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[597] Emma: Reply to Panacea Panacea criticizes my “What Revolution?” submission to the discussion list
as an oversimplification. He's right, to some extent. It was simply stated
and I did get a bit flippant referring to the German communists as comrades
who had sold out. But Panacea's criticism of my submission really misses
the mark. I said that the German communists sold out prior to WWI. By sold
out I mean the real majority of the communists were literally bought off by
the Kaiser through reforms and pressure to be and act German first. I think
that is correct. The only time German communists ever had a chance to
effect the political and social landscape was then. And they did force some
needed changes in the labor market. But by the time WWI was over so were
the communists, effectively. They never again enjoyed any real political
power. That is not to say that there weren't courageous communists who made
the ultimate sacrifice after WWI. There were and I mentioned a couple of
the leaders. But by then the communists were too few and without any real
popular support. The Kapp Putsch you mention was squashed literally before
it began and its leaders captured and hung while and before the putsch
played out. The nationalists, including the NAZIS, were just too strong and
communism had become synonomous with Russia, which was its ultimate death
knell. Later, Hitler used the communists as a foil and blamed a lot of
things on them that they were not responsible for. But that doesn't mean
the communists had any power, which is what I maintained in my piece. It
just means they were a convenient group to blame and one that would resonate
with other Germans. |
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