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The Beginning of the End: the Political Theory of the Gernian Conmunist Party to the Third Period

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The Beginning of the End: the Political Theory of the Gernian Conmunist Party to the Third Period THE BEGINNING OF THE END: THE POLITICAL THEORY OF THE GERNIAN CONMUNIST PARTY TO THE THIRD PERIOD By Lea Haro Thesis submitted for degree of PhD Centre for Socialist Theory and Movements Faculty of Law, Business, and Social Science January 2007 Table of Contents Abstract I Acknowledgments iv Methodology i. Why Bother with Marxist Theory? I ii. Outline 5 iii. Sources 9 1. Introduction - The Origins of German Communism: A 14 Historical Narrative of the German Social Democratic Party a. The Gotha Unity 15 b. From the Erjlurt Programme to Bureaucracy 23 c. From War Credits to Republic 30 II. The Theoretical Foundations of German Communism - The 39 Theories of Rosa Luxemburg a. Luxemburg as a Theorist 41 b. Rosa Luxemburg's Contribution to the Debates within the 47 SPD i. Revisionism 48 ii. Mass Strike and the Russian Revolution of 1905 58 c. Polemics with Lenin 66 i. National Question 69 ii. Imperialism 75 iii. Political Organisation 80 Summary 84 Ill. Crisis of Theory in the Comintern 87 a. Creating Uniformity in the Comintern 91 i. Role of Correct Theory 93 ii. Centralism and Strict Discipline 99 iii. Consequencesof the Policy of Uniformity for the 108 KPD b. Comintern's Policy of "Bolshevisation" 116 i. Power Struggle in the CPSU 120 ii. Comintern After Lenin 123 iii. Consequencesof Bolshevisation for KPD 130 iv. Legacy of Luxemburgism 140 c. Consequencesof a New Doctrine 143 i. Socialism in One Country 145 ii. Sixth Congress of the Comintern and the 150 Emergence of the Third Period Summary 159 IV. The Third Period and the Development of the Theory of Social 162 Fascism in Germany a. "Benign" Use of Social Fascism 166 i. Zinoviev and Social Fascism 167 ii. Bucharin and Social Fascism 174 b. The Practical Foundations of a Pseudo Theory 180 i. Wittorf Affair 181 184 ii. Blutmai - Bloody May Day 1929 iii. The KPD's Reaction to the May Day 188 Demonstrations c. Pseudo Theory Takes Hold 193 d. Consequencesfor German Communism 203 Summary 210 V. Conclusion 212 Bibliography 221 Appendix Chronological Table 236 Abbreviations and Acronyms 248 Abstract In Marxist movements theory played a significant role. Even after the Stalinisation of the various Comintem parties, theory was propagated as crucial to their development. The KPD was born out of the rich theoretical traditions of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). As disillusioned Lassalleans, Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel chose Marxism as their theoretical guide to a Socialist outcome. As the political and economic climate in Germany changed the party grew and made parliamentary gains the nature of the SPD changed, much to the frustration of Rosa Luxemburg and the Left of the SPD. The final straw was, of course, the SPD's voting for war credits in 1914. In breaking away from the German Social Democratic Party Rosa Luxemburg had a clear idea of the type of party she hoped Spartakusbund would become. She sought a party that resembled the pre-1906 SPD - one that was democratic and non-bureaucratic. Therefore, one must ask - how was it possible that in the short life span of the Weimar Republic for Luxemburg's party to arrive at its Social Fascist end? First, from its foundation in 1919 the fledgling German Communist Party (KPD) struggled to find its way. A few weeks after its founding congress, government forces murdered Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. In the follow, key leaders months to other and theoreticians also died - either by natural causes (in the case of Franz Mehring) or at the hands of government forces. Finding itself in a weakenedposition the fledgling party turned to the Bolsheviks for practical and theoretical guidance. However the Bolsheviks were desperate to spread the revolution to Europe, in particular to Gennany, in i order to save their revolution. With this in mind Lenin and the Bolsheviks attempted to force Russian methods onto the German party with little or no regard as to whether those methodssuited the German needs. Rather than force the revolution forward, Lenin's Policy of Uniformity merely served to further weaken the leadership's position within the party. The party leadership rather than maintain its independence from the Bolsheviks and fight matters, in which they fundamentally disagreed simply resigned, thereby allowing the party to become subordinate to the Russian party. While it was never Lenin's intention, his desire to force the revolution forward helped lay the foundations for the more repressive policy of Bolshevisation. Second, Lenin's death and the failed German Revolution of 1923 marked a tremendous turning point. In the Soviet party the power struggle that ensued served to discredit the old Bolsheviks, especially Trotsky and any who posed a threat to Soviet hegemony. The Comintern's Policy of Bolshevisation was used to contain and control the revolutionary aspiration of its member parties. In Germany the failed revolution of 1923 and the "period of relative stabilisation" that followed paved the way for the Maslow-Fischer group to take control of the party. The Maslow-Fischer group officially adopted Bolshevisation and used it to purge the party of the Right and Centre wings. Armed with the Policy of Bolshevisation the Maslow-Fischer group launched attacks against Rosa Luxemburg, her supporters, and their Social Democratic past. The campaigns against Luxemburg were fairly successful. Although she remained an enduring symbol in the KPD, her memory as a revolutionary theoretician was successfully manipulated. ii The Comintern's Policy of Bolshevisation not only served to purge the KPD of its Soviet opposition it also laid the foundations for the propagation of Social Fascism first as campaign against Social Democracy and then as a theory. In many ways Social Fascism was an exaggerated form of Bolshevisation. It began as a form of name calling - equating Social Democracy with Fascism. Later with the fall of Zinoviev and Bucharin Social Fascism was developed into a fully fledged theory. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how and why the political theory of German Marxism changed as it passed through its various phases, essentially how it progressed from a theory of revolution to becoming synonymous with the dogma and repression of Social Fascism. This thesis will argue that the theoreticians and leaders of the German Communist movement were overwhelmed and unable to develop theory that reflected their unique circumstances. It was their own internal weakness and inability to lead that allowed the movement to be over taken by the Bolsheviks. Lenin's policy of Uniformity served to weaken the KPD leadership within the party. Each Comintern policy that followed left the party weaker and ftirther subordinated to the Soviet party. While not a single Comintern policy can be blamed for the KPD's Social Fascist outcome, each played a role in weakening the German movement. iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank everyonewho has taken both a passive and active interest in my work. I would like to thank my supervisor Emeritus Professor Hillel H. Ticktin who was always available for theoretical discussions and the offer of morale support. I am extremely grateful to my former Professor Suzi Weissman who has remained interested in my work and has readily offered encouragement. I would also like to express my appreciation to the Department of Central and East European Studies (CEES), especially the fonner Head Richard Berry, who offered support and funding for my research and development as well as the other members of the department especially the current Head Dr. Rebecca Kay and Dr. Clare McManus, who have always readily offered morale support and offered practical advice when I needed it. I am also tremendously grateful to BASEES, ICEES, and CEES who helped fund my fieldwork research at Stiftung Archiv der Parteien und Massenorganisationen der DDR im Bundesarchiv (SAMPO) and the Hoover Institute Archives and Library and Stanford University. I am also extremely indebted to my family and friends, who have supported me through the trials and tribulations of writing my PhD. I am especially grateful to my uncle Efren who was exceptionally generous with financial support. Finally I would like to extend my gratitude to my partner Gerry. His unwavering support throughout has been an enormous comfort to me. IV Methodology Without the combination of history and theory we are unlikely to understand I either the past or the present. Why Bother with Marxist Theory in a Historical Context? Marxist theory was intended to change and evolve as society, politics, and economics changed. Marx's method was derived from Hegel, in so far as Marx took Hegel's method and "turned Hegel on his head." Hegel's dialectics was intended to explain where change came from. Dialectics is the process in which two poles of contradiction interact. Eventually their interpenetration reaches a point where their negation of each other is negated, which results in the formation of a new entity. This process is known as "supersession." For Marx, the contradiction between labour and capital would ultimately lead to the supersession of both labour and capital resulting in the formation of a new social form - Socialism. For Marx the dialectical method was not merely intended to describe changes during historical periods, but rather it was a 2 revolutionary dialectics intent on changing the world. Therefore, "for the dialectical method itself the central problem is to change reality. -)ý3 This 4 question of how to change reality then became the central function of theory. 1Peter Burke, History and Social ThgoM, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2005) 18. 2 By revolutionary one refers to dramatic change in the political, economic and social process. In Marxism the revolutionary aspectof change is occurring and there is a force behind it.
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