Council communism or Councilism is a current of communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated workers' councils and council democracy. It is regarded as being strongest in Germany and the Netherlands during the 1920s.
The Workers' Socialist Federation was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom, led by Sylvia Pankhurst. Under many different names, it gradually broadened its politics from a focus on women's suffrage to eventually become a left communist grouping.
Hendricus Josephus Franciscus Marie Sneevliet, known as Henk Sneevliet or by the pseudonym "Maring", was a Dutch communist politician who was active in both the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. As a functionary of the Communist International, Sneevliet guided the formation of both the Communist Party of Indonesia in 1914, and the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. In his native country, he was the founder, chairman, and only Representative for the Revolutionary Socialist (Workers') Party (RSP/RSAP). He took part in the communist resistance against the occupation of the Netherlands during World War II by Nazi Germany, for which he was executed by the Germans in April 1942.
The Communist Party of the Netherlands was a communist party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1909 as the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and merged with the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Political Party of Radicals and the Evangelical People's Party in 1991, forming the GroenLinks. Members opposed to the merger founded the New Communist Party of the Netherlands.
Herman Gorter was a Dutch poet and Council Communist theorist. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers, a highly influential group of Dutch writers who worked together in Amsterdam in the 1880s, centered on De Nieuwe Gids.
In Marxism, ultra-leftism encompasses a broad spectrum of revolutionary communist currents that are generally Marxist and frequently anti-Leninist in perspective. Ultra-leftism distinguishes itself from other left-wing currents through its rejection of electoralism, trade unionism, and national liberation. The term is sometimes used as a synonym of left communism. "Ultra-left" is also commonly used as a pejorative by Marxist–Leninists and Trotskyists to refer to extreme or uncompromising Marxist sects.
The Communist Workers' Party of Germany was an anti-parliamentarian and left communist party that was active in Germany during the Weimar Republic. It was founded in 1920 in Heidelberg as a split from the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Originally the party remained a sympathising member of Communist International. In 1922, the KAPD split into two factions, both of whom kept the name, but are referred to as the KAPD Essen Faction and the KAPD Berlin Faction.
The Communist Workers' Organisation (CWO) is a British left communist group, founded in 1975, and an affiliate of the Internationalist Communist Tendency, formerly the International Bureau for the Revolutionary Party. It publishes a quarterly magazine called Revolutionary Perspectives and distributes the agitational broadsheet Aurora. Works of the CWO and ICT have been cited in various academic and political sources internationally, across several countries and languages. The organisation has its origins in north England and Scotland, though it has since grown to encompass other areas with members and sympathisers across the world.
Jan Appel was a German revolutionary who participated in the German Revolution of 1918. He became a prominent Left Communist activist and theorist.
The Communist Workers' Party of the Netherlands was a council communist party in the Netherlands. It was founded in September 1921, and was modelled after the Communist Workers' Party of Germany. It was far smaller than its German counterpart. At most, in late 1921, it had 8 sections with a total membership of around 200. Herman Gorter played an important role in building the party. The party was affiliated to the Communist Workers' International.
Communist Workers' Party of Bulgaria was a council communist party in the Kingdom of Bulgaria. It was founded in September 1921, and was modelled after the Communist Workers' Party of Germany. It was founded at a conference in the city of Slivnu, a centre of the textile industry, from the 7th until the 10th January 1922. The leadership of the party was based in Varna. The party had around 1000 members, and published Rabotchnik Iskra. The party was affiliated to the Communist Workers' International.
Karl Bernhard Fritz Schröder was a communist politician and writer.
Henriette Goverdine Anna "Jet" Roland Holst-van der Schalk was a Dutch poet and communist. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The General Workers' Union of Germany was a factory organisation formed following the German Revolution of 1918–1919 in opposition to the traditional trade unions.
International Socialists of Germany was the name of a political party, formed in September 1915, which split from the Social Democratic Party of Germany, following the latter's decision to support the German war effort in World War I. The ISD consisted of members who were on the left wing of the SPD. The party changed its name to the International Communists of Germany (IKD) in 1918 and most of members of the IKD joined the Communist Party of Germany in 1918, but later went on to form the council communist Communist Workers' Party of Germany.
Arthur Goldstein was a German Jewish journalist and communist politician.
"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder is a work by Vladimir Lenin attacking assorted critics of the Bolsheviks who claimed positions to their left. Most of these critics were proponents of ideologies later described as left communism. The book was written in 1920 and published in Russian, German, English and French later in the year. A copy was then distributed to each delegate at the 2nd World Congress of the Comintern, several of whom were mentioned by Lenin in the work. The book is divided into ten chapters and an appendix.
Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices espoused by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they regard as more authentically Marxist than the views of Marxism–Leninism espoused by the Communist International after its Bolshevization by Joseph Stalin and during its second congress.
The Workers Group of the Russian Communist Party was formed in 1923 to oppose the excessive power of bureaucrats and managers in the new soviet society and in the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). Its leading member was Gavril Myasnikov.
