How Ideological Conflict Shaped the Socio-Political Landscape in Interwar Germany

Since the emergence of Marx and his revolutionary political thought, Germany became a center of leftist thought, particularly from the turn of the 20th century to the beginning of World War II. Countless German leftist thinkers expanded on or even opposed Marxist thought, leading to a natural division in ideologies. Through a literature review on two scholarly texts that focus on Germany’s Interwar history as well as analysis on primary sources and German leftists’ works, this paper argues that the internal discourse of the German Left and their split ideologies eventually led to their downfall and accelerated the rise of the far right in Germany during the period leading up to World War II. As the main opposition group in an increasingly politically divided Germany, this ideological split allowed further fascist growth, ultimately causing division within the working class base and the leadership. Despite the many other factors that preceded the Nazi Party’s rise to power, the German Left was overall a weaker and less organized group, making them a crucial component in Germany’s political strife and eventually the beginning of a fascist Germany.