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67-554: The KPO represented the so-called Right Opposition in the KPD in distinction to the Trotskyist or Trotskyist-sympathising Left Opposition and the pro- Comintern centre faction. It was led by Heinrich Brandler and August Thalheimer who had led the KPD between 1921 and 1923. They were expelled from the KPD after organising a meeting to combat what they saw as corruption in their party after its central leader Ernst Thälmann defended

134-622: A French occupation zone. When a plebiscite was held on the matter of the region being returned to Germany, the KPO called on its supporters to vote for a Räterepublik ( soviet ) Saarland and to oppose unity with Nazi Germany . This was in contrast to the position of the KPD which supported the Saarland remaining under the control of France. In exile with the leadership in Paris, the KPO continued to publish Gegen den Strom . Politically, it continued

201-689: A conference in Denmark in April 1934 and maintain a national structure. In 1935, the Nazis stepped up the repression of all communist groups and trials of KPO members were reported in Weimar , Jena and elsewhere. The organisation ceased to operate at a national level and was now confined to exile circles and the Saarland . In the Saarland, they were able to function legally for a little longer due to its status as

268-870: A few places, communist groups affiliated with the ICO achieved more success than the Comintern-affiliated organizations. For example, in Sweden, the Socialist Party of Karl Kilbom and Nils Flyg , affiliated with the ICO, received 5.7% of the vote in the 1932 elections to the Riksdag , outpolling the Comintern section that received 3.9%. In Spain, the ICO-affiliated Bloque Obrero y Campesino (BOC), led by Joaquín Maurín ,

335-641: A leading role in the Gruppe Arbeiterpolitik which stood in the tradition of the KPO, but he was never able to recover its former influence. Brandler died in 1967, but the group still exists and is based in Hamburg. Right Opposition The Right Opposition ( Russian : Правая оппозиция , Pravaya oppozitsiya ) or Right Tendency ( Russian : Правый уклон , Praviy uklon ) in the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks)

402-606: A minority led by Frölich and Jacob Walcher refused to accept the decisions of the fourth conference of the KPO held in January 1932. The leadership replied to this challenge by stating that the breach of discipline implied the minority had excluded itself from the organisation. The minority responded by joining the SAPD. On 10 August 1932, the KPO weekly Arbeiterpolitik was banned for 13 weeks for violating President Paul von Hindenburg 's emergency decree "against political excesses" by

469-504: A policy of forming radical dual unions during the so-called Third Period between 1929 and 1934. In the period when the KPD was denouncing the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) as social fascists and retreating from joint anti-fascist work with non-Communists, Brandler and the KPO were strongly in favor of the establishment of a united front against the menace of Nazism and were particularly critical of

536-509: A protégé, John Wittorf, from charges of theft despite his guilt. Thälmann was deposed by the Central Committee only to be reinstated by Joseph Stalin through the agency of the Comintern. The secretary of the Hamburg organization of the KPD was found to have embezzled 2,000 marks from the party treasury for his own use. When accountants from national party headquarters discovered the crime, they were threatened with expulsion from

603-453: A result, Nin, a former Trotskyist , became the POUM's new leader. In all, the ICO had member parties in fifteen countries during the 1930s. However, the ICO and its affiliates did not consider themselves a new international, but a "faction" that was involuntarily excluded from the Comintern and that was anxious to return to it if only the Comintern would change its policies and allow ICO members

670-751: A result, the Presidium of the Comintern countermanded the German Central Committee's action, restoring Thälmann as secretary. In October 1928, Brandler returned to Germany against the KPD's wishes. The corruption of Thälmann's Hamburg organization and its protection by the Stalin faction in Moscow was used as a pretext for Brandler and Thalheimer to issue a call for a meeting of their followers on 11 November 1928. Brandler, Thalheimer and their associates were bitterly criticized in an open letter from

737-456: A united front as a small group did not give the KPO more influence with the general public, but the threat of the Nazis did lead to a leftward movement within the SPD. This leftist tendency in the SPD left that party in 1931 and organised themselves as the SAPD which elements within the KPO felt they should join. After an internal struggle in which the majority of the KPO backed Brandler and Thalheimer,

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804-429: Is no half-way house". Roy claimed that the KPO had 6,000 dues-paying members and was publishing eight weekly and bi-monthly publications by the fall of 1929, with a combined circulation of 25,000. Brandler was named Secretary of the organization at this time. While the group never met with broad influence or electoral success, it nevertheless became the first as well as one of the most prominent parties to be identified with

871-605: Is often not clear. Many unions have political factions or caucuses which disagree on the policies, finances, values and goals of the union. But internal politics rarely rise to the level of dual unionism. In certain cases, where the situation is unclear, whether an action actually constitutes dual unionism must be resolved politically (e.g., by the exercise of power) within the union. In the United States, communists , socialists and other political organizations have been accused of engaging in dual unionism. The controversy over

938-584: Is one such group. The Gruppe Arbeiterpolitik, founded by Heinrich Brandler, is effectively a successor organisation. The Communist Opposition of Austria was established in late 1929 when the politburo of the official Communist Party of Austria expelled Willi Schlamm , A. Reisinger, Joseph Klein]], and Richard Vovesny. They had their own periodical, Der Neue Mahnruf until the Dolfuss dictatorship came to power in 1934. Jay Lovestone happened to be in Austria at

1005-616: Is the suspension by the AFL in August 1936 of the unions which formed the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO). AFL president William Green accused the CIO unions of engaging in dual unionism. The charge was never adequately outlined, and the CIO denied the accusation. The AFL resorted to patently illegal means to eject the unions of the CIO (an example of the way in which political power often

1072-696: The All India Forward Bloc , Roy sharply diverged to the point where he even came to oppose the Congress-led Quit India campaign. The split between Bose and Roy was in many ways analogous to the American split between Bertram Wolfe and Jay Lovestone. While never an official member of the ICO, a Right Oppositionist group led by José Penelon split from the Communist Party of Argentina in 1928. Penelon's group formed

1139-561: The Communist Party USA -sponsored Trade Union Educational League 's role within the American Federation of Labor (AFL) is an example of whether dual unionism occurred. Although rarely stated as such, the ejection by the American Federation of Teachers of several locals in the 1930s for communist domination and factionalism is another example of a struggle over dual unionism. Another example of dual unionism

1206-596: The Great Purge trials. The various right oppositional groups loosely aligned with Bukharin within the Comintern were forced to form their own organisations when they were, in their turn, purged from the national sections of the Comintern. In Europe, the most important and substantial of these new organisations was the Communist Party Opposition (KPO) in Germany, led by Heinrich Brandler . In

1273-687: The Partido Comunista de Region Argentina ("Communist Party of the Argentine Region"), which was later renamed the Partido Concentracion Obrera (" Labour Gathering Party "). It merged with the Social Democrats in 1971. The Marxist Workers Bloc of Mexico was founded in early 1937. It published a few issues of a newspaper called La Batalla (after POUM's journal) and announced its adherence to

1340-768: The Party of Proletarian Unity in December 1930. The small national Opposition group joined the expelled Seine Federation of the SFIO in 1938 to form the Workers and Peasants' Socialist Party . A separate ICO party, the Opposition Communist Party of Alsace-Lorraine (KPO), was created in Alsace . The Alsatian KPO campaigned for autonomy for Alsace, and formed an alliance with clerical autonomist. The Alsatian KPO

1407-401: The 1930s. Dual union Dual unionism is the development of a union or political organization parallel to and within an existing labor union . In some cases, the term may refer to the situation where two unions claim the right to organize the same workers. Dual unionism is sometimes considered to be destructive of the solidarity essential to the orderly functioning of labor unions and

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1474-581: The Comintern on 19 December. Expulsion soon followed, with both Brandler and Thalheimer removed from the Communist Party of Germany in December 1928 and from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Comintern in January 1929. Brandler and Thalheimer gathered their supporters into a new organization called the Communist Party of Germany (Opposition) (KPO), a group which was founded at the 30 December 1928 meeting which had originally prompted

1541-598: The Communist International and the influence of the CPSU in the Comintern and its sections, and over Stalin's international policy, particularly the Third Period and the subsequent popular front policies. In addition, as the Moscow trials entered their second phase and turned against Bukharin and his supporters, disputes broke out within the ICO regarding whether there was any point in continuing with

1608-529: The Communist Party in 1929 took mayors or city councilors from Clichy , Auffay , Saint-Denis , Pierrefitte-sur-Seine , Villetaneuse and Paris. The party's general secretary and the editor of L'Humanité were also demoted. However, not all of the expelled necessarily adhered to the ICOs positions; the Parisian councilors, for instance, formed their own party, Workers and Peasants Party , which in turn joined

1675-550: The Communist Party's conception that "once the Nazis get into power, then will the united front of the proletariat rise and brush them aside". Instead, the KPO called for the immediate formation of a broad anti-fascist alliance including the Social Democratic-controlled trade union federation, the Social Democrats, Communists and the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAPD). Campaigning for

1742-645: The Communist leadership, only to be expelled in 1943. One cantonal section of the Swiss Communist Party , in Schaffhausen , did secede and form a communist opposition group . For a while, it was quite successful, dominating the local labor movement, especially among tool and watchmakers. In the 20 October 1933 elections, the CPO elected 10 of the 30 local councilors and CPO leader Walther Bringolf

1809-521: The Communist movement internationally, particularly those who coalesced in the International Communist Opposition , regardless of whether they identified with Bukharin and Rykov. “He is an unprincipled intriguer, who subordinates everything to the preservation of his own power. He changes his theory according to whom he needs to get rid of.” Bukharin on Stalin's theoretical position, 1928. The struggle for power in

1876-466: The Germans. The Norwegian and Swedish groups left later that year to join the new "centrist" International Buro for Revolutionary Socialist Unity (or London Bureau) established in Paris that August. The Czechoslovak affiliate was weakened by the defection of its Czech members in December, making the party a largely Sudeten German group at a time when that community was becoming increasingly attracted to

1943-661: The Hungarian Communist Party was already an underground movement, and the opposition claimed about 10% of its membership. While never a formal organization, there was a tendency within the Polish Communist Party usually known as the "three Ws" after the leaders: Adolf Warski , Henryk Walecki , and Maria Koszutska (pseudonym Wera Kostrzewa). As the Party was already underground in Poland, and

2010-581: The ICO. It was never heard from again. There is little information available on the International Communist Opposition in English. The only book length study is Robert J Alexander's The Right Opposition; The Lovestoneites and the International Communist Opposition of the 1930s ( ISBN   0-313-22070-0 ). Issues of Revolutionary History journal have reprinted a number of texts from members of Right Oppositional groups of

2077-588: The International Workers' Front which had left the ICO and KPO. From this point on, there is little mention of either the new group or the KPO itself, with the fall of France , the leadership of the KPO had been forced to flee again and the organisation was effectively dissolved. Of the leading figures in the KPO, Brandler and Thalheimer were to spend the war exiled in Cuba, where the latter was to perish. Brandler returned to West Germany in 1949 and played

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2144-405: The KPD, many of them local leaders of the party. In the years that followed, they failed to recruit any further adherents from outside the party and gradually decreased in number. The KPO backed the KPD on most public issues, but it did stand their own candidates in some elections and ran other campaigns. Their members were also active in the existing trade unions in contrast to the KPD which launched

2211-562: The Nazis. The Austrian group had to go underground after the Dollfus putsch of March 1934, and the majority of the Alsatian section was expelled that summer for its pro-Nazi sympathies. The Swiss affiliate went over to the Social Democrats in 1936, and M. N. Roy took his Indian group out in 1937. Furthermore, the suppression of POUM in May 1937 and the execution of Bukharin and other "rights" in

2278-663: The Right Opposition from late 1924, with Bukharin elaborating Stalin's theory of socialism in one country . Together, they expelled Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, and the United Opposition from the Communist Party in December 1927. However, once Trotsky was out of the way and the Left Opposition had been illegalized, Stalin soon became alarmed at the danger posed to the Soviet state by the rising power of

2345-597: The Soviet Communist Party of followers of Nikolai Bukharin , Alexei Rykov and Mikhail Tomsky . The KPO initially conceived of itself as a factional influence group, attempting to change the political line of the Communist Party of Germany rather than a new party in competition with it. The organization held a second conference in November 1929 at which in the words of M. N. Roy it "declared unequivocally that between Social Democracy and Communism there

2412-471: The Soviet Union after the death of Vladimir Lenin saw the development of three major tendencies within the Communist Party . These were described by Leon Trotsky as left, right, and centre tendencies, each based on a specific class or caste. Trotsky argued that his tendency, the Left Opposition , represented the internationalist traditions of the working class . The tendency led by Joseph Stalin

2479-571: The Soviet Union had convinced many that the Communist International could not be reformed and the idea of being an "opposition" within it was untenable. At a conference in February 1938, the International Communist Opposition affiliated with the London Bureau. This led to some confusion as to whether affiliates of the ICO were also affiliates of the London Bureau as organizations themselves. To straighten out this overlapping another conference

2546-484: The Stalinists, a fate they shared with militants belonging to the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM). There seems to have been a tendency within the KPO which wanted it to break more clearly from any support of Stalinism and in 1939 a Group of International Marxists appeared after its founders left the ranks of the KPO. This group signed a declaration of independent socialist parties, many associated with

2613-662: The United States, Jay Lovestone , Bertram Wolfe , and their supporters founded the Communist Party (Opposition) and published the newspaper Workers Age . In Canada, the Marxian Educational League was formed as part of Lovestone's CP(O), and it became affiliated with the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation . However, by the end of 1939, both the Toronto and Montreal groups of this organization had ceased to function. In

2680-442: The behavior is called 'dual cardism'). Such organizations and/or unions argue that dual unionism may be compatible with the goals of the union and therefore not a hindrance to the union. Labor parties which incorporate unions into their structures and social movement unionism , it is argued, are examples where political organizations coexist constructively with unions. The distinction between dual unionism and mere internal politics

2747-475: The capitalistic kulaks and NEPmen, who had become emboldened by the Left Opposition's illegalization. Sensing this danger, Stalin then turned on his Right Opposition allies. Bukharin and the Right Opposition were, in their turn, sidelined and removed from important positions within the Communist Party and the Soviet government from 1928 to 1930, with Stalin ending the NEP and beginning the first five-year plan . One of

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2814-432: The communists already weak the group decided not to create a formal organization, though they were often depicted as followers of Brandler and Thalheimer by the leadership. All three died in gulags. In Switzerland, the official Communist Party's leader, Jules Humbert-Droz , was sympathetic to the Right Opposition, and because of that lost his powerful position in the Comintern. Later, he self-criticized and capitulated to

2881-487: The concept of being an opposition within the communist movement rather than openly create a new international rival to the Comintern, as Trotsky did with his Fourth International . The ICO began to disintegrate in 1933. With the coming to power of the Nazis, the German party had to go underground and establish an exile branch in Paris. Paris was also the new home of the international ICO headquarters, which became dominated by

2948-420: The conservative German government headed by Chancellor Franz von Papen . The ban was to take effect immediately, continuing until 15 November. The ban, along with similar measures taken against other organs of the left-wing press, helped make coordinated action against German ultranationalism more difficult. Following the rise to power of Adolf Hitler and his ultranationalist Nazi Party on 30 January 1933 and

3015-502: The exercise of their power vis-a-vis the employer. Many countries outlaw dual unionism in their national, state or local labor relations acts. Many unions also outlaw dual unionism as part of their constitutions. However, some labor unions and political organizations advocate dual unionism as a means of survival or as a strategy for winning political power. The Industrial Workers of the World , for example, advocates dual unionism (although

3082-545: The field with its own candidates for office. It ran its own candidates in the 7 December 1929 provincial election in Thuringia, one of the organization's strongholds, although these garnered just 12,000 votes. In other elections, it supported the slate of candidates of the official Communist Party of Germany, including the candidacy of Ernst Thälmann for President in the election of March 1932. The KPO counted approximately 1,000 members after its supporters had been expelled from

3149-422: The freedom to advocate their positions. Despite being identified with Bukharin, the ICO generally supported Stalin's economic policies (which Bukharin opposed), such as the five-year plans to achieve rapid industrialization, and the collectivization of agriculture . Furthermore, they even supported the early Moscow trials . Their main difference with Stalin and the Comintern was over the issue of democracy within

3216-595: The future KPO and the KPD leadership. Frölich and his partner Rosi Wolfstein , like Brandler and Thalheimer, had been allies and pupils of Rosa Luxemburg . Throughout 1929, the KPD expelled followers of Brandler and Thalheimer as well as the Conciliator faction, who sought a factional truce between the party's feuding left and right. Perhaps 1,000 members of the German Communist Party were affected. These expulsions paralleled similar efforts to purge

3283-497: The issues relevant for their own countries and their own communist parties. Therefore, the Right Opposition was far more fragmented than the Left Opposition. Nevertheless, the various Right Opposition groups did come together to form an International Communist Opposition (ICO). Unlike the Left Opposition, they did not tend to form separate parties as they considered themselves loyal to the Communist International (Comintern). Stalin and his "centre" faction were allied with Bukharin and

3350-468: The last attempts of the Rightists to resist Stalin was the Ryutin affair in 1932, where a manifesto against the soviet policy of collectivization and Stalin was circulated. It openly called for "The Liquidation of the dictatorship of Stalin and his clique". Later, some rightists joined a secret bloc with Leon Trotsky , Grigory Zinoviev , and Lev Kamenev in order to oppose Stalin. Historian Pierre Broué stated that it dissolved in early 1933. Bukharin

3417-431: The party by party leader Thälmann if they exposed the theft. The Comintern got wind of the scandal which led to a crisis in the German party with the Central Committee acting to remove Thälmann, with Thälmann joining in the unanimous vote. This presented a threat to the faction of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union headed by Joseph Stalin, who saw in Thälmann a reliable ally during a time of bitter factional warfare. As

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3484-467: The previous line of the KPO and was supportive of the Comintern and of the Stalinist regime in the Soviet Union , its criticisms being reserved for the KPD. This began to change with the beginning of the Spanish Civil War and the deepening of the Great Purges in Russia. A number of KPO militants in exile were to travel to Spain and fought in the International Brigades that supported the Second Spanish Republic . Some were to find themselves persecuted by

3551-421: The right Opposition in the United Kingdom was represented principally within the Independent Labour Party . Oppositionists joined the Revolutionary Policy Committee , part of which represented their line within the ILP. An independent Opposition group was formed in 1935, but had little influence. By 1938 the line of the ICO had turned towards the "centrist" position of the ILP leadership under Fenner Brockway and

3618-444: The right of the Bolshevik Party and becoming a strong supporter of the NEP starting in 1921. Right Opposition policies encouraging kulaks and NEPmen to "get rich" were seen by Right Opposition supporters as encouraging kulaks and NEPmen to "grow into" socialism. Robert J. Alexander has questioned whether the various Right Oppositions could be described as a single international tendency, since they were usually concerned only with

3685-418: The so-called International Right Opposition . On 1 January 1930, the KPO attempted to expand its influence even further with the launch of a daily newspaper, Arbeiterpolitik. Financial problems led it a reduction of frequency and by 1932 the paper was being issued only once a week. Despite Roy's protestations that the KPO did not constitute an independent political party, it was not long before it had entered

3752-426: The time of the anchluss in early March 1938 at the invitation of a group called Der Funke and was able to arrange eight fake passports for eight leaders of the Austrian opposition. They left Vienna on March 14, the day before Hitler arrived in the city. Schlamm later edited a paper for Austrian exiles in Prague, Weltbühne , then emigrated to the US. An Opposition group was established in Hungary in 1932. At that time

3819-450: The wave of anti-radical repression which ensued, Brandler and most of the KPO leadership fled to France. Brandler lived in Paris until the beginning of World War II , where he continued to be involved in communist politics. The KPO was only able to work legally for one more year before the Nazis came to power in January 1933. However, it was to go underground immediately in order to avoid persecution as far as possible. They were able to hold

3886-415: The wave of expulsions. The group also launched a new communist opposition journal, Gegen den Strom ( Against the Current ). Most of those who attended this conference were factional allies of Brandler and Thalheimer from previous years when they had headed the German Communist Party. The major exception was Paul Frölich , who had been allied with a third, so-called Conciliator faction which stood between

3953-466: The work of independent factions within the party became less tenable. The leading Indian communist M. N. Roy was an early and outspoken supporter of the Right Opposition. While he never had more than a marginal following, he wielded extraordinary influence on the left wing of the Indian National Congress and played an instrumental role in the election of Subhas Chandra Bose to the leadership of Congress. However, after Bose split with Congress and formed

4020-401: Was a label formulated by Joseph Stalin in autumn of 1928 for the opposition against certain measures included within the first five-year plan , an opposition which was led by Nikolai Bukharin , Alexei Rykov , Mikhail Tomsky , and their supporters within the Soviet Union that did not follow the so-called " general line of the party ". It is also the name given to "right-wing" critics within

4087-402: Was chosen as mayor. By 1936, the CPO had merged with the Swiss Socialist Party . There was some resistance in the Italian party to the new Third Period line. At first the two Italian ECCI members, Palmiro Togliatti and Angelo Tasca , opposed the Comintern's actions with regard to the German party. However, at the Tenth Plenum in June 1929, Togliatti capitulated to Stalin's wishes while Tasca

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4154-469: Was described as being in the centre , based on the state and party bureaucracy, tending to shift alliances between the left and the right. The right tendency was identified with the supporters of Nikolai Bukharin and Rykov. It was asserted that they represented the influence of the peasantry and the danger of capitalist restoration. Their policy was closely identified with the New Economic Policy (NEP), with former left communist Bukharin slowly moving to

4221-405: Was expelled. Later, at a May 1930 plenum of the Party, Politburo members Pasquini and Santini were removed for opposing the Third Period and "organizational measures" were taken against lower cadres. A Danish Opposition group was founded in 1933. It lasted at least until February 1938 when its representative attended the ICO unity conference with the London Bureau. In France the initial purge of

4288-400: Was for a time larger and more important than the official Spanish Communist Party. Later, the BOC merged with Andrés Nin 's Izquierda Comunista in 1935 to form the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ( POUM ) which was to be a major party backing the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War . Maurin became general secretary of the POUM but was arrested early in the civil war. As

4355-429: Was held in Paris in April 1939 which dissolved both entities into a new organization, the International Revolutionary Marxist Centre , to be headquartered in Paris. Membership in the new group was quickly ratified by the ILLA, the KPO, POUM, PSOP, the ILP, and the Archeio-Marxists. It ceased to exist after the fall of France. A few groups continue the tradition of this current today. The Gruppe Arbeiterpolitik in Germany

4422-464: Was isolated from his allies abroad, and, in the face of increasing Stalinist repression, was unable to mount a sustained struggle against Stalin. Unlike Trotsky, who built an anti-Stalinist movement, Bukharin and his allies capitulated to Stalin and admitted their "ideological errors". They were temporarily rehabilitated, though they were allowed only minor posts and did not return to their former prominence. Bukharin and his allies were later executed during

4489-424: Was led by Charles Hueber (mayor of Strasbourg , 1929–1935) and Jean-Pierre Mourer (member of the French National Assembly ). It ran a daily newspaper of its own, Die Neue Welt . The Alsatian KPO gradually moved towards pro-Nazi positions, and was expelled from ICO in 1934. A small group remained loyal to the ICO and published a weekly, Arbeiter Politik , but had little influence. During most of its history

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