The Left ( ; ; ) is a

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. On the

political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different Politics, political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more Geometry, geometric Coordinate axis, axes that represent independent political ...

, it is considered a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

far-left Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...

political party. The Left is associated with

The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL The Left in the European Parliament (The Left) is a left-wing political group of the European Parliament established in 1995. Prior to January 2021 it was named the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (, GUE/NGL). The group is mainly compose ...

group in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

but does not have any members. The party participates in the

Party of the European Left The Party of the European Left (PEL), or European Left (EL), is a European political party that operates as an association of democratic socialist and communist political parties in the European Union and other European countries. It was formed ...

. The Left wishes to transition Luxembourg from a

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

into a

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

. The Left was founded by the

New Left The New Left was a broad political movement that emerged from the counterculture of the 1960s and continued through the 1970s. It consisted of activists in the Western world who, in reaction to the era's liberal establishment, campaigned for freer ...

and the

Communist Party of Luxembourg The Communist Party of Luxembourg (; ; ; KPL or PCL) is a communist party in Luxembourg. is the current chairman of the party. History The KPL was founded on 2 January 1921, in the town of Niederkorn, making it one of the oldest parties ...

(KPL) as an electoral party. It had members from both parties and independents. In the

1999 Luxembourg general election General elections were held in Luxembourg on 13 June 1999,Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1244 alongside European Parliament elections. The Christian Social People's Party remained the largest par ...

, the Left won 3.3% of the votes and one seat in the parliament; André Hoffmann was elected from the southern constituency. In 2000, after anticipated elections in the city of Esch sur Alzette, Hoffmann became

deputy mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

and Aloyse Bisdorff (KPL) succeeded him in parliament. In accordance with the Left's statutes, Bisdorff resigned from parliament and was succeeded by Serge Urbany in 2002. A dispute arose between a number of members of the KPL and the majority of the Left; as a result, the two parties ran separate lists in the

2004 Luxembourg general election General elections were held in Luxembourg on 13 June 2004,Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1244 alongside 2004 European Parliament election in Luxembourg, European Parliament elections. The ruling ...

. The Left won 1.9% of the votes and lost its parliamentary presence. In the

2009 Luxembourg general election General elections were held in Luxembourg on 7 June 2009, together with the 2009 election to the European Parliament. All sixty members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected for five years. The polls were topped by the Christian Social Peopl ...

, it increased its share of the vote to 3.3% and Hoffmann returned to parliament as the Left's sole representative; Hoffmann's personal vote of 9,067 in the south constituency was almost equal to the total number of votes gathered by the KPL, which won 10,803 votes. In 2013, the party elected two members ( Serge Urbany and Justin Turpel).

Ideology

In 2022, member of parliament Nathalie Oberweis of déi Lénk made a statement concerning the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, that a peace solution to which

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

as well as

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

could agree should be found as fast as possible, and that this could best be achieved by Ukraine renouncing their accession to NATO. According to their electoral programme (Point 17.4) déi Lénk want the complete dissolution of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

or at least the exit of Luxembourg from the organisation.

Election results

Chamber of Deputies

European Parliament

References

Bibliography

* Wehenkel, Henri, Communisme et postcommunisme au Luxembourg, in: Communisme 2014, 1989–2014 – L'éternel retour des communistes, p. 165–172 * Wehenkel, Henri/Redondo, Jean-Laurent/Hoffmann, André/Urbany, Serge, Table ronde: PCL et/ou nouvelle gauche: renouvellement et/ou scission, in: Cahiers Marxistes, No. 201, April–May 1996, p. 121–144

External links

*
Official newspaper
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Left, The 1999 establishments in Luxembourg Democratic socialist parties in Europe Party of the European Left member parties Political parties established in 1999 Political parties in Luxembourg Socialist parties in Luxembourg