Ludwig Becker

Ludwig Becker (25 October 1892 – 4 April 1974) was a German politician, member of the Communist Party of Germany, and trades unionist who participated in illegal political opposition during the Nazi years. Life In the labour movement Ludwig Becker was born and grew up in Schwäbisch Gmünd, a midsized town in the hills to the east of Stuttgart. His father was a socialist and a Goldsmith, the trade in which he, too, was apprenticed. His apprenticeship completed, he undertook a "Journeyman year" travelling the country while working at his chosen trade in order to gain hands-on experience from a variety of more experienced practitioners. That was when he came into contact with the rapidly evolving Labour movement. In 1907 he joined both the Metal Workers' Union ("Deutscher Metallarbeiter-Verband" / DMV) and the Young Socialists. In 1910, when only 18 years old, he joined the Social Democratics ("Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands" / SPD). A year later he relocated from Gmünd to Berlin: here he was picked out for a study course at the SPD National Party Academy where the lecturers included Rosa Luxemburg, a formidable political philosopher and an inspiring lecturer who had already become an iconic leader of the German left. Becker was opposed to the war: between 1913 and 1918 he was nevertheless called up for military service and took part in it. From the frontline he established and maintained increasingly close links with the leftist Westmeyer wing of the party in Stuttgart. Accordingly, he was one of those deeply critical of the decision of the party leadership to implement what amounted to a parliamentary truce over funding for the war. He became a member of the Spartacus League. During the series of revolutions that erupted during 1918/1919 Becker, following his election by revolutionary comrades, participated actively as a leader in the soldiers' and workers' council/soviet movement. At the end of 1918 the Spartacus League in effect became the Communist Party of Germany. Becker remained a party activist.