Im Hinterland der Gegenrevolution. Die kommunistische Bewegung in der »Ordnungszelle Bayern« 1919 bis 1923 / In the hinterland of the counter-revolution. The Communist Movement in the »Ordnungszelle Bayern« 1919 to 1923

Bavaria’s special political path in the Weimar Republic confronted the KPD with specific problems and shaped the forms of its activism. In the self-image of its governments, Bavaria formed the anti-socialist »Ordnungszelle« of the Reich between 1920 and 1923. The political right used the state as a base of operations for its subversion against the Republic. National Socialism also fought the organizations of the workers’ movement here much earlier than in other parts of the Reich. At the same time, the regime of the Bavarian »Ordnungszelle« considerably restricted the scope of action of the workers’ parties with the help of rigid exceptional laws.

The author traces the history of the Bavarian KPD from its origins in the 1918/19 revolution to the Hitler-Ludendorff putsch and the KPD’s failed uprising in late autumn 1923. He examines the politics of the KPD both in the context of the prevailing conditions in Bavaria and in its relations with other party organizations in the Reich.