Leading figure of the German Communist Party Paul Böttcher reports on the building of joint defense guards and factory councils among workers of different tendencies to fight against a rising fascism after the Comintern’s 4th Congress push for united fronts.

‘The Struggle against Fascism, and New Experiences of the United Front in Germany’ by Paul Böttcher from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 3 Nos. 44 & 47. June 21 & 28, 1923.

I.

The Methods of Fascism.

While Fascism in Italy has now doubtlessly got beyond its culminating point, it is still in the ascendancy in Germany. German Fascism develops its driving force in two directions. In combatting all the liberal and pacifist tendencies within the bourgeoisie, it aims at a national dictatorship “to free the nation from the foreign yoke” (the Treaty of Versailles), while on the other hand, as the most aggressive part of the capitalist offensive, it naturally directs its chief blows against the working class. The fight of the Fascists affects the Communists as well as the Social-Democrats. “Elimination of the November criminals” has become the watchword of Hitler, the Fascist chieftain of Bavaria. The leaders of Fascism are well aware of the fact that for the conquest of power they must needs have a broad social basis. From the post-revolutionary struggles they have learnt the lesson that a handful of worn out officers and nationalistic students may well intimidate the petty Bourgeois, but it cannot vanquish the worker. In order to extend its basis, from the ranks of the petty bourgeoisie into the proletarian camp, Fascism is now pursuing a two-fold tactic: 1. Terrorization of the Communist and Social Democratic organizations (breaking up of meetings, raids on newspapers, assassination of leaders, and provocations); 2. Political propaganda among the wavering and indifferent elements of the proletariat. Fascism uses these two methods either singly or in co-ordination, according to circumstances.

What German Fascism lacks to be victorious, is a sufficiently broad social basis. This it can only attain by extending its sphere of influence to the proletariat. This aim it cannot attain by confining itself to terrorist methods alone. It is for this reason that Fascism, in recent months, has started a vigorous agitation among the disappointed, exploited and deceived elements. This agitation of which the nationalist Labor Party is standard bearer, is of an outspoken anti-capitalist and antisemitic character. The slogan is against usury, profiteering and stock exchange gambling. “To the gallows with the usurers and the Jews”, is the principal feature of the nationalist propaganda, which is cleverly playing up to the mood of large circles of the people. The starting point of the Fascist agitation is the bankruptcy of parliamentarism and the inability of the coalition governments to improve the economic position of the poor and maintain the independence of the nation. Not content with propaganda at public meetings, the Fascist have taken a further step. Their immediate object is to capture the industries. Supported by the employers, they install students, officers and de-classed elements in various positions in the important industries, chiefly as spies, “Pinkerton-men”, firemen and industrial police, but also as plain workers for the purpose of propaganda. At recent elections to the Factory Councils there have been numerous occasions when the Fascists put forward their own lists of candidates. Fascists were elected into Factory Councils in Upper Silesia and even in Berlin. It cannot be denied that Fascism has struck root within the working class. Fascism is gaining a place in the workshop.

Fascism is no longer a military, illegal organization of a small minority of Kaiser officers and bankrupt intellectuals. Owing to the collapse of Germany, the tremendous distress among the masses and the treacherous role of the social-democracy and the Trade Union leaders, it has managed to become a social movement by means of demagogic anti-capitalist and antisemitic propaganda. There is no doubt whatever that Fascism will disintegrate through its inherent contradiction. It cannot act as the tool of the capitalist offensive while posing at the same time as the benefactor of the distressed masses. However, the large masses of the people are not yet alive to this contradiction in Fascism. It is the duty of the Communist Party to arouse this consciousness and to unmask the real nature of Fascism. This leads on to the question: How should Communism fight against Fascism?

The Fight against Fascism.

The growth of the Fascist movement in Germany compelled the German Communist Party to revise its attitude towards Fascism. As long as Fascism was confined to militarist formations and the use of military violence, the defensive struggle of the working class was concentrated in meeting Fascist violence with proletarian violence. The formation of a proletarian self-defence as a military weapon against Fascism was a foremost plank in the Communist propaganda. Yet it is quite clear that this weapon alone will not suffice to combat Fascism. Since Fascism has in fact become a political movement with a social message, it must be fought also ideologically. First by positive propaganda, showing the way out of the national collapse and the economic subjection. Secondly by the exposure of Fascism as the tool of capital. It would be perfectly erroneous to consider Fascism as an isolated phenomenon and to treat it accordingly. Since Fascism is the advance guard of the capitalist offensive, it can be overcome only by a counter-offensive of the working class led by the United Front of the proletariat. The working class must be taught to realize that if a small but brave militarily organized minority cannot take the fight for political power out of the hands of the entire proletarians, no more can such a small force vanquish the Fascisti. The march of Fascism on the industries is the signal for alarm. The counter blow of the working class must now be carried into the industries with full vigour. In this struggle a large majority of the social-democratic and the Amsterdam leaders are parting company with the working class and are standing with the bourgeoisie. Even more than that. For instance in the last fights in the Ruhr district they fought shoulder to shoulder with the Fascisti in the white guard self-defence organizations against the red self-defence of the working class. The Communist Party has managed to create organs of the United Front among the wide masses in spite of the opposition of the Social-Democratic leaders. Around the Factory Councils Movement are now grouped large elements of Social Democratic and non-party workers. In this movement they see a fighting weapon against the capitalist offensive. The Central Committees, as organs of the United Front, wage the campaign against usury and profiteering. They gain the increasing confidence of house-wives, petty bourgeois elements and of all those who are driven to starvation by the soaring food prices. In the fight against Fascism the German Communist Party has now succeeded in organizing within the working class the joint proletarian “factory hundreds” (defence corps) as the organs of the United Front.

II.

The Defence Units and their Tasks.

What aims is the Communist Party of Germany pursuing by creating joint factory hundreds? (Defence Corps). The special task of these Factory hundreds is to fight against Fascism in industry. As a rule, the Factory Councils are not equal to this task. They often refuse to take action when the employer deliberately engages Fascisti or institutes factory police and Pinkertons. Very often the Factory Councils are the mere organs of the trade union bureaucracy, and feel themselves bound by the instructions of their social-democratic leaders. Therefore, wide organizations must be created which will enjoy the confidence of the workers. The workers must be made to understand clearly that it is the duty of all the workers and engaged in the factory to purge it of Fascisti. A united front in the factories must be created. The factory hundreds will embody this united front. They are not a military toy, they have no military tasks. To the factory hundreds must affiliate the workers of all parties and unions, syndicalists, trade unionists, non-party men, work-women, and juvenile workers. Their work is political agitation and education in the factories. The hundreds may be summoned to political information meetings at which they will have explained to them the political situation and the tasks that arise from it. In the case of provocation or terrorist attacks of Fascisti, the factory hundreds will be summoned to the defense. Where the movement for the united front and the hundreds have passed beyond the initial stages, Fascist meetings and nationalist demonstrations will be hindered and broken up. The question of the arming of the hundreds should not arise when the formation is first undertaken; it will itself come forward with the increasing determination and strength with which the united front movement opposes the master class. To bring up the question of arming the hundreds in the early stages of the movement, would mean to attempt to secure the arming of the proletariat before the workers have directly entered on the struggle for the seizure of power. Before the elementary conditions for the struggle have been created in the factories, the hundreds will be unable to deal with any military tasks.

The German Communist Party is firmly opposed to the creation of party hundreds. The social-democratic leaders are seeking to obtain the creation of party hundreds in opposition to the K.P.D. in those localities where they are obliged to give way to the demands of the workers for self-defense against Fascism. The Social democratic leaders are endeavoring to form S.P.D. guards armed with cudgels to be used against the Communists, and they parade these guards under the name of “Republican Self Defender.” They take advantage if the fascist mood of the social-democratic workers in order to incite the social-democratic and communist workers against each other and provoke street fights amongst them. However, the Social Democratic leaders do not stand alone in their resistance to the formation of joint factory defence corps. There are tendencies within the Communist Party which are opposed to the formation of such joint corps owing to the fact that they see in them not organs of the United Front, but military shock troops in the struggle for political power. On this point the Party is still affected by the old traditions from the period of the revolutionary struggles. However, Party members are everywhere convinced of the necessity for establishing such joint factory defence corps and are busily engaged in establishing them.

The success of United Front Tactics.

The formation of these so-called proletarian hundreds depends on the general strength of the United Front movement. Wherever the Party encountered strong resistance to its United Front tactics, the control Committees, as well as the hundreds are either poorly developed or do not exist at all. On the other hand, the districts with a strong United Front movement have also firmly established organs of the United Front. In Saxony the Communists made their support of the “left social-democratic government” (established in March 1923) conditional on the latter relying for its support on the organs of the proletarian United Front: factory committees, control committees, proletarian hundreds. The right Social-Democratic leaders from the outset offered strong opposition to the formation of joint proletarian hundreds. However, the German Communist Party (with the exception of the Leipzig district) has succeeded to establish everywhere joint hundreds together with the social democratic workers against the wishes of the Social-Democratic leaders. In this question the Saxon workers are far ahead of the proletariat in the other parts of the country. The Social-Democratic leaders are in a desperate position. In Prussia the Social-Democratic Minister or the Interior, Severing, has prohibited the formation of such hundreds. By his orders, members of the control committees and hundreds in Berlin have been arrested and brought before the State Tribunal. In Saxony, the Social-Democratic Premier Zeigmer has recognised the necessity for the formation of proletarian hundreds, and the Social-Democratic Minister for the Interior Liebmann was compelled to sanction their formation in Dresden during the provocative actions of the Fascisti. There the police forces were withdrawn from the streets, and the workers hundreds made themselves responsible for the protection of the working class. The Weimar constitution was practically annulled. Although this state of affairs was only of a transitory nature owing to the objective situation, it must nevertheless be intolerable for the capitalist State. The Cuno Government as a capitalist Government demands submission to its dictates, cannot of course tolerate the development of the hundreds into non-parliamentary class organs and weapons of the working class in Saxony while it prohibits the formation of such hundreds Prussia. This explains attitude of the National Government towards the Saxon Government. In this question Cuno’s National Executive and the Party Executive of Herr Wels will join hands in their attack on the Saxon working class.

Having carefully examined the application of the United Front tactics in Germany, the K.P.D. can say that it has succeeded to a considerable extent in putting into practice the theses of the Fourth World Congress on this matter. This applies especially to a paragraph in the Theses saying:

“In applying United Front tactics it is of paramount importance to arrive not only at agitational but also at organisational results. Every opportunity must be taken to establish organisational points d’appui within the working class itself (Factory Committees, Control Committees consisting of workers of all parties and of non-party workers committees of action etc.).”

“The most important point in the United Front tactics is and always will be the agitational co-ordination of the working masses.”

Our strategy has succeeded in surrounding the Communist vanguard with a large body of working class sympathisers. Moreover, the K.P.D. has not limited itself to influencing the working masses ideologically, but has shown great skill in giving a firm organisational basis to this influence. At present the Communist Party has rallied to its banner the United Front organs as active outposts of the revolution. These organs are under its political leadership and it also influences their outlook. This fact is a clear proof of the magnitude of the change in the balance of power within the proletariat. The social democratic workers, having got rid ideologically of the counter-revolutionary leadership of the old party bureaucracy, join the Communist workers in the ranks of the United Front, previous to taking the next step, entry into the Communist Party. It is, as yet, impossible to ascertain the degree of this change of the balance of balance of power, but that which is taking place slowly in the course of a stubborn struggle will come down like an avalanche when the time will have arrived for open struggles and revolutionary action. In exposing the Social-Democrats, and in bringing vividly before the masses the contrast between the will of the workers to struggle for Socialism with the weapons the class struggle and the will of the leaders to indulge in coalition policies with the bourgeoisie, the K.P.D. is practically liquidating Social-Democracy. Through the application of the United Front tactics, the K.P.D. rallies ever increasing masses to its banner, and thus creates the pre-requisites for proletarian dictatorship and the ultimate victory of the working class.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecorr” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecorr’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly. Inprecorr was a major contributor to the Communist press in the U.S. and is an invaluable English-language source on the history of the Communist International and its sections.

PDF of full issue 1: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1923/v03n44-[26]-jun-21-1923-Inprecor.pdf

PDF of issue 2: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1923/v03n47[27]-jun-28-1923-Inprecor-stan.pdf