Maoism in the Developed World

At this time, the KBW had a Communist University Group (KHG) and a Communist Youth League (KJB), which were reported to have in all about 1,500 members. Its periodical Kommunistische Volkseitung was said to have a circulation of 35,000 copies, and the party was also publishing a monthly theoretical organ, Kommunismus und Klassenkampf.[218]

In 1978, the KBW participated in Land elections in Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Hesse, from all of which it got about 0.1 percent of the vote.

The KBW fell victim to the changes in China after the death of Mao Tse-tung. It was reported that “After the arrest of the Gang of Four by the new Chinese communist regime, about one-third of the approximately two thousand members left the party. … The defection of party leaders and the struggle of two wings for control of the organization and its over 10 million DM capital investment are the causes of the continuing internal crisis.”[219]

In 1980, Eric Waldman reported that “as a result of membership losses the KBW appears to have assumed again the character of a cadre group.” Its difficulties were reflected by substantial declines in its votes in several Land elections in 1979. Also, Waldman reported that “Substantial membership losses in its auxiliary organizations forced the KBW to combine them in a new mass organization: the ‘Association of Revolutionary People’s Education—Soldiers and Reservists’ comprising the former Soldiers’ and Reservists’ committees, the Society for the Support of the People’s Struggle, and the Committees Against Paragraph 218 (anti-abortion law).”[220]

By the mid-1980s, the KBW had gone out of existence. However, a group that had broken away from it, the Bund Westdeutscher Kommunisten (BWK), was still functioning. It was reported by Wayne C. Thompson in 1988 to have “approximately 400 members organized in groups in seven lands.” It published a bi-weeldy periodical, Politische Berichte, with a circulation of about 1,300, and a pamphlet-review, Nachrichtenhefte, with a printing of about 1,000 copies. The BWK was the dominant member of Peoples Front with its headquarters in Cologne, which “is an instrument for an alliance of leftist-extremists.”[221]

Other Maoist Groups

In addition to the three principal West German Maoist parties, several other pro-Chinese groups have been noted from time to time. We have already recounted the various organizations that arose from the splits in the KPD-ML in the early days, none which seems to have survived for any length of time.

More long-lived was the Communist Workers League of Germany (Kommunistischer Arbeiterbund Deutschlands—KAPD). It was publishing a central organ, Rote Fahne, which in 1971 was converted from a monthly to a weekly,[222] had a youth organization, the Revolutionary Youth League of Germany (Revolutionarer Jugenverband Deutschlands), which in February 1975 began to publish its own magazine, Stachel.[223] Two years later, the KAPD was still publishing its paper every two weeks, and its youth group had changed the name of its periodical to Bebell.

Another Maoist group mentioned by Eric Waldman in 1980 was the Communist League (Kommunistischer Bund—KB). About it, Waldman wrote that “despite organizational and financial problems,” it was attempting to expand its influence beyond its strongholds in Hamburg and Lower Saxony.”[224]

In 1988 it was reported to have “considerable influence within the Green-Alternative List,” and to be publishing a paper Arbeiterkampf. A faction that had broken with the KB in 1979 had actually joined the Greens, “with many of its members rising to top positions in the Greens’ federal and land organizations.”[225]

Conclusion

In spite of the proliferation of Maoist groups in West Germany after 1968, none of them appears to have gained the official “Chinese franchise.” Eric Waldman reported in 1977 that “In spite of Peking’s pleasure for the Maoist parties and organizations to combine, they usually insist upon their separate identity and maintain a rather hostile relationship toward one another.” Waldman added that “All of the Maoist parties demand from their members complete subordination, iron discipline and considerable material sacrifices. Members may on command change their places of residence and employment regardless of financial disadvantages. Members in academic professions are known to contribute frequently up to 1,000 marks monthly to the party coffers.”[226]