German Communist Party

   The German Communist Party (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands—KPD) was a splinter group from the Unabhängige Sozialistische Partei Deutshlands (Independendent German Socialist Party—USPD), which was itself a breakaway party from the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (German Social Democratic Party—SPD). Formed 1 January 1919 it consisted of members of the Spartacus League, most notably Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. In 1920 it gained just 2 percent of the vote, but after merging with the left wing of the USPD to form the United Communist Party of Germany it increased both its membership and its vote so that by 1932 it had 17 percent of the vote. Following the line of the Comintern to which it belonged, the KPD condemned the SPD as “social fascism.” It found itself the victim of Nazi terror, and after World War II sought to unite with the SPD, but its close ties to the Soviet Union led to this being rejected by the SPD, and it failed to make a significant electoral impact subsequently.