Communist Workers' Party of Germany

Not to be confused with Communist Party of Germany.

Communist Workers' Party of Germany Kommunistische Arbeiter-Partei Deutschlands (KAPD)
Founded	1920 (1920)
Ideology	Council communist
Political position	Far-left
Official colours	Red
Politics of Germany Political parties Elections

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The Communist Workers Party of Germany (German: Kommunistische Arbeiter-Partei Deutschlands; KAPD) was an anti-parliamentarian and council communist party that was active in Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic. It was founded in April 1920 in Heidelberg as a split from the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).^[1] Originally the party remained a "sympathising member of Communist International." In 1922 the KAPD split into two factions, both of whom kept the name but are referred to as the KAPD Essen Faction and the KAPD Berlin Faction.

KAPD Essen Faction was linked to the Communist Workers International.

The Entschiedene Linke decided unanimously to join the KAPD during their congress of 4-6 June 1927.^[2]

The party published a paper, Kommunistische Arbeiter-Zeitung.

History

The roots of the KAPD lie in the left-wing split from the SPD, calling itself the International Socialists of Germany (ISD). The ISD consisted of elements which were to the left of the Spartacus League of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. The Spartacists and the ISD entered the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), the centrist split from SPD, in 1915 as an autonomous tendency within the party. The left-wing of the USPD, consisting of Spartacists and ultra-left council communnists went on to form the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1918. In 1920, the ultra-lefts of this party, mainly consisting of council communist members whose origins lay in the ISD, split from it to form the KAPD.^[3]

Affiliated unionen

The party had affiliated with it, the General Workers' Union of Germany (AAUD), which were formed as factory organisations in opposition to the traditional trade unions. The AAUD was formed by the German leftists who considered organising based on trades as being an outmoded form of organisation and instead advocated organising workers based on factories, thus forming the AAUD. The factory organisations in the AAUD consited the basis for organising workers' councils.

A section led by Otto Rühle, based in Essen, split from the AAUD, forming the Essen tendency of the AAUD, AAUD-E.^[4]

Relations with the Comintern

The delegates of the KAPD to the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern were scorned and their speeches were restricted to a mere ten minutes. This was following the publication of Lenin's Left Wing Communism, which was written as a critique of the left-wing ideas of the KAPD, among other parties, the KAPN and related leftist parties. Following the exclusionary attitude shown towards them by the Comintern, the KAPD broke with the International in 1921.^[5] Historian E.H. Carr has argued that the 2nd World Congress — to some extent unintentionally and unconsciously — was the first to "establish Russian leadership of Comintern on an impregnable basis."^[6]

Prominent members of the KAPD

• Jan Appel
• Arthur Goldstein
• Herman Gorter
• Antonie Pannekoek
• Franz Jung
• Karl Korsch
• Heinrich Laufenberg (National Bolshevik)
• Paul Mattick (1904–1981)
• Bernard Reichenbach
• Otto Rühle (1874–1943)
• Karl Schröder (1884–1950), (Essen Tendency)
• Ernst Schwarz
• Fritz Wolffheim (National Bolshevik)

See also

• Council communism
• Left communism
• Communist Workers' Party of the Netherlands

References

1. ^ La gauche allemande: Textes du KAPD, de L'AAUD, de L'AAUE et de la KAI (1920-1922), La Vecchia Talpa, Invariance, La Vieille Taupe, 1973, p2
2. ^ Die Entstehung der GIK, 1927-1933, accessed 13 July 2010
3. ^ The Communist Left in Germany 1918-1921
4. ^ The Communist Left in Germany 1918-1921
5. ^ Bernhard Reichenbach, The KAPD in Retrospect: An Interview with a Member of the Communist Workers Party of Germany
6. ^ Carr, A History of Soviet Russia, vol. 3, pg. 197.

External links

• Kurasje - The Council Communist Archive
• Libertarian Communist Library KAPD archive
• The Communist Left in Germany 1918-1921