Co-founder of the Eisenach party and drafter of the Gotha Programme
"Nobody has combatted State Socialism more than we German Socialists, nobody has shown more distinctively than I, that State Socialism is really State capitalism!" — 'Our Recent Congress' (1896)
Born in Giessen, he joined the risings of 1848 and fled by way of Switzerland to London, where he spent twelve years as a close associate of Marx and Engels. In 1869 he founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party with August Bebel at Eisenach; arrested for opposing war credits, he was convicted at the Leipzig treason trial of 1872. He was the man who brought off the Gotha unity congress of 1875 and drafted its programme, the document Marx took apart line by line. From 1890 until his death he edited the party paper Vorwärts. He was the father of Karl Liebknecht.
Career timeline
- 1848–1849Fought in the Baden rising and fled to Switzerland after its defeat
- 1850–1862Exile in London, close to Marx and Engels, and a member of the Communist League
- 1869Co-founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party at Eisenach with Bebel
- 1870–1872Arrested for opposing war credits; sentenced to two years' fortress confinement at the Leipzig treason trial
- 1875Led the Gotha unity congress and drafted the programme that merged the party with the Lassalleans
- 1878–1890Held the party together as a Reichstag deputy under the Anti-Socialist Laws
- 1890–1900Editor-in-chief of the party paper Vorwärts
- 1900Died in Charlottenburg
Co-founder of the SPD who led the German workers' movement for over 40 years, the 'shadow emperor' of the working class
"The struggle in Paris is only a small outpost skirmish; the main affair in Europe is still ahead of us. Before a few decades have passed, 'War on the palaces, peace to the cottages' will become the battle cry of the entire European proletariat." — Reichstag, 25 May 1871
A woodturner's apprentice who co-founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party with Wilhelm Liebknecht in 1869 and, through the Gotha unity congress of 1875, built the SPD into the world's largest socialist party. Under the Anti-Socialist Laws (1878–1890) he ran the illegal party paper from Zurich exile and held the underground organisation together; he steered the adoption of the Erfurt Programme (1891), which became the Marxist benchmark for European social democracy, and led the orthodox defence against Eduard Bernstein's revisionism. His Woman and Socialism (1879) ran through over fifty editions as the founding text of socialist feminism, and his funeral in 1913 drew the leaders of the Second International.
Career timeline
- 1866–1867Co-founded the Saxon People's Party with Wilhelm Liebknecht; active in the Leipzig Workers' Educational Association
- 1867First elected to the Reichstag of the North German Confederation; held a seat continuously until his death
- 1869Co-founded the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) with Liebknecht at Eisenach
- 1870–1872Opposed war credits in the Franco-Prussian War and defended the Paris Commune; convicted of high treason, served two years' fortress confinement
- 1875Led the Gotha unity congress, merging with the Lassalleans to form the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany
- 1878–1890Published Der Sozialdemokrat from Zurich exile and directed the underground party under the Anti-Socialist Laws
- 1891Steered the adoption of the Erfurt Programme, establishing the Marxist benchmark for European social democracy
- 1899–1906Defended orthodox Marxism against Bernstein's revisionism; mediated the mass strike debate between radicals and trade unions
Creator of International Women's Day, she set women's liberation at the heart of class struggle
Six months before Hitler took power, she opened the Reichstag as its oldest member with a call for a united front against Nazism (1932)
Founder of Marxist feminism, she saw women's liberation as inseparable from class struggle and proposed International Women's Day in 1910. From anti-war resistance to co-founding the KPD, she opened the Reichstag at seventy-five with a call for a united front against Nazism.
Career timeline
- 1878–1917Leads the SPD women's movement; edits Die Gleichheit (1892–1917)
- 1910Proposes International Women's Day at Copenhagen
- 1915–1919Anti-war work; in at the founding of the Spartacus League and the KPD
- 1920–1933Reichstag deputy; Comintern executive
- 1925Published the memoir Lenin on the Women’s Question
- 1932Opens the Reichstag as its oldest member, calling for a united front against Nazism
- 1933Exile to the USSR; dies in June, buried in the Kremlin Wall
German trade-union leader who signed the 1918 agreement with Stinnes and met the Kapp Putsch of 1920 with a general strike
Born in Marienburg, he grew up in an orphanage and became a wood turner. He joined the Social Democrats in 1885, chaired the General Commission of the German Trade Unions from 1890, and sat in the Reichstag in 1893–1898 and 1903–1920. In 1913 he became the first President of the International Federation of Trade Unions. He led the SPD’s right wing, and in the First World War supported the civil truce and the renunciation of strikes. On 15 November 1918 he signed an agreement with Hugo Stinnes under which employers for the first time accepted the unions as workers’ representatives, with the eight-hour day and works councils, while the unions rejected the radical socialists’ demands. In 1919 he became chairman of the new General German Trade Union Federation (ADGB), and in March 1920 he organised the general strike against the Kapp Putsch. He died in Berlin later that year.
Career timeline
- 1885Joined the SPD
- 1890Chairman of the General Commission of the German Trade Unions
- 1893Elected to the Reichstag
- 1913First President of the International Federation of Trade Unions
- 1918.11.15Stinnes–Legien Agreement
- 1919Chairman of the ADGB
- 1920.03General strike against the Kapp Putsch
Lawyer who founded the USPD against the war and co-chaired the Council of People’s Deputies with Ebert in 1918
After Ebert’s government bloodily suppressed the revolutionary Volksmarinedivision in December 1918, Haase and fellow USPD delegates resigned from the Council of the People’s Deputies in protest.
Born to a Jewish family in East Prussia, he made his name as a lawyer defending socialists and in 1911 became SPD co-chairman alongside Bebel. In August 1914 he opposed war credits but had to read the party’s statement in their favour in the Reichstag. In 1917 he founded the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) with the war’s opponents. In November 1918 he co-chaired the Council of People’s Deputies with Ebert, leaving the government after the Christmas crisis. Shot outside the Reichstag in October 1919, he died in November.
Career timeline
- 1888Established himself as a lawyer, defending workers, peasants, and socialist activists.
- 1911Became co-chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) with August Bebel.
- 1914Opposed war credits but, following party discipline, voted for them in the Reichstag and defended the party’s support.
- 1917Helped found the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) and became its chairman.
- 1918From November, co-chaired the Council of the People’s Deputies with Ebert; resigned in December to protest the government’s suppression of the sailors’ division.
- 1919Was shot while entering the Reichstag on 8 October and died of blood poisoning from the wound on 7 November.
German socialist and a leading figure in the workers’ council movement.
A social-democratic journalist, Däumig joined the Independent Social Democratic Party during the First World War and became influential among Berlin radicals and the revolutionary shop stewards. As a leading member of the Berlin workers’ council executive in November 1918, he sought to make the council system the basis of the constitution, but lost to supporters of a national assembly. In 1920 he led the USPD left into the Communist International and became co-chair of the United Communist Party of Germany. He resigned as co-chair with Paul Levi in February 1921, left the party after the March Action and Levi’s expulsion, and helped found the Communist Working Group; in 1922 he rejoined the USPD.
Career timeline
- 1901Began working for Social Democratic newspapers in Gera, Halle and Erfurt.
- 1911Joined the Berlin Social Democratic newspaper Vorwärts to cover military affairs and workers’ education.
- 1916After leaving Vorwärts, campaigned for the Independent Social Democratic Party.
- 1918Became a leader of the revolutionary shop stewards and a leading member of the Berlin workers’ council executive.
- 1920Entered the Reichstag as an Independent Social Democrat, backed acceptance of the Bolsheviks’ 21 conditions and affiliation with the Communist International, and became co-chair of the United Communist Party of Germany in December.
- 1921Resigned as co-chair of the United Communist Party of Germany with Paul Levi in February. After the March Action, he left the party and helped found the Communist Working Group.
- 1922Rejoined the Independent Social Democratic Party with the Communist Working Group.
The revolution's underground organizer, always behind the scenes, until he had to lead
On 10 March 1919, still investigating the killings of Luxemburg and Liebknecht, Jogiches was arrested and shot in the back of the head in Berlin's Moabit prison within hours. His last words to an interrogator: 'You will never find these murderers.'
Polish-Jewish Marxist revolutionary. Co-founded the SDKPiL with Rosa Luxemburg in 1893, the main forerunner of the Communist Party of Poland. During the First World War he was the key behind-the-scenes organizer of the underground Spartacus League in Germany. For decades Luxemburg's closest political comrade and personal companion, a brilliant organizer who struggled to write for himself. After Luxemburg and Liebknecht were murdered in January 1919, Jogiches took over KPD leadership and investigated their killings, only to be assassinated by the same Freikorps milieu two months later.
Career timeline
- 1885Founded one of Vilnius's first underground socialist study circles
- 1890Fled conscription to Zürich; met Rosa Luxemburg
- 1892Founded the Social-Democratic Library publishing house
- 1893Co-founded the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland (SDKP, later SDKPiL) with Luxemburg
- 1905–1906Led SDKPiL Central Committee in Warsaw; arrested, sentenced to 8 years' hard labor, escaped
- 1907Elected candidate member of the RSDLP Central Committee at the London Congress
- 1916–1918Directed the underground Spartacus League; oversaw the Spartacus newsletter
- 1919.01–03Took over KPD leadership; led the investigation into the murders of Luxemburg and Liebknecht
Social Democratic chancellor whose government accepted the Treaty of Versailles under an Allied ultimatum
Born in Darkehmen in the Province of Prussia, he worked as a lawyer’s clerk, co-founded the office employees’ union and was second chairman of the General Commission of Trade Unions from 1908 to 1918. Elected to the Reichstag for the SPD in 1912, he became labour secretary in Max von Baden’s cabinet in October 1918. When Scheidemann resigned in protest at the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919, Bauer, until then a vocal critic of the treaty, succeeded him and got it through the National Assembly. His government carried out tax reform and extended social insurance, but was forced out in March 1920 over the negotiations conducted with the Kapp putschists. He was later vice-chancellor and treasury minister, and the Barmat corruption scandal cost him his seat in 1925. He died in Berlin in 1944.
Career timeline
- 1908–1918Second chairman of the General Commission of Trade Unions
- 1912Reichstag deputy (SPD)
- 1918Labour secretary
- 1919–1920Chancellor of Germany
- 1921–1922Vice-chancellor and treasury minister
The lone vote against the war; the revolution's first martyr
“The main enemy is at home.” — anti-war pamphlet, 1915
German socialist revolutionary. The only Reichstag deputy to vote against war credits during the First World War. Co-founded the Spartacus League and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) with Rosa Luxemburg. Murdered by Freikorps after the January 1919 uprising.
Career timeline
- 1907Published Militarism and Anti-Militarism and was sentenced to fortress imprisonment
- 1912–1916Reichstag deputy; the sole vote against war credits in December 1914
- 1916Arrested at a May Day anti-war rally; sentenced to prison
- 1918.11November Revolution — proclaims the 'Free Socialist Republic' from the Berlin palace
- 1918.12–1919.01Co-founds the Spartacus League and the KPD; the January uprising
- 1919.01Seized by the Freikorps and killed alongside Luxemburg
“Freedom is always the freedom of the one who thinks differently”
On 14 January 1919, the day after the Spartacist uprising fell, Luxemburg's final article appeared in Die Rote Fahne. To the victors' cry of 'Order prevails in Berlin!' she answered: 'I was, I am, I shall be!' Arrested that night, murdered the next day.
Polish-born German revolutionary, and the Bolsheviks' sharpest comradely critic. From prison she defended the Russian Revolution while warning against the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and the suppression of the press. Murdered by Freikorps troops during the January 1919 Berlin rising.
Career timeline
- 1893Co-founds the Polish social democracy
- 1898–1914Theorist of the SPD left; the revisionism dispute
- 1899Published Reform or Revolution
- 1906The Mass Strike
- 1913Published The Accumulation of Capital
- 1915–1918Jailed for anti-war work; writes on the Russian Revolution from prison
- 1918.12Co-founds the German Communist Party
- 1919.01Murdered by Freikorps troops in the January rising
SPD leader who headed the revolutionary government of 1918, steered the councils into parliamentary democracy and became the first president
During the November Revolution of 1918, Ebert led the Council of People’s Representatives and advocated elections to a National Assembly. Elected the first president of the German Republic in 1919, he served until 1925.
Born to a tailor in Heidelberg, he worked as a saddler, became a party organiser in Bremen and in 1913 succeeded Bebel as SPD co-chairman. In the war he backed war credits and the Burgfrieden. Taking over the chancellorship on 9 November 1918, he led the Council of People’s Deputies and that night won the army’s support in a secret pact with General Groener. Elected president by the National Assembly in February 1919, he put down risings from left and right with the army, the Freikorps and emergency decrees under Article 48. He died in office in 1925 after an appendicitis operation.
Career timeline
- 1889Joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
- 1905Elected to the SPD party executive.
- 1912Became a member of the Reichstag of the German Empire.
- 1913Elected one of the SPD’s two chairmen.
- 1918Took over state affairs from Chancellor Max von Baden during the November Revolution and led the Council of People’s Representatives.
- 1919Elected president of the German Republic by the National Assembly.
- 1925Died on 28 February from complications of appendicitis.
German social-democratic politician and co-chair of the Independent Social Democratic Party.
A painter and journalist, Crispien opposed the Social Democratic Party's support for the war and helped found the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) in 1917. He served as interior minister in Württemberg's provisional government in 1918–19 and became a USPD co-chair in 1919. He attended the Communist International's Second Congress in 1920 as a USPD delegate but opposed its admission conditions and merger with the Communist Party of Germany. After most of the USPD reunited with the Social Democratic Party in 1922, he joined its leadership; he went into exile after the Nazi seizure of power in 1933.
Career timeline
- 1918–1919Interior minister in Württemberg's provisional government
- 1919–1922Co-chair of the Independent Social Democratic Party
- 1920Attended the Second Congress of the Communist International as a USPD delegate
- 1922–1933Co-chair of the Social Democratic Party of Germany
A Social Democratic politician of the Weimar Republic who served twice as chancellor.
Müller joined the Social Democratic Party in 1893 and rose to its leadership. As foreign minister from 1919 to 1920, he signed the Treaty of Versailles for Germany. His first chancellorship in 1920 combined the suppression of left-wing uprisings with reforms expanding disability employment, primary education, unemployment benefits and workers’ social protection. He returned as chancellor in 1928 to lead a grand coalition, which collapsed amid the Great Depression and disputes over financing unemployment insurance; he resigned in 1930.
Career timeline
- 1893Joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
- 1916Elected to the Reichstag of the German Empire.
- 1919–1920Served as foreign minister and signed the Treaty of Versailles.
- 1920Served as chancellor.
- 1928–1930Served as chancellor of the grand coalition.
Non-party chancellor who answered the Ruhr occupation with passive resistance and fell amid hyperinflation
Born to a civil servant’s family in Suhl, he studied law and, as a Treasury official, helped organise Germany’s food supply early in the First World War. In 1917 he joined the Hamburg America shipping line, which he went on to head. In November 1922 he was appointed chancellor by presidential decree without a Reichstag vote, the first Weimar chancellor who belonged to no party, and formed a “business ministry”. When French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr in January 1923 he called for passive resistance; paying for it, mostly by printing money, began the run-up to hyperinflation. Amid a wave of strikes his cabinet resigned in August in the face of a no-confidence vote initiated by the SPD. In 1932 he joined in advising Hitler on economics, and he died in January 1933.
Career timeline
- 1915–1916Head of the Imperial Grain Agency
- 1917Joined the Hamburg America Line
- 1922–1923Chancellor of Germany
- 1926Director general of the Hamburg America Line
The chancellor who made provisional statehood durable
As president of the Parliamentary Council, Adenauer helped present the Basic Law as a provisional settlement rather than a final constitution for a divided Germany.
Konrad Adenauer was a Catholic conservative statesman who helped shape the Federal Republic after the collapse of Nazism and the division of Germany. As president of the Parliamentary Council, he supported a provisional Basic Law rather than a permanent constitution, leaving open the possibility of reunification while establishing democratic institutions in the western zones. As the first Federal Chancellor, he pursued Westbindung, European integration, and a socially regulated market economy, while his anti-communist policy hardened the political division of the Cold War. His career thus joined parliamentary reconstruction with the consolidation of a state whose provisional founding became durable.
Career timeline
- 1906–1909Deputy mayor of Cologne
- 1917–1933Lord Mayor of Cologne
- 1921–1933President of the Prussian State Council
- 1948–1949President of the Parliamentary Council
- 1949–1963First Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
- 1951–1955Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs
- 1950–1966Chairman of the Christian Democratic Union
Weimar chancellor who ended passive resistance in 1923 and, as foreign minister, concluded the Locarno treaties
Born in Berlin, he entered the Reichstag for the National Liberals in 1907 and during the war backed annexations and unrestricted submarine warfare. After the defeat he founded the German People’s Party and came to accept the republic. Chancellor and foreign minister from August 1923, he ended passive resistance in the Ruhr, used the army to remove the Saxon and Thuringian governments that included Communists, and halted hyperinflation with the Rentenmark. Ousted by a no-confidence vote in November, he remained foreign minister until his death, shaping the Dawes Plan, the Locarno treaties and entry into the League of Nations, and shared the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize. He died of a stroke in 1929.
Career timeline
- 1907Reichstag deputy (National Liberal Party)
- 1917Leader of the National Liberal Party
- 1918Founded the German People’s Party
- 1923Chancellor and foreign minister
- 1923–1929Foreign minister
- 1925Locarno Treaties
- 1926Nobel Peace Prize
Weimar finance minister who founded the CDU in the Soviet zone in 1945 and was deposed for opposing the land reform
The son of a Cologne railway worker, he studied agriculture and from 1911 worked at the International Institute of Agriculture in Rome. A member of the Catholic Centre Party, he became Minister of Food in 1920 and was Minister of Finance from 1922 until the Cuno cabinet resigned in August 1923. Arrested after the Nazis took power, he later served as an economic adviser to the government of Colombia. Back in Germany he joined the resistance around Goerdeler, was arrested after 20 July 1944 and sentenced to death in January 1945, but his wife delayed the execution until the Red Army took Berlin. On 26 June 1945 he became the first chairman of the CDU of Berlin and the Soviet zone; because he refused to agree to the land reform without compensation, SMAD deposed him in December. In the West he founded the German Farmers’ Association and argued for reunification.
Career timeline
- 1911–1914Department director at the International Institute of Agriculture, Rome
- 1920Reich Minister of Food
- 1922–1923Reich Minister of Finance
- 1945Sentenced to death by a Nazi court
- 1945Chairman of the CDU in the Soviet zone; deposed in December
- 1948President of the German Farmers’ Association
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
Communist who led the Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919 and was shot after its fall
On 13 April 1919, Leviné became chair of Munich’s Executive Board, calling for a Red Army and the overcoming of capitalism. After the Soviet Republic was suppressed, he was executed in June.
Born to a Jewish merchant family in St Petersburg, he moved to Germany with his mother after his father’s death and studied at Heidelberg. He returned to Russia to take part in the revolution of 1905 and was imprisoned. In Germany he worked in the USPD and the Spartacus League, and in 1919 the KPD sent him to Munich. When the KPD replaced Toller’s council government on 13 April he became its leader, raising a Red Army and putting factories under workers’ control. Captured after Munich fell in May, he was sentenced to death by a court martial and shot in Stadelheim prison on 5 June.
Career timeline
- 1905Returned to Russia to take part in the revolution and was exiled to Siberia.
- 1918–1919Helped found the Spartacus League in Berlin and worked in the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
- 1919Sent by the KPD to Munich to organize its local branch and help establish the council republic, he became chair of its Executive Board on 13 April and led the republic.
- 1919Captured after the republic’s suppression, he was sentenced to death and shot at Stadelheim Prison on 5 June.
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
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.'
One of the leading theorists of the founding generation of the German Communist Party (KPD), and the originator of the 'Bonapartist' theory of fascism, which saw fascism not as a mere instrument of finance capital but as an autonomous executive power rising above class antagonism. Expelled from the KPD in 1929, he co-founded the Communist Party Opposition (KPO) with Heinrich Brandler, holding a line opposed to both Stalinism and Social Democracy while continuing his anti-fascist writings in exile.
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
Hitler's personal prisoner, unbroken by eleven years in solitary
“A vote for Hindenburg is a vote for Hitler; a vote for Hitler is a vote for war.” — presidential campaign, 1932
KPD chairman. A Hamburg dock worker, he built the party into a Weimar mass force. Arrested after the Nazi takeover, he spent eleven years in solitary and was shot at Buchenwald in 1944.
Career timeline
- 1903–1920Hamburg docker; from the SPD via the USPD to the KPD
- 1925–1933KPD chairman; leads the Red Front-Fighters' League
- 1925Runs for Reich President
- 1932Runs for Reich President
- 1933Arrested by the Gestapo; eleven years in solitary
- 1944.08Shot at Buchenwald on Hitler's direct order
Co-founder of Western Marxism, the German philosopher who challenged Marxist orthodoxy with Marxism and Philosophy
“If we get a few more of these Professors spinning out their theories, we shall be lost.” — Zinoviev at the 5th Comintern Congress, 1924, attacking Korsch and Lukács
German Marxist philosopher and revolutionary who, alongside Lukács, laid the foundations of Western Marxism. In Marxism and Philosophy (1923) he applied the materialist conception of history to Marxism itself, arguing for the revolutionary recovery of the Hegelian dialectic, a move that drew fierce denunciation from the Comintern. Served as Justice Minister in the 1923 Thuringian workers' government and as a KPD Reichstag deputy before his expulsion as a left-oppositionist. Fled the Nazis for American exile, where his scholarship left a deep imprint on Brecht, Benjamin, and the Frankfurt School.
Career timeline
- 1906–1910Studies law and philosophy at Munich, Geneva, Berlin; doctorate in law, University of Jena
- 1912–1914Legal research in London; joins the Fabian Society
- 1914–1918German Army service — refuses to carry weapons; awarded the Iron Cross twice for bravery
- 1917Joins USPD; elected delegate to soldiers' soviet
- 1920Joins KPD with the USPD left wing; lecturer at University of Jena
- 1923.03Publishes Marxism and Philosophy; becomes target of fierce Comintern criticism
- 1923.10–11Justice Minister, Thuringian workers' government — collapses after 27 days under Reichswehr intervention
- 1924–1928KPD Reichstag deputy; delegate to 5th Comintern Congress
- 1926.04Expelled from KPD; forms the Resolute Lefts (Entschiedene Linke) opposition faction
- 1933Flees Germany the night of the Reichstag fire; passes through Denmark and England
- 1936–1961US exile — Tulane University, Institute for Social Research; teaches Marxism to Brecht
- 1938Publishes Karl Marx; deeply influences Benjamin's Arcades Project
- 1950Ten Theses on Marxism Today — declares break with orthodox Marxism
German Communist who abstained on the Comintern’s founding at its first congress and was later shot in the Great Purge
At the 1919 Comintern founding congress, Eberlein conveyed Luxemburg and Jogiches’s mandate against immediate foundation. Lenin persuaded him personally, but he followed the mandate and abstained rather than vote against.
A draughtsman from Saalfeld, he joined the SPD and during the war co-founded the Spartacus League with Luxemburg. As the KPD’s delegate to the Comintern’s founding congress in March 1919 he abstained on the founding vote, as Luxemburg and Jogiches had advised, believing a premature International would be dominated by the Bolsheviks. Afterwards he did organisational and financial work for the Comintern and the German party and sat in the Prussian Landtag. He fled to the Soviet Union in 1933, was arrested in 1937 and was shot in Moscow in October 1941.
Career timeline
- 1916Helped organize the Spartacus League as an underground political organization.
- 1918Helped found the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).
- 1919Attended the Comintern’s founding congress as the KPD delegate and abstained on its founding vote.
- 1921Elected to the Prussian Landtag.
- 1937Arrested and imprisoned in the Soviet Union.
- 1941Shot in Moscow.
