Left Communists (Weimar Republic)


The Left Communists were a group of members of the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag expelled from the Communist Party of Germany in the period 1926–1928.

Reichstag

The Left Communists in the Reichstag were not a uniform political group, but merely a "technical" group to achieve group or parliamentary rights, totalling 15 politicians who had been expelled from the KPD between January 1926 and February 1928. These were both former members of the "left" wing of the KPD, such as Ruth Fischer, Hugo Urbahns, and Werner Scholem, as well as "ultra-left" members of parliament such as Iwan Katz, Karl Korsch, Ernst Schwarz, Heinrich Schlagewerth, and Karl Tiedt, there was no consensus on fundamental questions for communists, such as the question of a united front, the attitude to the Soviet Union, or the ADGB trade unions.

Prussian Landtag

There was also in a group of eight deputies in the Prussian Landtag between 1927 and 1928 who were left communists, led by Anton Grylewicz.

Dissolution

In 1928, some members of the Left Communists such as Fischer, Urbahns, and Otto Weber participated in the founding of the Lenin League, others engaged in council communist groups, or retired from politics after the loss of the mandate in the May 1928 elections.

Members

Reichstag deputies

Landtag deputies

Other members