A Political Biography of Arkadij Maslow, 1891-1941

This book is a political biography of Arkadij Maksimovich Maslow (1891-1941), a German Communist politician and later a dissident and opponent to Stalin. Together with his political and common-law marriage partner, Ruth Fischer, Maslow briefly led the Communist Party of Germany, the KPD, and brought about its submission to Moscow. Afterwards Fischer and Maslow were removed from the KPD leadership in the fall of 1925 and expelled from the party a year later. Henceforth they both lived as communist outsiderspersecuted by both Hitler and Stalin. Maslow escaped to Cuba via France and Portugal and was murdered under dubious circumstances in Havana in November 1941. He died as a communist dissident committed to the cause of a radical-socialist labor movement that lay in ruins. Kessler considers Maslow's role in pivotal events such as the Bolshevik Revolution, in Soviet revolutionary parties and organizations, through to the rise of Stalinism and Cold War anti-communism. What results isa deep dive into the life of a key yet understudied figure in dissident communism.

Provides a comprehensive overview of various communist groups from the 20s up to the Cold War Offers readers the first close look at the figure of Arkadij Maslow Places Maslow's biography within the rich context of the history of dissident communism and revolutionary organization

Auteur

Mario Kessler is Professor and Senior Researcher at the Leibniz Center for Contemporary History at Potsdam, Germany. He teaches at the University of Potsdam and has frequently been a Visiting Professor at Yeshiva University in New York and other American universities. He has written more than twenty-five books in German and English on the history of modern anti-Semitism, socialism, and the history of historiography. He also edited and co-edited many books on these and other subjects.

Résumé

"This is a well written and meticulously researched study about two tragic figures of the KPD." (Udo Grashoff, Slavonic and East European Review SEER, Vol. 99 (3), July, 2021)

Contenu

1. A Young Revolution Between Russian and Germany.- 2. The Decisive Moment: The German November Revolution.- 3. On the Ultra-Left in the Early KPD.- 4. The March Action and its Aftermath.- 5. Controversies Over Workers' Government.- 6. 1923 (I): The Ruhr Crisis.- 7. 1913 (II): A Missed Revolution?.- 8. Maslow and Fischer: Towards the Party Leadership.- 9. Politics from Prison: The Bolshevization of the KPD.- 10. Disagreements: The Divided Left.- 11. Disempowerment and Fall.- 12. The Leninbund: A New Beginning?.- 13. Flight and Exile: Pairs-Marseille-Lisbon-Havana.- 14. Maslow's Death.- 15. Avenging Maslow? Ruth Fischer's Crusade and Final Change of Mind.