Left communism Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices held by Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions ...

is a form of communism with its origins in the left-wing of several parties of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

. Its two main original branches were in

council communism Council communism or councilism is a current of communism, communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the German Revolution of 1918–1919, November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated wor ...

and

Bordigism Amadeo Bordiga (13 June 1889 – 25 July 1970) was an Italian Marxist theorist. A revolutionary socialist, Bordiga was the founder of the Communist Party of Italy (PCdI), a member of the Communist International (Comintern), and later a leading ...

. This is a list of theorists and political figures who have identified themselves as left communist, communist left, Bordigist or council communist.

Council communists

Herman Gorter Herman Gorter (; 26 November 1864 – 15 September 1927) was a Dutch poet and council communist theoretician. He was a leading member of the Tachtigers, a highly influential group of Dutch writers who worked together in Amsterdam in the 1880 ...

Otto Rühle Karl Heinrich Otto Rühle (; 23 October 1874 – 24 June 1943) was a German Marxist active in opposition to both the First World War, First and Second World Wars as well as a Council communism, council communist theorist. Early years Otto was ...

* Jan Appel *

Paul Mattick Paul Mattick Sr. (March 13, 1904 – February 7, 1981) was a German-American Marxist political writer, activist, and theorist, associated with the council communist movement. Throughout his life, Mattick was critical of capitalism, Bolshevism ...

Guy Debord Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situat ...

Antonie Pannekoek Antonie "Anton" Pannekoek (; 2 January 1873 – 28 April 1960) was a Dutch astronomer, historian, philosopher, Marxist theorist, and socialist revolutionary. He was one of the main theorists of council communism (). Early life Anton was born ...

Bernhard Reichenbach Bernhard Reichenbach (Berlin, 1888 – London, 1975) was a member of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. He was a member of the Communist Workers' Party of Germany and acted as their delegate to the 3rd World Congress of the Com ...

Henriette Roland Holst Henriette Goverdine Anna "Jet" Roland Holst-van der Schalk (24 December 1869 – 21 November 1952) was a Dutch poet and Council communist. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. She had many noted relatives. Her husband was the art ...

* Karl Schröder * Ernst Schwarz

Italian-left communists

Amadeo Bordiga Amadeo Bordiga (13 June 1889 – 25 July 1970) was an Italian Marxist theorist. A revolutionary socialist, Bordiga was the founder of the Communist Party of Italy (PCdI), a member of the Communist International (Comintern), and later a leading ...

Onorato Damen Onorato Damen (4 December 1893 – 14 October 1979), was an Italian left communist revolutionary who was first active in the Italian Socialist Party and then the Communist Party of Italy. After being expelled, he worked with the organized Itali ...

Jacques Camatte Jacques Camatte (1935 – 19 April 2025) was a French writer, philosopher, Marxist theoretician and member of the International Communist Party, a primarily Italian left communist organisation under the influence of Amadeo Bordiga. After Bor ...

Suzanne Voute Suzanne Voute (12 March 1922 – 3 December 2001) was a militant Left Communist active in France from the 1940s. She became a member of the team, alongside Maximilien Rubel and Michel Jacob who translated much of the work of Karl Marx into Frenc ...

Left communists

Marc Chirik Marck Chirik (May 13, 1907 – December 20, 1990), also known as Marc Laverne or simply MC, was a communist revolutionary and one of the founding militants of the International Communist Current. Life Chirik was born into the family of a rabbi. ...

Gilles Dauvé Gilles Dauvé (pen name Jean Barrot; born 1947) is a French ultra-left political theorist, school teacher, and translator, associated with the development of communization theory. Biography In collaboration with other left communists such a ...

* Willie Gallacher * Salih Hacioglu *

Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai (; , ; – 9 March 1952) was a Russian revolutionary, politician, diplomat and Marxist theoretician. Serving as the People's Commissar for Welfare in Vladimir Lenin's government in 1917–1918, she was a highl ...

Alexander Shliapnikov Alexander Gavrilovich Shliapnikov (; August 30, 1885 – September 2, 1937) was a Russian communist revolutionary, metalworker, and trade union leader. He is best remembered as a memoirist of the October Revolution of 1917 and as the leader of th ...

Claude McKay Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay OJ (September 15, 1890See Wayne F. Cooper, ''Claude McKay, Rebel Sojourner In The Harlem Renaissance'' (New York, Schocken, 1987) p. 377 n. 19. As Cooper's authoritative biography explains, McKay's family predate ...

Gavril Myasnikov Gavril Ilyich Myasnikov (; February 25, 1889 – November 16, 1945), also transliterated as Gavriil Il'ich Miasnikov, was a Russian Communism, communist revolutionary, a metalworker from the Urals, and one of the first Bolsheviks to oppose and cr ...

Ethem Nejat Ethem Nejat or Edhem Nejad (1883 – 28 January 1921) was a Turkish educator, revolutionary and Left communism, left communist politician. Known for his contributions to the modernization of Turkish education system during his lifetime, he was ...

Sylvia Pankhurst Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst (; 5 May 1882 – 27 September 1960) was an English Feminism, feminist and Socialism, socialist activist and writer. Following encounters with women-led labour activism in the United States, she worked to organise worki ...

Maximilien Rubel Maximilien Rubel (10 October 1905, in Chernivtsi – 28 February 1996, in Paris) was an Austrian Marxist historian, humanist, and council communist. Rubel was educated in law and philosophy in Vienna and Chernivtsi National University, the t ...

Grandizo Munis Grandizo Munis (18 April 19124 February 1989) was a Spanish Trotskyist politician turned left-communist following his break with the Fourth International. Biography Grandizo first entered revolutionary politics as a member of the Izquierda ...

References

{{Reflist

Left communists Left communism, or the communist left, is a position held by the left wing of communism, which criticises the political ideas and practices held by Marxist–Leninists and social democrats. Left communists assert positions which they regard ...

Council communists

Italian-left communists

Left communists

See also

References