Communist League of West Germany

The Communist League of West Germany (Kommunistischer Bund Westdeutschland; KBW) was a Maoist organization in West Germany which existed from 1973 until 1985. The KBW contested the general elections in 1976 and 1980 in West Germany and was rated as the strongest of the German Maoist parties from 1974 until 1981. After 1982 the KBW was virtually inactive and was finally dissolved completely in 1985.

The KBW was formed at a conference held in Bremen in June 1973 as a fusion of various local communist groups from Heidelberg, Bremen,Göttingen,Freiburg etc. At its inaugural conference the KBW adopted a programme advocating the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and the bourgeois state and the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat in order to achieve a classless society and communism. In its programme the KBW demanded the arming of the people (”Allgemeine Volksbewaffnung“).

One of the main efforts of the KBW was the struggle against the Bundeswehr (Federal Armed Forces). It organized youth camps dedicated to ideological and practical training for the revolutionary struggle. Members of the KBW participated in violent demonstrations against nuclear power plants in West Germany (Brokdorf, Grohnde).

On September 21, 1975 the KBW and his Committees against § 218 organized a demonstration of 25,000 people in Bonn against the German law prohibiting abortion.

The KBW contested the general elections in 1976 and 1980 and several state (German Bundesland) and local elections. The organization obtained 20,018 votes or 0,1% in the 1976 elections (8,285 votes 1980). It won one seat in the Heidelberg city council in 1975 which was lost later. Strongholds of the KBW were university towns.

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