left communism emerged in both countries together and was always very closely connected. among the leading theoreticians of the more powerful german movement were antonie pannekoek and herman gorter and german activists found refuge in the netherlands after the nazis came to power in 1933. the critique of social democratic reformism can be traced back before world war i since in the netherlands a revolutionary wing of social democracy had broken from the reformist party even before the war and had built links with german activists. by 1915, the antinational socialist party was founded by franz pfemfert and was linked to "die aktion". after the beginning of the german revolution in 1918, a leftist mood could be found among sections of the communist parties of both countries. in germany, this led directly to the foundation of the communist workers party of germany (kapd) after its leading figures were expelled from the communist party of germany (kpd) by paul levi. this development was mirrored in the netherlands and on a smaller scale in bulgaria, where the left communist movement was to mimic that of germany.