Comeback of the Iron Curtain in Politics? How the Russian invasion of Ukraine is shaking up the German party system

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has not only impacted international relations but also had a severe impact on domestic party competition. This has been especially noticeable for parties on the left; while some parties have decided, contrary to their originally pacifist stance, to also support arms deliveries, others remain true to their historical closeness to Russia. This romanticizing of the former Soviet era then also leads to the search for the origin of the Russian invasion in the misconduct of NATO member countries. In Germany, this split can be found in particular with regard to the radical left party The Left (Die Linke), whose historical roots lie in the remnants of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands), which ruled the Soviet occupation zone, and a left-wing split from the Social Democrats. In this paper, we are examining how this positioning affects support for the socialist The Left but also for current and possibly future competition from other left parties. Marking use of very recent data of the German Longitudinal Election Study, we argue and show empirically that the position of individuals on the conflict in Ukraine is likely to be related to their propensity of voting for a conservative radical left party. These results are particularly relevant as they could indicate a restructuring of party systems if the conflict within the political left cannot be contained in a timely manner.