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Karl Liebknecht | |
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Liebknecht in 1912 | |
Born | 13 August 1871 Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire |
Died | 15 January 1919 (aged 47) Berlin, German Republic |
Cause of death | Murder |
Political orientation | Marxism Communism |
Political party | KPD (1919) Spartacus League (1914–1918) SPD (1900–1916) |
Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht was a German socialist revolutionary who co-founded and led the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) with Rosa Luxemburg until their murders by the imperialists. Originally a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) before being expelled from it for opposing the reformism of the party, he was a key figure in the 1918 November Revolution in which he fought against his former party.
Life
Early Life
Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht was born in Leipzig on 13 August 1871, the son of Wilhelm Liebknecht, one of the founders and leaders of the Social Democratic Party.[1]
November Revolution
Liebknecht fought to expand the November Revolution and on January 1, 1919, he and Luxembourg formed the Communist Party of Germany from the Spartacus League. However, only weeks later on January 15 the pair of them would be brutally murdered not long after the counter-revolutionaries placed a bounty of 100,000 marks on each of their heads.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 W. Pieck (1979). The Great Soviet Encyclopedia: 'Karl Liebknecht'.