Leon "Leo" Jogiches (Russian: Лев "Лео" Йогихес; 17 July 1867 – 10 March 1919), also commonly known by the party name Jan Tyszka, was a Polish

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

revolutionary and politician, active in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Jogiches was a founder of the political party known as the

Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania The Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (, SDKPiL), originally the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland (SDKP), was a Marxist political party founded in 1893 and later served as an autonomous section of the Russian Social ...

(main forerunner of the

Communist Party of Poland The interwar Communist Party of Poland (, KPP) was a communist party active in Poland during the Second Polish Republic. It resulted from a December 1918 merger of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) and the ...

) in 1893 and a key figure in the underground

Spartacus League The Spartacus League () was a Marxism, Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. It was founded in August 1914 as the International Group by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, and other members of the So ...

in Germany, the predecessor of the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

, during the years of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. For many years the personal companion and a close political ally of internationally famous revolutionary

Rosa Luxemburg Rosa Luxemburg ( ; ; ; born Rozalia Luksenburg; 5 March 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a Polish and naturalised-German revolutionary and Marxist theorist. She was a key figure of the socialist movements in Poland and Germany in the early 20t ...

, Jogiches was assassinated in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

by right-wing paramilitary forces in March 1919 while investigating Luxemburg's and Liebknecht's murder some weeks before.

Early life

Leon Jogiches was born on 17 July 1867 to a wealthy

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

family in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, now

, then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

.J.P. Nettl, ''Rosa Luxemburg.'' In Two Volumes. London: Oxford University Press, 1966; vol. 1, pg. 66. Little is known of his childhood years, although it is perhaps instructive that Jogiches spoke no

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and had no more than a rudimentary grasp of

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

, indicating a closer familiarity with other regional languages and cultures than those of his Jewish heritage. The family mostly spoke

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

at home and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

elsewhere. Leo Jogiches 01

As a young man of 18, Jogiches founded one of the earliest underground

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

study circles in Vilnius, its 1885 origin predating the foundation of the first mass international socialist organization in the Russian Empire by a dozen years. Using the first of many

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

s, Liofka (little Leo), Jogiches attained an almost legendary local status for his tenacious dedication to the anti-Tsarist cause.Nettl, ''Rosa Luxemburg,'' vol. 1, pg. 67. This commitment led to two arrests and short terms in jail, in both 1888 and 1889.Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov, "Leo Jogiches," ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia.'' English edition. New York: Macmillan Educational Company, 1982.

Zürich emigration

With the threat of

conscription Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...

into the Tsar's army looming — possibly a penal battalion — Jogiches escaped to

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland. He brought with him during his furtive departure a considerable sum of money, including both personal and donated funds earmarked for the publication and distribution of socialist literature. A few months after his arrival in Zürich, the 23-year old Jogiches met a fellow 20-year old ethnic Jewish political émigré from

Tsarist autocracy Tsarist autocracy (), also called Tsarism, was an autocracy, a form of absolute monarchy in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, the Tsar possessed in principle authority an ...

.Elzbieta Ettinger, "Comrade and Lover: Rosa Luxemberg's Letters to Leo Jogiches," ''New German Critique,'' whole no. 17, (Spring 1979), p. 132. The pair fell in love and became both close political allies and personal companions. Shortly after his arrival in Switzerland, Jogiches made contact with pioneer Russian Marxist

Georgy Plekhanov Georgi Valentinovich Plekhanov ( rus, Георгий Валентинович Плеханов, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj vəlʲɪnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ plʲɪˈxanəf, a=Ru-Georgi Plekhanov-JermyRei.ogg; – 30 May 1918) was a Russian revolutionary, ...

and proposed a business partnership for the publication of radical literature, in which Jogiches' money and publishing expertise would be complemented by Plekhanov's prestige and copyright control of Russian editions of works by

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and

Frederick Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''

Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian Marxism, Marxist theorist. A leading theorist of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Second International, Kautsky advocated orthodox Marxism, a ...

, and others — further poisoning relations with Plekhanov. The bitter battle with Plekhanov over publishing had the effect of isolating Jogiches (and his companion Luxemburg) from the bulk of the exile Russian colony in Switzerland.Nettl, ''Rosa Luxemburg,'' vol. 1, p. 68. Jogiches turned his primary attention to

affairs for the next several years, doubtlessly influenced in the decision to a great extent by Luxemburg.Nettl, ''Rosa Luxemburg,'' vol. 1, p. 69. In July 1893 Jogiches financed a new Paris-based socialist publication in the

Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

, ''Sprawa Robotnicza'' (The Workers' Cause), which emphasized close cooperation between Polish and Russian radicals in their joint goal of overthrowing Tsarist autocracy and emphasizing the internationalist essence of the socialist movement.Nettl, ''Rosa Luxemburg,'' vol. 1, p. 70. Writing as Rosa Luxemburg played a key role in contributing content to this paper, soon taking over the editorship. The paper's internationalist political line proved somewhat at odds with the program of the

Polish Socialist Party The Polish Socialist Party (, PPS) is a democratic socialist political party in Poland. It was one of the most significant parties in Poland from its founding in 1892 until its forced merger with the communist Polish Workers' Party to form ...

(PPS), however, with the latter emphasizing the aspect of Polish national liberation from Russian control, and consequently no support of the paper by the PPS leadership was to be forthcoming. As Kruszyńska the 23-year old Luxemburg sought admission as a delegate to the 3rd Congress of the Socialist International, held in Zürich from 6 to 12 August 1893, as the representative of ''Sprawa Robotnicza.''Nettl, ''Rosa Luxemburg,'' vol. 1, p. 71. The mandate of the upstart young socialist representing the new independent socialist publication was challenged by the PPS in front of the Congress, however, and by a vote of 9 to 7, with 3 abstentions, Luxemburg was denied a seat at the Congress. Luxemburg departed the gathering under protest — with bad feelings between her and Jogiches on the one hand and the PPS on the other festering further. Late in 1893, Jogiches and Luxemburg took yet another step towards permanent independence from the mainline Polish socialist movement with the establishment of a new Marxist political party, the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland (SDKP), a group later known as the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL). This new group stood aloof from PSP, a broad coalition party founded in 1892 and supported by the bulk of the Russian exile community.

Revolution of 1905

The

Russian Revolution of 1905 The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, t ...

erupted abruptly on " Bloody Sunday," 22 January with the shooting deaths of hundreds of peaceful protesters who were attempting to present a petition to

Tsar Nicholas II Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication on 15 March 1917. He married ...

. Within days, protests and strikes calling for establishment of a constitutional order swept the empire, which rocked the state censorship and threatened the stability of the government for months. For the time, Leo Jogiches and his common-law wife, Luxemburg, remained in German exile, their eyes set firmly on the German movement. Jogiches returned to Poland first, traveling to Warsaw in the spring of 1905 to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

to establish the Central Committee of the SDKPiL there together with

Julian Marchlewski Julian Baltazar Józef Marchlewski (17 May 1866 – 22 March 1925) was a Polish communist politician, revolutionary activist and publicist who served as chairman of the Provisional Polish Revolutionary Committee. He was also known under the aliase ...

, Adolf Warski,

Felix Dzerzhinsky Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky (; ; – 20 July 1926), nicknamed Iron Felix (), was a Soviet revolutionary and politician of Polish origin. From 1917 until his death in 1926, he led the first two Soviet secret police organizations, the Cheka a ...

, and Yakov Hanecki.Nettl, ''Rosa Luxemburg,'' pg. 326. Luxemburg remained in Berlin as the representative of the SDKPiL abroad, representing it before the Socialist International and attempting to win support for the organization and its activities among the German socialist movement. Within the SPD Luxemburg, drawing upon the ongoing Russian experience, pushed the idea of the "mass strike" as a strategic tool for the achievement of power, over the objections of trade unionists and more conservative and electorally-driven party leaders. Jogiches would return to delegate to the annual congress of the SPD, held at

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

in the middle of September 1905. As part of an ongoing battle to radicalize the party's daily newspaper, ''

Vorwärts ( ; "Forward") is a newspaper published by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Founded in 1876, it was the central organ of the SPD for many decades. Following the party's Halle Congress (1891), it was published daily as the success ...

'' (Forward), Luxemburg was named to the paper's editorial board in the fall of 1905. She would spend the months of November and December 1905 churning out aggressive commentary about Russian events for her German readers, attempting to draw analogies between the Russian and German situations whenever possible, her contributions appearing almost daily.Nettl, ''Rosa Luxemburg,'' vol. 1, pg. 316. It was not until the morning of 28 December 1905, that she would board a train for

Russian Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish people, Polish State (polity), state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of ...

to herself become a direct participant in the ongoing revolutionary effort to overthrow the Tsarist government of the Russian Empire. In March 1906, Luxemburg and Jogiches were arrested for their revolutionary activity. Jogiches was sentenced by the court to 8 years of hard labor followed by lifetime exile to

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

. He served months in prison before managing to escape across the border to Berlin. Jogiches attended the 1907 London Congress of the

Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP) or the Russian Social Democratic Party (RSDP), was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk, Russian Empire. The ...

, where he was elected a candidate member of the party's governing Central Committee.

Split with Luxemburg

Although an intelligent person and dedicated

revolutionary socialist Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolu ...

thinker, Jogiches was virtually incapable of converting his ideas into written words: "the mere thought of putting his ideas on paper paralyzes him," Luxemburg later recalled.Ettinger, "Comrade and Lover," pg. 133. Consequently, the chief contribution of Jogiches was that of literary stimulant to the skilled publicist Luxemburg as well as behind-the-scenes organizer of the fledgling underground political party that he had helped to establish. As Luxemburg grew in fame as a Marxist theoretician, Jogiches became gradually more embittered about his life, until by his mid-30s, he had come, as one Luxemburg biographer phrased it, to have "fully realized the gap between his youthful aspirations and the disillusionments of reality." Interpersonal conflict followed, exacerbated by the different trajectories of personal achievement, with the pair permanently separating in 1907. Their political collaboration continued, despite the personal rift. During 1909, Jogiches formed a tactical alliance with the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

leader,

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

, and backing him as he tried to gain control of the

, by excluding the

Mensheviks The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...

. In the process, Jogiches gained control of funds belonging to the party, which had been held in trust by

and

Klara Zetkin Clara Zetkin (; ; ''née'' Eißner ; 5 July 1857 – 20 June 1933) was a German Marxist theorist, communist activist, and advocate for women's rights. Until 1917, she was active in the Social Democratic Party of Germany. She then joined the Inde ...

, leading German Marxists, who were advised by Rosa Luxemburg to hand the money to a commission that Jogiches controlled. He tried to use his position to create an organisation that would have brought together Bolsheviks and left-wing Mensheviks, but was outwitted by Lenin, who wrested control of the money. The outcome was a bitter rift between Lenin and Jogiches, whose position was further weakened by a revolt against his leadership of the SDPKiL, led by Hanecki and

Karl Radek Karl Berngardovich Radek (; 31 October 1885 – 19 May 1939) was a revolutionary and writer active in the Polish and German social democratic movements before World War I and a Communist International leader in the Soviet Union after the Russian ...

, who formed a separate faction that aligned with Lenin.

''Spartakusbund''

On 4 August 1914, the parliamentary representatives of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together w ...

(SPD) agreed among themselves to maintain

party discipline The term party discipline is used in politics in two closely related, yet distinct, meanings. In a broad sense (also known as party cohesion), the discipline is adherence of the party members at large to an agreed system of political norms and ru ...

and voted ''en bloc'' in support of a bill authorizing war credits for the Imperial government in the erupting international conflagration that would be remembered to history as

.Pierre Broué, ''The German Revolution, 1917-1923.'' John Archer, trans. Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2006; pg. 44. This stunning reversal of the Second International's position on capitalist war came as a shock to radical internationalist elements in the party, including Jogiches. Rosa Luxemburg's immediate inclination was to publish and clandestinely circulate a manifesto signed by anti-war leaders of the SPD calling for spontaneous resistance — an effort which Jogiches criticized as no substitute for actual political organization.Broué, ''The German Revolution,'' pg. 50. Luxemburg's idea was soon abandoned due to lack of support from the broad circle of party leaders tapped for the effort, of whom no more than a small handful responded. Rosa Luxemburg and a small network of her friends and co-thinkers began to organize themselves politically from the summer of 1914 and into 1915. These included Leo Jogiches,

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

, and

, her lawyer

Paul Levi Paul Levi (; 11 March 1883 – 9 February 1930) was a German communist and social democratic political leader. He was the head of the Communist Party of Germany following the assassination of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in 1919. After bein ...

, and second secretary of the SPD in Berlin

Wilhelm Pieck Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck (; 3 January 1876 – 7 September 1960) was a German communist politician who served as the Leadership of East Germany, chairman of the Socialist Unity Party from 1946 to 1950 and as the only president of the Ger ...

, among others.Broué, ''The German Revolution,'' pg. 61. It would be several months after getting together before the first leaflet of the group would be published. The group sought to make contact with socialists from other European countries through letters to the Swiss socialist press, condemning the war effort and linking the struggle for peace with the class struggle to overthrow autocracy. Imperial authorities were not deaf to the threat of anti-war radicalism gaining a foothold and conscripted left wing parliamentary official

Karl Liebknecht Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht (; ; 13 August 1871 – 15 January 1919) was a German politician and revolutionary socialist. A leader of the far-left wing of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), Liebknecht was a co-founder of both ...

on 7 February 1915, only to begin transferring him from one military unit to another in an effort to isolate him and neutralize his influence. Luxemburg was similarly targeted not long after, arrested later that same month and held for eight weeks.Broué, ''The German Revolution,'' pg. 62. Anti-war sentiment was short-circuited by arrests of leaders and suppression of anti-war publications, but not silenced entirely, with more than 1,000 women demonstrating for peace in front of the Reichstag on 28 May 1915 — further adding to the government's unease. Active efforts were made to locate active supporters in every locality and every large factory and the radical Luxemburg circle was in contact with individuals in more than 300 places by the middle of 1915. A formal conference was held on 5 May 1915, in the apartment of Wilhelm Pieck to discuss a regional system of organization, which was conceived as a secret network of anti-war militants operating within the SPD. The group began to issue its own newspaper, ''Die Internationale'' (The International), edited by Luxemburg and Mehring, only to see it immediately banned. The short-lived paper did provide a handle for the burgeoning underground organization, however, which began to be known as the ''Internationale'' group. The ''Internationale'' group held a conference on 1 January 1916, in the apartment of Karl Liebknecht, attended by 12 delegates.Broué, ''The German Revolution,'' pg. 64. This group adopted a program drafted from prison by Rosa Luxemburg and was preparatory to a more authoritative gathering held on 19 March in Berlin. The group did not immediately seek to establish themselves as an independent political party, believing instead that while a new Third International was historically necessary, instead of a sectarian split that would isolate the revolutionary left from the working class ensconced in the SPD, instead the "bureaucratic system" of the party needed to be made into a "democratic system." They sought to drive out pro-war political leaders, leaving a mass revolutionary party to await the forthcoming national revolution. Following the jailing for their anti-war efforts of Liebknecht in May 1916 and Luxemburg that same July, Jogiches took over as the leader of the organization's underground activity.David Fernbach, "Memories of Spartacus: Mathilde Jacob and Wolfgang Fernbach," ''History Workshop Journal,'' whole no. 48 (Autumn 1999), pg. 207
In JSTOR
As leader of the underground organization it was Jogiches that oversaw the publication of the official newsletter ''Spartacus,'' launched in September 1916, which gave a new name to the faction — the ''Spartakusbund,'' rendered into English as the

Spartacist League The Spartacus League () was a Marxist revolutionary movement organized in Germany during World War I. It was founded in August 1914 as the International Group by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Clara Zetkin, and other members of the Social De ...

. While the revolutionary left chose not to pursue an immediate split, seeking instead to purge the party of its right-wing leadership, the pro-war majority of the SPD worked throughout 1916 to pursue a purge of their own, marked by the 24 May 1916, expulsion of 33 dissident SPD members of the Reichstag from the party for their formal disavowal of the war effort and the October seizure of ''Vorwärts'' (Forward) from the SPD's pacifist wing by the pro-war party officialdom. A national conference of dissident socialists was held in Berlin on 7 January 1917, with 35 of the 157 delegates members of the ''Spartacistbund.'' This gathering was ruled an effort to "sabotage" the SPD through factionalism and mass expulsions of leftists followed.Broué, ''The German Revolution,'' pg. 79. The acrimony and expulsions within the SPD culminated with a formal split of the party. A Congress was held at

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

during Easter 1917 by the pacifist center and revolutionary left socialists, with the gathering launching a new organization, the

Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was established in 1917 as the result of a split of anti-war members of t ...

(USPD). About 170,000 members remained with the old pro-war SPD, with the new USPD claiming a membership of 120,000 at its launch — including among its ranks Jogiches and the members of the ''Spartakusbund.'' Jogiches would remain in the role of the underground Spartacist group until his own arrest in Berlin on 24 March 1918, at which time the leadership of the Spartacus League passed into the hands of

. The ''Spartakusbund'' would later become one of the primary forces in the unity congress which established the

(KPD) at the end of 1918.

Assassination

The Spartacus League led the failed

Spartacist uprising The Spartacist uprising (German: ), also known as the January uprising () or, more rarely, Bloody Week, was an armed uprising that took place in Berlin from 5 to 12 January 1919. It occurred in connection with the German Revolution of 1918� ...

, after which Luxemburg and Liebknecht were killed by right-wing

paramilitary A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...

Freikorps (, "Free Corps" or "Volunteer Corps") were irregular German and other European paramilitary volunteer units that existed from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. They effectively fought as mercenaries or private military companies, rega ...

troops. Jogiches was murdered in

Moabit Moabit () is an inner city locality in the boroughs of Berlin, borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. As of 2022, about 84,000 people lived in Moabit. First inhabited in 1685 and incorporated into Berlin in 1861, the former industrial sector, industr ...

prison in Berlin on 10 March 1919, likely since he was investigating the assassination of Luxemburg and Liebknecht.

Pseudonyms

Throughout his life as an underground revolutionary, Jogiches used a massive array of

s such as Jan Tyszka, the Polish pseudonym by which he was most commonly known (rendered into Russian as "Tyshka") as well as the lesser-known pseudonyms "Grosovsky,"Broué, ''The German Revolution,'' pg. 971 "Johannes Kraft", "Otto Engelmann", and "Krumbagel."

Works

"A Letter from Prison to Sophie Liebknecht
" Mike Jones, trans. ''New Interventions,'' vol. 9, no 2. Originally published in ''Internationale wissenschaftliche Korrespondenz zur Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung,'' vol. 33, no 1 (March 1997), pp. 100–102.

Footnotes

External links

7 September 1918. {{DEFAULTSORT:Jogiches, Leo 1867 births 1919 deaths Candidates of the Central Committee of the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party Politicians from Vilnius People from Vilensky Uyezd Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania politicians Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Independent Social Democratic Party politicians Communist Party of Germany politicians Polish revolutionaries German revolutionaries Assassinated Polish politicians Assassinated German politicians Assassinated Jews Assassinated revolutionaries People murdered in Berlin Jewish Polish politicians Jewish German politicians Jewish Lithuanian politicians Jewish socialists People murdered in 1919 Politicians assassinated in the 1910s