The Communist Party of Germany (German: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, abbreviated as KPD) is a Marxist-Leninist communist party in Germany. It is one of several parties which claim the KPD name and/or legacy. It was founded in Berlin in 1990. The party is also commonly referred to by the name KPD-Ost (English: KPD-East) to differentiate it from other parties with the same name, most prominently the historical Communist Party of Germany.
Communist Party of Germany Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairman | Torsten Schöwitz |
| Founded | 1990 |
| Split from | Socialist Unity Party of Germany |
| Headquarters | Franz-Mehring-Platz 1, 10243 Berlin |
| Newspaper | Die Rote Fahne |
| Youth wing | Young Communist League of Germany |
| Ideology | Communism Marxism–Leninism Stalinism Hard Euroscepticism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| www | |
History
editThe KPD, also known as KPD-Ost or KPD (Rote Fahne), was founded in 1990 in the GDR, after the Fall of the Berlin Wall but before the eventual German reunification by members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) who opposed the reforms from the party's new leadership and wanted to stay loyal to Marxism-Leninism.
It competed unsuccessfully in the 1990 Volkskammer election, the only multi-party election held in the GDR.
The KPD was exempt from the West German ban on the KPD from 1956, due to a provision in the German reunification treaty which guarantees the continued legality of parties founded in the former GDR. However, this KPD-ban was already circumvented in 1968 with the foundation of a new West German communist party, the German Communist Party (DKP). The KPD and the DKP remain to exist as separate parties and occasionally cooperate politically.
Following Erich Honecker's expulsion from SED, KPD offered him and his wife Margot their party membership, which they gladly accepted.
Today the KPD remains a small party with its main strongholds being in the Neue Länder. It has competed in Bundestag, Landtag and local elections, but so far has only managed to gain one mandate in the city of Zeitz between 2004 and 2014. The party stood candidates in the 2019 state election in Thuringia and Saxony.[1][2]
In 2002, the KPD founded its youth wing, the Young Communist League of Germany.[3]
In 2020, KPD member Siegfried Kutschick, elected to the Zeitz city council under the Wir für unsere Stadt banner, was expelled from the party for joining the Alternative for Germany (AfD) council caucus. After a week of protests from the KPD and other leftwing organizations, Kutschick reconsidered and left the AfD caucus. Nevertheless Kutschick was expelled from the KPD.[4][5]
Ideology
editThe party upholds a strict anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist line, and states that it "consistently fights revisionism, opportunism and its main form, anti-Stalinism."[6] It recognizes the German Democratic Republic (DDR), the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), especially during the leadership of Stalin, and other former Soviet allied states as examples of real existing socialism. It also holds a positive view on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, its leadership, both Kim Jong-il and his successor Kim Jong-un, and the leading ideologies of the nation, being Juche and Songun.[7] On the subject of the first leader of the state, Kim Il-sung, it claims that he was "a great politician who acquired himself big merits in the modern political history and left behind definite traces".[8]
Previously supportive of the Initiative of Communist and Workers' Parties, KPD declared their support for the European Communist Action led by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) after its dissolution.[9] It also declared its incompatibility with the World Anti-Imperialist Platform which includes a couple of former INITIATIVE members like the Hungarian Workers' Party and the Communist Party in Italy. They explained this decision by claiming that the WAP defamed the KKE and the inclusion of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela after the intervention of the Communist Party of Venezuela.[10]
Famous members
editDespite being a small party, it managed to attract a number of prominent members, mostly those from the former leadership of the Socialist Unity Party (SED). Both Erich Honecker and his wife Margot became members of the KPD after being expelled from the reformed SED in 1990, Margot Honecker even becoming an honorary member.[11][12]
Irma Thälmann, the daughter of Ernst Thälmann, became a member of the KPD after leaving the Party of Democratic Socialism, due to the re-evaluation of her father's legacy by the party.[13] She was a candidate for the KPD at the 1994 Bundestag election for the district of Berlin-Lichtenberg, gaining 266 votes (0.17%).
Electoral history
edit| Election | Year | Votes | % | Seats |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Volkskammer (DDR) | 1990 | 8,819 | 0.1% | 0 |
| Municipal elections in East-Berlin | 1990 | 3,255 | 0.2% | 0 |
| Landtag Brandenburg | 1994 | 174 (Erststimme) | 0.0% | 0 |
| Bundestag | 1994 | 426 (Erststimme) | 0.0% | 0 |
| Landtag Saxony | 1999 | 1,814 | 0.1% | 0 |
| Bundestag | 2002 | 1,624 (686 Erststimmen) | 0.0% | 0 |
| Municipal elections in Zeitz | 2004 | 505 | 1.9% | 1 |
| Landtag Thuringia | 2004 | 1,842 | 0.2% | 0 |
| Landtag Saxony-Anhalt | 2006 | 957 (together with the DKP) (757 Erststimmen) | 0.1% | 0 |
| Municipal elections in Zeitz | 2009 | 451 | 1.7% | 1 |
| Landtag Saxony-Anhalt | 2011 | 1,653 | 0.2% | 0 |
| Municipal elections in Zeitz | 2014 | 393 | 1.4% | 0 |
| Landtag Thuringia | 2014 | 1,177 | 0.1% | 0 |
| Landtag Saxony | 2019 | 1,955 | 0.1% | 0 |
| Landtag Thuringia | 2019 | 756 | 0.1% | 0 |
See also
edit
- Communist Party of Germany (disambiguation)
- Historical, original KPD, founded in 1919
References
edit- ^ "Wahlprogramm der KPD Sachsen zur Landtagswahl 2019". www.k-p-d.org. Archived from the original on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
- ^ "Wahl 2019 – Wir brauchen Hilfe aus Thüringen!". k-p-d.org. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- ^ "Glossar: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD) | Verfassungsschutz". verfassungsschutz.brandenburg.de. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- ^ "Mitteilung". www.k-p-d.org. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
- ^ Gerbank, Torsten (26 August 2020). "Abkehr von der AfD-Fraktion: Warum Wir-Stadtrat neue Entscheidung trifft". Mitteldeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 3 September 2020.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Lächeln der Sonne". k-p-d.org. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
- ^ Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands Die originelle Führungstaktik des Präsidenten Kim Il Sung In: Die Rote Fahne, Number 10 October 2020, S. 4
- ^ "Grußwort an den Gründungskongress der Europäisch Kommunistischen Aktion". 16 November 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
- ^ "Über die Unvereinbarkeit der Kommunistischen Partei Deutschlands (KPD) mit der sogenannten "World Antiimperialist Platform" (WAP)" [On the incompatibility of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) with the so-called "World Antiimperialist Platform" (WAP)]. 30 September 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
- ^ Margot, Honecker (June 2012). "Dank- und Grußschreiben von Genossin Margot Honecker" (PDF). Die Rote Fahne.
- ^ Kunze, Thomas (2001). Staatschef a.D.: die letzten Jahre des Erich Honecker. Links-Verlag.
- ^ Reuter, Elke (2010). Wer war wer in der DDR?. Berlin: Links-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4.