Skip to main content
A forgotten inspiration
Described by MI5 as ‘notorious,’ WILLI MUNZENBERG was at the top of the nazis’ most wanted list in the run-up to WWII. His name may have vanished from history but he was one of the most prominent, charismatic and revered figures in the world socialist movement during the inter-war years and, in this extract from his new biography, John Green explains why
Willi Münzenberg addressing a meeting (place and date unknown)

IN THE former communist countries Willi Munzenberg, like Leon Trotsky, was disappeared from history. Even in the West, apart from two US biographies which do more to reinforce Cold War prejudices than illuminate his life, he has also been ignored. The only decent biography was written by his partner, Babette Gross.

 

Why is Munzenberg not better known?

 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
LEGENDS: A Maquis detachment in La Tresorerie hamlet near Boulogne-sur-Mer, Pas-de-Calais, September 14 1944, pic: Donald I Grant, Department of National Defence/CC
VE Day / 8 May 2025
8 May 2025

JOHN ELLISON recalls the momentous role of the French resistance during WWII

A crowd of people at Heathrow Airport, who had waited to see
Features / 10 March 2025
10 March 2025
MAT COWARD recalls the occasion when the first man in space paid a visit to our shores in 1961
Eleanor Marx (sketch by Grace Black, 1881)
Features / 4 March 2025
4 March 2025
Author RACHEL HOLMES invites readers to come to her talk in London about the great foremother of the working-class women’s movement – Eleanor Marx