KPD Rhineland-Palatinate

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The KPD Rhineland-Palatinate was the state organization of the KPD in Rhineland-Palatinate .

history

prehistory

In the Weimar Republic there was no uniform organization of the KPD in what is now Rhineland-Palatinate. The KPD was divided into 24 districts across the Reich.

Re-establishment after the Second World War

After the Second World War, local groups of the KPD formed. In the French zone of occupation, decree no. 32 of December 13, 1945 allowed the establishment of parties on a supraregional level. The party's application for approval of January 27, 1946 was followed by approval on February 4, 1946. Herbert Müller was elected state secretary. At the first state party conference on 18./19. May 1946 Müller was confirmed as state chairman.

As in other countries, the KPD Rhineland-Palatinate tried to merge with the SPD. At the latest after the forced unification of the SPD and KPD in the Soviet Zone became apparent, the SPD's willingness to merge in the western zones ended abruptly.

The French military government appointed a number of KPD members as officials of state offices. The KPD provided Willy Feller, Minister for Reconstruction in the all-party government Boden .

Election results

In the municipal elections in September 1946 the KPD achieved 6.5%, in the district council elections in October of the same year 7.4%. In the election for the Consultative State Assembly , the KPD received 7.1% and 9 seats. In the state parliament of Rhineland-Palatinate , the KPD was represented by eight members in the first electoral term, after it had achieved 8.7% of the vote in the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1947 .

The vote on the constitution for Rhineland-Palatinate took place together with the state elections . The KPD called for rejection, but could not prevail. The KPD had demanded the start of a land reform and the socialization of companies as well as a single school , but could not prevail with these ideas.

Compared to other federal states, the KPD Rhineland-Palatinate performed above average in the 1949 federal election . While the party reached 5.7% nationwide, 6.2% (88,949 voters) were counted in Rhineland-Palatinate. Otto Niebergall succeeded in entering the Bundestag.

In the state elections in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1951 , the KPD achieved 4.3% and, just like in the state elections in 1955 with 3.2%, could no longer move into the state parliament.

Purges, loss of meaning and bans

The KPD Rhineland-Palatinate was weakened from 1948 by a series of internal party " purges ". Herbert Müller was replaced as state chairman at the third state party conference in 1948 and replaced by Otto Niebergall . Herbert Müller left the party and joined the SPD. A number of other senior officials were also reprimanded.

The party, marked by decay and paralysis, was banned on August 17, 1956.

Illegal work and successor organizations

Members of the KPD Rhineland-Palatinate also tried to circumvent the ban. In the following local elections, the communists ran in some strongholds as "independent voter groups". In the local elections on November 11, 1956, 25 such lists were not allowed as "camouflage lists". In 1969 the DKP was founded. This achieved its best result in the state elections in 1971 with 0.9%. It lost continuously until in 1987 it was able to unite 0.1% of the votes.

Membership development

time Number of members
April 1947 20,282
September 1947 25,000
November 1947 20,790
January 1948 16,895
July 1948 14,187
December 1948 12,304
December 1949 12.006
December 1950 6,292
December 1951 6.354
August 1956 3,900

Party newspapers

The KPD Rhineland-Palatinate published a newspaper called New Life . After lengthy preparations, on June 3, 1947, the French occupying power granted the license to publish a nationwide party newspaper of the KPD. KPD newspapers had already existed at the district and district level beforehand. Herbert Müller, Ernst Buschmann and Adolf Betz acted as license holders. Responsible editors should be Willy Feller, Willi Gräfe and Arno Freiberg . Feller and Gräfe were rejected by the occupation authorities with regard to their state offices.

The first edition on August 8, 1947 appeared in an edition of 17,000 copies. The newspaper, which initially appeared twice a week, was initially able to increase its circulation and reached its peak in August 1948 with 19,000 subscriptions (the freely sold circulation was only a few hundred copies). In line with the development of the number of members, the circulation then fell continuously and in 1950 was around 8,000 copies at the time the newspaper was banned.

The newspaper carried out aggressive propaganda in deliberate violation of press law regulations. In order to protect against possible sanctions, the strategy of the “ seat editor ” was used. The actual editor-in-chief was Willy Feller, VisdP drew Hans Ritter and, from January 1, 1950, Adolf Dussmann. As part of the internal party "purges" Friedel Janecek became editor-in-chief on April 13, 1950.

From April 4 to 17, 1949, the newspaper was banned for the first time for violating press law. The newspaper was also banned from April 23 to May 9, 1950. The newspaper was finally banned from June 20, 1950.

In order to circumvent the ban, the party newspaper of the KPD Baden district, “Our Day”, was also used as a party newspaper in Rhineland-Palatinate from November 4, 1950.

people

Chairperson

MPs after 1945

Surname Consultative national assembly 1st electoral term
Paul Baumann member
Fritz Baumgartner member Member (resigned from KPD on February 17, 1951)
Adolf Betz member member
Ernst Buschmann member Group leader
Hans Eiden 0 Member (resigned June 14, 1948)
Willy Feller member member
Hans Griesbeck joined Hans Eiden on July 8, 1948
Josefine Halein Successor for Paul Baumann
Friedel Janecek member
Konrad Lein member
Herbert Mueller Group leader Parliamentary group leader until 1948; from October 5, 1949 SPD
Leo Schieder member member

swell

  • Klaus J. Becker: The KPD in Rhineland-Palatinate 1946–1956 . Mainz 2001
  • Doris M. Peckhaus, Robert Hess: 40 Years Landtag Rhineland-Palatinate , 1987, ISBN 3-87439-142-6 , page 33, 101-104, 171