Karl Liebknecht

Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (/ˈliːpknɛxt/; German: [ˈliːpknɛçt] ^ⓘ; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist politician and revolutionary. A leader of the far-left wing of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Liebknecht was a co-founder of both the Spartacus League and Communist Party of Germany (KPD) along with Rosa Luxemburg.

Liebknecht was born in Leipzig as the son of SPD co-founder Wilhelm Liebknecht, and studied law and political economy. In 1907, he was imprisoned a year for writing an anti-militarism pamphlet, and in 1912 was elected to the Reichstag.

After the start of World War I, he vehemently opposed the SPD's support for the German war effort, co-founding the Spartacus League and beginning to call for revolution. Liebknecht was expelled from the party for his views in 1916, and again imprisoned for leading an anti-war demonstration. In 1917, the Spartacus League joined the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD).

Liebknecht was released shortly before the November Revolution, during which he proclaimed Germany a "Free Socialist Republic" from the Berlin Palace on 9 November 1918. In December, his call to make Germany a soviet republic was rejected by the majority of the Reich Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils, after which he became a founder of the KPD.

In January 1919, Liebknecht helped lead the failed Spartacist uprising against the SPD-ruled Weimar Republic, after which he and Luxemburg were captured and summarily executed by anti-communist Freikorps paramilitaries. Since their deaths, both Liebknecht and Luxemburg have become martyrs for the communist and socialist cause in Germany and throughout Europe. Commemoration of the two continues to play an important role among the German left to this day.

Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht was born in Leipzig in 1871, the second of the five sons of Wilhelm Liebknecht and his second wife Natalie (née Reh). His father, along with August Bebel, was one of the founders and key leaders of the SPD and its precursor parties. Karl was baptized a Lutheran in St. Thomas Church. According to the Liebknecht family tradition, their lineage was directly descended from the theologian and founder of Reformation, Martin Luther. His godparents included Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, who were not present at the baptism but had written declarations of their godparenthood.

As a child in the early 1880s, Liebknecht lived in Borsdorf, now located on the eastern outskirts of Leipzig. His father had moved into a suburban villa there with August Bebel after they were expelled from Leipzig under the 'Lesser State of Siege', a provision of the Anti-Socialist Laws directed against socialist, social democratic and communist associations and writings. The laws were in force from 1878 to 1890.

In 1890 he graduated from the Alte Nikolaischule in Leipzig and on 16 August 1890 began studying law and administrative cameral sciences at Leipzig University. He studied there with jurist Bernhard Windscheid, jurist and theologian Rudolph Sohm, economist Lujo Brentano, psychologist Wilhelm Wundt, and art historian Anton Springer. When the family moved to Berlin in October 1890, he continued his studies at the Friedrich Wilhelm University (now the Humboldt University of Berlin), where he attended lectures by historian Heinrich von Treitschke and economist Gustav Schmoller. His certificate of academic completion is dated 7 March 1893. On 29 May 1893, he passed his examination for higher civil service posts (Referendarexamen).