Paul Levi | |
|---|---|
 Levi in the 1920s | |
| Chairman of the Communist Party of Germany | |
| In office March 1919 – February 1921 | |
| Succeeded by | Heinrich Brandler |
| Member of theReichstag | |
| In office 24 June 1920 – 9 February 1930 | |
| Succeeded by | Georg Graupe |
| Constituency | Reichswahlvorschlag (1920–1924) 30, Chemnitz-Zwickau (1924–1930) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1883-03-11)11 March 1883 |
| Died | 9 February 1930(1930-02-09) (aged 46) |
| Party | SPD (1906–1916) USPD (1917–1918) KPD (1918–1921) KAG (1921–March 1922) USPD (March–September 1922) SPD (from September 1922) |
Paul Levi (German:[ˈleːvi]; 11 March 1883 – 9 February 1930) was a Germancommunist andsocial democratic political leader. He was the head of theCommunist Party of Germany following the assassination ofRosa Luxemburg andKarl Liebknecht in 1919. After being expelled for publicly criticising Communist Party tactics during theMarch Action, he formed theCommunist Working Organisation (KAG /Kommunistische Arbeitsgemeinschaft) which in 1922 merged with theIndependent Social Democratic Party. This party, in turn, merged with theSocial Democratic Party a few months later and Levi became one of the leaders of its left wing.
Paul Levi was born on 11 March 1883 inHechingen inHohenzollern Province to a well-to-doJewish merchant family.[1] He attended the Gymnasium inStuttgart.[2]: 2–3 Levi started work as a lawyer inFrankfurt in 1906[2]: 3 and also joined theSocial Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) the same year. There he became part of the party's left wing together withRosa Luxemburg andKarl Liebknecht. Beginning in 1913, Levi was also Luxemburg's lawyer in political cases.[3]: 61 In 1914 he was elected as an SPD town councillor in Frankfurt.[2]: 3
Levi was one of the twelve delegates to the meeting in March 1915 which led to the formation of theGruppe Internationale which became theSpartacist League.[2]: 5 The following month he wasconscripted to the army and sent to theVosges.[2]: 5 After starving himself, Levi was discharged on medical grounds in 1916, settling inSwitzerland and associating withKarl Radek,Grigory Zinoviev andVladimir Lenin, becoming a part of the bureau of theZimmerwald Left and helping foundLa nouvelle internationale which he wrote for under thepseudonym 'Hartstein'.[2]: 5 He was one of the signatories to a declaration approving of Lenin and other Russian revolutionaries actions in travelling through Germany in a sealed train.[2]: 5
Levi returned to Germany after theOctober Revolution and from March 1918 lived mostly in Berlin where he was one of the three editors of theSpartakusbriefe.[2]: 5 At the founding conference of theCommunist Party of Germany (KPD) on 30–31 December 1918, he introduced the discussion on 'The National Assembly'.[2]: 7 Levi was amongst the majority on the KPD Zentrale who opposed the initiatives ofKarl Liebknecht andWilhelm Pieck who had supported a Revolutionary Committee with theIndependent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and theRevolutionary Stewards to lead what became known as theSpartacist Uprising in January 1919.[2]: 7
After the killing of the KPD's main leadersRosa Luxemburg,Karl Liebknecht, andLeo Jogiches, Levi took over as the central leader of the Communist Party.[2]: 7 At the KPD's second congress in October 1919, Levi expelled the party'sCouncil Communist ultra-left, around half the membership many of whom formed theCommunist Workers' Party of Germany.[2]: 10 During theKapp Putsch Levi was in prison.[2]: 12
Levi headed theGerman delegation to the2nd World Congress of theCommunist International (Comintern) inMoscow in 1920, where he threatened that the KPD delegation would leave due to the presence of representatives of the KAPD.[2]: 13
He led the party away from the policy of immediate revolution, orientating it to wider layers of workers. These efforts were rewarded when a substantial section of the USPD joined the KPD after a debate at their Halle congress, making it a mass party for the first time with around 449,700 members.[2]: 13 This was followed up by an 'Open Letter' which Levi, alongside Radek, convinced the KPD Zentrale to issue to other working class organisation to join in a joint struggle around their common interests, based on a successful initiative of Communists in Stuttgart.[2]: 15
Levi attended the1921 Livorno Congress of theItalian Socialist Party (PSI) which had joined the Comintern, where Levi had supportedGiacinto Serrati against the faction aroundAntonio Gramsci andAmadeo Bordiga who went on to form theItalian Communist Party (PCI) supported by Comintern representativesMátyás Rákosi andKhristo Kabakchiev.[2]: 15–16 Following a debate at the Zentrale over Italy where Levi and his supporters lost the vote by a small majority after being opposed by Radek and Rákosi, he resigned from the chairmanship of the Communist Party in early 1921, alongside his co-chairmanErnst Däumig andClara Zetkin,Otto Brass andAdolph Hoffmann also resigned from the Central Committee.[2]: 17 [3]: 487 This had been preceded by the "small bureau" of the Comintern condemning the "Open Letter"[2]: 15 and awarding the KAPD sympathising section status.[2]: 14 Shortly after, under the influence ofBéla Kun, the party launched theMarch Action of 1921.[2]: 18
As leader of the KPD, Levi frequently criticized "putschism," or the repeated efforts on behalf of Communists to take power without the broader support of the masses. He first observed this phenomenon in the failed revolutionary experiences inBavaria andHungary in 1919.[2] Later on, after the disastrous March Action, Levi wrote his most famous pamphletUnser Weg: Wider den Putschismus ("Our Path: Against Putschism"). In it, he laid out his criticisms of the Comintern, the KPD, and what he called the "Bakuninist" influence behind what he argued were numerous premature attempts to take state power. Levi cited both Engels and Marx on insurrection, showing how other Party members of the KPD had overlooked the careful preparatory work of the Bolsheviks leading up to the October 1917 Revolution. He simultaneously criticized Comintern representatives such asBéla Kun,Grigory Zinoviev andKarl Radek for their encouragement of these accelerationist policies both in Germany and Italy. Levi's criticism of the Comintern and "putschism" served as an early attempt to explain the failure of European Revolutions in the 1918-1923 period.
Following the failure of the uprisings Levi was expelled from the Communist Party for publicly criticizing party policies in his pamphletUnser Weg.[2]: 20 [3]: 516 Lenin and Trotsky substantially agreed with his criticisms, but not the way in which he had made them. Lenin sent him a private letter through his friendClara Zetkin,[4] in which he asked Levi to accept the expulsion for "breach of discipline" and then adopt a friendly approach towards the KPD and cooperate with it in the class struggle in a loyal manner. If Levi would do so, Lenin would then push for his reinstatement in the party.[3]: 517–18 Levi did not accept this proposal and continued to criticize the party sharply and condemn its leaders.[5] This led Lenin to revise his previously still favourable attitude towards Levi.[6]
After being expelled from the Communist Party, Levi formed the Communist Working Collective (KAG) with supporters expelled from the KPD at its Jena congress in September 1921, which included 13 of the KPD'sReichstag deputies (including Levi himself).[2]: 23 In 1922 he joined the USPD, with whom he subsequently rejoined the SPD.[2]: 24
Levi began rethinking his previous policies and wrote introductions to Rosa Luxemburg'sThe Russian Revolution andLeon Trotsky'sLessons of October, which were sharply critical of the Bolsheviks.[2]: 25–26 In the summer of 1921 Levi founded a monthly magazine namedUnser Weg ("Our Way"), which he later replaced with a weeklySozialistiche und politische Wochentliche (also known asLevi-Korrespondenz) when he rejoined the SPD.[2]: 27
Because of his Jewish roots, he became the target and symbol of a campaign in the press. He responded by attacking prominent Nazis, such asAdolf Hitler,Ernst Röhm,Alfred Rosenberg, andWilhelm Frick in left-wing publications.
In 1924, Levi was re-elected to the Reichstag in Zwickau for the SPD, where he held meetings in remote village, conducted some legal cases and held education classes.[2]: 28 Although his interventions were restricted in the Reichstag, he represented the SPD on the Reichstag's legal committee and spoke on issues of civil liberties.[2]: 28 Levi also began to specialise in defending writers and newspapers that disclosed government secrets, but took up other civil liberties cases, including those of KPD members such asWilli Münzenberg.[2]: 29
Levi died on 9 February 1930 inBerlin after succumbing to injuries suffered when he fell from the window of his fifth floor attic flat.[2]: 30 He had been taken to bed with pneumonia during a trial, where he had become feverish and delirious.[2]: 30 Levi received numerous obituaries, including fromAlbert Einstein.[2]: 28 However Lazitch & Drachkovitch relate: "He committed suicide in 1930 by jumping from a window at a clinic where he was being treated."[7] After his death the Reichstag held a minute of commemoration during which the representatives of the Communist Party and the Nazi Party ostentatiously left the assembly hall.[2]: 28 At his funeral, fellow dissident communistValeriu Marcu presented the eulogy.[8]
