Communism in Germany

East Germany (German: Ostdeutschland, ), officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a communist state and described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state". The economy of the country was centrally planned and state-owned. Although the GDR had to pay substantial war reparations to the Soviets, its economy became the most successful in the Eastern Bloc.

The German revolution of 1918–1919, also known as the November Revolution (German: Novemberrevolution), was an uprising started by workers and soldiers in the final days of World War I. It quickly and almost bloodlessly brought down the German Empire, then, in its more violent second stage, the supporters of a parliamentary republic were victorious over those who wanted a Soviet-style council republic. The defeat of the forces of the far left cleared the way for the establishment of the Weimar Republic. The key factors leading to the revolution were the extreme burdens suffered by the German people during the war, the economic and psychological impacts of the Empire's defeat, and the social tensions between the general populace and the aristocratic and bourgeois elite.

The Cuno strikes were a nationwide wave of strikes in Germany against the government of Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno in August 1923. The strikes were called by the Communist Party of Germany in response to Cuno's policy of passive resistance against the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr and the hyperinflation that resulted from it. The strikers demanded the resignation of the Cuno government, which occurred on 12 August 1923 after the Social Democratic Party called a vote of no confidence in the Reichstag. The strikes also buoyed the hopes of the Communist International of an imminent revolution, but they led only to an uprising in Hamburg that was quickly suppressed.

The Bremen Soviet Republic, also translated as the Bremen Council Republic (German: Bremer Räterepublik), was an unrecognised revolutionary state in Germany formed during the German revolution of 1918–1919 in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. Although not formally declared until 10 January 1919, the regime it represented presided in the industrial port city of Bremen from 14 November 1918 until its suppression on 4 February 1919 by army and irregular forces engaged by the provisional revolutionary government in Berlin.

Undzer emes ('Our Truth') was a Yiddish-language communist publication in interwar Lithuania, an organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania. The publication was issued illegally and irregularly from Kaunas between 1923 and 1934. It was published clandestinely on a monthly basis, with a circulation of 3,000. Aizikas Lifšicas and J. Šochotas were part of the editorial team of Undzer emes.

The Ruhr uprising (German: Ruhraufstand) or March uprising (Märzaufstand) was an uprising that occurred in the Ruhr region of Germany from 13 March to 6 April 1920. It was a left-wing workers' revolt triggered by the call for a general strike in response to the Kapp Putsch, then became an armed rebellion when far-left workers used the strike as an opportunity to attempt the establishment of a council republic.

The Hamburg Uprising (German: Hamburger Aufstand) was a communist insurrection that occurred in Hamburg in Weimar Germany on 23 October 1923. A militant section of the Hamburg Communist Party of Germany launched an uprising as part of the so-called German October. Rebels stormed 24 police stations, 17 in Hamburg and seven in Schleswig-Holstein Province in Prussia, and established barricades around the city. The communist insurgency in Hamburg was futile, lacking support from the rest of Germany or from the Soviet Union, and disintegrated within a day. Around 100 people died during the Hamburg Uprising and the exact details of the event, as well as the assessment of its impact, remain controversial.

The Bavarian Soviet Republic (or Bavarian Council Republic), also known as the Munich Soviet Republic (German: Räterepublik Baiern, Münchner Räterepublik), was a short-lived unrecognised socialist state in Bavaria during the German revolution of 1918–1919.

The Volksmarinedivision (People's Navy Division) was an armed unit formed on 11 November 1918 during the November Revolution that broke out in Germany following its defeat in World War I. At its peak late that month, the People's Navy Division had about 3,200 members. In the struggles between the various elements involved in the revolution to determine Germany's future form of government, it initially supported the moderate socialist interim government of Friedrich Ebert and the Council of the People's Deputies. By December of 1918 it had turned more to the left and was involved in skirmishes against government troops. In March 1919, after the success of the Ebert government in the elections to the National Assembly that drew up the Weimar Constitution, the People's Navy Division was disbanded and 30 of its members were summarily shot by members of a Freikorps unit.

Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag) was a German newspaper originally founded in 1876 by Socialist Worker's Party leader Wilhelm Hasselmann, and which has been since published on and off, at times underground, by German Socialists and Communists. Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg famously published it in 1918 as organ of the Spartacus League.