People of the Revolution and the USSR

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Any Political and party leadership 39 Government and administration 13 Legislature and state representation 8 Monarchs and royalty 2 Military command 34 Security, intelligence and policing 10 Diplomacy and international organization 3 Economy, finance and planning 1 Industry and production 1 Ideology and propaganda 4 Social movements and organizing 13 Scholarship and theory 8 Education 1 Science and technology 1 Literature and arts 4 Law and justice 1
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Any Non-Bolshevik socialists 1 Marxism and communism 1
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Any Soviet Union 32 Russia 8 East Germany 2 Hungary 2 Poland 2 Benin 1 Democratic People's Republic of Korea 1 Estonia 1 Finland 1 Germany 1 Greece 1 Italy 1 Romania 1 United States 1
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The revolutionary wave and the world war1917–1945 1
Law and justice Citizenship: Germany Clear all

Paul Levi

Paul Levi
Communist Party of Germany (KPD) Communism Germany Germany 1883–1930 ○ Fatal fall during pneumonia

From Rosa Luxemburg's lawyer to KPD leader, his 'anti-putschism' took on Comintern adventurism

Right after the March Action of 1921 he wrote: 'When I conceived this pamphlet, the Communist Party had 500,000 members in Germany. Eight days later when I wrote it, the party was shaken to its foundations and its very existence called into question. The fallen, sacrificed to this Bakuninist madness, cry out: Never again!'

A socialist who rose from Rosa Luxemburg's lawyer to chairman of the German Communist Party (KPD). Expelled for his pamphlet Unser Weg, which condemned the 1921 March Action as 'Bakuninist putschism,' he returned via the USPD to lead the SPD left. Trotsky called him 'the only man in Germany who had a head to lose.'

Career timeline
  • 1906Joined the SPD; began law practice in Frankfurt
  • 1913Defended Rosa Luxemburg in court on charges of inciting soldiers to disobedience
  • 1915–1918Co-founded the Spartacus League; Zimmerwald Left bureau; edited Spartakusbriefe
  • 1918.12Introduced the 'National Assembly' debate at the KPD founding congress
  • 1919.03–1921.02KPD chairman — rebuilt the party after the murders of Luxemburg, Liebknecht, and Jogiches
  • 1920Led unification with the USPD left, turning the KPD into a mass party; championed the 'Open Letter' tactic
  • 1921Expelled from the KPD for Unser Weg: Wider den Putschismus, his critique of the March Action
  • 1922Returned to the SPD via the USPD; published Luxemburg's suppressed manuscript The Russian Revolution
  • 1924–1930SPD Reichstag deputy; fought to expose the Liebknecht–Luxemburg murders and opposed the rising Nazi movement