The Left Party is the third incarnation of East Germany's Socialist Unity Party...

It was a bust-up within the SPD that gave the Left Party its purchase in the west.

It is indeed newsworthy that The Economist gives out so much about a negative post-reform picture. But they will never go too far, and I just noted that. More in the theme: first, I suspect the picture itself comes from DIW rather than the journalist looking up data on his won. Second, towards the end:

the Left Party ... could be hurt by a more populist SPD, by greater prosperity (incomes have picked up during the revival of the past two years)

Maybe brutto and running prices. But netto real wages decreased, and netto real available income per inhabitant (AFAIK the best measure of how much people can spend) is stagnant.

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}