Conciliator faction
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Reichstag elections Constituent for Hamburg Leader of the KPD
Early political career
Chairman of the Communist Party of Germany
Legacy
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The Conciliator faction was an opposition group within the
Background
The faction emerged in the mid-1920s from the "middle group" aligned with Ernst Meyer. Meyer, a high-ranking member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), was elected to its central committee in 1927.[1] Along with the faction led by Ernst Thälmann, they formed the leadership of the KPD from 1926 to 1928.
The leading people aligned with Meyer were
A series of events between 1928 and 1930 led to a loss of their influence in the KPD. In autumn 1928, there was a scandal involving a close friend of Thälmann, John Wittorf, who was accused of embezzling between 1,500 and 3,000 Reichsmark from the KPD. He was defended by Thälmann, despite his guilt. Afterward, Thälmann was deposed from the party's central committee, with support of the Conciliator faction.[3] Thälmann was soon reinstated by Joseph Stalin and the Conciliator faction was driven out of the KPD leadership. With Meyer's death in early 1930, the Conciliator faction lost a large part of its influence in the KPD and afterward, found themselves needing to be discreet. Pressure from Stalin led to the expulsion and defamation of several members.[3] Individual, unaffiliated Conciliator groups began to emerge. In Hamburg, a group was formed by Hans Westermann in Hamburg. Eduard Wald founded the Committee for Proletarian Unity (Komitee für Proletarische Einheit) working primarily in Hanover. Others joined the Socialist Workers' Party or the Social Democratic Party (SPD).
After 1933, when the
Postwar term
After the war, the German word for conciliator, versöhnler, was used in the
References
- ^ Branko Lazitch and Milorad M. Drachkovitch, Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern: New, Revised, and Expanded Edition. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press (1986) pp. 312-313.
- ^ Hugo Eberlein biography DDR biographies. Retrieved July 18, 2011 (in German)
- ^ ISBN 978-3-643-10429-8. Retrieved July 18, 2011 (in German)
- ^ Nikolas Dikigoros, Ernst Thälmann: 1928 Archived 2011-10-14 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved July 18, 2011 (in German)
- ^ Social fascism BookRags. Retrieved July 18, 2011
External links
- Letters: Karl Volk (scroll down, don't use hot link) Revolutionary History. Retrieved July 18, 2011