October defeat

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The so-called October defeat of 1923 was an important event in the history of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).

The war in the Ruhr and inflation had shattered the political situation in Germany. According to the economic historian Knut Borchardt , there was a “latent revolutionary mood”. In 1920, a large part of the USPD had joined the KPD, which was therefore strongly represented in many factories in Berlin, Hamburg, the Ruhr area, Saxony, Thuringia and in the Halle-Merseburg area, and at times the strongest grouping of the labor movement.

However , the party headquarters, headed by Heinrich Brandler and August Thalheimer , initially did not rely on revolutionary actions on the instructions of the Communist International , but on the formation of coalition governments together with the SPD . In October, the entry of communists into the government in Saxony on October 10 and into the Frölich II cabinet on October 16, 1923 in Thuringia resulted in two state governments formed jointly by the SPD and KPD. The Reichswehr then marched into Saxony and Thuringia on behalf of President Friedrich Ebert under pretexts and forcibly removed the governments. There was civil war-like fighting. In the meantime, on the orders of the Executive Committee of the International, the KPD had decided to start an uprising on October 20th. However, this decision was withdrawn shortly before the beginning of the same. Only the communists in Hamburg did not receive this message. Therefore, on October 23, 1923, a communist uprising actually broke out in Hamburg, in which Ernst Thälmann first stood out. The Hamburg uprising remained isolated and quickly collapsed.

After the failed uprising, the KPD was temporarily banned and lost support in many factories. It was legalized again in early 1924. Fierce battles over political direction ensued.

Remarks

1. ^ Knut Borchardt: Outline of German economic history . In: Werner Ehrlicher (Ed.): Compendium of Economics, Volume 1 . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1975, p. 542
2. ↑ cf. German October 1923: A revolution plan and its failure . Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-351-025572 , pp. 27f.