Kommunistischer Bund
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Communist League (german: Kommunistischer Bund, KB) was a radical
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...
organisation active in
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
from 1971 until 1991. The KB emerged from the
protests of 1968 The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, predominantly characterized by popular rebellions against state militaries and the bureaucracies. In the United States, these protests marked a turning point for the ci ...
and initially had a
Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...
orientation. Later in the 1980s it became a leading organisation of the "undogmatic left" ''(undogmatische Linke)''. It was one of several rivaling minor communist groups in West Germany collectively called " K groups.”


History

The KB was created by the merger of the
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
Socialist Workers' and Apprentices' Center (''Sozialistisches Arbeiter- und Lehrlingszentrum''; SALZ) with the Communist Workers' Confederation (''Kommunistischer Arbeiterbund'', KAB) of Hamburg, SALZ
Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...
, SALZ
Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
, the Communist Construction Group (''Kommunistische Aufbaugruppe'', KAG)
Oldenburg Oldenburg may also refer to: Places *Mount Oldenburg, Ellsworth Land, Antarctica *Oldenburg (city), an independent city in Lower Saxony, Germany **Oldenburg (district), a district historically in Oldenburg Free State and now in Lower Saxony *Olde ...
and the Communist League/Marxists-Leninists (''Kommunistischer Bund/Marxisten-Leninisten'', KB/ML) in
Flensburg Flensburg (; Danish, Low Saxon: ''Flensborg''; North Frisian: ''Flansborj''; South Jutlandic: ''Flensborre'') is an independent town (''kreisfreie Stadt'') in the north of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. Flensburg is the centre of the ...
and
Eutin Eutin () is the district capital of Ostholstein, Eastern Holstein county located in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As of 2020, the town had some 17,000 inhabitants. History The name Eutin (originally Utin) is of Slavic origin. I ...
. The KB originated from the late sixties' youth movement, with early Marxist-Leninist forces that developed from the banned
Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
(KPD) like the small cadre group KAB Hamburg led by Knut Mellenthin merging with the SALZ that had emerged from the Hamburg apprentices' movement. They were joined by a majority of the Communist League of High School Students (KOB), but only a minority of the SALZ's sympathisers among university students while most of them joined the Socialist Students' Group that became part of the
Communist League of West Germany The Communist League of West Germany (''Kommunistischer Bund Westdeutschland''; KBW) was a Maoist organization in West Germany which existed from 1973 until 1985. The KBW contested the general elections in 1976 and 1980 in West Germany and was ra ...
(KBW), a rivaling Maoist organisation. This split can be seen as a reason for the bitter enmity between KB and KBW that competed for a similar circle of supporters, first in Northern Germany and after c. 1975 in all of West Germany.


Structure

The KB dissociated itself strictly from the
Communist League of West Germany The Communist League of West Germany (''Kommunistischer Bund Westdeutschland''; KBW) was a Maoist organization in West Germany which existed from 1973 until 1985. The KBW contested the general elections in 1976 and 1980 in West Germany and was ra ...
(KBW) and the
Communist Party of Germany/Marxists–Leninists The Communist Party of Germany/Marxists–Leninists (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands/Marxisten-Leninisten, KPD/ML) was a clandestine communist party active in West Germany and East Germany during the Cold War. It was founded in 1968 ...
(KPD/ML) and used a less dogmatic diction than the two latter groups. The Hamburg Green-Alternative List (GAL or AL) was essentially supported by KB activists after 1984. With the rise of the GAL, KB lost its importance. A spin-off was the Group Z that later joined
The Greens The Greens or Greens may refer to: Current political parties * Australian Greens, also known as ''The Greens'' * Greens of Andorra * Greens of Bosnia and Herzegovina * Greens of Burkina * Greens (Greece) * Greens of Montenegro *Greens of Serbia *G ...
and included many future Green politicians like Thomas Ebermann, Rainer Trampert, and
Jürgen Trittin Jürgen Trittin (born 25 July 1954) is a German Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Green politician. He was Federal Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (Germany), Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and N ...
. The KB's newspaper ''Arbeiterkampf'' (AK; "workers' struggle") reached its highest circulation numbers during the heyday of
anti-nuclear protests Anti-nuclear protests began on a small scale in the U.S. as early as 1946 in response to Operation Crossroads. Large scale anti-nuclear protests first emerged in the mid-1950s in Japan in the wake of the March 1954 Lucky Dragon Incident. Aug ...
in the late 1970s. At this time, the KB had an estimated 2,500 members, 1500 of them in Hamburg. ''Arbeiterkampf'' differed from other left-wing parties' papers as it did not only propagate the KB's party line, but was open to controversial discussions and presented a variety of standpoints. Therefore AK played the role of a left-wing counter-press in Hamburg. In the field of legal assistance, the KB briefly cooperated with the Hamburg ''
Rote Hilfe The Rote Hilfe ("Red Aid") was the German affiliate of the International Red Aid. The Rote Hilfe was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany and existed between 1924 and 1936. Its purpose was to provide help to those Communists who had bee ...
'' ("Red Aid"), but stopped collaboration as KB (unlike the ''Rote Hilfe'') distanced itself clearly from the
Red Army Faction The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970. The ...
's (RAF) terrorist violence. Instead, KB started its own legal office, called "Initiative Committee Workers' Assistance Hamburg" (''Initiativkomitee Arbeiterhilfe Hamburg'', IKAH).


Positions

The theoretical core of KB's positions–and a pivotal difference vis-à-vis other "K" groups' ideologies–was the assumption of a "fascisation" of the West German state and society. While other Marxist–Leninist groups assumed that the growing economic crisis of capitalism would lead to a leftist politicization of the population and a revolutionary mass movement, the KB held the view that—because of Germany's historical peculiarities—the crisis would rather trigger a swing to the right and lead to a resurgence of fascism. This view was rebuked as "pessimistic" and "defeatist" by rivaling leftists. Another distinction from other Maoist organizations was that the KB conceded that the Soviet Union and its allies had a rather progressive role on a global scale (despite criticism of their domestic policies) and rejected the Chinese theory of "Soviet
social imperialism As a political term, social imperialism is the political ideology of people, parties, or nations that are, according to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, "socialist in words, imperialist in deeds". In academic use, it refers to governments that enga ...
". Thus the KB defended the existence of East Germany, while many other Maoists demanded the German reunification. It strongly rejected rivaling organisations' line of "fatherland defencism" against the purported "social imperialism". On the contrary, in 1972 the KB accused West Germany to seek domination over its European neighbours under the guise of European integration. The KB claimed that the West German-dominated
European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...
(EEC) was designed to antagonise Eastern European and
developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
of the
Global South The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify region ...
(which they called the "Tricont") as well as rivalry with the United States. KB's claim of the "particular level of aggressiveness" of West German imperialism was a significant determiner of KB's fascisation theory. After an intensive discussion of China's foreign policy, the KB renounced its former ideological reference model. Moreover, the group criticised the internal developments in China after Mao's death as a "right-wing coup".


Schisms and decline

Over the 1980s differences within the shrinking group became manifest, first concerning the
Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is an ongoing intercommunal phenomenon involving political tension, military conflicts, and other disputes between Arab countries and Israel, which escalated during the 20th century, but had mostly faded out by the ...
. The
Anti-Zionism Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestin ...
of large portions of the radical left, including parts of the KB, that even compared Israel's policies with those of the Nazis (AK once headlined: "Final Solution to the Palestinian Question", alluding to the Nazi term of ''
Final Solution to the Jewish Question The Final Solution (german: die Endlösung, ) or the Final Solution to the Jewish Question (german: Endlösung der Judenfrage, ) was a Nazi plan for the genocide of individuals they defined as Jews during World War II. The "Final Solution to th ...
'') was opposed by some, particularly by Jewish KB members. KB's Frankfurt chapter was especially vocal in this position, warning of subtextual
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
within the left. After the 1989
Peaceful Revolution The Peaceful Revolution (german: Friedliche Revolution), as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity ...
in East Germany and in view of the looming German reunification, the differences within the KB turned out to be irreconcilable. The majority of KB concluded that given the inevitability of German reunification, it should focus on the social question arising from the restoration of capitalism in East Germany, and sought collaboration with the East German Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). The minority, on the other hand, went for fundamental opposition against the restoration of the German nation state, participated in the "Radical Left Alliance", and supported the "Germany Never Again" demonstration in Frankfurt in May 1990. This minority formed the ''Gruppe K'' publishing the anti-German ''
Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
'' magazine.


Dissolution

The KB disbanded in April 1991. The ''Arbeiterkampf'' newspaper continued to be published monthly until mid-1992, serving as a last link between the two opposing currents of KB. Then it renamed itself to ''analyse & kritik'' ("Analysis and Criticism"), keeping the acronym ''ak''. It carried on the pro-PDS line of KB's former majority. It still exists, with younger editors, having evolved towards a pluralist debate organ of the undogmatic radical left without party affiliation.


Notable former members

*
Angelika Beer Angelika Beer (born 24 May 1957 in Kiel) is a German politician. 2004 to 2009 she was a Member of the European Parliament for Alliance 90/The Greens, part of the European Greens. She was chair of the delegation for relations with Iran and a membe ...
, joined The Greens in 1980, chairman of Alliance 90/The Greens (2002–04), member of the Bundestag (1987–90; 1994–2002); member of the European Parliament (2004–09), joined the
Pirate Party Germany The Pirate Party Germany (german: Piratenpartei Deutschland), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the informat ...
in 2009 *
Jürgen Elsässer Jürgen Elsässer (born 20 January 1957 in Pforzheim) is a German journalist and political activist of the new right. Life Jürgen Elsässer was born in 1957, the son of a watchmaker and a secretary. His two sisters and he were "typically left-w ...
, journalist for the left-wing ''
konkret ''konkret'' has been the name of two German magazines. ''konkret'' was originally the name of a magazine established by Klaus Rainer Röhl in 1957, that was an influential magazine on the German political left in the 1960s. The magazine was di ...
'' magazine 2003, then turned to radical right-wing populist positions, seeking a
Third Position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented a ...
strategy that unites anti-imperialist leftists and anti-capitalist rightists *
Ulla Jelpke Ursula "Ulla" Jelpke (born 9 June 1951) is a German journalist and politician. Jelpke is a member of the German Bundestag where she is domestic affairs spokesperson for the party Die Linke and represents the party in the internal affairs commit ...
, joined the GAL/The Greens in 1981, resigned in 1990, non-partisan member of the Bundestag in the PDS's quota (1990–2002), joined the PDS in 2005, again member of the Bundestag (since 2005) * Matthias Küntzel, political scientist and journalist, mainly publishing about Islamism, Antisemitism and Iran in German and international papers *
Hans-Georg Stümke Hans-Georg Stümke (16 September 1941 in Königsberg – 29 September 2002 in Berlin) was a German gay activist, author, and historian. The son of an army officer, Stümke grew up in Celle, Lower Saxony, and worked first as a meteorologist for ...
, LGBT activist * Rainer Trampert, co-founder of The Greens in 1980, resigned in 1990 *
Jürgen Trittin Jürgen Trittin (born 25 July 1954) is a German Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Green politician. He was Federal Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (Germany), Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and N ...
, co-founder of The Greens in 1980, leader of Alliance 90/The Greens (1994–98), federal minister of the environment (1998–2005)


Sources

*


Footnotes

{{Authority control 1971 establishments in West Germany 1991 disestablishments in Germany Communist organisations in Germany Defunct organisations based in Germany Organizations disestablished in 1991 Organizations established in 1971