The Communist Party of Germany (KPD - Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands) was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period. Founded in the aftermath of the First World War by socialists opposed to the war, led by Rosa Luxemburg, the party was after her death gradually committed to Leninism, and in the 1930s was completely loyal to the Soviet Union and its leader Joseph Stalin.
During the Weimar Republic period, the KPD usually polled between 10 and 15% of the vote and was represented in the Reichstag and in state parliaments. Banned by the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler, the KPD maintained an underground organisation but suffered heavy losses. The party was revived in divided postwar West and East Germany and won seats in the first Bundestag (West German Parliament) elections in 1949, but its support collapsed after the establishment of a Communist state in Soviet occupation zone of Germany.
In East Germany, the party merged with the Social Democratic Party to form the Socialist Unity Party which ruled East Germany until the nation's collapse in 1991. It was banned in West Germany in 1956 by the Constitutional Court and was in effect wound up in 1969, when a new, legal German Communist Party (DKP) was formed.
Early history
Before the First World War the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was the largest party in Germany and the most successful socialist party in the world. 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, with the leftists forming the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and the more radical Spartacist League. In November 1918, revolution broke out across Germany. The leftists, led by Rosa Luxemburg and the Spartacist League, formed the KPD in December 1918.
Under the leadership of Liebknecht and Luxemburg, the KPD was committed to an armed revolution in Germany, and during 1919 and 1920 revolutionary disturbances continued. Germany's Social Democratic government, which had come to power after the fall of the Monarchy, were diametrically opposed to revolutionary socialism, and Defense Minister Gustav Noske formed a series of Anti-Communist paramilitary groups, dubbed "The Freikorps", out of demobilized World War I veterans. During the failed Spartacist Uprising in Berlin of January 1919, Liebknecht and Luxemburg were killed. The Party split a few months later into two factions, the KPD and the Communist Workers Party of Germany (KAPD).
Following the assassination of Leo Jogiches, Paul Levi became the KPD leader. Other prominent members included Clara Zetkin, Paul Frolich, Hugo Eberlein, Franz Mehring, August Thalheimer, and Ernst Meyer. Levi led the party away from the policy of immediate revolution, in an effort to win over SPD and USPD workers. These efforts were rewarded when a substantial section of the USPD joined the KPD, making it a mass party for the first time.
Through the 1920s the KPD was racked by internal conflict between more and less radical factions, partly reflecting the power struggles between Zinoviev and Stalin in Moscow. Germany was seen as being of central importance to the struggle for socialism, and the failure of the German revolution was a major setback. Eventually Levi was expelled in 1921 by the Comintern for "indiscipline." Further leadership changes took place in the early 1920s, and Party members accused of being Trotskyites were expelled; of these, Heinrich Brandler, August Thalheimer and Paul Frolich set up a splinter Communist Party Opposition.
The Weimar Republic years
In 1923 a new KPD leadership loyal to Joseph Stalin, the new Soviet Premier, was installed. This leadership, headed by Ernst Thälmann, abandoned the goal of immediate revolution, and from 1924 onwards contested Reichstag elections, with some success. Although the KPD advocated a "united front" during this period, it remained deeply hostile towards Germany's SPD leadership. In 1928 Stalin launched a new "leftist" policy, which the KPD loyally followed. This so-called Third Period policy held that capitalism was entering a deep crisis and the time for a revolution was approaching fast. The SPD was denounced as "social fascists" and any suggestion of co-operating with them was rejected.
During the years of the Weimar Republic the KPD was the largest Communist party in Europe, and was seen as the "leading party" of the Communist movement outside the Soviet Union. It maintained a solid electoral performance, usually polling more than 10% of the vote, and gaining 100 deputies in the November 1932 elections. In the presidential election of the same year, Thälmann took 13.2% of the vote, compared to Hitler's 30.1%. However the "social fascism" policy scuttled any possibility of a united front with the SPD against the rising power of the Nazis.
The Nazi era
Soon after the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor, the Reichstag was set on fire and Dutch council communist Marinus van der Lubbe was found inside the building. The Nazis publicly blamed the fire on communist agitators in general, although in a German court in 1933, it was decided that he had acted alone. After the fire, habeas corpus was suspended. The Enabling Act, which legally gave Hitler dictatorial control of Germany, was passed by a Reichstag session held after the Communist deputies had been arrested and jailed.
The KPD was efficiently suppressed by the Nazis. Thousands of Communists were imprisoned in concentration camps, including Thälmann. The most senior KPD leader to escape was Walter Ulbricht, who went into exile in the Soviet Union. The KPD maintained an underground organisation in Germany throughout the Nazi period, conducting espionage and terrorism funded by Stalin, but the loss of many core members severely weakened the Party.
A number of senior KPD leaders in exile were caught up in Joseph Stalin's Great Purge of 1937-38 and executed, among them Eberlein, Heinz Neumann, Hermann Remmele, Fritz Schulte and Hermann Schubert, or sent to labour camps, like Margarete Buber-Neumann.[1] Willi Münzenberg, the KPD's propaganda chief, was murdered in mysterious circumstances in France in 1940.
Postwar history
In East Germany, the KPD (led by Walter Ulbricht) absorbed some elements of the eastern SPD and was renamed the Socialist Unity Party (SED), which became the ruling party in East Germany until 1990. After the KPD was banned in West Germany, the SED planted spies such as Günter Guillaume in the west. A small sister party of the SED, the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin, operated in the west. After German reunification, reformist elements in the SED won control of the party and refounded it as the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).
The KPD reorganized in the western part of Germany, and received 5.7% of the vote in the first Bundestag election in 1949. But the onset of the Cold War and imposition of a communist state in East Germany soon caused a collapse in the party's support. At the 1953 election the KPD only won 2.2 percent of the total votes and lost all of its seats.
The party was banned on August 17, 1956 by the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany. After the party was declared illegal, many of its members continued to function clandestinely despite increased government surveillance. Part of its membership later refounded the party in 1968 as the German Communist Party (DKP), which still exists. Following German reunification, however, many DKP members joined the new PDS.
See also:
Rotfrontkaempferbund
Luxemburgism
Erich Mielke
Walter Ulbricht
External links:
Losing the Battle of the Streets, Reflections on the KPD, 1930-33
Articles and News Stories
A Huge Step Towards Left Unity in Germany - Victor Grossman on Die Linke - MR Zine
A Berlin Commune Fights Developers
The Köpi in Berlin's Mitte district is a symbol of the city's far-left scene.
The Cold War as Ancient History
An American journalist interviews Berlin high school students.
German Intelligence Service Spies on Berlin Social Forum
Spying was made public by Der Spiegel and confirmed by the Berlin Senate.
When I was growing up I always wished I knew how to get a girlfriend in school. Eventually I realized the skill I needed to acquire was how to get a girl to like you. With this you gain an ultimate freedom. It is nice to know even how to get a hot girl to like you. You gain a sense of stability and control beyond your wildest dreams. Life becomes easy.
Learning how to get girls to like you is very rewarding every step of the way. Changes can be drastic over short periods of time. Some of these tips to get girls to like you are just really simple truths that people over complicate and confuse. Once you get a better look at how attraction works small changes will give you immediate results. Many of you have probably asked yourself how do you get a girl to like you before. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who wish they knew how to make a girl like you and how to impress a girl I really like.
Adam Clarke - Ditto Effect
Student Credit Cards With No Job
can you pay off student loans with a credit card
what is the best credit card for a college student
good student credit card
eliminate student credit card debt in one month
college student get a credit card
Grants to Pay Off Student Loans
number one choice for student credit cards
credit card to get for a college student
instant approval student credit cards
what is the easiest student credit card to get
what credit card is best for a college student
Student Answers
Best Student Credit Card to Open
paying tuition to build credit
how to choose a student credit card
prepaid credit card or regular student credit card
Best Student Credit Cards
do you have a student credit card
dildos sexy lingerie bondage sex lotions condoms sex lubricants sex toys sextoys
ppc ads cpc advertising monetize website
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-2010-c-8.html">Christian Louboutin 2010</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-boots-c-2.html">Christian Louboutin Boots</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-flats-c-4.html">Christian Louboutin Flats</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-pumps-c-3.html">Christian Louboutin Pumps</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-sandals-c-1.html">Christian Louboutin Sandals</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-slingback-c-7.html">Christian Louboutin Slingback</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-sneakers-c-6.html">Christian Louboutin Sneakers</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-24-trous-lace-up-ankle-boots-p-210.html">Christian Louboutin 24 Trous Lace Up Ankle Boots</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-alta-a-talon-python-short-boots-p-213.html">Christian Louboutin Alta A Talon Python Short Boots</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-alta-ariella-talon-leopard-boots-p-314.html">Christian Louboutin Alta Ariella Talon Leopard Boots</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-leopard-suede-ankle-boots-p-221.html">Christian Louboutin Leopard Suede Ankle Boots</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-metropolis-high-boots-p-324.html">Christian Louboutin Metropolis High Boots</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-muffs-furry-boots-grey-p-300.html">Christian Louboutin Muffs Furry Boots Grey</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-muffs-furry-boots-purple-p-301.html">Christian Louboutin Muffs Furry Boots Purple</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-multi-booty-boot-black-p-267.html">Christian Louboutin Multi Booty Boot Black</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-multi-booty-boot-red-p-269.html">Christian Louboutin Multi Booty Boot Red</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-nitoinimoi-boots-p-246.html">Christian Louboutin Nitoinimoi Boots</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-nitoinimoi-boots-gray-p-247.html">Christian Louboutin Nitoinimoi Boots Gray</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-nitoinimoi-suede-boots-p-248.html">Christian Louboutin Nitoinimoi suede boots</a>
<a href="http://www.shoe-heaven.com/christian-louboutin-orniron-ankle-boots-p-253.html">Christian Louboutin Orniron Ankle Boots</a>
The <a href="http://www.altocraft.com/Product/MainCategory.aspx?id=140">generator miami</a> we presented for an ease in to the idea of random number generation, as well as for study of a number of ways of generation. However, within the domain of cryptography, LCGs are but irrelevant. LFSR, as well as their "cousins" Non-Linear Feedback Shift Registers are of more relevance to the authors interest. Aside from the methods described above, another interesting method of generating random numbers are also worth brief mention.
Voigt tries to portray himself as a squeaky-clean politician fighting against the supposedly decrepit "establishment parties." He describes himself and his supposed national mission with these words: "I am proud to be the chairman of such a united community of action."
That seems a bit of an overstatement. In the Hesse state election campaign, for instance, the NPD put forward Marcel Wöll as its candidate, a man with a criminal record who appears to specialize in friendly fire.
Röbel, Sven. Internal NPD Documents Reveal Chaos: German
I so want to know more about this stuff.
ppc ppc advertising online advertising adsense alternatives
thanks for the content provided here.
sextoys sex toys sex toy sextoy adult vod
Since the last election in September 2006 Voigt is an elected member of the Berlin Bezirksverordnetenversammlung (BVV) in the Treptow-Köpenick district. Previously he has been unsuccessful at the European Parliament elections and when running for mayor of Saarbrücken.
He joined the NPD in 1968 and was elected as leader (German: Vorsitzender) in 1996, succeeding Günter Deckert who had been arrested in 1995 and was in prison until 2000.
Voigt has good reason to be taking security precautions. In addition to militant anarchists, the entire German state, including its intelligence apparatus, has set its sights on Voigt and his followers. All parties represented in the German parliament, the Bundestag, are constantly looking for ways to fight his right-wing realm — either by attacking his party outright or investigating its finances.
Before the First World War the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was the largest party in Germany and the most successful socialist party in the world. 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, with the leftists forming the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and the more radical Spartacist League. In November 1918, revolution broke out across Germany. The leftists, led by Rosa Luxemburg and the Spartacist League, formed the KPD in December 1918.
In 1923 a new KPD leadership loyal to Joseph Stalin, the new Soviet Premier, was installed. This leadership, headed by Ernst Thälmann, abandoned the goal of immediate revolution, and from 1924 onwards contested Reichstag elections, with some success. Although the KPD advocated a "united front" during this period, it remained deeply hostile towards Germany's SPD leadership. In 1928 Stalin launched a new "leftist" policy, which the KPD loyally followed. This so-called Third Period policy held that capitalism was entering a deep crisis and the time for a revolution was approaching fast. The SPD was denounced as "social fascists" and any suggestion of co-operating with them was rejected.
I thank you for this history.
Post preview:
Close preview