The German-Dutch Communist Left - Libcom

delegates, limited to only 10 minutes, were greeted with laughter, interruptions or indifference. The agenda was
manipulated against them: their theses could not be discussed at the congress. They were refused leave, contrary
to a tradition within the workers’ movement, to present alternative reports for the opposition. Lastly, an
ultimatum was addressed to them to merge with the VKPD in three months, on pain of exclusion from the
Komintern. The KAPD delegates rejected the ultimatum. Although the Central Committee of their party had
accorded them ‘full powers’, to proclaim “the immediate exit from the 3 rd International”, the delegates behaved
in a responsible way: they did not proclaim they were leaving the International, wanting the whole of the party to
pronounce, in full awareness of the facts, without prejudging the decisions:
“The delegation unanimously rejects the ultimatum to merge with the VKPD. We are not proclaiming the exit of
the KAPD from the 3 rd International, despite our full powers. Our comrades will pronounce themselves. They
will give their response to this impudent demand to take the path of reformism, of opportunism. The
international proletariat will hear this reply. We have taken our decision, fully aware of its seriousness. We have
a clear consciousness of our responsibility faced with revolutionary German workers, faced with Soviet Russia,
faced with the world revolution. The revolution will not allow itself to be bound by a congress resolution. We
march with it. We follow our path in its service.” 586
As a revolutionary current the KAPD found itself with a sad and difficult choice, all the more because of its
influence on the whole of the international left communist current:
It could merge with the VKPD, and be rapidly reduced to nothing as an independent revolutionary current,
under the effects of the manoeuvres of the party leadership. The prospects of forming a fraction were shown
to be practically impossible, as shown by the example of the CP in Holland.
It could form, as the Bordiga’s followers did much later, an ‘external fraction’ of the International, with the
aim of re-conquering the International and even the German party, the VKPD, expecting other significant
fractions to be formed simultaneously.
It could declare itself the founding part of an internationally organised and centralised left communist
current, while waiting for the conditions to arise for a ‘new International’.
It could proclaim the birth of a ‘4 th International’, in a totally artificial way, and without taking account of
the subjective factors of its formation.
The decision to be taken demanded a clear analysis of the international situation and of the historic course, and a
theoretically solid evaluation of the nature of the Russian Revolution and the Komintern. It was vital that clarity
should be achieved by the German-Dutch current, without undue haste, in view of the KAPD Extraordinary
Congress, which was to be held within two months of the 3 rd Congress of the Komintern.
However the leadership of the KAPD clearly influenced by Gorter was to proceed with undue haste at the end of
July 1921. In fact, on the 31 st July 587 , despite the opposition of the representatives from Hanover and eastern
Saxony, despite the abstention of the largest district of the party that of ‘Greater Berlin’ the leadership of the
party, influenced by Schröder, accepted a resolution proclaiming the break with the 3 rd International. More
serious than this decision, taken outside the framework of a party congress, was the decision to work towards the
“construction of a Communist Workers’ International”. The resolution was presented as an ‘opinion’ of the
KAPD leadership:
“The central committee is of the opinion that the unfolding of the 3 rd World Congress in principle leads to a
break with the Moscow International.
“The central committee, given the necessities of the struggle of the international class, sees the construction of a
Communist Workers’ International as the most urgent task for the revolutionary world proletariat. The central
586 Report made to the Central Committee of the KAPD, 31 st July 1921, in: Proletarier, No. 7.
587 KAZ (Berlin), No. 219.
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