author
Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht
1871–1919
A fiery socialist lawyer and anti-war voice, he became one of the most recognizable radicals of Germany’s revolutionary years. His speeches, trials, and final months helped define the turbulent politics of the First World War and its aftermath.
1 Audiobook
The Future Belongs to the People
by Karl Paul August Friedrich Liebknecht
About the author
Born in Leipzig in 1871, Karl Liebknecht was the son of Wilhelm Liebknecht, one of the founders of German Social Democracy. Trained as a lawyer, he became known for defending political activists and for his sharp criticism of militarism, especially in the years before the First World War.
As a leading figure on the left wing of the Social Democratic movement, he broke dramatically with the wartime consensus in Germany. He is especially remembered for opposing war credits in the Reichstag, for his anti-war agitation, and for his partnership with Rosa Luxemburg in the Spartacus League, which later fed into the founding of the Communist Party of Germany.
Liebknecht emerged as a major revolutionary voice during the upheavals of 1918–1919, calling for a socialist transformation of Germany. He was killed in Berlin on January 15, 1919, shortly after the failed Spartacist uprising, and remains one of the most contested and symbolic figures of modern German political history.