Martin Hoop - Relevance

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In the contemporary history of the German communist party (KPD) in Saxony, the Bautzen City Councillor Martin Hoop was known as an ardent supporter of the Weimar Republic presidential candidate Ernst Thälmann. It was, for example, only the Bautzen district leadership who was opposed to the expulsion from the Party of Ruth Fischer and Arkadi Maslow, two of Thälmanns political predecessors, Hoop was one of the few KPD functionaries opposed to the theory of “relative stabilization” and of its implications in the Weimar Republic (see also, German presidential election, 1925), called for a return to agreements made at the July 10, 1925) KPD congress (only weeks before the intervention of the Communist International), and brought attention to the failure of United Front politics in Saxony.

In autumn of 1923 an extensive weapons cache was discovered in the Bautzen machine factory Münckner & Co., where Hoop had once been employed. In a joint action, a group of communist and social-democratic workers secured the weapons, which led to a court action against several individuals, among them Hoop, as well as the social-democratic labor union secretary Konrad Arndt and communist workers such as Kurt Pchalek. Accused of actions conducive to high treason, Pchalek was sentenced to 15 months prison. Other defendants, including Hoop and Arndt, were acquitted.

On May 2, 1924, the Reichstag Representative Siegfried Rädel spoke at a public meeting of the KPD in Bautzen. On the same occasion, Martin Hoop also spoke about the May Day workers’ demonstration, characterizing the treatment by the Bautzen police as 'disgraceful and brutal'. On 5 September Rädel spoke on the subject of the Dawes Plan and “How Are Reparations To Be Paid.”

"… during the open discussion, two persons participated: a Social Democrat, Arndt, who was shouted down and therefore not heard, and the communist Hoop…Upon a suggestion made by Hoop at the end of the meeting, a resolution was endorsed for the release of the communist comrade Pchalek, who was alleged to have formed terror groups, and who was still in custody…" —Police Reports to the Office for National Information Dresden. Extensive Representation of Communist Propaganda and Reports, 1924-1925, Repertorium.XI.II.15, Bautzen City Archives.

Among other activities during his service as Bautzen City Councilman, Hoop led a demonstration against the Tscheka trial taking place in Leipzig in early 1925. “Judging from its appearance, the entire procession resembled a carnival parade, rather than a protest demonstration." Siegfried Rädel observed, '…although the intellectual spiritus rector is Hoop, ...he has as good as no support behind him.'

Weakness in the east Saxon KPD leadership made possible more effective control of local party affairs through national parliamentary representatives like Siegfried Rädel, who, together with the left majority, supported the politics of Ernst Thälmann. The east Saxon leadership was however unaware of the Thälmann-Stalin correspondence and sent to the KPD a resolution of endorsement. Martin Hoop was one of the eight endorsers.

In the Saxon KPD, the question was: how to introduce United Front policies ‘from below.’ One form of this tactic, endorsed by Siegfried Rädel, with support from the KPD central committee, was a letter campaign to individual SPD workers and to factory workers’ assemblies. Martin Hoop was of the opinion that no contact be made with local SPD representatives.

Discouraged by political developments, Martin Hoop began to consider a 'new life' in the 'new world'. However, he remained in Saxony as an active organizer in the revolutionary Zwickau workers' movement. At the end of World War II, the trade union of coal miners “Morgenstern” resumed its activities as a state-owned enterprise which operated until 1977 under the name Martin Hoop Pits.