Walter Ulbricht

1893 – 1973

Walter Ulbricht was born Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht, in Leipzig in June 1893. He was a member of the Socialist Labour youth and in 1912 of the Sozialistische Partei Deutschland (SPD). After the first world war Ulbricht joined the Spartakusbund, which won the name “Communist Party of Germany" (KPD) in 1919. In the mid-1920s he studied at the party school in Moscow. From 1926 to 1933 he was a member of the Saxon Landtag and, from 1928 to 1933, a member of the Reichstag for the KPD. In 1935 he fled from Germany, later settling in Moscow.

After the German invasion of the Soviet Union Ulbricht became a member of the National Committee for a free Germany (NKFD), called into life by the Soviet Union. After the second world war, he returned to Germany and settled in the Soviet-occupied zone. The Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschland (SED) was created in 1946, and in 1950, Ulbricht was elected SED General Secretary.

During the Berlin revolt in 1953 Ulbricht and the SED were in confusion; they had to use force against the farmers and workers in what was supposed to be a peasants' and workers' utopia. Eventually the Soviets put down the rebellion at the expense of, presumably, many hundreds of lives. The power of the SED and Ulbricht from that moment were untouchable.

Ulbricht kept faithfully to the Moscow line into the 1970s, but at the beginning of the 1970s he took a more independent course. As a result, in May 1971 he had to resign his position as General Secretary of the SED. He remained Chairman of the Council of State.

Walter Ulbricht died in August 1973 at the age of 80 in Berlin. He was succeeded by Erich Honecker.

Works

The Reformists Propagate Production Sabotage in the USSR, January 1930

How Do We Combat Fascism?, November 1930

Our Party Is the Only Workers Party, November 1931

Speech to the Reichstag, February 1932

The Hamburg Uprising under the Leadership of Ernst Thälmann, date unknown, but no later than 1933

Article in Die Welt, February 1940

The Historical Role of Karl Liebknecht, August 1951

Whither Germany? Speeches and Essays on the National Question (1930-1965), 1966

What is at Stake in Germany?, 1966

A Contribution of the German Democratic Republic to Peace in Europe, 1966