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Communist Party of Germany
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Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (German: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, pronounced [kɔmuˈnɪstɪʃə paʁˈtaɪ ˈdɔʏtʃlants] ⓘ; KPD [ˌkaːpeːˈdeː] ⓘ) was the major far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in Allied-occupied Germany and West Germany during the post-war period until it merged with the SPD in the Soviet occupation zone in 1946 and was banned by the West German Federal Constitutional Court in 1956.
The construction of the KPD began in the aftermath of the First World War by Rosa Luxemburg's and Karl Liebknecht's faction of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) who had opposed the war and the Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (MSPD)'s support of it.
The KPD joined the Spartacist uprising of January 1919, which sought to establish a council republic in Germany. After the defeat of the uprising, and the murder of KPD leaders Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and Leo Jogiches, the party temporarily steered a more moderate, loyal-oppositionist course under the leadership of Paul Levi. But he was defeated by the ultra-leftist or putschist wing of the party and resigned and three months later he was expelled from both the KPD and Comintern because of his public critic of the role of the party leadership in the March Aktion of 1921. During the Weimar Republic period, the KPD usually polled between 10 and 15 percent of the vote and was represented in the national Reichstag and in state parliaments. Under the leadership of Ernst Thälmann from 1925 the party became thoroughly Marxist-Leninist and loyal to the leadership of the Soviet Union, and from 1928 it was largely controlled and funded by the Comintern in Moscow. Under Thälmann's leadership the party directed most of its attacks against the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), which it regarded as its main adversary and referred to as "social fascists"; the KPD adopted what's known as the 'social fascism' thesis under Stalin's direction. This position held that social democracy, particularly the SPD, was objectively a variant of fascism – 'social fascism' – because it supposedly upheld capitalism while providing a façade of workers' representation, considering all other parties in the Weimar Republic to be "fascists".
The KPD was banned in the Weimar Republic one day after the Nazi Party emerged triumphant in the German elections in 1933. It maintained an underground organization in Nazi Germany, and the KPD and groups associated with it led the internal resistance to the Nazi regime, with a focus on distributing anti-Nazi literature. The KPD suffered heavy losses between 1933 and 1939, with 30,000 Communists executed and 150,000 sent to Nazi concentration camps. Many German Communists went to the Soviet Union. However, 60% of German exiles in the Soviet Union were liquidated during the Stalinist terror and a higher proportion of the KPD Politburo membership died in the Soviet Union than in Nazi Germany. Hundreds of German citizens, the majority of whom were Communists, had been handed over to the Gestapo from Stalin's administration.
The party was revived in divided postwar West and East Germany and won seats in the first Bundestag (West German Parliament) elections in 1949. The KPD was banned as extremist in West Germany in 1956 by the Federal Constitutional Court. In 1969, some of its former members founded an even smaller fringe party, the German Communist Party (DKP), which remains legal, and multiple tiny splinter groups claiming to be the successor to the KPD have also subsequently been formed. In East Germany, the party was merged, by Soviet decree, with remnants of the Social Democratic Party to form the Socialist Unity Party (SED) which ruled East Germany from 1949 until 1989–1990; the merger was opposed by many Social Democrats, many of whom fled to the western zones. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, reformists took over the SED and renamed it the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS); in 2007 the PDS subsequently merged with the SPD splinter faction WASG to form Die Linke.
Before World War I the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was the largest party in Germany and the world's most successful socialist party. Although still officially claiming to be a Marxist party, by 1914 it had become in practice a reformist party. In 1914 the SPD members of the Reichstag voted in favour of the war. Left-wing members of the party, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, strongly opposed the war, and the SPD soon suffered a split. From the split emerged the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and the more radical Spartacist League; the latter formed the core of what would become the KPD. In November 1918, revolution broke out across Germany. The KPD held its founding congress in Berlin from 30 December 1918 to 1 January 1919, in the reception hall of the City Council. Rosa Luxemburg was initially against the setting up of a new party but joined the KPD after her initial hesitation. Apart from the Spartacists, another dissident group of socialists called the International Communists of Germany (IKD), also dissenting members of the Social Democratic party but mainly located in Hamburg, Bremen and Northern Germany, joined the KPD. The Revolutionary Shop Stewards, a network of dissenting socialist trade unionists centered in Berlin, were also invited to the congress, but ultimately did not join the KPD because they deemed the founding congress too syndicalist-leaning.
The Party's first Central Committee consisted of Hermann Duncker, Käte Duncker, Hugo Eberlein, Paul Frölich, Leo Jogiches, Paul Lange, Paul Levi, Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Ernst Meyer, Wilhelm Pieck, and August Thalheimer.
There were seven main reports given at the founding congress:
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Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (German: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, pronounced [kɔmuˈnɪstɪʃə paʁˈtaɪ ˈdɔʏtʃlants] ⓘ; KPD [ˌkaːpeːˈdeː] ⓘ) was the major far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in Allied-occupied Germany and West Germany during the post-war period until it merged with the SPD in the Soviet occupation zone in 1946 and was banned by the West German Federal Constitutional Court in 1956.
The construction of the KPD began in the aftermath of the First World War by Rosa Luxemburg's and Karl Liebknecht's faction of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) who had opposed the war and the Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (MSPD)'s support of it.
The KPD joined the Spartacist uprising of January 1919, which sought to establish a council republic in Germany. After the defeat of the uprising, and the murder of KPD leaders Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and Leo Jogiches, the party temporarily steered a more moderate, loyal-oppositionist course under the leadership of Paul Levi. But he was defeated by the ultra-leftist or putschist wing of the party and resigned and three months later he was expelled from both the KPD and Comintern because of his public critic of the role of the party leadership in the March Aktion of 1921. During the Weimar Republic period, the KPD usually polled between 10 and 15 percent of the vote and was represented in the national Reichstag and in state parliaments. Under the leadership of Ernst Thälmann from 1925 the party became thoroughly Marxist-Leninist and loyal to the leadership of the Soviet Union, and from 1928 it was largely controlled and funded by the Comintern in Moscow. Under Thälmann's leadership the party directed most of its attacks against the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), which it regarded as its main adversary and referred to as "social fascists"; the KPD adopted what's known as the 'social fascism' thesis under Stalin's direction. This position held that social democracy, particularly the SPD, was objectively a variant of fascism – 'social fascism' – because it supposedly upheld capitalism while providing a façade of workers' representation, considering all other parties in the Weimar Republic to be "fascists".
The KPD was banned in the Weimar Republic one day after the Nazi Party emerged triumphant in the German elections in 1933. It maintained an underground organization in Nazi Germany, and the KPD and groups associated with it led the internal resistance to the Nazi regime, with a focus on distributing anti-Nazi literature. The KPD suffered heavy losses between 1933 and 1939, with 30,000 Communists executed and 150,000 sent to Nazi concentration camps. Many German Communists went to the Soviet Union. However, 60% of German exiles in the Soviet Union were liquidated during the Stalinist terror and a higher proportion of the KPD Politburo membership died in the Soviet Union than in Nazi Germany. Hundreds of German citizens, the majority of whom were Communists, had been handed over to the Gestapo from Stalin's administration.
The party was revived in divided postwar West and East Germany and won seats in the first Bundestag (West German Parliament) elections in 1949. The KPD was banned as extremist in West Germany in 1956 by the Federal Constitutional Court. In 1969, some of its former members founded an even smaller fringe party, the German Communist Party (DKP), which remains legal, and multiple tiny splinter groups claiming to be the successor to the KPD have also subsequently been formed. In East Germany, the party was merged, by Soviet decree, with remnants of the Social Democratic Party to form the Socialist Unity Party (SED) which ruled East Germany from 1949 until 1989–1990; the merger was opposed by many Social Democrats, many of whom fled to the western zones. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, reformists took over the SED and renamed it the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS); in 2007 the PDS subsequently merged with the SPD splinter faction WASG to form Die Linke.
Before World War I the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was the largest party in Germany and the world's most successful socialist party. Although still officially claiming to be a Marxist party, by 1914 it had become in practice a reformist party. In 1914 the SPD members of the Reichstag voted in favour of the war. Left-wing members of the party, led by Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, strongly opposed the war, and the SPD soon suffered a split. From the split emerged the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and the more radical Spartacist League; the latter formed the core of what would become the KPD. In November 1918, revolution broke out across Germany. The KPD held its founding congress in Berlin from 30 December 1918 to 1 January 1919, in the reception hall of the City Council. Rosa Luxemburg was initially against the setting up of a new party but joined the KPD after her initial hesitation. Apart from the Spartacists, another dissident group of socialists called the International Communists of Germany (IKD), also dissenting members of the Social Democratic party but mainly located in Hamburg, Bremen and Northern Germany, joined the KPD. The Revolutionary Shop Stewards, a network of dissenting socialist trade unionists centered in Berlin, were also invited to the congress, but ultimately did not join the KPD because they deemed the founding congress too syndicalist-leaning.
The Party's first Central Committee consisted of Hermann Duncker, Käte Duncker, Hugo Eberlein, Paul Frölich, Leo Jogiches, Paul Lange, Paul Levi, Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Ernst Meyer, Wilhelm Pieck, and August Thalheimer.
There were seven main reports given at the founding congress:
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