The Beginnings of the Communist Movement in Upper Silesia (1918–1924)

Abstract

The defeat of the German Empire in World War I contributed to the radicalisation of social and political sentiment in Germany. In the territory of Upper Silesia, a borderland of the German Reich, these conflicts strengthened national antagonisms. In such a situation the Communist Party of Upper Silesia was created at the end of 1918, achieving serious organisational successes and greatly influencing the attitude of a large number of industrial workers. These local communists sought to channel radical social moods into a communist revolution, but they collided with and lost to Polish and German nationalism. At the time of the decisive battle for Upper Silesia’s nationalities, the communist movement was seriously weakened and did not matter in the struggle for the future of the region. After the division of Upper Silesia in 1922, the structures of the Communist Party of Upper Silesia were incorporated on a territorial basis into the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) or the Communist Party of Poland (KPP). The communists operating in the Polish Silesia (Silesian voivodship) region managed to take advantage of mass strikes in 1923 and led to civil unrest. An attempt to escalate this tension was hindered by the pacification action carried out by state authorities. The most important activists were imprisoned and the party itself had to go underground, sharing the fate of the KPP. The communists active in the KPD also tried to lead the population of the German part of Upper Silesia into revolt but, although they were close to success several times, did not manage to channel the strike into a communist revolution. However, they remained one of the three most influential political parties in the German Upper Silesian Province.