Ernst Niekisch

Ernst Niekisch (23 May 1889 – 23 May 1967) was a German politician. Initially associated with mainstream left-wing politics he later became a prominent exponent of National Bolshevism.

Bavaria

Born in Trebnitz (Silesia), and brought up in Nördlingen, he became a school teacher by profession. He joined the SPD in 1917 and was instrumental in the setting up of a short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic in 1919. Indeed, for a time at the start of the year, following the resignation of Kurt Eisner and immediately before the establishment of the Soviet Republic Niekisch wielded effective power as chairman of the central executive of Bavarian councils, an interim governing body. He left the SPD soon after and joined the USPD for a time, before returning.

Nationalism

During the 1920s he stressed the importance of nationalism and attempted to turn the SPD in that direction. He was vehemently opposed to the Dawes Plan, the Locarno Treaties and the general pacifism of the SPD, so much so that he was expelled from the party in 1926.