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Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands
Leader	Gabi Fechtner [de]
Founded	1982; 42 years ago (1982)
Headquarters	Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia
Newspaper	Rote Fahne Magazin
Youth wing	REBELL
Membership (2018)	2,800
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism
Political position	Far-left
European affiliation	ICOR Europe
International affiliation	ICMLPO (defunct) ICOR
Colours	Red and yellow
Party flag
Website
www.mlpd.de/english
Politics of Germany Political parties Elections

The Marxist–Leninist Party of Germany (Template:Lang-de, MLPD) is an communist political party in Germany. It was founded in 1982 by members of the Communist Workers Union of Germany (Kommunistischer Arbeiterbund Deutschlands; KABD) and is one of the minor parties in Germany.

The MLPD advocates for the establishment of a seizure of power through the proletariat, overthrowing current capitalist relations of production and replacing them with a new social order of socialist orientation. It sees this as a transitional stage to the creation of a classless, communist society. In doing so, it refers to the theory and practice of Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. It rejects the terms "Stalinism" and "Maoism" as anti-communist fighting terms that divide the Marxist–Leninist movement. Whilst criticizing particular aspects of the political works of Stalin and Mao, MLPD openly defends those works, standing in contrast to most left-wing groups in Germany.

It participates in the International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO) and the International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations (ICOR). Representatives from the party have attended congresses of other communist parties around the world.

Political profile

Real Socialism

The MLPD calls its political orientation "Echter Sozialismus" ("Real Socialism"). The party says that the augmentation "Echt" ("Real") has a tactical importance, "to define of other contortions of the modern revisionism and reformism", like Trotskyism, that the MLPD names a "narrow-minded divergence of Marxism". So the party defines itself of other left parties, like the German Communist Party, The Left or the Socialist Equality Party.

History

The MLPD promotes Marxism–Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought. Only part of the MLPD's membership originates from the 1960s students' movement. Willi Dickhut, the party's founder, had been expelled from the Communist Party of Germany in 1966 for criticizing the change of social conditions in the Soviet Union. His book on the restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union was published in 1971 and is a fundamental part of the MLPD's ideology. The MLPD describes the political and economic changes in most of the Eastern European countries after the 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as treason to socialism. From 1976, when the economic changes provided by Deng Xiaoping were taking place, the MLPD's predecessor organizations criticized those changes as China's restoration of capitalism.

In the 1998 federal elections, the party gained only 0.01 percent of the votes. In 2002, the MLPD did not participate in the federal elections and called on people to boycott. The MLPD participated in the 2005 federal elections, generally positioning itself in campaigns as a radical alternative to the Left Party. The MLPD won 0.1 percent of the total votes cast. This marked a tenfold increase compared to the result of 1998, despite the competition with the Left Party. Its strongest showing was in the states of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, where it garnered 0.4 percent of the vote. MLPD also participated in 2009 federal elections and has announced its participation in the 2013 federal elections.

Still some trade unions in Germany have a policy of expelling members of the MLPD. An example of this is when the former chairman of the party, Stefan Engel, was forced to leave the IG Metall and became a member of Ver.di, which does not take a stance against the MLPD.

For the 2017 federal election the MLPD formed the Internationalistischen Bündnis (Internationalist Alliance) coalition. The coalition is made up of different local electoral groups, migrant organizations (such as ATIF, ADHK and the German section of the Communist party of Iran) and labor union groups.

Although the party has seen little success in national or state elections, the party has managed to gain a number of local councils seats. However these party are contested under a different local label and not with an explicit communist program. However these parties are all members of the MLPD-led electoral coalition Internationalist Alliance.

Election results

Federal Parliament (Bundestag)

European Parliament

Local Elections of Alliances with MLPD Participation

Well-known former members of the MLPD

• Robert Kurz German Marxist theorist
• Berthold Huber German unionist

References

1. Bundesministerium des Innern: Verfassungsschutzbericht 2018, S. 150
2. MLPD homepage Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine (German)
3. MLPD homepage Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine (German)
4. "Socialist Equality Party receives over 15,000 votes in German elections". 21 September 2005. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
5. "Indian communists confidently chart way forward". 12 November 1997. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
6. Fremdwörter- & Begriffserklärung zur Reihe Revolutionärer Weg 1–26. Verlag Neuer Weg, Essen 1998, ISBN 978-3-88021-274-9.
7. trotskysm on the MLPD-website
8. 20. party conference of the DKP
9. Linkspartei The Left
10. [https://web.archive.org/web/20210823114238/https://www.mlpd.de/chinese/2019/chinas-leadership-is-drifting-in-the-right-deviationist-wind Archived 23 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine
11. http://www16.dw-world.de/wahlgrafik/index.php?lang=en Archived 6 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine
12. "Manifest – ENG – InterBündnis" (in German). Retrieved 26 April 2020.
13. "Trägerorganisationen – InterBündnis" (in German). Retrieved 26 April 2020.

External links

• Official website

• 1982 establishments in Germany
• Communist parties in Germany
• Far-left politics in Germany
• International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (International Newsletter)
• International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations
• Maoist parties
• Political parties established in 1982
• Maoist organisations in Germany