The German-Dutch Communist Left - Libcom

A few rare publications defended council communist ideas, especially in the 1930s. As in the USA, ‘councilism’
found an echo amongst immigrants.
L’Ouvrier communiste, Paris, 1929-31. Succeeded Réveil communiste which was still marked by ‘bordigism’.
This group of Italian immigrants, under the influence of the KAPD, the AAU and the GIC, adopted the positions
of council communism.
Spartacus, Paris, 1931. Subsidised by André Prudhommeaux and Jean Dautry, this paper regrouped a circle of
immigrant German workers (A. Heinrich and H. Schieschke group). [Hans Schieschke, friend of André and Dori
Prudhommeaux, was member of the KAU in 1931 and lived some months in Paris. He worked illegally for the
KAU after 1933. He had contact with the Weiland group after 1945, and worked as journalist for the Leipziger
Volkszeitung until 1949, when he was finally sacked.]
Correspondance internationale ouvrière, Nîmes, Sept. 1932-June 1933, published by André Prudhommeaux and
Jean Dautry. In contact with Dutch and German ‘councilism’. Later however it moved towards antifascism and
anarchism.
The review of the Union Communiste L’Internationale, through its semi-trotskyist positions on the Spanish war,
cannot formerly be considered as a council communist review. From 1937 on, it had close contacts with the
Dutch council communist left. Only after the Second World War did the positions of the German and Dutch left
become better known in France, especially through the medium of Internationalisme, whose origins lay in the
Italian communist left, and the RKD-CR, the council communist circle of Maximilien Rubel (Cahiers de
discussion pour le Socialisme de conseils) and Socialisme ou Barbarie.
GREAT-BRITAIN
The IWW, the Shop Stewards movement and the German left all influenced the council communist movement in
Britain, as did libertarian ideas. We shall list the main organs of the council communist movement:
The Commune, Glasgow, 1923-28, published by Guy Aldred, anarchist and council communist. Organ of the
Anti-parliamentary Communist Federation.
The Council, Glasgow 1931-33, published by Aldred. Organ of the Anti-parliamentary Communist Federation.
In favour of the regroupment of anti-parliamentary Marxists and anarchists. Recommended ‘councils of action’.
The New Spur, ‘because the workers need a spur more than ever, if they are to conquer bread, freedom and
roses’ (sic), Dec. 1933-April 1934. Published monthly in Nîmes, thanks to the help of André Prudhommeaux, in
contact with the Dutch L.A.O. (see below). Influenced by Guy Aldred’s ideas.
Solidarity, ‘advocate of workers’ revolutionary unity’, London, 1938-45. Published by the Anti-Parliamentary
Communist Federation, after Alred’s group seceded in 1933 to form the Workers Open Forum. Strongly
influenced by the positions of the German-Dutch communist left. Contributions by Jimmy Kennedy, an exminer,
of the ‘Glasgow Marxian Study Group’, and Ernst Schneider, member of the IKD of Wilhelmshafen in
1918. The group became ‘Workers Revolutionary League’ in 1941, eventually joining a new Workers Open
Forum which was formed in 1942.
The Spur, June 1914-April 1921, Glasgow, published by the ‘Bakunin Press’, continuation of Aldred’s The
Herald of Revolt. Anarchist at the beginning then influenced by council communist ideas.
Workers’ Dreadnought, London, July 1917-June 1924. Replaced the Women’s Dreadnought (March 1914-July
1917). Published by the ex-feminist Sylvia Pankhurst, in the name of the Workers’ Socialist Federation. Became
in June 1920 the Communist Party (British Section of the Third International). After leaving the CPGB in 1921,
the Dreadnought defended the positions of the German communist left. From 1922 to 1924 it was the organ of
Gorter’s KAI in Britain. Disappeared in 1924.
Out of work, organ of the Pankhurst’s CWP for the unemployed, 1922-23.
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