The Dutch and German Communist Left:
A contribution to the history of the revolutionary
movement
The following review contains differences from the version that
appeared in Red & Black Notes #16-17. The reviewer added
some minor changes too late to be included in the published version,
so they have been included here. It should also be noted that the
book is the subject of some controversy, as the author Phillipe
Bourrinet, who wrote the book while he was a member of the
International Communist Current , regards the book as a "pirate"
edition. Bourrinet's own edition will appear next year. Bourrinet can
be contacted through the Left-Wing Communism site
There is no doubt that Phillipe Bourrinet undertook a difficult
task, when he wrote a book on a topic, which has been mostly omitted
by mainstream historiography and even distorted and concealed by the
Stalinist historians of the workers' movement. Despite this, he
showed amazing effort when putting up this extensive work, which
leans heavily on primary sources of information. In fact, the book
represents an outstanding combination of revolutionary spirit and
academic accurateness.
Bourrinet begins his writing by discussing Marxism in Holland in
the second half of 19th century. From this country, a specific
tendency appeared which crossed paths with the strong German
social-democratic movement. No later than the first decade of the
20th century, embodied by the personalities of Dutch Anton Pannekoek
and Polish Rosa Luxembourg, even though both were at the time living
in Germany, this tendency was constituted in the course of polemics
on the mass strike against Karl Kautsky. Significant for this
tendency were trust in the self-emancipatory capabilities of
proletariat, endorsement of extra-parliamentary tactics and emphasis
on the role of class consciousness, which especially Pannekoek
interpreted through the lenses of Joseph Dietzgen's ideas.
This tradition had laid the basis for what was to be called left
communism later. Its partisans proved revolutionary coherence in test
of the WWI. After the Bolsheviks led the October revolution in Russia
they were undeniable a resounding force amongst the working masses
(especially in Germany), standing independently of Bolshevik current.
As such, they were soon excluded (or it might be as well said, that
they left) from the Third International, when it became an instrument
of promoting the interests of the Russian state rather than the
proletarian movement.
After this, the author pays his attention mostly to the
development of KAPD, a party, which regrouped many communist workers
in Germany, where the revolutionary wave retreated through 1923. One
of the interesting moments of its history was the formation of
Communist Workers' International, a rather voluntary project backed
up by Dutch Hermann Gorter. Bourrinet then continues to examine the
German Unionen movement, which was in some part influenced by Otto
Rühle's anti-organizational ideas.
In 1927, the Group of International Communists was formed in
Holland, marking clearly the final crystallization of the council
communist tendency, which based itself on the experiences of working
class self-organization in the workers' councils, most notable during
Russian and German revolution. Bourrinet traces its history, its
relationship with KAPD and the problems it had to face in 1930's,
when Nazism triumphed in Germany, and Franco succeeded in Spain. The
influence of council communism declined in reciprocal proportion to
the victory of counter-revolutionary forces.
Groups of council communist, scattered across Europe, and grouped
around Paul Mattick in the USA, experienced the final blow with the
outbreak of WWII, and remained merely as isolated little groups. Only
in Holland did some Trotskyist organizations evolve towards council
communism and during the war gave birth to The Communistenbond
Spartacus, which in Europe carried council communist ideas into the
post-war period. These ideas played a considerable role in the
ultra-left milieu, especially in the time of 1968 revolts, but
Bourrinet does not go as far as that and only briefly outlines the
echo of council communism in the second half of 20th century.
This compelling story is not easy reading though, and one should
not expect it to be simple propaganda piece. Actually, Phillipe
Bourrinet focuses more on the development of ideas, concepts and
theories rather than on train of events. And he chooses such issues,
which are still crucial for any revolutionary current - issues of the
struggle for economic demands, intervention, the national question,
organization, etc., which helps him to clearly situate the Dutch and
German communist left within the framework of revolutionary
movement.
Such approach seems to be very helpful, however, Bourrinet
sometimes ends up "analyzing analyses" and his own view tends to
preponderate over the subject matter, so that the "history" turns
into plain theoretical reflection. Such a thing, of course, is not
bad by itself, even though the lack of space left to reader for her
own interpretation might be a bit dismal. Still the author is fair to
his readers and his value judgments are easily distinguishable from
the rest of the text. He openly admits in the postface, that by no
means did he try to reserve himself from evaluating the examined
issues.
Throughout the book there are some evident tendencies of the
author, with which I would have some methodological disagreements.
So, for example, Bourrinet strictly draws a line between what he
calls "the Dutch and German communist left" and on the other hand
what he calls "council communism" or with more negative connotation
"councilism". Such distinction, however, seems to me to be way too
made-up. Often, Bourrinet reproaches council communism for throwing
overboard the experience of the Russian proletariat. True, council
communists analyzed Russian revolution as bourgeois in nature, but I
am not aware that they would also refuse the struggle of Russian
workers en bloc; they only remained very cautious about universality
of these experiences and remained aware of their narrow limits,
especially the experience of the Russian Factory Committees which
served as important inspiration for council communist theory, and
also the history of the German Räte.
Nevertheless, it is upon everyone to judge for themselves, because
the book is definitely worth reading. With the devotion put in
writing it, Philippe Bourrinet's work indeed represents a
"contribution" to the history of the workers' movement.
The book has already its own history. In English, it can be
obtained through the ICC for $21. The author himself distributes a
French version, and an English version will be published in 2002-2003
by Brill in the Netherlands, with some additional texts, which better
reflect the author's current views.
Kurt Weisskopf / July 2002
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