Communist Workers' Union of Germany

The Communist Workers' Union of Germany (KAUD) was a council communist organization in Germany in the final phase of the Weimar Republic and during the time of National Socialism .

history

The KAUD was founded in December 1931 by parts of the General Workers Union (AAU) and the General Workers Union - Unity Organization (AAU-E) "Frankfurt-Breslauer Direction" and the KAPD . It should achieve a summary of the still active council communists in Germany. The KAUD saw itself as a union of party and trade union and emerged as an attempt to bundle the forces of council communism, mainly under the impression of the emerging National Socialism . The aim of the KAU was the "training of the proletarian masses, the propagation of the communist council movement" and the "creation of proletarian fighting unity by the councils". The basis of the KAU was the view that all struggles were to be waged by the working class itself.

The activities of KAUD are hardly documented. Little is known about its members. One of the founders was Jan Appel, who was living in the Netherlands at the time and was involved in founding the International Communist Group (GIK). At the time it was founded, KAUD had 343 members. The Berlin group published the weekly newspaper Der Kampfruf-Organ of KAUD - RBO , which appeared until 1933.

At times, the KAUD merged with the German section of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) to form a "cartel". KAUD and IWW also tried to get closer to the Free Workers Union (FAUD) in order to form a "cartel against fascism and reaction". However, this did not materialize because the FAUD considered the idea to be correct in theory, but in practice to be "very difficult".

The KAUD was in close contact with the Dutch Group of International Communists (GIC) and published their paper Basic principles of communist production and distribution . From 1933 the members were active in various resistance groups, partly in the Red Fighters group and the Communist Council Union .

Web links

• What does the Communist Workers Union want? (1932)
• The emergence of the KAU (Communist Workers Union); in: P. Bourrinet: The Dutch Communist Left

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Frits Kool (Ed.): The Left Against Party Rule (= documents of the world revolution. Vol. 1, ZDB -ID 189787-1 ). Walter, Olten et al. 1970, p. 152 f.
2. ↑ The battle cry <Berlin direction>. ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In the database of German-speaking anarchism - DadA. 
3. ↑ Hartmut Rübner : Freedom and bread. The Free Workers' Union of Germany. A study on the history of anarcho-syndicalism (= archive for social and cultural history. Vol. 5). Libertad-Verlag, Berlin et al. 1994, ISBN 3-922226-21-3 , p. 122, (At the same time: Bremen, University, diploma thesis, 1992: History and theory of anarcho-syndicalism in Germany. ).
4. ↑ Michael Kubina: From Utopia, Resistance and Cold War. The untimely life of the Berlin councilor communist Alfred Weiland (1906–1978) (= dictatorship and resistance. Vol. 1). Lit, Berlin et al. 2001, ISBN 3-8258-5361-6 (also: Berlin, Free University, dissertation, 2000).