Main theorist of the KPD and Bonapartist analyst of fascism
In July 1937, when six KPO members were arrested by Stalinists in Barcelona, Thalheimer and Brandler issued a joint statement: 'We take upon ourselves any political and personal guarantee for our arrested comrades. They are anti-Fascists and revolutionaries, incapable of any action that could be construed as high treason to the Spanish Revolution.'
Founding member and the main theorist of the German Communist Party (KPD) in the early 1920s. He co-led the party with Heinrich Brandler during the failed 'German October' uprising of 1923 and was summoned to Moscow afterwards. There he lectured on dialectical materialism at the Sun Yat-sen University and worked with Bukharin on the draft Comintern programme. Expelled from the KPD in 1929, he co-founded the Communist Party Opposition (KPO) with Brandler and developed an influential Bonapartist theory of fascism. After 1933 he lived in exile in France and Cuba, continuing his anti-fascist writings until his death.
Career Timeline
- 1910Joined the SPD; edited left-wing party newspapers
- 1916–1918Active in the Spartacus League; drafted and jailed for anti-war agitation
- 1918.12Founding member of the KPD; its main theorist in the early 1920s
- 1923Co-led the KPD with Brandler; summoned to Moscow after the failed 'German October'
- 1924–1928Taught and researched at the Marx-Engels Institute and Sun Yat-sen University, Moscow
- 1929Expelled from the KPD; co-founded the Communist Party Opposition (KPO) with Brandler
- 1933–1948Exile in France and Cuba; continued anti-fascist theoretical work