Katja Kipping

Katja Kipping (born 18 January 1978) is a German politician of The Left who is serving as Senator for Integration, Labour and Social Affairs in the Berlin state government since December 2021. She was previously a member of the Bundestag representing Saxony from 2005 to 2021. She was federal co-leader of The Left from 2012 to 2021 alongside Bernd Riexinger.

Katja Kipping
Senator MdL a.D. MdB a.D.
Kipping in 2020
Senator for Integration, Labour and Social Affairs of Berlin
Assumed office
21 December 2021
Governing MayorFranziska Giffey
Preceded byElke Breitenbach
Leader of The Left
In office
2 June 2012 – 27 February 2021
Serving with Bernd Riexinger
Preceded byGesine Lötzsch
Succeeded byJanine Wissler
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the Bundestag
for Saxony
In office
18 October 2005 – 3 January 2022
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded byClara Bünger
ConstituencyThe Left List
Member of the Landtag of Saxony
In office
13 October 1999 – 31 October 2005
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded byMonika Runge
ConstituencyThe Left List
Member of the City Council of Dresden
In office
April 1999 – December 2003
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded bymulti-member district
Personal details
Born (1978-01-18) 18 January 1978
Dresden, East Germany (now Germany)
Political partyThe Left (2007–)
Other political
affiliations		Party of Democratic Socialism (1998–2007)
Children1
Residence(s)Dresden
Berlin
Alma materDresden University of Technology
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Journalist
WebsiteOfficial website

Early life and career

Kipping was born on 18 January 1978 in Dresden, then part of East Germany (GDR). After completing her Abitur in 1996 at Annen-Gymnasium, Kipping spent a voluntary social year in Gatchina, Russia. Following this, she completed a degree in Slavic studies, with a minor in American studies and public law, at the Dresden University of Technology, from which she obtained her Master of Arts degree in 2003.

Kipping currently splits her time between Berlin and Dresden.[1] She is married, and has a daughter.

Political career

At the start of her studies at the Dresden University of Technology, Kipping was heavily involved with the so-called Protestbüro (bureau of protest). In 1998, she became a member of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the forerunner of today's Left party. She was elected to the city council of Dresden, capital of Saxony, serving from 1999 to 2003. She was elected to the Landtag of Saxony for PDS in the 1999 state election, and served until the 2004 election. During this time, she was the party's spokesperson for traffic and energy policy.

In July 2003, she became deputy chairperson of PDS, focusing on the party's "social agenda" and "contact with social movements". She was a principal proponent of a united left party, comprising the east-oriented PDS and the west-oriented Labour and Social Justice (WASG). In 2005, Kipping was elected to the Bundestag, on the joint PDS–WASG electoral list.

The two parties merged to form The Left on 16 June 2007, and Kipping was elected deputy chairperson of the new party. In 2009, she was re-elected to the Bundestag, on The Left's list. In January 2012, Der Spiegel reported that Kipping was one of 27 members of The Left's parliamentary group who were under surveillance by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz).[2]

Federal co-leader

On 2 June 2012, delegates at the third national party conference elected her as one of the party's two chairpersons, with 67% of the vote. Since then, she has led the party, along with Bernd Riexinger.[3][4] On 10 May 2014, she and Riexinger were re-elected as co-chairs, in a national party conference.[5]

In the Bundestag, Kipping is The Left's spokesperson for social affairs, and a strong opponent of the Hartz-IV program. For years, she has championed the idea of a national basic income guarantee. From November 2009 to September 2012, she chaired the Bundestag's Committee on Labour and Social Affairs.[6]

In August 2020, Kipping and Riexinger announced they would step down as co-chairs in accordance with party regulations stating that no position should be held by the same person for more than eight years.[7] The party congress due to elect their successors was scheduled for October/November 2020, but was delayed due to the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany. It ultimately took place digitally in February 2021. Kipping, as the designated female co-chair, was succeeded by Janine Wissler; Riexinger was succeeded by Susanne Hennig-Wellsow.[8]

Senator of Berlin

On 2 December 2021, during the government formation following the 2021 Berlin state election, the Berlin association of The Left announced that Katja Kipping would replace fellow Left politician Elke Breitenbach as Senator for Integration, Labour, and Social Affairs in the Giffey senate.[9] She was sworn in on 21 December.[10]

Social affiliations

From December 2004 until April 2008, Kipping was spokesperson for the Basic Income Network. She left that role to work on Prager Frühling (Prague Spring), a left-wing magazine, of which she is the editor. In May 2009, together with Caren Lay and Julia Bonk, she co-founded the Emancipatory Left, a caucus within The Left that espouses libertarian socialism.

In December 2007, Kipping joined members of the Bundestag and Saxon Landtag for a demonstration in support of Rote Hilfe e. V. (Red Aid), a far-left prisoner support group.[11] Kipping left Rote Hilfe in March 2009.

Kipping is a founding member of the Institute of Modern Solidarity, a left-wing oriented think tank founded in 2010.[12]

Publications
  • Christine Buchholz u. Katja Kipping (Hrsg.): G8 - Gipfel der Ungerechtigkeit. VSA, 2006, ISBN 3-89965-200-2.
  • Ausverkauf der Politik – Für einen demokratischen Aufbruch. Econ, 2009, ISBN 978-3-430-20079-0.
  • Wer flüchtetet schon freiwillig? Die Verantwortung des Westens oder Warum sich unsere Gesellschaft neu erfinden muss. Westend Verlag, Frankfurt 2016, ISBN 978-3864891335.

References
  1. Sächsische Zeitung vom 28. Dezember 2012
  2. "Verfassungsschutz beobachtet 27 Linken-Abgeordnete". Der Spiegel. 22 January 2012.
  3. Kipping und Riexinger führen tief zerstrittene Linke Spiegel Online, 2 June 2012. Accessed on 3 June 2012
  4. Wahl des Parteivorstandes. Die Linke, 2 June 2012. Accessed on 3 June 2012
  5. "DIE LINKE". DIE LINKE.
  6. Renneberg, Verena. "Deutscher Bundestag - Sabine Zimmermann folgt auf Katja Kipping". Deutscher Bundestag.
  7. "Germany: Both leaders of socialist Left Party to quit". Deutsche Welle. 29 August 2020.
  8. "The Left Party Congress will take place completely digitally". Der Spiegel. 23 January 2021.
  9. "Katja Kipping becomes Berlin's new Senator for Social Affairs". The Limited Times. 2 December 2021.
  10. "Senator for Integration, Labour, and Social Affairs". Berlin.de (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  11. Rote Hilfe e. V. - Bundestagsabgeordnete der Fraktion DIE LINKE im Bundestag treten der Roten Hilfe bei – die anderen Mitglieder der Bundestagsfraktion waren Sevim Dagdelen, Nele Hirsch und Michael Leutert, aus dem sächsischen Landtag Julia Bonk und Freya-Maria Klinger
  12. Institut Solidarische Moderne: Gründungsmitglieder
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