Description
Book SynopsisPaul Levi remains one of the most interesting and controversial figures in the early history of the Communist movement. As leader of the KPD after the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, he successfully built up a party of a third of a million members, but by 1921 Comintern pressure for `Bolshevisation' forced Levi's resignation and expulsion.This is the first English edition of Levi's writings and thus fills a gap in the canon of German communist literature.
Trade Review"With this skillfully edited collection of Levi's speeches and writings, Fernbach, long established as a leading student of Marxism, makes a major contribution to understanding the Left in Europe in the years after WW I. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." —Choice "Levi’s writings in English ... allow English-reading socialists to obtain a fuller understanding of the German revolutionary period after the First World War, a period rich in lessons for anti-capitalists today. ... David Fernbach [has] done a service to the left in making them available to the English reader. —Stuart King, in Permanent Revolution, vol. 22
"With this skillfully edited collection of Levi's speeches and writings, Fernbach, long established as a leading student of Marxism, makes a major contribution to understanding the Left in Europe in the years after WW I. Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." Choice "Levi’s writings in English ... allow English-reading socialists to obtain a fuller understanding of the German revolutionary period after the First World War, a period rich in lessons for anti-capitalists today. ... David Fernbach [has] done a service to the left in making them available to the English reader. Stuart King, in Permanent Revolution, vol. 22
Table of ContentsIntroduction Part One: Leading the KPD Address to the Founding Congress of the KPD Letter to Lenin (1919) The Munich Experience: An Opposing View The Political Situation and the KPD (October 1919) The Lessons of the Hungarian Revolution The World-Situation and the German Revolution The Beginning of the Crisis in the Communist Party and the International Letter to Loriot Part Two: The March Action Our Path: Against Putschism What Is the Crime? The March Action or Criticising It? Letter to Lenin (1921) The Demands of the Kommunistische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Part Three: The Soviet Question Letter to Clara Zetkin Introduction to Rosa Luxemburg’s pamphlet The Russian Revolution Introduction to Trotsky, The Lessons of October The Retreat from Leninism After Ten Years Approaching the End Return Part Four: The German Republic The Murder of Erzberger The Needs of the Hour Why We Are Joining the United Social-Democratic Party The Assassination of Rathenau The Situation after Rathenau’s Death The Reich and the Workers The Defenders of the Republic After the Oath References Index
