The Workers' Party of Germany (,

abbr. An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing perio ...

PdAD) was a

minor Minor may refer to: Common meanings * Minor (law), a person not under the age of certain legal activities. * Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education Mathematics * Minor (graph theory), a relation of one graph to an ...

political party in Germany The Federal Republic of Germany has a plural multi-party system. Historically, the largest by members and parliament seats are the Christian Democratic Union (Germany), Christian Democratic Union (CDU), with its sister party, the Christian Socia ...

. It saw its mission in overcoming the left-right political divide via the ''

Querfront ''Querfront'' ( – ) is a German term originating from Weimar politics which refers to the cooperation between the far-right and far-left, or between nationalist and socialist ideologies, as well as the combination of their positions. It is p ...

'' strategy. The party modeled itself around the

Workers' Party of Korea The Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), also called the Korean Workers' Party (KWP), is the sole ruling party of North Korea. Founded in 1949 from a merger between the Workers' Party of North Korea and the Workers' Party of South Korea, the WPK is ...

and its

Juche ''Juche'', officially the ''Juche'' idea, is a component of Ideology of the Workers' Party of Korea#Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, Kimilsungism–Kimjongilism, the state ideology of North Korea and the official ideology of the Workers' Party o ...

ideology, which it viewed as national communist. According to

Michael Koth Michael Koth (born 16 October 1955) is a German National Bolshevik, supporter of North Korea, and advocate for the Querfront political strategy. He was a member of multiple socialist parties until becoming the leader of the national-communist ...

, founder and leader of the party, it attracted and united members of the DKP, former FDJ, as well as revolutionary nationalists and nationalist socialists. It saw itself as a "Union of national communists and national revolutionaries" in the spirit of the Strasser brothers,

Ernst Niekisch Ernst Niekisch (23 May 1889 – 23 May 1967) was a German writer and political theorist. Initially a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and of the Old Social Democratic Party of Germany (ASP), he later became a prominent exponent of th ...

, and

Anton Ackermann Anton Ackermann (born Eugen Hanisch, 25 November 1905 – 4 May 1973) was an East German politician. In 1953, he briefly served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Life and career He was born into the family of a weaver and worked as an unskilled la ...

that pursued a "German Socialism". The PdAD believed that the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

had not failed on the social, but rather the national question; which is why the next socialism on German soil must, according to the party, be a national and German socialism in order to survive. The party thus saw itself inspired by the Juche ideology, which had endured the

collapse of communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

Relationship to other groups

The PdAD had a very close relationship with the ''Society for Study and Propagation of the Juche Idea in Germany (German-Korean Friendship Society), ''; a group which had also been primarily initiated by

. The party viewed the political right as divided into two sections, the "reactionary right" (such as the REP and DVU) which welcomed the downfall of the

and were thus viewed as "Agents of the FRG-Regime", and the "progressive right" (such as the NPD) which wanted the best for the nation and recognized that the reunification did not unite the German people, but deepened the divide between East and West. Over its existence, the PdAD grew closer with the neo-nazi movement and later aligned itself with the

National Democratic Party of Germany National Democratic Party of Germany (, NPD), officially called The Homeland () since 2023, is a Far-right politics, far-right, Neo-Nazism, neo-Nazi and Ultranationalism, ultranationalist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1964 as ...

, which had invited Michael Koth, as a proponent of "German Socialism", to the 7th February

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

NPD-Party congress in

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

, where the PdAD had an info booth. In 1998, the PdAD and NPD delegation were invited by ambassador Ri San Yu to attended an event hosted by the North Korean Embassy in Berlin. PdAD members could also often be seen on NPD-led demonstrations.

Legacy

Michael Koth, founder and leader of the PdAD, later went on to be a founding member of the '' Kampfbund Deutscher Sozialisten'' in 1999 along with several

Neo-Nazis Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), to att ...

. The KDS was a political group which aimed to carry on the

strategy and establish itself as a German socialist and National Bolshevik force in Germany. While considerably more well-known and successful than the PdAD, the KDS dissolved in 2007, stating their strategy to have failed. Koth later went on to found and become the leader of the ''Anti-imperialist Platform'', '; a

and pro-

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

group in Berlin, which he still leads to this day. This group has been acknowledged by the Government of North Korea, which mentioned the AIP in a

KCNA The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) () is the state news agency of North Korea. The agency portrays the views of the North Korean government for both domestic and foreign consumption. It was established on December 5, 1946, and now features o ...

press-release about 11th anniversary of

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...

's death.

References

{{Reflist 1995 establishments in Germany 1998 disestablishments in Germany Defunct political parties in Germany German nationalist political parties Juche political parties National Bolshevik parties Political parties disestablished in 1998 Political parties established in 1995 Strasserism