Olaf Scholz needs to deal with the Putin appeasers in his party

'The weapons have to fall silent,’ the left wing of Germany’s ruling Social Democratic party suggested this week, in their latest public appeal for peace in Ukraine. The authors argued that it is time to find a way of living with the Russian government, putting pressure on the Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The intervention could well be a watershed moment for the Chancellor, whose own support for Ukraine during the conflict has been mixed to say the least. Now Scholz has been presented with a choice: either he faces down the appeasers in his own party, or signals once again that Germany is an unreliable ally to Ukraine.

The left-wing SPD appeal itself demands a ceasefire in Ukraine even if that means ‘accepting realities one may not like.’ There is little mention of the fact that the realities of war in Ukraine means rape, torture and summary executions. The report’s authors forget that Russia is holding the world hostage with the seizure of nuclear power plants and threats of nuclear war. And that Russia launched a war of aggression in order to wipe an entire country off the map of Europe. Instead, the SPD appeal talks of Ukraine and Russia as ‘war parties’ that have to find a way to ‘come to terms’ – as if both sides share equal blame and responsibility for the prolonged conflict.

In fact it doesn’t appear to matter at all how much destruction Russian troops wreak in Ukraine. The clamour to reward Putin for the war never seems to cease among elements of the German political establishment, and especially Scholz’s party. No matter that Moscow marked the six month anniversary of its war of aggression with a rocket strike on a railway station that killed 25 people, including two children.

The blind pacifism of the SPD’s left wing is as naive as it is callous. The signatories hope that third countries can step in as mediators. China is named directly due to its comparatively amicable relations with Russia. The signatories envision a role for China as a neutral country and want to draw it in to end the war just as Beijing ramps up its own aggression against Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Indo-Pacific region as a whole.

This is not only morally wrong but also runs contrary to Germany’s current foreign policy. Evidence of detention centres and other human rights abuses in China, combined with Beijing’s aggressive economic expansion, have made the German government and industry wary of their immense dependence on China. Scholz’s coalition is in the process of formulating a new China policy which will be better aligned with Nato’s, and the German airforce is this year taking part in Australia’s Pitch Black military exercise for the first time to underline the change. A plea for diplomatic aid from China would undermine efforts of deterrence and peacekeeping elsewhere in the world.

Given how at odds the appeal is with government policy, it’s tempting to brush this it off as the work of a fringe group. After all, even the Ukrainian ambassador in Berlin is cautiously optimistic that Germany is ‘on the right track’ in increasing its aid to Kyiv. The German public also still supports Ukraine’s war effort. In a recent survey 71 per cent said they would want this to continue even if it means higher energy prices. Among SPD voters, the figure was even higher.

Nonetheless Scholz should confront the pacifist faction in his party head-on. Among the signatories were parliamentarians, the mayor of Dortmund and the former mayor of Bremen. With his muddled messaging Scholz gives their voices resonance. It is never entirely clear how committed he is to upholding security and the rule of law again Russian aggression.

After a lot of dithering in the build-up to the invasion, Scholz surprised many, including the majority of his fellow SPD members with his declaration of the war as a Zeitenwende – a watershed era. Party colleagues reluctantly joined the standing ovations in parliament as their Chancellor declared that Germany would invest €100 billion into its military ‘to keep warmongers like Putin in check.’

But since then the ongoing war in Ukraine has sorely tested the unity of the SPD. The party’s co-leader Lars Klingbeil made headlines in June when he called on Germany to take its place as a ‘leading power’ in the world. ‘After nearly 80 years of restraint,’ he argued, Germany must learn to accept ‘military force as a legitimate means of politics.’ He was immediately criticised by the Young Socialists, the party’s youth wing, whose leader said Klingbeil was ‘completely wrong’ and the SPD should work towards ‘perspectives of disarmament.’

Scholz has done little to resolve the tension that is tearing his party apart and there seems to be no attempt to take ownership of the SPD’s ideological direction. As a result, voters are beginning to turn away from last year’s election winner. A new survey puts Scholz as their third choice for chancellor with only 18 per cent rooting for him. The SPD too have fallen into third place with only 19 per cent saying they would still vote for them.

If Scholz ignores the latest attempt of those on the left of his party to undermine his credibility as a principled leader, it will not only cost him dearly but Germany, Ukraine and Europe too. This war is not a conflict between two aggrieved parties but an attempt to restore Russian overlordship in Eastern Europe. Putin could end it tomorrow, but at the moment there is not enough conviction behind Scholz’s words and deeds to suggest he can steer his country through a tough winter while continuing to support Ukraine.

Neither Berlin nor Beijing can coax Putin to the negotiating table. The key to peace in Europe lies not in misguided pacifism but in bullish determination to do the right thing.

ENDS