Karl Heinrich Otto Rühle (23 October 1874 – 24 June 1943) was a German Marxist active in opposition to both the First and

Second World Wars World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

as well as a council communist theorist.

Early years

Otto was born in

Großschirma Großschirma is a town in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 7 km northwest of Freiberg. It was formed from the administrative union of the municipality of Großschirma and the town of Siebenlehn, including th ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

on 23 October 1874. His father was a railway official. In 1889 he started to train as teacher in

Oschatz Oschatz () is a town in the district Nordsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is located 60 km east of Leipzig and 60 km west of Dresden. Geography Site and climate Oschatz lies in the Saxon Lowland and is located on the river Dölln ...

. While there he became involved with the German Freethinkers League. In 1895 he became the private tutor for the Countess von Bühren, while also teaching at Öderan.

Political career

He joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in 1896 and soon established a socialist Sunday school. However he was dismissed as a primary school teacher in 1902, and soon supported himself as a writer and editor of social democratic newspapers in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, followed by Breslau, Chemnitz, Pirna and

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ...

. Rühle had already become a vocal critic of existing teaching methods and set up a social democratic educational society for the Hamburg area. In 1907 he became an itinerant teacher for the SPD's educational committee and developed a reputation in the SPD, through his socially critical educational writings: "Work and Education" (1904), "The Enlightenment of Children About Sexual Matters", (1907), and, above all, "The Proletarian Child" (1911). Rühle joined

Karl Liebknecht Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German socialist and anti-militarist. A member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) beginning in 1900, he was one of its deputies in the Reichstag fro ...

, Rosa Luxemburg,

Franz Mehring Franz Erdmann Mehring (27 February 1846 – 28 January 1919) was a German communist historian, literary critic, philosopher, and revolutionary socialist politician who was a senior member of the Spartacus League during the German Revolution of 191 ...

and others in founding the group and magazine ''Internationale'', which proposed a revolutionary internationalism against a world of warring states. In 1916, Rühle also took part in the Spartacus League.

Reichstag

In 1912 he was elected as deputy for

Pirna Pirna (; hsb, Pěrno; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany and capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 37,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as ...

Sebnitz Sebnitz (; hsb, Zebnica) is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, in Saxony, Germany. Geography The town of Sebnitz lies in the valley of the river Sebnitz and its side valleys between 251 and 460 m above sea level bet ...

, in

Saxon Switzerland Saxon Switzerland (german: Sächsische Schweiz) is a hilly climbing area and national park around the Elbe valley south-east of Dresden in Saxony, Germany. Together with the Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic it forms the Elbe Sand ...

. He represented the SPD in the Reichstag. In 1918, Rühle decided not to seek re-election. Following the disorderly period of time in Germany, 1918–19, the dissolution of the Reichstag, which would subsequently be the end of Rühle's term in office, is not exactly known. However, given that the abdication of Wilhelm II was the first event in a series of events that would eventually lead to a new republic, this is the date that shall be put as the end of his term in office.

The German Revolution

Rühle participated in the

left opposition The Left Opposition was a faction within the Russian Communist Party (b) from 1923 to 1927 headed ''de facto'' by Leon Trotsky. The Left Opposition formed as part of the power struggle within the party leadership that began with the Soviet fou ...

of the German

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

, developing both an early communist critique of Bolshevism and an early opposition to fascism. Rühle saw the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

as a form of

state capitalism State capitalism is an economic system in which the state undertakes business and commercial (i.e. for-profit) economic activity and where the means of production are nationalized as state-owned enterprises (including the processes of capital ...

that had much in common with the state-centred

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

of the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

as well as

fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...

, saying:

It has served as the model for other capitalistic dictatorships. Ideological divergences do not really differentiate socioeconomic systems.

While Rühle saw the

Leninist Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the establishm ...

vanguardist party as an appropriate form for the overthrow of

tsarism Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states th ...

, it was ultimately an inappropriate form for a

proletarian revolution A proletarian revolution or proletariat revolution is a social revolution in which the working class attempts to overthrow the bourgeoisie and change the previous political system. Proletarian revolutions are generally advocated by socialists, ...

. As such, no matter what the actual intentions of the Bolsheviks, what they actually succeeded in bringing about was much more like the

bourgeois revolution Bourgeois revolution is a term used in Marxist theory to refer to a social revolution that aims to destroy a feudal system or its vestiges, establish the rule of the bourgeoisie, and create a bourgeois state. In colonised or subjugated countries ...

s of Europe than a proletarian revolution, arguing:

This distinction between head and body, between intellectuals and workers, officers and privates, corresponds to the duality of class society. One class is educated to rule; the other to be ruled. Lenin's organisation is only a replica of bourgeois society. His revolution is objectively determined by the forces that create a social order incorporating these class relations, regardless of the subjective goals accompanying this process.

Rühle was also critical of the party as a revolutionary organisational form, stating that "the revolution is not a party affair". As a result, he supported a more council communist approach which emphasised the importance of

workers' council A workers' council or labor council is a form of political and economic organization in which a workplace or municipality is governed by a council made up of workers or their elected delegates. The workers within each council decide on what thei ...

s. In October 1921, he was involved in setting up the Allgemeine Arbeiter-Union – Einheitsorganisation. In ''Anti-Bolshevik Communism'',

Paul Mattick Paul Mattick Sr. (March 13, 1904 – February 7, 1981) was a German-American Marxist political writer and social revolutionary, whose thought can be placed within the council communist and left communist traditions. Throughout his life, Mattic ...

describes Rühle as an exemplary radical figure within a German labour movement that had become ossified into various official structures, a perpetual outsider defined by his antagonistic relationship with the labour movement and to

Marxism–Leninism Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various c ...

as well as to bourgeois democracy and fascism. With the signing of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ri ...

in 1939, Rühle began to see the parallels between the two ideological dictators, writing:

Russia was the example for fascism. ..Whether party 'communists' like it or not, the fact remains that the state order and rule in Russia are indistinguishable from those in Italy and Germany. Essentially, they are alike. One may speak of a red, black, or brown 'soviet state', as well as of red, black or brown fascism.

Because of his connection to

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

, Rühle found it difficult to find work in Mexico and was forced to hand-paint notecards for hotels to financially survive. Rühle was a member of the

Dewey Commission The Dewey Commission (officially the "Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials") was initiated in March 1937 by the American Committee for the Defense of Leon Trotsky. It was named after its chairman, th ...

which cleared Trotsky of all charges made during the Moscow Trials. In 1928, Rühle wrote a very detailed biography of

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

, ''Karl Marx: His Life and Works''.Rühle, Otto (1928); trans. 1929)
''Karl Marx: His Life and Works''
New York: Viking Press.

Personal life

In 1921, Rühle married Alice Gerstel, a German-Jewish writer, feminist and psychologist. In 1936, Gerstel followed him to Mexico. She committed suicide on the day of his death on 24 June 1943.

References

Sources

Otto Rühle
at the

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Eng ...

.
Otto Rühle
at Kurasje.org. * "Non-Leninist Marxism: Writings on the Workers Councils" (2007). St. Petersburg, Florida: Red and Black Publishers. . It includes Ruhle's "The Revolution is Not a Party Affair" and "Report From Moscow". {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruhle, Otto 1874 births 1943 deaths Adlerian psychology Anti–World War II activists Communist Party of Germany politicians Communist Workers' Party of Germany politicians Council communists Exilliteratur writers Executed communists Executed revolutionaries German anti-fascists German anti–World War I activists German male writers German Marxists German pacifists German revolutionaries Left communists Libertarian socialists Members of the 13th Reichstag of the German Empire Marxist theorists People from Mittelsachsen People from the Kingdom of Saxony People of the German Revolution of 1918–1919 Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Weimar Republic politicians