Council communism

Council communism is a radical left movement originating in Germany after the First World War.

Originally a left tendency within the Communist Party, the (KPD), and the international Communist movement, the council communists opposed trade unions and parliamentarism, and developed an opposition to the party form and statism. Lenin attacked the tendency in his book "Leftwing Communism, An Infantile Disorder".

After being expelled from the KPD, they formed the KAPD. They also worked in a number of factory organisations, such as the AAUD and the AAUD-E. In the early twenties these organisations grouped together hundreds of thousands of workers.

Notable council communists include Anton Pannekoek, Paul Mattick, Otto Rühle and Herman Gorter, Sylvia Pankhurst and Marinus van der Lubbe.

The legacy of the council communist movement was taken up by such groups as Socialisme ou Barbarie and the Situationist International.