An Alternate Gotha Congress (April 7, 1917)

As practically nobody still living on this Earth knows, April 7, 1917 was the date of the foundation of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany. As rather more people know, this party regrouped many elements that had been purged from the Social Democratic Party due to their opposition to the war: the Spartacists, one of the major groups of the revolutionary Left in Germany; the Centrists around Kautsky and Haase; and anti-war Revisionists around Bernstein.

For a timeline I'm working on, which leads to a successful communist phase of the German Revolution (which has many other consequenses that are unnecessary to elucidate here), I want the Spartacists to not join the USPD (the German initials of the new party), but to instead participate in the foundation of the Communist Party of Germany in August 1917. Historically, there was a meeting of the International Socialists of Germany (the other important revolutionary left group at the time), but because of the position of the Spartacists and the weakness of the ISD, no party emerged from that meeting and the world had to wait until 1919 for the KPD, with historical results.

So, I want your opinion: how could the Spartacists have been prevented from joining the USPD and instead have cooperated in forming the KPD a few months later?

I have a few conceptions of my own that I may or may not share if the thread gets long, but this isn't about my inadequate ideas; it's about yours.

Fire away.
 

Hnau

Banned
That's interesting, I never knew there was such a meeting. The only thing that I can think of would be Karl and Rosa somehow evading capture in 1916... they both had an independent streak (even more so than the Independent SPD). Perhaps with one or both of their influences they could pull the Spartakusbund back from joining the USPD.

How though... well, Liebknecht was at the Eastern Front, where he refused to fight and instead dug ditches. They only returned him in 1915 because of his health condition. Maybe he doesn't get sick, or perhaps he just hangs on and stays a bit longer at the Front while his health gets worse and worse. He's eventually sent back for medical reasons either late-1916 or early-1917, and pulls his party from joining the USPD.

I like the POD, very interesting. I have a German Civil War in my timeline as well (lack of a successful Bolshevik revolution keeps the German leadership unaware of the soviet movement's power, Ebert doesn't sabotage the movement by joining it, but the rightists still manage to beat the reds). You should check it out some time, as you sound like you know quite a bit about revolutionary Germany and that period.
 
I haven't read very far into A Lenin-less World (assuming that's the timeline you're talking about), but it's a very interesting timeline and plausible to boot. If I ever get the time I'll be sure to read the whole thing.

I like your idea about Liebknecht. Historically, during his imprisonment in 1916 and later, he came out against the USPD, but was unable to do anything about it. I could see him, if he were free, able to mobilize a following among the Spartacists to keep them out of the USPD. Keeping him out of Berlin until May 2, 1916 would help him evade his imprisonment; perhaps he does stay longer at the front and then spends some time in a sanatorium until shortly before the Congress.

As for the role played by Luxemburg, she was actually the major person in support of joining the USPD. Historically she was imprisoned, and I don't think that will change ITTL, but unlike Liebknecht her partisans, most importantly Paul Levi and Leo Jogiches, were able to sway the Spartacists, partly by appealing to their loyalty to Rosa. Historically Levi spent time on the western front, and he could have been killed there, which would make her position weaker.

Any more ideas?
 
This is both a double-post and a shameless bump with absolutely no content whatsoever, designed to provoke someone into posting, even if it's just a moderator here to tell me off.

This is my desperate face.
 
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