The LEFT politician, for instance, opposes a course of friendly ouvertures towards the Social Democratic Party SPD. In an interview with BILD.de, Wagenknecht explains the raucous attack against Oskar Lafontaine in the so-called "summer interview" of German TV station ZDF.

BILD: Ms. Wagenknecht, THE LEFT in spite of the continued financial crisis does not seem able to score in the super-electoral year. Is your party chairman Oskar Lafontaine so nervous for that reason?

Sahra Wagenknecht: Oskar Lafontaine only puts to a head what is undisputable. The media frequently ignore our political contents. That gets on our nerves. Yet it doesn't cause us a nervous breakdown.

Is Lafontaine a credible left-winger after all?

In contrast to other social democrats he has remained true to himself. When breaking with Schröder, he has said: "With me, there won't be any war on Kosovo, and with me, there won't be any social demolition." Today he says: "With me, there won't be any continuation of the war in Afghanistan, and with me, there won't be any Hartz IV." That is a clear line.

How about support for Lafontaine at the party basis?

He plays quite a central role in the party. Especially in building up the Left in the West. Yet he is not the only representative of the Left. With Gregor Gysi and Oskar Lafontaine, we have consciously elected a double leadership of the fraction. However, it is not central in this respect that one have a West and the other an East German biography. It is a matter of political content. And they are essentially identical.

However, your message does not seem to be catching on with the voters. Why is that?

Results around ten percent are not a bad result after all. The PDS would have dreamt of that in former times. We succeeded in establishing a party left of the SPD. In a crisis, many people wage upon security that they rather think conservative parties can offer. But that's wrong.

What is your strategy against that?

More and more people are dissatisfied and turn away disgusted from the well-worn political business. They notice that they are being taken to the cleaners by the established parties. We want to make it clear to them: not to vote doesn't change a thing; a vote for the Left by contrast produces pressure.

Yet you are losing in approval at the moment rather than winning.

He or she who votes for the Left does not vote for a potential government party. Yet the stronger we get, the less social atrocities a future federal government will have the courage to commit. Whether it wants to impose yet another value-added tax hike in order to finance its irresponsible bank rescue action will also depend on our result.