Interesting Leaders for 1920s Communist Germany, Stalin-less USSR?

I have been working, for a little while, on an alternate history timeline that includes the following divergences:

- In Germany, the Spartacus League chooses to delay its attempted uprising (early 1919 OTL). In 1920 or 1921, a civil war breaks out, ultimately leading to a partially-balkanized Germany with the communists controlling the largest part of that territory.
- In the USSR, Lenin survives until around 1930-1932 (i.e. the 1918 assassination attempt fails entirely, his health deteriorates less quickly). Stalin never gets his chance to take power, and is expelled from the party well before Lenin's death.

The main point that I want to ask about is: in this scenario, who can you see leading each of those countries around 1935 and beyond? And what direction might they try to steer those governments?

If an individual died from a disease or other preventable cause, but would have survived longer otherwise (i.e. Sverdlov), they are fair game. Similarly, in Germany's case, leaders who were not directly aligned with the Spartacus league but could reasonably join in the case of a civil war are also allowed.

Less well-known leaders would probably be more interesting here, assuming that good information is available on them.

Also, if anyone knows any good sources for biographical information on such people from this period, I would appreciate it.

I have seen a similar thread with some interesting details from a while ago (about possible successors for Lenin other than Stalin or Trotsky): https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/ahc-wi-lenins-successor-not-trotsky-or-stalin.325684/ but that one is rather old now.
 
I have one rough outline for a semi-Sovietwank timeline where the Workers Opposition (the borderline syndicalists to the left of Trotsky) are able to remain a force within Soviet politics and eventually come to power. Both Alexander Shlyapnikov and Alexandra Kollontai have their day in the sun. The PoDs involved include the Soviets agreeing to stop at the Curzon Line during the Polish-Soviet War and the Kronstadt Uprising happening a few weeks later, which prevents the ban on party factions and, because the ice around the island had been able to thaw making a direct assault impossible, the Bolsheviks are forced to negotiate with the rebels.

I also inadvertently realised that the Soviets had a string of leaders that were various types of Alexs, so I decided to roll with it and stretch it out for as long as possible. It currently stands at five (Alexie Rykov, Alexander Shlyapnikov, Alexandra Kollontai, Alexi Kosyign and Alexander Solzhenitsyn).

Of course, given that your timeline presupposes that Lenin lives longer, I doubt that they would have been able to remain a major force.
 
I think in the case of a German revolution being successful, that ultimately changes everything in the Russian political sphere. A number of the decisions taken by the Russians, both economic and political, were taken in the face of Soviet isolation. If you have Rosa Luxemburg in a position of great importance, for example, her position on the national question differed greatly from Lenin's but was similar to many on the left of the Bolshevik party who were sidelined. Similarly, with Germany's far greater working class population which was better organised it would be likely that trade unions and workers councils in Germany would have greater prominence giving a boost to the significance of Russian workers organisations.

If you're looking for significant figures that might be interesting alternatives just check out all the people elected to the Central Committee during the Party's Congresses. For example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centr...s_of_the_Russian_Communist_Party_(Bolsheviks)
 
The obvious choices for Germany would be Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, assuming they've not been assassinated as IOTL. Some key figures who could help bridge the gap between Communists and Social Democrats: Heinrich Brandler, August Thalheimer, Paul Levi, Rosi Wolfstein (they were all more or less centrists, i.e. the "right-wing opposition" to the course the KPD was taking since the early 1920s, some of them were later purged, while Levi defected to the SPD). Or some older veterans whose careers went back to the SPD of the empire, like Clara Zetkin or Franz Mehring. If it's an out-and-out Bolshevist regime, maybe someone from the "left-wing opposition" like Ruth Fischer, Werner Scholem or Iwan Katz - they weren't as much under Stalin's spell as Thälmann was and might have pursued a more independent policy.
 
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