. These are the best conditions for politics that relies on populist theatre instead of substance.

Instead of gradually adopting the narratives of the AfD like conservative political actors and thus further strengthening them, left parties should focus on material needs in their communication and link them to progressive emancipatory struggles. So far, the left camp has failed in the effective implementation of such a strategy. However, with the increasing consolidation of right-wing political attitudes, it will become more and more difficult in the foreseeable future to achieve a turnaround and shift the discourse to the left (or at least stop any further shift to the right). So it is high time.

MERA25 is ready to fill the vacuum in the left spectrum – programmatically, strategically and organisationally. To this end, we are working ceaselessly to build our structures and expand our reach. With test runs such as participation in the parliamentary elections in Bremen or contesting the state elections in Hesse at constituency level this year, we are raising our profile and putting ourselves in as good a position as possible to successfully contest the 2024 European elections and realise transnational solidarity. The struggle for a future worth living for all is already in full swing. Join this struggle!

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