100 years ago, on January 15, 1919, the head of the German Communist Party Karl Liebknecht was assassinated. In early 1919, he led an uprising against the Social Democratic government of Germany. The rebels wanted to establish Soviet power in Germany, so the leadership of the Social Democratic Party decided to physically eliminate the communist leaders.
Karl Paul Friedrich August Liebknecht was born on August 13, 1871 in the city of Leipzig in the family of a revolutionary and politician Wilhelm. K. Marx and F. Engels became his godfathers. And on the paternal side, his ancestor was Martin Luther - the founder of the Reformation, one of the founders of a new direction of Christianity - Protestantism (Lutheranism). Thus, Karl was written to become a prominent politician.
After high school, Karl studied at the Leipzig and Berlin universities, studied law and political economy, philosophy and history. In 1897 he received a doctorate in law. In 1900 he joined the ranks of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), in which he occupies a left-wing radical position. In 1904 he defended in court Russian and German revolutionaries who were accused of smuggling revolutionary literature across the border. At the same time, he denounced the repressive policies of the Russian and German governments.
Karl Liebknecht opposed the opportunistic reformist tactics of the SPD leaders. The basis of his political program was anti-militarism. At the Congress of the Social Democratic Party of Germany in Bremen in 1904, Liebknecht characterized militarism as the most important bulwark of capitalism, and demanded the conduct of special anti-war propaganda and the creation of a Social Democratic youth organization to mobilize the working class and young people to fight militarism. The politician supports the First Russian Revolution. In 1906, at the Mannheim Party Congress, criticizing the German authorities for helping Russian tsarism in suppressing the revolution, he called on the German workers to follow the example of the Russian proletariat.
Karl Liebknecht, together with Rosa Luxemburg, became one of the prominent leaders of the left wing of the German Social Democracy. He became one of the founders of the Socialist Youth International (the youth organization of the Second International) in 1907 and its leader until 1910. During the World War II, the Socialist International of Youth took an internationalist and anti-war stance. At the first international conference of youth socialist organizations, convened in the same 1907, Liebknecht made a report on the fight against militarism. At the same time, his brochure "Militarism and Anti-Militarism" was published. In his work, Liebknecht analyzed the essence of militarism in the imperialist era and theoretically substantiated the need for antiwar propaganda as one of the methods of class struggle. As a result, the leftist leader was imprisoned at the end of 1907 (one and a half years in prison) on charges of "high treason."
In 1908, while still imprisoned in the Glatz fortress, Liebknecht was elected a deputy of the Prussian Landtag (assembly of representatives) from Berlin, in 1912 - a deputy of the German Reichstag. The politician continued to denounce the German militarists, who, according to him, were preparing to ignite the conflagration of the world war. So, in April 1913, Liebknecht from the rostrum of the Reichstag called the largest industrialists of the German Empire, led by the "cannon king" Krupp, warmongers. According to Karl Liebknecht, only the solidarity of the world proletariat can stop the capitalist militarists.
After the outbreak of World War II, Liebknecht, contrary to his own statements and convictions, submitted to the decision of the SPD faction in the Reichstag and voted for war credits to the government. However, he quickly returned to his former position and in December 1914 Liebknecht alone in parliament voted against war credits. Together with Rosa Luxemburg he began the struggle against the leadership of the SPD, which supported the war. Liebknecht described the war as an invasive one. In February 1915, he was expelled from the Social Democratic faction of the Reichstag for his unwillingness to vote for war credits.
In 1915 Liebknecht was drafted into the army. He continued anti-war propaganda, using the capabilities of a deputy of the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag. The leftist politician joined the slogan of the Russian Bolsheviks about the need to turn the imperialist war into a civil war. From the rostrum of the Reichstag, he called on the workers to turn their weapons against their class enemies at home. In the leaflet "The main enemy in his own country!", Which came out in May 1915, Liebknecht noted that the main enemy of the German people is German imperialism. In his message to the Zimmerwald Conference, he also put forward the slogans: “Civil war, not civil peace! Observe the international solidarity of the proletariat, against the pseudo-national, pseudo-patriotic harmony of classes, the international class struggle for peace, for the socialist revolution. " Liebknecht also demanded the creation of a new International.
K. Liebknecht together with R. Luxemburg participates in the creation of the revolutionary group "Spartacus" (since November 1918 - "Union of Spartacus"). The very name "Spartacus" directly referred to ancient history, to the uprising of Spartacus. His heroes have become an integral part of German and Soviet propaganda. With the light hand of Lenin, the figure of the leader of the rebels, Spartacus, was equated with the hero-martyr who died in the name of "protecting the enslaved class."
In March 1916, from the rostrum of the Prussian Landtag, Karl Liebknecht called upon the soldiers of all the belligerent countries to abandon their weapons and begin the struggle against the common enemy, the capitalists. He calls on the Berlin workers to come out on May 1 for a demonstration with the main slogans: "Down with the war!", "Workers of all countries, unite!" On May 1, 1916, during a May Day demonstration organized by "Spartak", the revolutionary called to oppose the government waging a war of conquest. For this speech he was arrested and a military court sentenced Liebknecht to imprisonment for a period of 4 years and 1 month, to expulsion from the army and deprivation of civil rights for 6 years. He served his term in the Lucau convict prison.
Released in October 1918 under public pressure - this was the time of the collapse of the Second Reich. After leaving prison, Liebknecht was actively involved in revolutionary events. On November 8, he called for the overthrow of the government. Together with R. Luxemburg he organized the publication of the newspaper "Red Banner". Liebknecht advocated the deepening of the November Revolution, which led to the fall of the Second Reich and the monarchy, and the creation of a republic. In general, the November coup was organized by the German elite - industrial and military, which, under the guise of the victory of the social democratic movement, tried to preserve most of the fruits of the war. Kaiser Wilhelm II was made a "scapegoat" to blame all war crimes on him. The financial and industrial elite of Germany enriched themselves fabulously in the war and wanted to preserve their capital, increase power, and negotiate with the masters of London, Paris and Washington. Therefore, the war was stopped, although Germany could still resist and inflict great damage on the Entente. The main enemy of German capital (and Western capital in general) was the revolutionary forces, the communists. The right-wing Social Democrats, who formed the government after the November Revolution, had to bury the revolution in Germany.
Therefore, K. Liebknecht and R. Luxemburg created the Communist Party of Germany (KKE). The founding congress of the party was held in Berlin from December 30, 1918 to January 1, 1919. On January 5, 1919, during a large-scale demonstration, the Spartak uprising (January Uprising) began in Berlin. The revolutionaries fought for the creation of the Soviet republic. The uprising as a whole was spontaneous, poorly prepared and organized, and in conditions of strong resistance had no chance of success. The Communist Party was still in its infancy and could not become a powerful organizational nucleus of the revolution. KKE activists were unable to win over the army, including the most revolutionary People's Naval Division, which played a leading role in the November events. Some units declared neutrality, while others supported the Social Democratic government. It was not even possible to seize weapons to arm the workers. The uprising was not supported in most other cities either. The Soviet republic was established only in Bremen (where the uprising was suppressed in February 1919). The Bavarian Soviet Republic was created later - April 1919.
As a result, the Social Democratic government, with the support of German capital and generals, went on the offensive. The German "whites" were headed by one of the leaders of the SPD Gustav Noske. The government troops were reinforced with fighters from ultra-right groups, revanchist and militarist volunteer formations (freikor). In the future, on their foundation, military formations of the Nazis will be created, many military-political leaders of the Third Reich went through the Freikor school. On January 11, 1919, government forces under the command of Noske and Pabst (the commander of the freikor) entered the city. The uprising in Berlin was drowned in blood. On January 15, Pabst's fighters captured and brutally killed Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.
Thus, the revolution in Germany, which many Russian communists hoped for (Russia and Germany were to become the leaders of the world revolution), did not take place. Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg became a kind of hero-martyrs for the communist movement who followed the path of Spartacus.
