Lindau was arrested in May 1924, following his participation in the Hamburg Uprising: he was held in investigative detention till December 1925. After this he became the district party leader in the "Wasserkante" ("Waterside") quarter of Hamburg, becoming involved in disputes with the party hierarchy in Hamburg whom he accused of party mismanagement: he was relieved of his party function and replaced by in February 1927. He continued to edit party newspapers till 1930, after which he devoted himself increasingly to historical scholarship alongside his newspaper work.