<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" > introduction</h1>
At the Fourth Conference on October 18, no one in Britain, France, or the like dared to risk agreeing to arm Germany. Strasmann also refused Torreich's participation in indirect military operations, saying: "If Germany is forced to let foreign troops pass through its territory, there will be serious internal and diplomatic disputes." ”
He further explains: "Once there is a war, Germany needs to use all its forces to prevent the rebellions in Dresden, Hamburg and Thuringia. Germany also refused to participate in economic sanctions against "aggressors," Strasmann said: "Germany, because of its weakness, will avoid declaring war on Russia anyway." But there is no doubt that Moscow will answer the German blockade with a declaration of war. He even threatened: "In the case of a Russo-German war, the Russian soldiers will sweep through germany, and Bolshevism will spread the Elbe!" The British and French deputies were very dismissive of Germany's attitude.
In their view, if the rest of the League of Nations Executive Takes action to defend the Covenant and one of the principal Member States serving as a permanent member remains neutral, the entire institutions of the League of Nations will be destroyed. In his speech, French Foreign Minister Liehan blamed Germany's position, saying: "It is not possible to stand on one foot in the League of Nations and the other, even on one toe, in any other camp." Chancellor Luther disagreed with this accusation, stating that "Germany is willing to join the League of Nations not halfway but as a whole," and he requested that "Germany's concerns arising from its topography and disarmament status" should be considered.
The two sides are talking to each other and not giving in to each other. Germany took such a position on the question of the conditions for joining the League of Nations because it wanted to give it the freedom to act actively on the international stage in order to be able to act in a cinematic way between the Western countries and the Soviet Union, and of course to consider the importance for Germany of developing economic and trade relations with the Soviet Union. As a result, Chancellor Luther and Foreign Minister Stelasmann showed wise caution at the meeting, sticking to their positions. Although Britain, France, and other countries were dissatisfied with Germany's reservations, they still made concessions to Germany in order to pull Germany into the Western group as much as possible.
The Locarno Conference did not withdraw Germany from its original position, but gave Germany the freedom to actively on the condition of joining the League of Nations. The Locarno Conference signed a total of eight documents, namely: the Protocol of the Conference, the Treaty of Guarantee (Rhine Convention) between Germany, Belgium, France, The United Kingdom and Italy, the German-French Arbitration Agreement, the German-Belgian Arbitration Agreement, the German-Polish Arbitration Agreement, the Franco-Polish Agreement and the Franco-Czech Agreement, which are collectively referred to as the "Locarno Convention".
That is to say, if the border between France and Belgium is violated by Germany, Britain and Italy will come to the aid of France and Belgium; conversely, if Germany's border is invaded by France and Belgium, Britain and Italy will assist Germany. It was clear that the convention was a deterrent to Germany's westward expansion. But under the conditions of the time, it was in fact a constraint on France, because France could no longer send troops to Germany in the same way as it did in the Ruhr.
The fact that Germany did not assume the obligation to maintain the territorial status quo in the arbitration treaty between Germany and Poland and CzechOs was tantamount to encouraging Germany to expand eastward. On December 1, 1925, the Locarno Convention was finally signed in London. At this point, the foundations of the Versailles system established after the First World War to suppress Germany began to shake.
After Germany signed the Locarno Pact and joined the League of Nations, German-Soviet relations were overshadowed. The Soviet Union believed that the Locarno Conference and the so-called "Pact of Guarantees" were directed at the Soviet Union. Before and after the Locarno Conference, the Soviet Union was extremely concerned about Germany's attitude. The German Government also attached great importance to relations with the Soviet Union, and had expressed its importance on several occasions before the Locarno Conference, such as that on April 22, 1925, when Rep. Luther replied to the Plenipotentiary of the Soviet Union, in view of the possibility of Germany's accession to the League of Nations and the signing of the Rhine Pact, the prospects for German-Soviet relations were: "The objective situation requires that Germany and Russia remain economically and politically close. ”
On June 28 of the same year, the German ambassador to the Soviet Union, Brockdorfrandau, conveyed to the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs Of the USSR Checherin the assurances of the newly elected President Hindenburg, as well as Chancellor Luther and Foreign Minister Sterismann: "Under whatever circumstances, Germany will continue to maintain its present friendly relations with the Soviet Union. In order to prevent Western countries from establishing an anti-Soviet united front, the Soviet government took advantage of the contradictions between Germany and Britain, France and other countries to repeatedly affirm its interests and exert pressure on Germany.
For example, before the Locarno Conference, when the Western countries frequently engaged in diplomatic contacts for the "Pact of Guarantees", the Soviet Government warned in a memorandum to the German Government of June 2, 1925: "Not only does Germany itself participate in military and economic sanctions against the Soviet Union, but if Germany, even if it does not participate in such actions itself, only in some cases votes in favour of the sanctions adopted by other member states of the League of Nations, it will have a fatal impact on Soviet-German relations." ”
At that time, the German ruling clique was pursuing a diplomatic strategy of "balancing East and West" in foreign policy. In view of the efforts of the monopolies of Britain, the United States and other countries to further control Germany economically and politically, they regarded relations with the Soviet Union as a powerful trump card in negotiations with the West. At the same time, they also recognized that maintaining friendly relations with the Soviet Union was beneficial to the development of the German economy, especially when the market and raw materials were squeezed out by the victorious powers.
Moreover, the broad masses of the German people have friendly feelings towards the Soviet people, and this cannot but be taken into account by the German ruling clique. The Soviet Union also wanted soviet-German relations to develop further after the signing of the Treaty of Labano, and in December 1924, on behalf of the Soviet government, Chicherin proposed to the German ambassador to the Soviet Union the conclusion of the "Soviet-German Agreement". Under this agreement, the Soviet Union and Germany each had the obligation to "refrain from participating in political or economic treaties, agreements or groups concluded with third countries vis-à-vis the contracting parties on the other hand". In addition, it was suggested that the two countries should undertake an obligation to "seek coordinated action in the future on the issue of joining the League of Nations or sending observers to the League of Nations". ”
Although Germany was busy negotiating the "Pact of Guarantees" with the West at the time, Foreign Minister Streismann reacted immediately and agreed to negotiate On Chicherin's proposal. On 1 July 1925, the representative of the German Foreign Office submitted to Chicherin the proposal of the German Government on the general principles of German-Soviet relations, stating that the two Governments "shall develop mutual relations on all political and economic matters of common relevance to the two countries in accordance with the spirit of the Treaty of Laballow". and, in the regular friendly exchanges between the two countries, mutual agreements are sought in order to promote universal peace in Europe".
On September 30, 1925, when the Locarno Conference was about to be convened, the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs of the USSR, Chicherin, came to Germany under the name of "Medical Treatment in Berlin". He discussed with the Government of Germany the question of the conclusion of political and economic treaties. On October 12 of the same year, representatives of Germany and the Soviet Union signed an economic treaty in Moscow. This treaty resolved a number of large economic and legal issues, the content of which went far beyond the scope of general treaties of commerce. The preamble to the treaty clearly states that the two sides wish to "strengthen friendly relations between the two countries and, to that end, to establish a practical common working ground in the economic and international legal fields." ”
The treaty consists of a general treaty and a number of special agreements, including: agreements on the protection of residence and general law, economic agreements, railway agreements, tax treaties, commercial and maritime agreements, commercial arbitration court agreements and agreements on the protection of industrial property. At the same time, a residency agreement and two special agreements, namely, consular agreements and agreements on mutual legal assistance in civil cases, were also signed. In addition, Germany later provided two loans to the Soviet Union, 106 million marks and 300 million marks, respectively. This package of economic treaties, signed at the height of the Locarno Conference, was a concrete application of Germany's balanced diplomacy between East and West.
These economic treaties were signed, on the one hand, in order to consolidate friendly relations with the Soviet Union and develop its own economy, and on the other hand, an attempt to exert pressure on the Western countries by means of its further closeness to the Soviet Union. After the Locarno Conference, the German government did not act in accordance with British and French intentions in its relations with the Soviet Union, but continued to develop political and economic relations with the Soviet Union. On April 24, 1926, Germany and the Soviet Union signed another five-year treaty of friendship and neutrality in Berlin. Article 1 of the treaty stipulates that relations between the two countries remain based on the 1923 Treaty of Laballow.
The German and Soviet governments "will maintain friendly contacts in the future for the purpose of reaching agreement on all issues concerning the political and economic aspects of the two countries." Article II provides that, in the event of an attack by a "third State or group of third States" against either Contracting State, "the other Contracting Party shall remain neutral throughout the conflict". "Article III provides that the Parties shall not participate in an alliance established by a third State, economically or financially, for the purpose of resisting one of the Contracting Parties. In the original text of the signing of the treaty, the German Government stated in a note: "Germany's accession to the League of Nations cannot constitute an obstacle to the development of friendly relations between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. ”
Germany pledges that, after joining the League of Nations, the German Government will do its utmost to oppose "any force in the League of Soviet Socialist Republics which is contrary to this basic concept of peace appears in the League of Nations" with all its might." "In the note, the German Government formally stated that, once Germany joined the League of Nations, it would not consider itself obliged to participate in the sanctions imposed under Article 16 of the Covenant. The signing of this treaty frustrates the attempt of the Western countries to form an anti-Soviet united front by admitting Germany to the League of Nations.
At the turn of the spring and summer of 1927, the imperialist clique headed by Britain set off an anti-Soviet counter-current in the international arena. In May, British police destroyed soviet commercial agencies, thus severing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. On June 7, at the instigation of the British, a Polish Russian self-defense agent assassinated the Soviet ambassador to Poland, Vojkov. In this anti-Soviet chorus, the German government scrupulously abided by the German-Soviet neutrality treaty. In a meeting with Chichering in June 1927, Max, then Chancellor of Germany, said that the German government and people from all walks of life were unanimous in their desire to maintain their original relations with the Soviet Union.
Max told Chicherin that he hoped that Germany would not be caught up in the position of choosing between the Alliance of Western Countries and the Soviet Union. He said Germany would remain neutral even if necessary. After Voykov's murder, the British asked the German government whether it would allow British troops to enter Poland through German territory, but the German government did not answer. From June 14 to 15, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Japan convened the Geneva Conference to coordinate the positions of Western countries against the Soviet Union.
In order to win Germany into the anti-Soviet alliance, Britain was ready to promise to repeal certain provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and reconsider the Dawes Plan. But Foreign Minister Strassmann rejected Austin Chamberlain's claim to a "crusade" against the Soviet Union at the meeting, calling the idea of a crusade "stupid and flippant." On July 23, Stresmann announced in congress on behalf of the government that Germany did not intend to participate in the offensive against the Soviet Union and remained neutral.
After the defeat of the Hamburg Uprising in November 1923, the Situation of the German Communist Party was extremely difficult. From the end of 1923 to the beginning of 1924, the KPD was forced underground, the Party press was banned, many Party members were persecuted by the reactionary authorities, and the number of Party members decreased sharply, leaving only 30,000. The influence of the KPD among the masses was declining. The whole situation of the struggle at that time was that the period of revolutionary crisis had passed, and the question of the seizure of power and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat had not yet been put on the agenda.
The revolution has moved from the period of shock to the period of gathering forces and organizing and training the army of the proletariat under the banner of communism. At the low ebb of the revolution, the task before the German Communist Party is to take advantage of this period of revolutionary silence to consolidate its ranks; to transform the KPdc into a truly mass proletarian party, ready to lead the masses of the people in the later battles against bourgeois rule.
From 7 to 10 April 1924, the Ninth Congress of the German Communist Party was held in Frankfurt. The congress summed up the work of the Party since the Ruhr crisis, criticized the mistakes of Brandler-Talheimer and blamed them for the losses they had inflicted on the revolution as a result of the pursuit of the "right-wing opportunist line". The congress removed Brandler, Talheimer, and others from their leadership positions. However, in the newly elected leadership, later a "Fisher-Maslov group" emerged, and this "left-leaning group" gradually controlled the leadership of the Party Central Committee.
This clique opposes the tactics of struggle to be adopted in the period of the low tide of the revolution, against the building of a united front of the working class; it mistakenly proposes that Communists "withdraw from the trade unions!" " slogan. This "Left" line has brought great harm to the KPD, thus making the Party's influence among the masses smaller and smaller. In the December 1924 parliamentary elections, the Communist Party's vote fell sharply, receiving only 2.67 million votes, more than one million fewer than the May vote.
In the March 1925 election, the German Communists lost another 900,000 votes. The current situation of the German Communist Party has aroused the anxiety of the majority of Party members, and many people in the Party have risen up to resist this "Left" line. At the Tenth Party Congress on 17 July 1925, Thiermann gave a report on "The Struggle for the Unity of the German Working Class and the Trade Union". In his report, Thierman analysed in particular the root causes and essence of the extreme "Left" mistakes of Fisher and Maslov, stating that these people did not understand the social changes that had taken place after the end of the revolutionary crisis, that they would only play with specious revolutionary phrases, and that, because of their mistakes, the Party was isolated.
In response to Fisher and others, he proposed "Quit the trade union!" The slogan states: "The German trade unions have four and a half million members, who constitute the majority of the German industrial workers and are the necessary force for the future struggle." They are the core of the proletariat. We, as the vanguard of communism, cannot win without them. In particular, Thierman pointed out that in the present circumstances, if the trade unions cannot be seized, the masses cannot be won over; if the trade unions are not worked in the trade unions and the influence of the Party is consolidated in the trade unions, the trade unions cannot be seized.
According to Thärmann's report, the Congress adopted the corresponding resolution. The resolution requires that "every Communist Party member shall be a trade union member." Every trade union position and every trade union organization should be cored by Communist Party members. The struggle within the German Communist Party attracted the great attention of the Communist International. The struggle of the German Communists led by Thärmann against the "Fischer-Maslov Clique" was supported by the Comintern.
In August 1925, the Comintern wrote an open letter to the KPD, instructing the KPD as follows: To place the focus of the party's entire political organization in the enterprises in order to win over the masses of workers in the enterprises; to democratize the life of the Party and eliminate any sectarian activity and personal dictatorship; to eliminate all sectarian groups and to safeguard the unity of the Party; and to implement the leadership of the Party with the support of the broad masses of communist-minded enterprise workers. Under the specific guidance of the Comintern, the German Communist Party convened a party congress in Berlin on October 31, 1925.
At this meeting, the "Fisher-Maslov Group" was purged from the leading body of the Party. The meeting elected a new Central Committee, chaired by Telman. Stalin spoke highly of this, saying at the meeting of the German Committee of the Sixth Enlarged Plenary Session of the Executive Committee of the Communist International: "The present Central Committee of the German Communist Party did not come into being by chance. It was born in the struggle against the errors of the Right. It arose in the struggle against the errors of the "ultra-left". Therefore, it is neither right-leaning nor "ultra-left" leaning. This is the Leninist center. This is precisely the group of workers' leadership that the German Communist Party now needs. ”
After the establishment of the new Party Central Committee, in accordance with the instructions of the Communist International, the grass-roots organization of the Party was reorganized in accordance with the principles of industry in a very short time, and this form of organization made it easier for the Party to work in the trade unions and other mass organizations of the workers. After a period of hard work, the party's strength has gradually grown. In the six months following the Berlin Conference, the number of party members increased to 140,000, and by March 1927 it had reached another 300,000. During this period, the German Communist Party also paid attention to the development of the Party's peripheral mass organizations. Among the most important were the "Red Front Warriors Alliance" that was born in Harley in the summer of 1924.
This organization is a proletarian mass fighting organization established against the terror of the reactionary military and police and fascists. The fighters of the "Red Front Fighters" were responsible for the defense of workers' rallies and marches, as well as the propaganda work of the masses against fascism and the dangers of war. This organization is the opposite of the "Republican Banner Alliance", a militia organization established mainly by the Social Democratic Party in the ruling party of the Weimar Republic. The "Red Front Fighters Alliance" grew rapidly, with 30,000 members in February 1925 and 1926 to 100,000.
The KP established the "Red Youth Stormtroopers" among teenagers, which was renamed the "Red Youth Front" in February 1926. At the end of 1926, the "Red Youth Front" reached 100,000 people. With the growth of fascist forces, the KPD established the "Anti-Fascist Struggle Alliance" in a timely manner, uniting the broad masses of the masses of all strata, regardless of political beliefs. From 2 to 7 March 1927, the 11th Congress of the Communist Party of Germany was held in Essen.
At this congress, the Central Committee of the German Communist Party analysed the political and economic situation in the country and stressed the need to strengthen the work of the Party in the mass organizations of the proletariat in trade unions and large enterprises. Speaking of the general line drawn up by the KPD at the congress, Thiermann said: "The general line of the Party consists first and foremost in the correct application of the tactics of the united front for the purpose of winning the majority of the German working class, in organizing the struggle of resistance and for organizing the proletarian revolution. The General Assembly also organized the "Fisher-Maslov Group". In order to raise the theoretical level of Marxism-Leninism in the whole Party, the Congress adopted a resolution to translate and publish the German edition of Lenin's Complete Works.
Under Thiermann's leadership, in July and August 1928, the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany was held, the main topic of which was to oppose the "right opportunist" trend. The Plenum held that, under the conditions of temporary and relative stability of capitalism, the right-wing opportunistic trend of thought had matured by the influence of the bourgeoisie in the workers' movement. This is especially true at the local level. The plenary session pointed out that right-leaning ideological trends are the main danger to the Party at present, and the Party Central Committee called on all Party members to take action to fight against the "Right-leaning Groups" and "Mediators.".
After the Sixth Plenum, people denounced as "right-leaning groups" and "conciliators" used the Hamburg party organization Petrov to embezzle party fees to attack Thierman for shielding Petrov. Under the pressure of these people, the Party Central Committee decided to remove Thierman from his leadership position. In response, the Executive Committee of the Communist International immediately reacted by demanding that the Central Committee of the German Communist Party change its erroneous decision on Thierman. Soon, Thierman returned to the party's leadership position.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="1" > conclusion</h1>
Under the specific guidance of the Comintern, the 12th National Congress of the KPD was convened in June 1929. The Congress summarized the work of the Party and the struggle of the working class in the two years since the Eleventh National Congress. The Congress decided to eliminate the "right opportunist clique" headed by Brandler from the Party and to expel the "mediators" from the Central Committee.
Resources:
History of Diplomacy
International Treaty Collection
The Complete Works of Stalin