Wittorf affair
Encyclopedia
The Wittorf affair was an embezzlement
scandal in Germany in 1928. John Wittorf, an official of the Communist Party
(KPD), was a close friend and protégé of party chairman Ernst Thälmann
. Thälmann tried to cover up the embezzlement, for which he was ousted from the central committee
. Joseph Stalin
intervened and had Thälmann reinstated, signaling the beginning of a purge
and completing the Stalinization of the KPD.
expelled Wittorf and three other Hamburg
officials from the KPD. Thälmann was relieved of his party responsibilities and he was accused of covering up Wittorf's actions.
Stalin, however, had been looking to strengthen Thälmann, whom he viewed as an ally and loyal supporter for the ultra-left positions then recently adopted at the Sixth World Congress of the Comintern. Stalin felt he could count on Thälmann to purge the KPD of both its right and moderate left wings. Stalin asked Vyacheslav Molotov
for advice in handling the problem of Thälmann's ouster. In a telegraph to Molotov on October 1, 1928, Stalin acknowledged that Thälmann had made a huge mistake in covering up the embezzlement, but Stalin defended his motives, calling them "unselfish". He said Thälmann had been trying to spare the party a scandal, in contrast to the motives of Arthur Ewert and Gerhart Eisler
, KPD central committee members who were in the Conciliator faction
. Stalin felt they had placed their own interests over those of the party and the Comintern and saw in their actions "absolutely no mitigating circumstances".
Stalin then took action. On October 6, 1928, the executive committee of the Comintern passed a resolution expressing "complete political trust" in Thälmann, reversing the KPD's September 26 decision and calling on the KPD to "liquidate all factions within the party". Despite stubborn resistance from several prominent officials, the central committee of the KPD reinstated Thälmann as party chairman on October 20, 1928. This signaled the beginning of the KPD's purge of its right-wing and the moderate Conciliator faction.
The Wittorf affair was the final step of the Stalinization of the KPD. It made Thälmann servile with respect to Stalin and destroyed democracy within the KPD. It guaranteed Thälmann's and the KPD's commitment to the general line
defaming the Social Democrats
as social fascists
, contributing not insignificantly to the KPD's own demise. Stalin used the affair to turn the Comintern into his tool; he showed his support for loyalty and ambition and neutralized both real and perceived political opponents. The discussion in the Comintern over the ousting of Thälmann had wide-reaching consequences for other Communist Parties, including the Communist Party of Italy
.
, formed from the Soviet occupation zone after the war, Thälmann was treated as a founding father, despite the fact that he did not survive his imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps, having been executed at Buchenwald. The Wittorf affair was distorted beyond recognition or simply not discussed. After the collapse of the Soviet Union
, the archives of the Comintern and the central committee of the Communist Party became available to western historians, revealing much about the Wittorf affair and the extent to which Stalin manipulated the Comintern and the KPD.
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
scandal in Germany in 1928. John Wittorf, an official of the Communist Party
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
(KPD), was a close friend and protégé of party chairman Ernst Thälmann
Ernst Thälmann
Ernst Thälmann was the leader of the Communist Party of Germany during much of the Weimar Republic. He was arrested by the Gestapo in 1933 and held in solitary confinement for eleven years, before being shot in Buchenwald on Adolf Hitler's orders in 1944...
. Thälmann tried to cover up the embezzlement, for which he was ousted from the central committee
Central Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
. Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
intervened and had Thälmann reinstated, signaling the beginning of a purge
Purge
In history, religion, and political science, a purge is the removal of people who are considered undesirable by those in power from a government, from another organization, or from society as a whole. Purges can be peaceful or violent; many will end with the imprisonment or exile of those purged,...
and completing the Stalinization of the KPD.
Background
During the 1928 German federal election, John Wittorf (1894–1981), a member of the KPD central committee, embezzled 1,500 to 3,000 Reichmarks from the KPD's campaign fund. KPD chairman Ernst Thälmann, who was a close friend and sponsor of Wittorf, knew about the embezzlement, but concealed it for tactical reasons. On September 26, 1928, after rumors of the embezzlement had been leaked to the press, the central committeeCentral Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
expelled Wittorf and three other Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
officials from the KPD. Thälmann was relieved of his party responsibilities and he was accused of covering up Wittorf's actions.
Stalin, however, had been looking to strengthen Thälmann, whom he viewed as an ally and loyal supporter for the ultra-left positions then recently adopted at the Sixth World Congress of the Comintern. Stalin felt he could count on Thälmann to purge the KPD of both its right and moderate left wings. Stalin asked Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Molotov
Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov was a Soviet politician and diplomat, an Old Bolshevik and a leading figure in the Soviet government from the 1920s, when he rose to power as a protégé of Joseph Stalin, to 1957, when he was dismissed from the Presidium of the Central Committee by Nikita Khrushchev...
for advice in handling the problem of Thälmann's ouster. In a telegraph to Molotov on October 1, 1928, Stalin acknowledged that Thälmann had made a huge mistake in covering up the embezzlement, but Stalin defended his motives, calling them "unselfish". He said Thälmann had been trying to spare the party a scandal, in contrast to the motives of Arthur Ewert and Gerhart Eisler
Gerhart Eisler
Gerhart Eisler was a German politician. Along with his sister Ruth Fischer, he was a very early member of the Austrian German Communist Party and then a prominent member of the Communist Party of Germany during the Weimar Republic...
, KPD central committee members who were in the Conciliator faction
Conciliator faction
The Conciliator faction was an opposition group within the Communist Party of Germany during the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich. In East Germany, after World War II, the German word for conciliator, Versöhnler, became a term for anti-marxist political tendencies.- Background :The faction...
. Stalin felt they had placed their own interests over those of the party and the Comintern and saw in their actions "absolutely no mitigating circumstances".
Stalin then took action. On October 6, 1928, the executive committee of the Comintern passed a resolution expressing "complete political trust" in Thälmann, reversing the KPD's September 26 decision and calling on the KPD to "liquidate all factions within the party". Despite stubborn resistance from several prominent officials, the central committee of the KPD reinstated Thälmann as party chairman on October 20, 1928. This signaled the beginning of the KPD's purge of its right-wing and the moderate Conciliator faction.
The Wittorf affair was the final step of the Stalinization of the KPD. It made Thälmann servile with respect to Stalin and destroyed democracy within the KPD. It guaranteed Thälmann's and the KPD's commitment to the general line
General line
General line may have the following meanings*General line of the party*The General Line, a 1929 Soviet film by Sergei Eisenstein*General line of merchandise*General line...
defaming the Social Democrats
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
as social fascists
Social fascism
Social fascism was a theory supported by the Communist International during the early 1930s, which believed that social democracy was a variant of fascism because, in addition to a shared corporatist economic model, it stood in the way of a complete and final transition to communism...
, contributing not insignificantly to the KPD's own demise. Stalin used the affair to turn the Comintern into his tool; he showed his support for loyalty and ambition and neutralized both real and perceived political opponents. The discussion in the Comintern over the ousting of Thälmann had wide-reaching consequences for other Communist Parties, including the Communist Party of Italy
Communist Party of Italy
The Communist Party of Italy was a communist political party in Italy which existed from 1921 to 1926. That year it was outlawed by Benito Mussolini's fascist regime. In 1943, the name was changed to the Italian Communist Party.-Foundation:The forerunner of the party was the Communist Faction...
.
Rediscovered after the Soviet Union's collapse
In the German Democratic RepublicGerman Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, formed from the Soviet occupation zone after the war, Thälmann was treated as a founding father, despite the fact that he did not survive his imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps, having been executed at Buchenwald. The Wittorf affair was distorted beyond recognition or simply not discussed. After the collapse of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, the archives of the Comintern and the central committee of the Communist Party became available to western historians, revealing much about the Wittorf affair and the extent to which Stalin manipulated the Comintern and the KPD.
Further reading
- Friedrich Firsow: Das Eingreifen Stalins in die Politik der Kommunistischen Partei Deutschlands. In: Klaus Schönhoven, Dietrich Staritz (Hrsg.): Sozialismus und Kommunismus im Wandel. Hermann Weber zum 65. Geburtstag. Bund, Cologne (1993) pp. 174–187
- Michael Krejsa: Wo ist John Heartfield? In: Günter FeistEckhart Gillen, Beatrice Vierneisel (Ed.): Kunstdokumentation SBZ/DDR 1945-1990. DuMont, Cologne (1996) ISBN 3-7701-3846-5
- Hermann Weber: Die Wandlung des deutschen Kommunismus. Die Stalinisierung der KPD in der Weimarer Republik. Volume 2, Europäische Verlagsanstalt, Frankfurt am Main (1971) ISBN 3-434-45008-4
External links
- Eberhard Czichon / Heinz Marohn, Dokumente zur Wittorf-Affäre