KPD chairman who called off a revolution; co-founder of the International Right Opposition
At the Chemnitz conference on 21 October 1923, Brandler saw the left-wing Social Democrats walk out and abruptly called off the planned insurrection. Word never reached Hamburg in time — workers there rose in isolation and were crushed within 24 hours.
Chairman of the German Communist Party (KPD) who led the party through the 1921 March Action and the 1923 'German October' uprising plan, which he ultimately called off, judging that revolutionary conditions were not ripe. Held responsible by the Comintern, he was summoned to Moscow and sidelined. After opposing Ernst Thälmann's leadership, he was expelled from the KPD in 1929 and co-founded the Communist Party Opposition (KPO) with August Thalheimer, becoming a central figure of the International Right Opposition. Following the Nazi seizure of power he lived in exile in France and Cuba, returning to West Germany in 1949 where he led the Gruppe Arbeiterpolitik, maintaining an independent communist line to the end of his life.
Career Timeline
- 1897–1901Began trade union activity as a bricklayer; joined the SPD
- 1914–1916Anti-war agitation; founding member of the Spartacus League; arrested and deported
- 1918.12Founding member of the KPD; elected to the Central Committee
- 1921–1924KPD Chairman; led March Action and 1923 'German October,' summoned to Moscow after failure
- 1924–1928Comintern and Profintern work; exiled to Kazakhstan; worked at VSNKh in Moscow
- 1929Expelled from KPD; co-founded KPO with Thalheimer; built the International Right Opposition
- 1933–1948Exile in France and Cuba; advocated an anti-fascist united front
- 1949–1956Returned to West Germany; founded and led Gruppe Arbeiterpolitik