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This is the second in a series of reproductions of chapters in Werner
Angress’s “Stillborn Revolution: the Communist Bid for Power in Germany,
1921-1923”. In the first installment, I posted the chapter on “The
Genesis of the March Uprising” that discussed the factors that led to
what Paul Levi called the “greatest Bakunist putsch in history”. This
chapter titled “The March Uprising and its Failure” is a horrifying
narrative of how the Communist Party of Germany under the direct
influence of a Comintern emissary named Bela Kun staged an ultraleft
adventure that in some ways makes the Weatherman “Days of Rage” in 1969
look sane by comparison.
As a preface to the chapter, there are some terms that need clarification.
--The“Zentrale” was the central committee of the German CP that got its
marching orders from Bela Kun.
--The “Rote Fahne” was the newspaper of the CP that served as the main
propagandist for the so-called March Action.
--The “Orgesch” was an anti-Semitic militia that was a forerunner of
Hitler’s Stormtroopers.
--The “KPD” is the initials for the CP.
--The “KAPD” is the initials for the Communist Workers Party of Germany
that was a split from the KPD, on an even more ultraleft basis. Among
the better-known members were Antonie Pannekoek, Karl Korsch, and Paul
Mattick.
Politically, the disastrous outcome was a major factor in the rise of
Nazism because it discredited the CP. Some of Angress’s chapter might be
unfamiliar to those who have not studied the scandalous “March Action”.
As background, I recommend this brief article by Pierre Broué, who like
Angress, wrote an important book on the German Communist Party in the
1920s:
https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/broue/works/1964/summer/march-action.htm
full:
https://louisproyect.org/2018/07/05/werner-angresss-stillborn-revolution-the-communist-bid-for-power-in-germany-1921-1923-part-two/
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