Overview
- The party, which implemented the change on October 1, 2026, removed Sahra Wagenknecht’s name and now officially calls itself Bündnis Soziale Gerechtigkeit und Wirtschaftliche Vernunft while retaining the BSW acronym.
- Party officials say the renaming was decided in December 2025 but postponed during this year's state election campaigns to avoid disrupting advertising and voter recognition.
- Generalsekretär Oliver Ruhnert said the founder’s name had been a temporary tool to build visibility and that the established BSW label will now stand for the party’s program and organization.
- The party says hundreds of name proposals were considered and a party congress chose the new long form, signaling a deliberate internal process to institutionalize the movement.
- The change comes as the BSW, led day-to-day by former Left politicians Fabio De Masi and Amira Mohamed Ali, seeks to solidify its position after narrowly missing the 5% federal threshold in 2025 and after recent state-level coalition tensions and talks with the AfD.