Skip to content
People of the Revolution and the USSR
Activity
Affiliation(set)
Position
Citizenship(set)
Background
Era
People of the wider world
GlossarySocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)→
-
Wilhelm Liebknecht Wilhelm Liebknecht
Co-founder of the Eisenach party and drafter of the Gotha Programme
Political and party leadership · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1826–1900
-
August Bebel August Bebel
Co-founder of the SPD who led the German workers' movement for over 40 years, the 'shadow emperor' of the working class
Political and party leadership · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1840–1913
-
Franz Erdmann Mehring Franz Mehring
The elder theoretician of German Marxism: historian, literary critic, and Spartacus League co-founder
Scholarship and theory · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1846–1919
-
Eduard Bernstein Eduard Bernstein
Founder of Marxist revisionism and evolutionary socialism, author of The Preconditions of Socialism
Scholarship and theory · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1850–1932
-
Clara Zetkin Clara Zetkin
Creator of International Women's Day, she set women's liberation at the heart of class struggle
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1857–1933
-
Carl Legien Carl Legien
German trade-union leader who signed the 1918 agreement with Stinnes and met the Kapp Putsch of 1920 with a general strike
Social movements and organizing · Independent activity
1861–1920
-
Hugo Haase Hugo Haase
Lawyer who founded the USPD against the war and co-chaired the Council of People’s Deputies with Ebert in 1918
Political and party leadership · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1863–1919
-
Robert Emil Eichhorn Robert Emil Eichhorn
German Social Democratic and Independent Social Democratic politician who headed Berlin police in 1918
Security, intelligence and policing · Germany state institutions
1863–1925
-
Kurt Eisner Kurt Eisner
Journalist who overthrew the Bavarian monarchy in Munich in November 1918, proclaimed the People’s State and was assassinated the next year
Social movements and organizing · Germany state institutions
1867–1919
-
Gustav Bauer Gustav Bauer
Social Democratic chancellor whose government accepted the Treaty of Versailles under an Allied ultimatum
Political and party leadership · Germany state institutions
1870–1944
-
Karl Liebknecht Karl Liebknecht
The lone vote against the war; the revolution's first martyr
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1871–1919
-
Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg
“Freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently”
Social movements and organizing · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1871–1919
-
Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert
SPD leader who headed the revolutionary government of 1918, steered the councils into parliamentary democracy and became the first president
Political and party leadership · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1871–1925
-
Arthur Crispien Arthur Crispien
German social-democratic politician and co-chair of the Independent Social Democratic Party.
Political and party leadership · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1875–1946
-
Hermann Müller Hermann Müller
A Social Democratic politician of the Weimar Republic who served twice as chancellor.
Government and administration · Germany state institutions
1876–1931
-
Heinrich Brandler Heinrich Brandler
KPD chairman who called off a revolution; co-founder of the International Right Opposition
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1881–1967
-
Paul Levi Paul Levi
From Rosa Luxemburg's lawyer to KPD leader, his 'anti-putschism' took on Comintern adventurism
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1883–1930
-
August Thalheimer August Thalheimer
Main theorist of the KPD and Bonapartist analyst of fascism
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany Opposition (KPO)
1884–1948
-
Ernst Thälmann Ernst Thälmann
Hitler's personal prisoner, unbroken by eleven years in solitary
Political and party leadership · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1886–1944
-
Hugo Eberlein Hugo Eberlein
German Communist who abstained on the Comintern’s founding at its first congress and was later shot in the Great Purge
Social movements and organizing · Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
1887–1941
-
Ernst Reuter Ernst Reuter
The social democrat who became the voice of divided Berlin
Government and administration · Germany state institutions
1889–1953
-
Friedrich Ebert Jr. Friedrich Ebert junior
A social democrat who moved from municipal politics into state power amid Germany's division
Political and party leadership · Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
1894–1979
-
Kurt Schumacher Kurt Schumacher
SPD leader who survived ten years in Nazi camps and, after the war, refused the merger with the Communists
Political and party leadership · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1895–1952
-
Erich Gniffke Erich Gniffke
SPD organiser in the Soviet zone who signed the merger with the KPD, then left the SED in 1948 and fled west
Social movements and organizing · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1895–1964
-
Erich Ollenhauer Erich Ollenhauer
Exiled SPD functionary who succeeded Schumacher as SPD leader and leader of the West German opposition
Political and party leadership · Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
1901–1963
-
Willy None Brandt Willy Brandt
A social democrat who made reconciliation a politics of divided cities
Government and administration · Germany state institutions
1913–1992