What to make of Die Linke

EVERY TIMESPD)NATOSPDNATONATONATO Olaf Scholz or Annalena Baerbock is asked about a coalition with Die Linke (The Left), a party that emerged in 2007 from the ashes of East Germany’s Communist Party, they furiously beat around the bush. Mr Scholz, the Social Democratic Party’s ( candidate for the chancellorship, says that he needs a clear commitment to from any future coalition partner. Ms Baerbock, the Green Party’s candidate, says that she will talk to all democratic parties—and Die Linke is a democratic party too.At the beginning of this month, leaders of Die Linke seemed to be courting the and the Greens with an offer of a “progressive alliance” that could achieve leftist policy goals such as higher taxes on the rich and rent caps. The party even struck its oft-repeated demand to abolish from its , its immediate policy measures. Yet in recent days the party has dispelled any impression of a more moderate course. At a televised debate on September 13th, Janine Wissler, the co-head of Die Linke, proclaimed again that her party wants to dissolve and turn it into a collective security alliance that includes Russia. When asked how the Left could possibly be part of a coalition government while holding such a policy, she replied that foreign policy consisted of more than just .