Weimar Communism as Mass Movement

Weimar Communism as Mass Movement PDF Author: Norman Laporte
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781910448991
Category : Communism
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
Now a quarter of a century after the opening of the archives in Berlin and Moscow, the role of the German Communist Party (KPD) has been the subject of a new wave of studies. With this book, this new field of scholarship will be available in English for the first time. The book begins with the editors' comprehensive contextualisation of the KPD within the history of the ill-fated Weimar Republic, as well its location within the Moscow-based Communist International (Comintern) thus bringing together the global and the 'local'. In the rest of the book, authors offer a flavour of the rich texture of the world of German Communism. Attention is given to the party's revolutionary origins in 1918/19, accounting for the importance of not only Rosa Luxemburg's Spartacus League, but also the 'Left Radicals', whose stronghold was Bremen and north-western Germany. The policy dilemmas of being a mass party in Germany are then elucidated, but ultimately, the party's fate and its policy-making were dominated by Moscow in the process known as 'Stalinisation', which neared completion by the end of the 1920s. However, this volume also includes a detailed appraisal of left-wing Communists' opposition to Stalin and Stalinisation, as well as the party's changing relationship with the SPD-led trade unions. A section in the volume presents new research on how German communism aspired to reach beyond its core support among the working class by examining its overtures to peasants, avant-garde artists, pacifists and prominent left-wing personalities outside the party's ranks. Finally, an account of Stalin's own betrayal of German communism is offered after the Nazis' 'seizure of power' in 1933. This book represents essential reading for academic, undergraduate and general readers interested in twentieth German history and politics and the interwar communist movement. With thanks to the Nina Fishman translation award run by the Amiel Melburn Trust.

Weimar Communism as Mass Movement

Weimar Communism as Mass Movement PDF Author: Norman Laporte
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781910448991
Category : Communism
Languages : en
Pages : 294

Get Book

Book Description
Now a quarter of a century after the opening of the archives in Berlin and Moscow, the role of the German Communist Party (KPD) has been the subject of a new wave of studies. With this book, this new field of scholarship will be available in English for the first time. The book begins with the editors' comprehensive contextualisation of the KPD within the history of the ill-fated Weimar Republic, as well its location within the Moscow-based Communist International (Comintern) thus bringing together the global and the 'local'. In the rest of the book, authors offer a flavour of the rich texture of the world of German Communism. Attention is given to the party's revolutionary origins in 1918/19, accounting for the importance of not only Rosa Luxemburg's Spartacus League, but also the 'Left Radicals', whose stronghold was Bremen and north-western Germany. The policy dilemmas of being a mass party in Germany are then elucidated, but ultimately, the party's fate and its policy-making were dominated by Moscow in the process known as 'Stalinisation', which neared completion by the end of the 1920s. However, this volume also includes a detailed appraisal of left-wing Communists' opposition to Stalin and Stalinisation, as well as the party's changing relationship with the SPD-led trade unions. A section in the volume presents new research on how German communism aspired to reach beyond its core support among the working class by examining its overtures to peasants, avant-garde artists, pacifists and prominent left-wing personalities outside the party's ranks. Finally, an account of Stalin's own betrayal of German communism is offered after the Nazis' 'seizure of power' in 1933. This book represents essential reading for academic, undergraduate and general readers interested in twentieth German history and politics and the interwar communist movement. With thanks to the Nina Fishman translation award run by the Amiel Melburn Trust.

Weimar Communism as Mass Movement 1918-1933

Weimar Communism as Mass Movement 1918-1933 PDF Author: Norman Laporte
Publisher: Studies in Twentieth Century C
ISBN: 9781910448984
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
25 years after the archives were opened in Berlin and Moscow, the German Communist Party is the subject of new studies. This book makes this scholarship available in English for the first time.

Debates on the German Revolution of 1918-19

Debates on the German Revolution of 1918-19 PDF Author: Matthew Stibbe
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526157470
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
In November 1918 a revolution overthrew the old imperial system in Germany and inaugurated a republic. The revolution was formally completed in August 1919 when the social democrat Friedrich Ebert was sworn in as president. By this time, however, many of the revolution’s original aims and intentions had been swallowed up by new political concerns and lived experiences. For contemporaries the meaning of ‘9 November’ changed, becoming increasingly contested between rival parties, military experts and scholars. This book examines how the debate on the revolution has evolved from August 1919 to the present day. It takes the reader through the ideological battles of the 1920s and 30s into the equally politicised historical writing of the cold war period. It ends with a consideration of the marginalisation of the revolution in academic research since the 1980s, and its revival from 2010.

The German Revolution and Political Theory

The German Revolution and Political Theory PDF Author: Gaard Kets
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030139174
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
This book is the first collection within political theory to examine the ideas and debates of the German Revolution of 1918/19. It discusses the political theorists and actors of the revolution and uncovers an incredibly fertile body of political thought. Revolutionary events led to the proliferation of new political strategies, theoretical insights and institutional proposals. Key questions included the debate between a national assembly and a council system, the socialisation of the economy, the development of new forms of political representation and the proper role of parliaments, political parties and trade unions. This book offers novel perspectives on the history of the revolution, a thorough engagement with its main thinkers and an analysis of its relevance for contemporary political thought.

A Short History of the Weimar Republic

A Short History of the Weimar Republic PDF Author: Colin Storer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350172375
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219

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Book Description
It is impossible to understand the history of modern Europe without some knowledge of the Weimar Republic. The brief fourteen-year period of democracy between the Treaty of Versailles and the advent of the Third Reich was marked by unstable government, economic crisis and hyperinflation and the rise of extremist political movements. At the same time, however, a vibrant cultural scene flourished, which continues to influence the international art world through the aesthetics of Expressionism and the Bauhaus movement. In the fields of art, literature, theatre, cinema, music and architecture – not to mention science – Germany became a world leader during the 1920s, while her perilous political and economic position ensured that no US or European statesman could afford to ignore her. Incorporating original research and a synthesis of the existing historiography, this revised edition will provide students and a general readership with a clear and concise introduction to the history of the first German Republic.

The Oxford Handbook of the Weimar Republic

The Oxford Handbook of the Weimar Republic PDF Author: Nadine Rossol
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198845774
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 849

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Book Description
The Weimar Republic was a turbulent and pivotal period of German and European history and a laboratory of modernity. The Oxford Handbook of the Weimar Republic provides an unsurpassed panorama of German history from 1918 to 1933, offering an indispensable guide for anyone interested in the fascinating history of the Weimar Republic.

Between Reform and Revolution

Between Reform and Revolution PDF Author: David E. Barclay
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 9780857457196
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 596

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Book Description
The powerful impact of Socialism and Communism on modern German history is the theme which is explored by the contributors to this volume. Whereas previous investigations have tended to focus on political, intellectual and biographical aspects, this book captures, for the first time, the methodological and thematic diversity and richness of current work on the history of the German working class and the political movements that emerged from it. Based on original contributions from U.S., British, and German scholars, this collection address a wide range of themes and problems.

A Political Biography of Arkadij Maslow, 1891-1941

A Political Biography of Arkadij Maslow, 1891-1941 PDF Author: Mario Kessler
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030432572
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
This book is a political biography of Arkadij Maksimovich Maslow (1891-1941), a German Communist politician and later a dissident and opponent to Stalin. Together with his political and common-law marriage partner, Ruth Fischer, Maslow briefly led the Communist Party of Germany, the KPD, and brought about its submission to Moscow. Afterwards Fischer and Maslow were removed from the KPD leadership in the fall of 1925 and expelled from the party a year later. Henceforth they both lived as communist outsiders—persecuted by both Hitler and Stalin. Maslow escaped to Cuba via France and Portugal and was murdered under dubious circumstances in Havana in November 1941. He died as a communist dissident committed to the cause of a radical-socialist labor movement that lay in ruins. Kessler considers Maslow's role in pivotal events such as the Bolshevik Revolution, in Soviet revolutionary parties and organizations, through to the rise of Stalinism and Cold War anti-communism. What results is a deep dive into the life of a key yet understudied figure in dissident communism.

Travellers of the World Revolution

Travellers of the World Revolution PDF Author: Brigitte Studer
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1839768045
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
Hope, Struggle and Defeat: The Communist International and the Global Fight for Freedom The Communist International was the first organised attempt to bring about worldwide revolution and left a lasting mark on 20th-century history. The book offers a new and fascinating account of this transnational organisation founded in 1919 by Lenin and Trotsky and dissolved by Stalin in 1943, telling the story through the eyes of the activists who became its “professional revolutionaries.” Studer follows such figures as Willi Münzenberg, Mikhail Borodin, M.N. Roy and Evelyn Trent, Tina Modotti, Agnes Smedley and many others less well-known as they are despatched to the successive political hotspots of the 1920s and ’30s, from revolutionary Berlin to Baku, from Shanghai to Spain, from Nazi Germany to Stalin’s Moscow. It traces their journeys from revolutionary hope to accommodation, defeat or death, looking at questions of motivation and commitment, agency and negotiation, of life and love, conflict and frustration. In doing so, it reveals a forgotten Comintern, the expression of a multi-dimensional revolutionary moment, which attracted not only working-class but feminist, anti-racist, anti-colonial and anti-imperialist activists, highlighting the role of women in the Comintern and the centrality of anti-colonialism to the Communist project. The book concludes with a reflection on the ultimate demise of a historically unique undertaking.

The Complete Works Volume of Rosa Luxemburg: Volume V

The Complete Works Volume of Rosa Luxemburg: Volume V PDF Author: Rosa Luxemburg
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1784782815
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
This volume is the first to contain all of Luxemburg’s eloquent writings on the 1917 Russian Revolution and 1918-19 German Revolution This volume is the first to contain all of Luxemburg’s eloquent writings on the 1917 Russian and 1918-19 German Revolutions. It also contains articles, essays and manuscripts on the European socialist movement prior to World War I and her effort to rebuild the socialist movement on revolutionary foundations in its aftermath. Much of this material appears in English for the first time. Her incisive contributions on revolutionary strategy, the German and Russian Revolutions, and the transition to socialism reveal a profound commitment to radical democracy, which becomes evident as she elaborates on her lived experience with razor-sharp conceptualizations of the mass strike.Her democratic commitment is also highlighted in her deepening conflict with the bureaucratic conservatism afflicting the German Social Democratic Party. She is horrified yet at the same time grimly analytical while surveying the unfolding violence and brutality of the First World War.Deeply inspired by Russia’s 1917 upsurge, she is nonetheless compelled to analyze and criticize fatal limitations of the Russian Revolution. Swept up in the revolutionary chaos sweeping through Germany in 1918-1919 which results in her own martyrdom, she gives voice to revolution’s final testament: “I was, I am, I shall be.”