Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht, born on this day in 1871, was a German socialist politician and theorist. Originally associated with the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Liebknecht later became a co-founder with Rosa Luxemburg of both the Spartacus League and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). Liebknecht is also known for his outspoken opposition to World War I.

The son of Wilhelm Liebknecht, one of the founders of the SPD, Karl Liebknecht trained to be a lawyer and defended many Social Democrats in political trials. He was also a leading figure in the socialist youth movement and thus became a leading figure in the struggle against militarism.

As a deputy in the Reichstag he was one of the first SPD representatives to break party discipline and vote against war credits in December 1914. He became a figurehead for the struggle against the war. His opposition was so successful that his parliamentary immunity was removed and he was improsoned.

Freed by the November revolution he immediately threw himself into the struggle and became with Rosa Luxemburg one of the founders of the new Communist Party (KPD)

In January 1919, the Spartacus League played a leading role in the Spartacist Uprising, a general strike and armed rebellion in Berlin. The uprising was crushed by the SPD government and the Freikorps (paramilitary units composed of World War I veterans). For their role in the uprising, Liebknecht and Luxemburg were both kidnapped, tortured, and murdered on January 15th, 1919.

Their contributions to European socialism are commemorated annually in Germany during the second weekend of January, an event known as the Liebknecht-Luxemburg Demonstration, or "LL-Demo" for short.

Megathreads and spaces to hang out:

reminders:

  • 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
  • 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
  • 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
  • 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can reserve a spot here nerd
  • 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog

Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):

Aid:

Theory:

  • GalaxyBrain [they/them]
    ·
    3 months ago

    If you're an army guy and you have to mop up and you're dumb so you mix ammonia and bleach, does this count as treason for the use of chemical weapons against your allies and therefore also a war crime?

    • buckykat [none/use name]
      ·
      3 months ago

      If you're a bazinga tech company offering an LLM which tells a dumb army guy to mix ammonia and bleach for mopping up, does this count as treason for the use of chemical weapons against your allies and therefore also a war crime?

    • someone [comrade/them, they/them]
      ·
      3 months ago

      Only if the allies are enlisted soldiers who just joined up out of desperation for any sort of job that gets them out of crushing poverty with literally no other escape route. Or a doctor who grew up in a low-income family who only became an officer so they could get a free medical education and left as soon as legally allowed to do family medicine in low-income areas.

      My grandfather was the former, a truck mechanic. One of his sons was the latter. Both good men who always did right by the people who knew them.

      But the people who signed up because they're eager to kill? Fuck'em.

    • Dolores [love/loves]
      ·
      3 months ago

      there's actually a whole wing at the hague where they lock them up very-smart

        • Dolores [love/loves]
          ·
          3 months ago

          i visited once and the beggards were all trying to trick me into relinquishing my cleaning supplies so they could "sanitize their chamberpot"

          not on my watch, terrorist