It is not true that fascism is only a fighting organization of the bourgeoisie.

Fascism is a fighting organization of the bourgeoisie dependent upon the active support of

social democracy. Objectively, social democracy is the moderate wing of fascism.

There is no ground for supposing that a fighting organization of the bourgeoisie

can reach decisive results in its struggles or in the government of a country

without the active support of social democracy.

There is just as little ground for supposing that social democracy

can achieve decisive results in the struggles or in the government of a country without active support

by the fighting organization of the bourgeoisie. These organizations do not exclude but complement

one another. They are not poles apart, but twins.

Joseph Stalin

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

The 20th century. Episode 2. Episode 266. After Hitler, our turn.

I've mentioned the Communist Party of Germany, the KPD, for short, many times now in this podcast.

After the failures of leftist workers' uprisings in Berlin and Munich in 1919, the Rural

region in 1920, and Hamburg in 1923, uprisings that had been put down violently by the Weimar coalition parties,

the KPD shifted strategy in 1924, abandoning revolution to compete electorally against the bourgeois political

parties.

In 1925, the 39-year-old Ernst Telman became party chairman.

Telman was originally a dock worker from Hamburg.

He had participated in the 1918 revolts against the Kaiser's government in the final days of the war.

In 1923, he had helped organize that year's uprising in Hamburg.

...