TOWARDS A HISTORY OF THE GERMAN COMMUNIST WORKERS PARTY (KAPD) 1 The Motlves for the Foundation of the Perty ond ‘the Pertod of Ravolutionery Action. ‘The German Communist Workers' Party CKAPD) erose fron a period of the flercest revolutlonary struggles: Its history Is therefore 8 part of the history of the German Revolution, Its development wes Influenced by the fact thet when the German proletariat was propelled Into actively Fevolutfonary mass action for the fret tine, th bourgeols dictatorship vas still using all” the nethods of the ‘state of sleget which had cheracterised the war years (suppression of speeches, neetings publication etc.). Tals made ‘the process of polltical clarification Inpossible, It wes only vith difftculty realised that the workers’ organisations (which In the years before ‘the wer, because they were based upon a Marxist theory of class struggle, of history and their Gestiny, vere supposed to grasp the developing revolutionary situation) had Insteed nede e pact with the pover of the old state on the basis of the petrlotle ‘Burgirleden’ concept. The unavoldedle consequence of this pact was that the pre-war leadership had to stop popular opposition to the wer and fo force through, at all costs, en anti= revolutionery policy tn line with the war ans of Ludendorff and they had to abandon any Iden thet revolutionary action wae » factor In the creation of scelallsn, Through this polley they. won legal lty of operation and an unlinited ebliity to collect funds end publish their press. The Perty and Trades unton leadership were assured of the use of thelr enornous organisational apparetus In the pursuit of thelr eins, Thus It vas shovn, as cl downtrodden nesses cone to they would have to fight not just against the state and Ite wer but elso against the leading figures of thelr own orgentsetlons. These complications led to the miscarriage of the most laportant task of the auskened proleteriat, the task of transcending the elenent of confusion that Inevitably existe In very revolution and of moulding the coneclous, action of the el If these considerations are set out here at the beginning of this study It Is nof In order to polenicise, or to construct a revolutienery eritique, but because these connections, Inesnuch as they were the sterting polnt for the revelution, were Inportant In the creation of divisions within ‘the proletariat, and therefore for the partleuler structure of the Individual perties whose birth and development cen only be understood by a knowledge fof these polnts of departure. Fron this knowledge cones the understanding that for a long tine the Negative response to the old workers! moverent dominated Inside the opposition end that It only fardily moved towards positive 2 complete confusion end despalr prevalied, and elvays. In opposition to a bourgeolste which never lost Its pover to resist. In thls confused situation the Spartakusbund spit off at the end of Decenber 1918 from union with the SPD end Joinec with the IKD. to. form the KPO(Spartakusbund). Its leaders, Ker! Lelbknecht, Rose Luxenburg, end soon alse Leo Jogleches, wer shot dovn by White Guerds, and It wes not possible to elect @ nev ‘Zontralet under the conditions prevalling st thet tine. The ‘Zentrate! wa ‘therefore augmented through co-aption and fel! presently under the leadership of Paul Levi who, under the Influence of Kant Radek (the Russlen emissary under the psoudonya Bronskl), led the Party from activity to passivity, This, at any rate, ves the assessnent of 9 gradually growing opposition which was voiced In the Party pre especlally In the Important Districts of geri Ing Saxony ond Henburg. The 'Zentrale! considered thet this opposition" was but an erratic. end Indeterminate novenent, thet It Tsoleted struggles ‘and squancered thelr potential, and therefore were Diamevorthy. This vas In contrest to how the opposition sav Itself, as using Its strength to push the broad masses Into activity and thus bringing clerity and concentration to active revolutionary tendencies. The ‘Zentraie! adopted, and renained true to the tactic of turning evay fron trevolutionary exseult politics! (this vas tho term used In the opposition Press end in the complaints made to Moscow), end ahrank back fron every struggle where bourgeols soclety gave the working class an opportunity, and returned Instead to political vork In Parllenent and economic work Inside the Trade Unions. — The opposition, for Its part, felt thet parilanentery and trade unton activity was Incompatible vith being a revolutionary. There were three Issues In dispute: on the type of organiaetion the Party should have, on. Its orientation tovards Parltenent and on whether to act within the trade unlons or to create new forns ‘of economic struggle. These points of dispute led to the schism vithin the Party and the foundetlon Of the KAPD. How this schism developed Te shown In the following Report of the KAPD to the Executl ve Comittee of the Third Internatlonel In dune 1921: "The founding Conference of the —_KPD (Sportakusbund) decided by an overvheining majority to set Itself In opposition to all ‘ties by adopting © polley of non- participation in the elections for Netlonal Aseenbly. “After the struggles of Spring and Sunmer 1919, there wes a noticeable shift of the Relchzentrale (leadership) tovards perl lanent= erin, The opinion of the menbership wi ‘opposed to such @ shift, so 8 meeting of functlonaries of the Groster Borlin region In ‘August 1919 delivered an ultimatum to conrade Klara Zetkin to lay dovn her peritenentary fendate or leave the Party. (She ves et thls time sti!1 sitting es en "Independent? nenber In the Stote Parllanent of Wurtenberg.) Conrede ZetkIn nade no move and the Party leadership. (of which she was a mesber) supported her. In fact ‘they went further, and which held fast to the Congress, sebotaging thelr agitatlonel york ‘through the cutting off of funds etc.The development of the opposition on the question of the Trades Unions took roughly +} folloving course, The proletariat nad. learned the lessons of the atruggies of 1919, that the Trades Unfons were not only completely unnecessary for vaging greet struggles end nass actions, but also ected as the strongest fetters on the revolution. Everywhere workers noved spontaneously to. setting up thelr own proletarian organisations of struggle, bull? on the bests of the factory, not of craft, so ai not to divide the working clase and stinulat intor-class disputes, but Instoad to unite tho revolutlonery class vhere they vere naturally one, In the factory. These "Betrleb Organisations* (BOs) srose sponteneously In the Fuhr, Upper Sllesta, In central Germany, Ber!In, In ‘the Messerkanto, In short, in every Industrtal region of Germany. — Wnen the KPD jadership sav the rise and grovth of this mass movenent they tried at first by al! means to pronote these orgentsations. At that point leaders such as Levi, Korting and Frollch put out the Iine of abanconing the trade untons and bul lding BOs. With the change In direction of the leadership In the Ite sunner of 1919, these sane people, led by Paul ed for the #1 ‘and demanded the entry of communists Into the trade unlons end for then to work there. From ‘that polnt on those nonbers of the leadership who had helped bulld up the BOs becane thelr nost determined opponents. The mass of the membership hovaver, supported the BOs had come together In the Allemagne: Arbelterunten(AAU); and the guif between the Party leadership ‘and the great mass of the menbership, lally In the Industrtal heartiands, grew dally. ‘Then a Party Conference wes called on 20-24th October 1919 In Heidelberg. There the Party leadership surprised the Party delegetes with ‘the fanous, so-called, tHeldelberg Theses! These hed not been discussed beforehend by the membership snd were conplotely nev to the jegetes. The elghteen delegetes who spoke out ageinst all this vere excluded fron the Conference, after which # mejority of votes vere secured by verlous means for the leadership, The opposition areas did not at once try to found 8 new Party, but wanted to convene » nev Party Conference where a1! these questions would be voted on efter the nenbership had voleed thelr opinions, In order not to lose contect with each other they chose the North-Nest Region (Breaen) to operate es Infornetion Bureau for ‘the opposition. The following months were full of Internal confllet = resolutions ete waged In the sharpest manner by the leadership. They called open meotings In Berlin, Brenan, Henbury and other elties opposed to the resident groups of the Party. In February 1920 the Districts of Greater Berlin, North, NW and £ Saxony were expel ied fron the Party by the leadership, wach then attempted to found nev organisations In those places. An example of how few adherents the 'Zenfralet had in these areas ls shown by the District of Greater Berlin. Out of 8,000 members sbout 500 left and founded a new -party orgentsation ecceptable to the leadership." For the moment the Districts which had been expelted did not vant to form 2 new, Independent perty: they held back fron that step for. two Pessons. It was hoped that as @ consequence of the growing numerical strength of the opposition, It a1. would be possible to vin a majority for thelr views and preserve the unity of the Party. In addition If wax thought vorthvhile to remain In the Third Internetlonel where ve could explain the theorles of the opposition: this was also bacause of the fact thet the menbers of the Ansterdan Bureau of ‘the Connunlst International, Herman Gorter and Anton Pannekosk, who vere ‘held In. the high regard by the Russians, adhered to the theory of anfl-Perlienentarisn and were for the bullding of 0s. This expectation, however, ves deceptive: vvho had just cone out of prison, took 0 atend against the opposition and #lso enforced the dissolution of the Ansterdan Buresu, Radek, who held conferences with Incustriel ists ke Rathenau and Deutsch, and vith politicians of all tendencies, took the leadership of the Gernen Revolution in’ hand and was the nentor of the Zontrale'. The decisive Impulse for the const it~ utlon of the opposition es a ney party wes © result of the conduct of the leadership during the Kepp Putache At moment when the opposition was in a condition of the greatest readiness, the ravolution was throvn Into confusion by the leaflet of tho "Zentrale', conposed by Bronskl (Radek) and at ell later tines defended by him:~ ‘Against the Generel Strtkel Lay Dovn your Aras!’ The next dey hovever revealed thet the leadership vere completely Isolated so they disovned thelr ovn leaflet. — The Comintern too energetically disavowed ther. These events hed thelr well known aftermath. The KPD hed ‘two nenbers In the discussions on the so-called "Blelefelder Agreenents! and sanctioned then. The opposition sought with every moans to rous masses In opposition to these agreenents, stating that once the nilitary had succeeded In dlsarning ‘the workers they vould resort to thelr uauel yell worn methods. Now let us continue to quote fro ‘the eforenentioned Report on the events which followed and witch led to the founding of the KAPD, "The Kapp Putsch hed shown that the | ‘the official perty ves In agreem abandonsent of revolutfonary struggle and vee allpping onto an opportunist road, It showed thet tvo different parties had been created whose conbination ves es Impossible as. the alxing of fire and water. The. Seriln organ Isetlon therefore called "a conference of the opposition for the 3rd April 1920 to formal lee ‘thelr constitution 98 the Germen Comunlat Workers Party. About 30,000 nenbers jolned from the old KPD “although sone Individual Regions only Jolned after the founding Conferent ‘fosks and activity of the new Perty vere clearly set out. In abandoning Perl lanentarien It had Yo velgh up the national end Internatlonal political situation In order to take up the struggle against the bourgeols stete and, above all, to prevent the state strengthening itself, 80 thet In the extraordinertly complex political ‘and econonte situation existing, the proletariat Penalned prepared and able to selze power, The ‘An oxample of the ectivity of the KAPD In this direction can be seen during the Russo-Pol ish Wer In the sunner of 1920. The KAPD celled on workers In the munitions factories to stop work and to sabotage munitions which were destined for Poland. The KPD called this revolutionary romanticisa until the Coninternte Executive Connittee In Moscow made 2 siallar Appesl. The KAPD urged workers to the highest pitch of ectivity, towerds the election of political counel!s) and for 2 progranne of revolution action, for a united front with thelr Russ brothers es the Red Army neared East Prussia, for the bullding of united front between Soviet Russla and Soviet Germany, We vented anuprising to cose while the KPD merely gave out the useless slogan "Neutrality tovards Russia", From verbal passivity they then passed over Into action ~ not against the bourgootsle and thelr ai but against the KAD which ves propagendising and proparing fer an. uprising. In "Rote Fehne' and ‘Frelhelt* of 19th and 20th st, and In thelr provinctal papers there ‘appeared warning calls against the slogans of ‘the KAPD. The working class, ready in many vays for & struggle, was confused and the movement dled avay at an exbryonie & This Isa typleal example of how the leadership of the KPD produced confusion In the working class. With regard to the "Merch Actlon' (about which ve XIII have couse to speak later), and which vas unleashed by the KPD Itself, ve vill see the ‘sane dynanic In action, thet of @ novenent thet had the appearance of @ putsch, We constantly sought 0 widen econonle struggles into political struggles for the selzure of pover. The greatest struggle of this sort ves the electricians! strike of Novenber 1920 In Bertin which finally collapsed as 2 result of the Conduct of the KPD 'Zentrele! In refusing to call for 2 General Strike.” Co-operation between the tvo Consunlst Parties took Place during the struggte In Central Gers Easter 1921, In the events known as the Action'. This _moverent was unleashed by the entrance of troops Into. the Centre! German Industriel region, In order to occupy tha foctories, In perticular the Leueneverke. The struggle "was conducted by a Joint district connlaston of the KAPD and the YKPD (these events occurred shortly after the regroupnent of the loft of the USPD Into the KPD at the Halle Conference), and the organisation of the fighting wes In the hands of Max Holz who belonged to the KAPD.” The result of the struggle Js vell known, Tha KAPD argued In Its press end through Its member on the Executive Conalttee of the Talrd International, ‘that an essential factor which contributed to the wrecking of the Action vas that the VKPD Introduced confusion Into the ranks of thelr unprepared menbers by, without any Ideological or organisations! preparation, completing reversing their tactics fron those previously adhered -to. When, month after month, you propound a parlfenentery-trade unton tactic, It 1s obvlous ‘that headquarters vill not take the broad ness of ‘the menbership vith then If these tactics are Greet nesses of workers don't ‘change of connand Ike e company of soldiers In the Withelnite aray. Instead of the lay of forces Involved In an upsurge of proletarian activity, the KPD 'Zentrale! had set up a putsch. The KAPD fought against the declared pollcy of fhe Third Internetional thet more than anything It vas necessary to draw the brosd nase of workers Into a unlfled party and then revolutionise them by means of that party. It argued thet thls was an non-narxist view of the lave of nase payehology. ‘trensfornation of proteterian eonsclousness cannot cone by The leadership of the KPD at that tine excused every failure by thls rationalisation: The tine available to revolutionise the masses vho cane from ‘the USPD ves too short, But the passage of tine showed that the reverse vas the case: the dead welght of the brosd mass who Jolned the perty ou of sympathy with Soviet Russia, but without @ clear and fira Insight Into the polltfes of revoluttonary class struggle wore not revolutionised by the WKPD. ‘on the contrary the YKPD was de-revolutlonised by 32. ‘those messes. This consequence vas also nade nlfest by the struggle within the trades untons, The Merch Action was to be the lest attonpt to unleash the latent revolutionary elenent of class consclousnets on the videst baste Ins struggle for the selzure of pover, All these attempts failed for tve reasons: the fundanantal opposition of both Soclal Denocrecy and Trades Untons to any active revolutionary orlentation of class struggle, end because of the jour of the KPD vhich wanted rship jaders Instead of 2 clase ‘snip. In. addition to this, this leadership, | because of Its vactllating end contradictory conception of revolutlonery polltiesy Fepestedly changed Its positions end because of thls Introduced confusion Into the working class end hindered the development of class conselausness fenong the broad masses, Further to these tvo factors, the failure of ‘the revolution In Gerneny vas the result of the opposition of the bourgeolete only Insofer as this Itself was dependent on the forgoing factors. In the first fev years after the war the bourgeciste was conpletely split between tthe monarchlcal circle and the rising ‘democratic! faction, both politically and econontecally, over the question of Inflation and the economy. Th concentration of and unlty of the bourgeoisie Is characteristic only of the present phese of This section does not concern Itself With the Influence of the Russlens on the Gernen Revolution. Tile cones under the heading of the seperation of the KAPD fron the Third International. We wit! now return to the Inner development of the party after Its foundation. 2, Internal Facttonal Struggles. It has alresdy been shown hov this party arose out of the opposition of the eeabership of ‘the KPD to ‘the party ‘leadership. The party therefore gathered UP einost all the groups vhich stood In oppasitfon to the domineering conduct of the ‘Zentralet, without any predetermined surety that this ‘opposition was homogeneous or that It had becons homogeneous In I¢3 conception and political tasks. ‘The struggle agelnst the old party wes acconpant by ® process of Internal clarification vhich, above all, yas directed ageinst two tendencies: agalnst botshevik" progranme of the Heaburg Opposition (Fritz Kolthelm and Helnrich Laufenderg)