H. WOHLGEMUTH. Die Entstehung der Kommunistischen Partei Deutsch-lands 1914 bis 1918. Oberblick. Berlin. "Dietz Verlag". 1968. 315 S.

Heinz Wohlgemuth is a prominent historian of the GDR, author of a number of important studies on the history of the German workers ' and social democratic movement1 . His new work is devoted to the issue that is at the center of the ideological struggle. Bourgeois and right-wing opportunist falsifiers of history have gone to great lengths to prove that the emergence of communist parties in Western European countries did not have objective prerequisites. It is worth recalling that V. I. Lenin attached great importance to the development of the history of the origin and formation of communist parties. "This history," wrote V. I. Lenin, " shows more clearly than anything else the slow but steady turn to the left, the shift towards revolutionary thinking and revolutionary action of the working class.-

1 H. Wohigemuth. Deutschland und die deutsche Arbeiterbewegung von der Jahrhundertwende bis zur Novemberrevolution. B. 1962; ejusd. Burgkrieg, nicht Burg-friede! Der Kampf Karl Liebknechts, Rosa Luxemburgs und ihrer Anhanger um die Ret-tung der deutschen Nation in den Jahren 1914 - 1916. B. 1963; ejusd. Deutschland und die deutsche Arbeiterbewegung von der Jahrhundertwende bis 1917. B. 1963.

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sa. This story reveals... the deep-lying roots of the Third, Communist International, and its preparation, which is unique within each nation, depending on its historical characteristics. One must know the deep roots of the Third International in order to understand its inevitability and the difference in the paths that lead the different national socialist parties to it."2 .

The book makes extensive use of the works of the founders of Marxism-Leninism, speeches and articles by K. Liebknecht, R. Luxemburg, F. Mehring, K. Zetkin, V. Pick, E. Thelmann, W. Ulbricht and other leading figures of the German workers ' and communist movement. The author drew on a variety of archival documents drawn from the party archives of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Institute of Marxism-Leninism under the Central Committee of the SED. In addition, materials from the German Central Archive (Potsdam and Merseburg), the main archive of the state of Brandenburg (Potsdam), the main archive of the State of Saxony (Dresden), and the International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam) were used.

This monograph is actually the first work in Marxist historiography that shows the history of the birth and foundation of the KKE. H. Wohlgemuth correctly divides the history of the struggle for the creation of the KKE into three stages: 1) the emergence in 1905-1906 of the left social-democracy as an ideological and political trend and its further strengthening in the struggle against revisionism and centrism; 2) the gradual organizational formation of this trend during the First World War; 3) the direct struggle of the left for the creation of a new type of party under the influence of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia and The November Revolution of 1918 in Germany. The author's merit lies in the fact that he examines the history of the KKE as an integral part of the history of the country's labor movement.

The book convincingly shows that the left - wing social-Democrats, led by Karl Liebknecht, R. Luxemburg, F. Mehring, and K. Zetkin, who emerged in 1905-1906 as an ideological and political trend in the German labor movement, consistently advocated a revolutionary class policy, the economic and social interests of the working masses, and waged a heroic struggle against German imperialism and militarism, exposed the revisionist and centrist ideology of the SPD leadership .3 After the Jena Party Congress (1913), the left came to the conclusion that the SPD was experiencing an internal crisis many times more severe than during the period of the emergence of revisionism (p. 23). H. Wohlgemuth correctly emphasizes that the left devoted all its efforts to spreading the ideas of socialism and were the successors of the Marxist trend in the German Labor Movement (p. 23). 25). However, the author writes, they have not yet managed to understand the totality of the new conditions of the class struggle in the era of imperialism and proletarian revolutions. The left overestimated the role and strength of the spontaneous struggle of the masses, and did not understand the need for a complete ideological and organizational break with all forms of opportunism and the creation of a new Tin party (p.24).

The day on August 4, 1914, when the social-Democratic group of the Reichstag voted for war credits, meant an open transition of the right-wing leaders of social democracy to the position of social chauvinism and direct cooperation with the ruling classes. Since that time, the process of division in the German labor movement has intensified. Right-wing opportunism has become social-chauvinism, centrism has become social-pacifism. Only the left social-Democrats defended the interests of the people, exposed the imperialist nature of the war and the treachery of the leaders of social-democracy. A leftist-led anti-war struggle, notes X. Wohlgemuth, became an important prerequisite for the formation of the revolutionary party of the German proletariat-the Communist Party of Germany (p. 46). Karl Liebknecht's vote in the German Reichstag on December 2, 1914, against war credits was a step forward in the division of forces in the German workers ' movement. In 1915, the first organizational association of the left emerged - the International group, which at its conferences in January and March 1916 was formed into the Spartak group. Thus, the author writes, another step was taken towards the formation of a Marxist-Leninist party in Germany (p. 157).

2 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 38, p. 297.

3 See also: A. Laschitra. Deutsche Linke im Kampf fur eine deniokratische Republik. B. 1969.

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H. Wohlgemuth reveals the great significance of the activities of V. I. Lenin and the Bolsheviks in the international arena for the German working-class movement. The book shows that the left-wing movement of revolutionary socialists created by V. I. Lenin at the Zimmerwald (1915) and Kintal (1916) conferences contributed to the consolidation of the German left. V. I. Lenin welcomed the appearance in Germany under the strictest censorship of R. Luxemburg's illegal pamphlet "The Crisis of Social Democracy", which exposed the bourgeois legend of the supposedly national, of the imperialist war of liberation and directed against social - chauvinism. At the same time, V. I. Lenin sharply criticized the errors contained in it4 . The author emphasizes that this fair criticism helped the German left Social Democrats to approach the Leninist positions.

Tracing the process of consolidation of left-wing revolutionary elements step by step, the author also shows that the division of currents in the German labor movement was complex and difficult. Underestimating the influence of opportunism and its connection with imperialism, the leaders of the left who formed the Spartak group did not raise the question of an organizational break with the opportunists and the creation of a new type of party until 1918 (pp. 157, 165). When the rise of the mass revolutionary movement in Germany under the influence of the World War and the February bourgeois - democratic revolution in Russia sharply increased the discontent of ordinary members of the SPD with the policies of its leaders and noticeably increased their influence, the left, centrists, trying to maintain their influence among the revolutionary-minded workers, founded in April 1917. The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany( NSDPG), to which the Spartak group also joined.

Developing the provisions contained in the"Essay on the History of the German Labor Movement "5 , H. Wohlgemuth dwells in detail not only on the negative, but also on the positive aspects of this step taken by the leaders of the Spartak group. While emphasizing that Spartak's entry into the NSDPG indicated that the left at that time lacked clarity about the role of an independent Marxist militant working class party, the author notes that the Spartak group joined the NSDPG with the reservation that it would retain its political and ideological independence and that under the influence of this group in the future, it was able to The NSDPG developed a strong progressive trend.

With the victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, the struggle for the creation of a new type of proletarian party in Germany entered a decisive stage. While the SPD leaders denounced the" Russian way " of gaining power by the working class, and the NSDPG leaders doubted the possibility of using the Russian experience in Germany, the Spartak group and the Bremen left, the author writes, welcomed the October Revolution and recognized its world-historical significance (pp. 224-225). The leaders of the Spartak group and the Bremen left closely followed the struggle of the Russian proletariat and studied its experience. With the beginning of the November Revolution of 1918 in Germany, the Spartacists formed the "Spartacus Union" and put forward a demand for the transfer of all power in the country to the hands of workers 'and soldiers' Soviets. The experience of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia and the mass revolutionary uprisings of 1918 in Germany led the Spartak Union to realize that the final break with the NSDPG and the creation of a militant revolutionary Marxist party became the most urgent task. At the same time, X Wohlgemuth analyzes the growing influence of Lenin's ideas on the formation of the views of the Spartacists, on the formation of the KKE (p. 249).

Held in Berlin on December 30, 1918 - January 1, 1919, the Founding Congress decided to form the Communist Party of Germany, which, as the book emphasizes, was a turning point in the history of the German labor movement (p. 313). The formation of the KKE was also important for the international labour movement. "When the Union of Spartacus called itself the' Communist Party of Germany, '"wrote V. I. Lenin," then the foundation of the truly proletarian, truly internationalist, truly revolutionary Third International, the Communist International of Germany, was established.-

4 See V. I. Lenin, PSS. Vol. 30, pp. 1-16.

5 "GrundriB der Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung", B. 1965, S. 94 - 95.

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ternational, became a fact"6 . Thus, the creation of the KKE is rightly considered by H. Wohlgemuth as a natural outcome of the previous German labor movement, associated with the enormous ideological influence on the German left of V. I. Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

The book deals a blow to the bourgeois and right-wing socialist falsifiers of the history of the KKE7, who try to contrast the views of the left-wing social Democrats, especially R. Luxemburg, with Leninist positions.

6 V. I. Lenin. PSS. Vol. 37, p. 455.

7 See, for example, J. P. Nettl. Rosa Luxemburg. Vol. 1 - 2. L. 1966; Rosa Luxemburg. Politische Schriften. Bd. I, II. Herausgegeben und eingeleitet von O. K. Flechtheim. Frankfurt/M. 1966; P. Frohliсh, Rosa Luxemburg. Gedanke und Tat. Mit einem Nachwort von Iring Fetscher. Frankfurt/M, 1967.

C. VASOLI. Umanesimo e Rinascimento. "Storia delta critica" diretta da G. Petronio. Vol. 7. Palermo. "Palumbo". 1969, 517 p.

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