National Bolshevism
Before long Laufenberg moved towards the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and before long the local party had come under the control of Laufenberg and his ally Fritz Wolffheim. The pair were strong critics German imperialism, producing a 1915 pamphlet against German expansionism and attacking the SPD for being, as they saw it, complicit in such aggression. Following the war, in October 1919, the pair made contact with Karl Radek and suggested a policy to him that they were already calling 'National Bolshevism' (although it has also been suggested that it was Radek who coined the term for Laufenberg and Wolffheim's policy). They sought a dictatorship of the proletariat which would harness German nationalism and place the country back on a war footing against the occupying Allied armies in alliance with the Soviet Union. Within such an ideology the need for class war was to be placed to one side in favour of cross class co-operation in a war of national liberation. The idea initially met with some enthusiasm amongst members of the Spartacus League.
Such support soon ebbed however when Vladimir Lenin publicly denounced the policy, claiming that Laufenberg was seeking a war coalition with the German bourgeoisie, before branding him as "absurd". Soon Laufenberg and Wolffheim were expelled from the KPD after they attempted to resist the leadership of Wilhelm Pieck. Radek, after showing initial enthusiasm, soon also denounced Laufenberg's National Bolshevism vehemently.
Read more about this topic: Heinrich Laufenberg
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