Ludwig Becker (trade unionist)

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Ludwig Becker (born October 25, 1892 in Schwäbisch Gmünd , † April 4, 1974 in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt ) was a communist politician, trade unionist and resistance fighter .

Life

In the labor movement

Becker grew up in Schwäbisch Gmünd and learned the trade of a goldsmith. His father, who had the same job, was a socialist. After completing his apprenticeship, Ludwig Becker went on a hike and came into contact with the labor movement . In 1907 he became a member of the German Metalworkers' Association (DMV) and the association " Free Socialist Youth ". In 1910 he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany . A year later he went to Stuttgart and was delegated from there to the SPD party school in Berlin , where Rosa Luxemburg taught .

As a war opponent, he belonged to the left Westmeyer wing in Stuttgart . He had to serve as a soldier from 1913 to 1918 and took part in the First World War.

From 1914 on, Becker was one of the critics of the SPD's truce policy . He later joined the Spartakusbund and was a member of the Workers 'and Soldiers' Council in 1918 .

In KPD and KPD-O

Becker was active in the KPD since it was founded. He worked as a goldsmith until 1922. In 1923 he was a delegate of the 8th party congress of the KPD. He was arrested in early 1924 and sentenced to one and a half years in prison on September 27. However, he was released early from prison because he was elected to the Württemberg state parliament in May 1924 . From July 1925 he worked full-time as a secretary of the KPD in Stuttgart. In 1928 he was again a member of parliament.

Ludwig Becker criticized the KPD's Stalinist turnaround; he opposed the RGO policy and social fascism thesis , which is why he was expelled from the party in 1929. He joined the KPD-O and remained a member of the Württemberg state parliament together with Max Hammer until 1932. From December 1930 to 1933 he worked as an authorized representative of the DMV in the clock city Schwenningen , at the same time he was editor of the rise and member of the Friends of Nature .

Prisoner in Buchenwald concentration camp

At the time of National Socialism , from 1933 to 1938, he again worked in a metalworking company and was arrested in 1939 and then imprisoned - first in Asperg and then in Buchenwald concentration camp . There he was active until 1945 in the illegal political and military organizer. There he worked closely with the imprisoned comrades of the KPD-O: Willi Bleicher , Eugen Ochs and Robert Siewert .

reconstruction

After the liberation from National Socialism , he worked on the reconstruction of the KPD and IG Metall . For a few months he held the office of deputy mayor in Schwenningen and was a KPD member of the state parliament of South Württemberg-Hohenzollern . Then he became head of IG Metall in that country. In 1956 he was expelled from the KPD because he rejected the party resolution (thesis 37). From 1953 to 1959 he was district manager of IG Metall in Württemberg-Baden, later Baden-Württemberg, in Stuttgart. Ludwig Becker died on April 4, 1974 in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hermann Weber, Andreas Herbst (Ed.): Max Hammer in: German Communists . Biographisches Handbuch 1918 to 1945. 2nd, revised and greatly expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6 ( online ).
personal data
SURNAME Becker, Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politicians (SPD, KPD), MdL, trade unionists and resistance fighters
DATE OF BIRTH October 25, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwäbisch Gmünd
DATE OF DEATH April 4th 1974
Place of death Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt