V. I. Lenin

Letter To The Central Committee
Of The Communist Party Of Germany
Regarding The Split [1]

To Comrades Paul Levi, Clara Zetkin, Eberlein And
The Other Members Of The Cc. Of The Communist Party
Of Germany

October 28, 1919

Dear Friends, I have forwarded to you for publication a letter dated October
10, 1919, “Greetings to French, Italian and German
Communists”, in which I have referred, among other things,
to your disagreements with the supporters of the boycott, the
semi-syndicalists, etc. Today I have learned from the German
government wireless message (from Nauen) about a split in your
party: although the source is a filthy one, it is probably telling
the truth in this case, because letters from our friends in
Germany speak of the possibility of a split.

The only thing that seems incredible is this radio report that
with 25 votes against 18, you expelled the minority, which, they tell us, then set up a party of its own. I know very
little about this breakaway opposition, for I have seen only a few
issues of the Berlin Rote Fahne. My impression is that they are very gifted propagandists, inexperienced and young, like
our own Left Communists ("Left” due to lack of experience
and youth) of 1918. Given agreement on the basic issue (for Soviet rule, against bourgeois parliamentarism), unity, in my
opinion, is possible and necessary, just as a split is necessary
with the Kautskyites. If the split was inevitable, efforts should
be made not to deepen it, but to approach the Executive Committee
of the Third International for mediation and to make the
“Lefts” formulate their differences in theses and in a pamphlet. Restoration of unity in the Communist Party of Germany
is both possible and necessary from the international standpoint. I would be extremely glad to get a letter from you on
this subject. I am enclosing a letter to the breakaway group, and
hope that you will forward it at the time of publishing my
article, which, written before the news of the split was
received, fully recognises the correctness of your standpoint.

A hearty handshake and warm wishes for success.to you in your
difficult work. The communist movement is growing splendidly
throughout the world. It is slower than we would like, but broad,
powerful, deep and invincible. As was the case in Russia, the
stage of the dominance of the “Mensheviks and
Socialist-Revolutionaries” (of the Second International) is
discernible everywhere. This dominance will be succeeded by that
of the Communists and the victory of the dictatorship of the
proletariat and of Soviet government.

With communist greetings,

N. Lenin

Endnotes

[1]
The Communist Party of Germany split at Its Second Congress, held
in October 1919 in Heidelberg. It was attended by 46 delegates
representing 16,000 party members. The Congress recognised the
error of the boycott tactics of the elections to the Constituent
Assembly and passed a decision to take part in parliamentary
elections. A group of the “Lefts” came out at the
Congress against its decisions and in defence of anarcho-syndicalist views-the boycott of parliament, repudiation
of the political struggle, refusal to work in reactionary trade
unions and so on. The “Lefts” were in the minority and were expelled from the party, after which they founded the
so-called Communist Workers’ Party of Germany. Subsequently
the C.W.P.G. became an insignificant sectarian group without any
influence in the working class. Simultaneously with this letter
addressed to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of
Germany Lenin sent a letter to the breakaway group too (see
pp. 89-90 of this volume).