 | This article includes alist of references,related reading, orexternal links,but its sources remain unclear because it lacksinline citations. Please helpimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(March 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
_Karl_Schr%25C3%25B6der.JPG)
Karl Bernhard Fritz Schröder (13 November 1884 inPolzin – 6 April 1950 inWest Berlin) was acommunist politician and writer.
Schröder was the son of a teacher. He went to Berlin where he studiedphilosophy,literature,history and art history. He gained his doctorate with a dissertation on art history. He then worked as a private tutor. By 1913 he was a member of theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and in 1914 became a research assistant at the SPD Zentralbildungsausschuss for workers' education. During this period, he became friends withFranz Mehring and developed his connection to the labor movement.
After participating in the First World War, Karl Schroeder joined theSpartacus League in 1918, and shortly afterwards was appointed editor ofRote Fahne (Red Flag), the central organ of theCommunist Party (KPD). In 1919 he was expelled from the KPD along with the majority of the party who went on to form theCommunist Workers' Party of Germany (KAPD). AlongsideAlexander Schwab, he rose to become a leading member of the KAPD and the editor of theArbeiter-Zeitung (Workers newspaper). He travelled toMoscow where he metLenin,Trotsky andBukharin. After theThird Congress of the Comintern (22 June - 12 July 1921), he distanced himself from the Comintern and was expelled from the KAPD in 1922 as leader of theEssen Tendency.
After the attempt to develop the KAPD inEssen failed, Schröder returned to the SPD at the instigation ofPaul Levi. In subsequent years, he became a novelist, editor and publisher active in the social democratic workers' education service. He was also active in the Sozialistische Arbeiter-Jugend (SAJ). As Schröder retained his Councilist approach, and sought to gain support for these views in the SAJ and SPD, this could be regarded asentryism.
In 1928 with support fromFrederick Wendel, Karl Schröder became head of Circle Books, a Berlin book club. He held this position until 1932. (Both knew each other from the Berlin group of KAPD.) Also in 1928, together with Alexander Schwab, he began to organise theCouncil CommunistRote Kämpfer (Red Fighters). After theNazi seizure of power, Schroeder worked as a bookseller in Berlin. TheGestapo penetrated the Rote Kämpfer in 1936, and arrested Schroeder. The following year he was sentenced to four years in prison and then detained in several concentration camps. InBörgermoor he met up with his longtime collaborator Alexander Schwab.
In 1945 he was close to death, but he recovered again. He worked for the reconstruction of the Berlin school system and adult education. At the same time he tried to reorganise in former members of the Rote Kämpfer in West Berlin. In 1948 he joined theSED, which his associates claim was tactically motivated, to gain a lecturing position.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
   | Thisbiography article about a member of theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |
 | This article about a German politician of theSocialist Unity Party of Germany is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |
