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2020 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

Disagreements: The Divided Left

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Abstract

Fischer and Maslow lost ground within the party. In April 1925, the KPD leadership rejected the Comintern’s recommendation to support Wilhelm Marx, a liberal candidate, for German presidency and instead, showing its sectarian inclinations, nominated Ernst Thälmann as its candidate. As a result, the ultra-conservative Field Marshal Hindenburg was elected president. The communist votes cast for Thälmann would have helped Marx win the presidency. This particular incident dramatically weakened Fischer’s and Maslow’s position within the party.

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Fußnoten
1
Grigoriy Zinoviev, “Speech at the 5th Plenum of the Enlarged Executive Committee of the Communist International: Second Session, March 25, 1925,” Internationale Presse-Korrespondenz, Vol. 5 (April 7, 1925), available online under: http://​www.​marxisthistory.​org/​history/​international/​comintern/​1925/​0325-zinoviev-toecciplenum5.​pdf.
 
2
J. V. Stalin, “Foundations of Leninism,” Works, Vol. 6 (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1953), p. 73.
 
3
Ibid., p. 177.
 
5
A. Maslow, Die zwei russischen Revolutionen des Jahres 1917. Vol. 1: Die allgemeinen Grundlagen der russischen Revolution (Berlin: Carl Hoym, 1925), pp. XI–XX. A second part never appeared.
 
6
Ibid., pp. XV–XVI.
 
7
Ibid., p. XXXXVII.
 
8
Heinz Neumann, Maslows Offensive gegen den Leninismus (Berlin: Carl Hoym, 1925), p. 28.
 
9
Ibid., p. 69. In the same text Maslow described the revolution of 1848 as a “miserable revolution of beer-drinking Philistines (elende Bierphilisterrevolution).” Ibid., p. 113.
 
10
Ernst Meyer, “Münchner Lehren,” Die Internationale, Vol. 8 (1925), No. 10, pp. 638.
 
11
E. Schn. [Ernst Schneller], “A. Maslow, Die zwei russischen Revolutionen des Jahres 1917,” Die Internationale, Vol. 8 (1925), No 4, pp. 205–209.
 
12
Margarete Buber-Neumann, Kriegsschauplätze der Weltrevolution: Ein Bericht aus der Praxis der Komintern. Paperback Edition (Frankfurt-Main: Ullstein, 1973), p. 82. Margarete Buber-Neumann wrote that Neumann’s violent attacks against Maslow were also due to the fact that Neumann had fallen in love with Ruth Fischer at the beginning of their acquaintance, but that she had rejected him. See Margarete Buber-Neumann, Kriegsschauplätze der Weltrevolution. First Edition (Stuttgart: Seewald, 1967), p. 102. This passage is missing in the paperback edition. Ruth Fischer (Stalin and German Communism, pp. 325 and 445) characterized Neumann in retrospect as “an incurable romantic” with “boyish pride.” Wherever Stalin appeared, Neumann “followed him like an admiring puppy that had found a new master.” Ibid., p. 405.
 
13
It should be noted that Maslow explained some hidden arguments in his introduction to the re-edition of Lenin’s Left Wing Radicalism that Maslow had written just before his imprisonment. See N. [sic!] Lenin, Der ‘linke’ Radikalismus, die Kinderkrankheit im Kommunismus. Vorwort von A. Maslow (Berlin: Carl Hoym, 1925).
 
14
On Heinz Neumann’s role in Stalin’s network see Bert Hoppe, In Stalins Gefolgschaft: Moskau und die KPD 19281933 (Munich: Oldenbourg, 2007), pp. 74–75.
 
15
Ruth Fischer, “Meeting of the Enlarged Executive, Twelfth Session,” as quoted from Haro, The Beginning of the End, p. 138.
 
16
See Mike Jones, “The Decline, Disorientation and Decomposition of a Leadership—The German Communist Party: From Revolutionary Marxism to Centrism,” Revolutionary History, Vol. 2 (1989), No. 3, p. 10. While in September 1923 the number of pary members was around 294,000, it fell to 95,000 until mid-1924. Until the end of the year the number rose slightly to 122,000. See Hermann Weber, Die Wandlung des deutschen Kommunismus: Die Stalinisierung der KPD, Vol. 1 (Frankfurt-Main: E.V.A., 1969), pp. 362–363. Later research confirmed these figures.
 
17
Lea Haro, The Beginning of the End: The Political Theory of the German Communist Party to the Third Period. Ph.D. Thesis (University of Glasgow, 2007), p. 134.
 
18
“Die Lage in der KPD: Resolution des Exekutivkomitees der Komintern,” RF, June 12, 1925.
 
19
See Ruth Fischer, “Eberts Nachfolger heisst Hindenburg,” RF, May 28, 1925.
 
20
See the material in: Die monarchistische Gefahr und die Taktik der KPD (Berlin: Friedrichstadt-Druckerei, 1925).
 
21
See the declaration of the KPD, April 11, 1925, printed in: Dokumente und Materialien zur Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung, Vol. VIII ([East] Berlin: Dietz, 1975), pp. 132–133.
 
22
Fischer admitted a quarter of a century later that she had been wrong in same points. See Fischer, Stalin and German Communism, pp. 416–417.
 
23
Rosenberg’s and Scholem’s statement of April 15, 1925 can be found in: SAPMO-BArch, RY 1/I 2/3/65, pp. 1–4, and is reprinted in: Kessler, Arthur Rosenberg, pp. 259–261. Original emphasis.
 
24
The circular letter of Rosenberg, Katz and Scholem of May 3, 1925 can be found in: SAPMO-BArch, RY 1/I 2/3/65, pp. 5–8.
 
25
See Weber, Wandlung, Vol. 1, p. 107; Mario Kessler, Arthur Rosenberg: Ein Historiker im Zeitalter der Katastrophen (18891943) (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna: Böhlau, 2003), p. 117.
 
26
The letter is printed in: RF, April 28, 1925.
 
27
See the reports in: RF, June 9 and 10, 1925.
 
28
See Otto Langels, Die ultralinke Opposition der KPD in der Weimarer Republik (Frankfurt-Main: Peter Lang, 1984), pp. 59–66.
 
29
See Bericht über die Verhandlungen des X. Parteitages der Kommunistischen Partei Deutschlands (Sektion der Kommunistischen Internationale), abgehalten in Berlin vom 12. bis 17. Juli 1925 (Berlin: V.I.V.A., 1925), pp. 167–177.
 
30
Ibid., p. 176.
 
31
Ibid., p. 282.
 
32
Ibid., p. 515.
 
33
Ibid., p. 538. A resolution on Communist work in the trade unions required KPD members to fight “reformism” in the trade unions. See ibid., p. 57. The resolution is reprinted in: Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung, Vol. 4 ([East] Berlin: Dietz, 1966), pp. 411–412.
 
Metadaten
Titel
Disagreements: The Divided Left
verfasst von
Mario Kessler
Copyright-Jahr
2020
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43257-7_10

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