AHC: Have the KPD seize power in Germany by 1933 instead of the NSDAP

Okay, so our goal here is to have the German Communist power get into power in Germany instead of the Nazi party.

The POD should ideally be in the late 1920s or even-earlier 1930s, but, for the sake of parallelism, they must seize power in 1933, though the day or even month need not be the same as that of Hitler's rise to power.
 
No social fascism theory, No further KPD split. As Brüning's austerity policies radicalise in 1931, so does the SPD and unions, with both parties putting aside their controversies with the KPD for the Moment to form a Popular Front against wage Cuts, layoffs, unemployment benefit cuts, and worse. For worse is certain to loom: with the Red Threat much more real than OTL, even more bourgeois, industrialist and Junker circles will openly favour Military dictatorship and)or collusion with the Nazis. A coalition between right-liberal, conservative and Nazi Parties, Like OTL"s in Brunswick or Thuringia, has dozens or better hundreds of striking workers shot, imprisoned and tortured, or similar, so the working class is more scared and aware of what awaits them.
The Zentrum splits, its Right and Left Wings Formung separate Parties and joining opposing Camps.
All this gives Hindenburg a Heart Attack and He Kicks the bucket in 1932 before the parliamentary elections. Hitler and a moderate social democrat like Wels Duke it Out in the second round, with Wels carrying a narrow Victory.
Both Camps try their ugliest to tamper with the Reichstag elections of 1932, but neither Side gains a majority (there are still centrist splinters around). Wels appoints a social democrat as chancellor. A Military Coup, supported by SA and Stahlhelm, breaks Out. Red and loyalist-republican militia form to defend the legitimate government. Civil war in Germany.
In 1933, some months into it, the Republicans (yes, the parallel with Spain should be obvious by now) look like they're losing ground. The international community is mostly standing by; Britain, France and the US do not offer to postpone reparation payments and even hamper the official government's abilities to obtain loans and buy what they need etc. on international markets when they default on the reparation payments (which they must); Italy and Austria, where a similar civil war rages, only with the roles reversed: the official government is Right-wing, and socialist rebels hold Vienna and its environs, are openly siding with the German putschists. The Republican government, in this situation, turns to Moscow as their only hope (for reinforcements as well as all sorts of civil and military imports). Stalin demands that a communist be made chancellor, and the government restructured to allow for greater KPD influence. Wels yields.
 
In the unlikely event of a "radicalized" SPD aligning itself with the KPD (this is unlikely even without the "social fascism" line--the parties are just too hostile, and remember that the KPD wouldn't stand down to prevent the election of Hindenburg in 1925, long before the ultra-left "Third Period") I doubt that the Zentrum would split--it would be almost solidly on the other side of the barricades. (Remember that a significant number of people in the Zentrum were uncomfortable with a coalition even with a non-radical SPD which was not aligned with the KPD.)

Indeed, the SPD aligning with the KDP (unless the KPD shows a moderation extremely unlikely under early-1930s conditions) will probably split the SPD more than the Zentrum.

In any event, should there be a civil war, the Right would be in a much stronger position than in Spain where "about half the army" sided with the Republic. https://books.google.com/books?id=xsmhdpARfGoC&pg=PA217 The German army was smaller but would be much more uniformly rightist.
 
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Any chance that a Second Great War breaks out in the early 40s between the Allies and a communist Berlin-Moscow axis?

If so, and if they ultimately lose, does Europe end up more right-wing/monarchical in the post-war period?
 
@David T
Yeah, you're probably right, you old killjoy ;)
I tried to give it a chance, and reckoned that in their own, the KPD Stands No Chance. Also, don't underestimate how frustrated the SPD Base was about a doctrine which provided them with no hope and No path Forward. And there was a, in some regions strong, Catholic labour movement; the Formation of a "Christian Democratic" or "Christian Socialist" breakaway was already vividly discussed when These guys saw what the party's stance against the Fürstenenteignung plebiscite did to the Zentrum's popularity.
But you're right about the Army and the hatred between SPD and KPD.
 
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