Appendix 1
There was some international influence of the German Council communist
movement of the 1920s. In particular, the 'ultra left' ideas of the KAPD
spread - they were the first to suggest a Fourth International, an idea
taken up by the Trotskyists after their break with Moscow. In Russia, the
Workers Opposition (Shliapnikov, Mme Kollontai etc.) kept in contact with
the KAPD but finally integrated into the Bolshevik party. Sympathetic
groups existed in the Balkans (Greece, Romania and what was Yugoslavia,
where one of their leaders was betrayed to the police by the Leninists)
especially in Bulgaria, where a strong tendency existed of direct action
and individual terrorism as against Leninist parliamentarism (insurrection
of 1923, dynamiting of bridges, blowing up in 1925 of Sofia cathedral).
There were groups in Belgium and Holland in particular, originally around
Gorter, later in the International Communist group (GIK-H). The last active
council communist groupings existed in Holland, where the 'Principles' was
produced, as a collective effort by German and Dutch workers.
(Grundprinzipien der Kommunsitischen Produktion und Verteilung 1930)
There were others which had a sporadic existence in Czechslovakia, Denmark,
France (around Andre Prudhommeaux, who later went over to Anarchism) in the
United States (around ex KAPDer Paul Mattick and the reviews International
Council Correspondence, Living Marxism and New Essays) in Australia, the
journal Southern Advocate for Workers Councils which published the basic
work of Anton Pannekoek Workers Councils (Melbourne 1950)
In Britain, there was originally an active movement that included Sylvia
Pankhurst and the Workers Dreadnought who raised many of the issues during
the negotiations to found the Communist Party in this country. ( A real
appraisal of the foundation of the CPGB has still to be made.) Willie
Gallagher, later a 'Communist' MP, sided with the 'Lefts' as a young man
and was lectured by Lenin at the Second Congress of the Third International
in 1921 into giving up his opposition to Parliamentary Politics. The most
consistent advocate of council communism in this country was Guy Aldred,
and a movement was kept alive under his influence in Glasgow for many
years, known as the Anti Parliamentary Communist Federation.
Those who can read German or French will find more material than is
available in English, by consulting the following:
Bibliothek der Ratekommunisten. Rudiger Blankertz Verlag. Friedrich-Wilhelm
Strasse 35 . 1 Berlin 42
or
Internationale Instituut voor Sociale Geschiednis 262 266 Herengracht,
Amsterdam
Part 6
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