German revolution of 1918–1919

Template:Redirect5 The German November Revolution was one of many Revolutions across Europe, at the end of World War I in 1918-1919. It occurred as military defeat appeared imminent and culminated in the abdication of the Kaiser and the establishment of the politically fragile Weimar Republic.

The term covers a series of events in Germany from November 1918 to March 1919. As in Russia's February Revolution, no single political party led the rebellion, and workers' councils similar to the soviets seized power across the country. However, unlike the Russian Revolution, attempts by communists to carry over the revolution against the monarchy into a revolution against capitalism, were ultimately unsuccessful, although their success appeared possible at several points.

Historical background

The German Empire and the Social Democracy

The revolution of 1848/49 (March Revolution) failed particularly because of having to create democratization and national unity of Germany all at the same time. In the following decades the majority of the German middle class more or less came to terms with the authoritarian state after a partial national unity (Small German Solution) had been achieved under Prussian leadership in 1871.

The Reichstag before 1900

The newly created German Empire was a constitutional Monarchy. But the Reichstag (parliament) had very little influence on imperial politics. The Imperial Government was solely responsible to the Kaiser. The Reichstag's only authority lay the approval of the budget.

The Social Democrats, later joining to create the Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands - SPD), had been represented in the Reichstag since 1871. It was the only party in the German Empire to demand a republican government. That was reason enough for Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to declare it illegal in 1878 and prosecute its members until he was dismissed by the Kaiser in 1890. Nevertheless the SPD was able to raise its share of votes in almost every election. In the Reichstag of 1912 the Socialists had 110 members or 28%, which was the largest faction.

In the 43 years from the founding of the German Empire until WWI the SPD not only grew in importance but also changed its character. Starting in 1898 the so called "Revisionists" wanted the major objective, the revolution, taken off the party agenda. Social reforms on the basis of the present (capitalistic) economical system should be pursued instead. The Marxist wing of the party was able to assert itself, but the continuing revolutionary rhetoric only barely covered the fact, that after having been legalized in 1890 the SPD had practically become a reformist party. After they had been labeled as "vaterlandslose Gesellen" (unpatriotic bunch) for so long, the Social Democrats considered themselves to be German patriots. At the outbreak of WWI it was obvious, that the SPD had become an integral – albeit opposing – part of the Empire. ^[1]

The SPD and WWI

Around 1900 German Social Democracy was considered to be the leading force in the international Labour Movement. At the European congresses of the second Socialist International the SPD had always agreed to resolutions asking for combined action in case of a war. Certainly the Social Democrats within Germany had developed into a factor to be reckoned with: In the Reichstag in 1912 they had the largest Faction with 110 deputies. Party membership was around 1 million and the party press (Vorwärts) alone had 1.5 million subscribers. Social Democratic unions, the majority of all unions, had 2.5 million members. In addition to that there were numerous co-operative societies (e. g. apartment co-ops, shop co-ops), cultural and other associations directly linked to the SPD, to the unions or along Social Democratic lines. Other factions in the Reichstag of 1912 worth mentioning were the catholic Centre Party (91), the Conservatives (57), the National Liberals (45) and Progressive People's Party (42), the Poles (18) and the Alsatians (9).

During the July Crisis following the Assassination in Sarajevo the SPD - like other socialist parties in Europe- still organized large anti-war-demonstrations. In these, e. g. Rosa Luxemburg, representing the left wing of the party, called for disobedience and rejection of the war in the name of the whole party. As a result, the imperial government planned to arrest the party leaders as soon as the war started. Friedrich Ebert, one of the two party leaders since 1913, travelled to Zurich in order to save the party fund from being confiscated.

After Germany declared war on Russia on 1 August 1914 the SPD let itself be swept away by the general enthusiasm, thus following the late party leader August Bebel, who had declared in 1904 in the Reichstag, that he himself would shoulder the gun when going against Russia.^[2] In the face of so much enthusiasm for the war many SPD deputies worried they might lose many of their voters with their consistent pacifism. In addition, the Bethmann-Hollweg government threatened to outlaw all parties in case of war. At the same time the chancellor cleverly exploited the anti-czarist stance of the SPD to get the party's approval for the war.

The party leadership and the party's deputies were split on this issue: 96 deputies including Friedrich Ebert approved the war bonds for the imperial government. 14 deputies with the second party leader, Hugo Haase, spoke out against the bonds but nevertheless raised their hands in favour because they were under the whip (requirement to vote in accordance with party policy). Thus, the whole SPD-faction in the Reichstag voted for the war bonds on 4. August. They also agreed to the so called "truce" (Burgfrieden), promising to the Kaiser that the unions would refrain from labour strikes and demands for higher wages which made possible the total mobilization of the German Army. Haase explained this decision against his will with the words: We will not let the fatherland alone in the hour of need!.>ref-<zit. nach Haffner, "Der Verrat" S. 12</ref> The Kaiser welcomed the "truce", declaring: "Ich kenne keine Parteien mehr, ich kenne nur noch Deutsche!" (I do not know parties anymore, I only know Germans!).^[3] Even Karl Liebknecht, later becoming the symbol of the most decisive opponents of the war, initially bent under the whip: he stayed away from the ballot in order not having to vote against his own faction. But on 5. August 1914 he founded the "Gruppe Internationale" (Group International) together with Rosa Luxemburg, Franz Mehring and others from the left wing of the party, adhering to the resolutions of the party before the war. From this group emerged the nationwide Spartakist League (Spartakusbund) on 1. January 1916. As of 2. December 1914 and initially the only deputy of the Reichstag, Liebknecht voted against further war bonds. He was not permitted to present his speech connected with this vote. Nevertheless it was made public through the circulation of an illegal leaflet: "The present war was not willed by any of the nations participating in it and it is not waged in the interest of the Germans or any other people. It is an imperialist war, a war for capitalist control of the world market, for the political domination of huge territories and to give scope to industrial and banking capital". This leaflet, because of high demand soon printed, evolved into the so called "Political Letters", the collections of which afterwards were illegally published under the name "Spartacus Letters". As of December 1916 these were replaced by the journal "Spartakus", which appeared irregularly until November 1918.

At the instigation of the SPD party leadership in February 1915 Liebknecht was drafted for military service in order to get rid of him- the only SPD deputy to get drafted. Because of his attempts to organize objectors of the war Liebknecht was expelled from the SPD and in June 1916 and he was sentenced to 4 years in prison. While he was in the army Rosa Luxemburg wrote most of the Spartacus Letters. Rosa Luxemburg, after having served a prison sentence, also was put back in jail under "preventive detention" until the war ended.

The split of the SPD

The longer the war lasted and the more victims it took, the less SPD-members were ready to keep up the "truce" of 1914, even more so, since 1916 the Kaiser and the Imperial Government did not set the guidelines of German policy but the Supreme Army Command (Oberste Heeresleitung- OHL) under the Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. In actual fact power in Germany had passed to the military and it was Ludendorff who made the fundamental and essential decisions. He was later to give German history a decisive turn. The generals pursued offensive war goals and subjected civil life to the needs of commanding a war and a war economy. For the labour force this meant amongst other things a 12-hour-day at minimal wages and inadequate provisions.

After the outbreak of the Russian February Revolution in 1917 the first organized strikes erupted in German armament factories in March and April of that year with participants of about 300,000 workers. The USA's entry into the war on 6. April 1917 threatened to further worsen the situation and the Kaiser tried to appease the strikers in his Easter address of 7. April: he promised democratic elections after the war, also for Prussia, which still had the three-class franchise system.

In the SPD now also the so called "Revisionists", like Haase and Eduard Bernstein, reacted to the dissatisfaction of the labourers. On 9. April 1917 the different views toward the war split the Party into "Majority Social Democrats" (SPD, also MSPD) under Friedrich Ebert and "Independent Social Democrats" (USPD) under Hugo Haase. The latter demanded the immediate end of the war and a further democratisation of Germany, but did not have a unified socialist programme. The Spartakist League, which until then had opposed a split of the party, now made up the left wing of the USPD. Both the USPD and the Spartakists continued their aggressive anti-war propaganda in factories, especially in the armament plants.

Peace through victory or peace through rapprochement?

After the US had entered the war, the situation on the western front became more precarious for the Germans. For that reason, and also to take the wind out of the USPD's sails, the SPD joined the "Interfactional Committee" with the catholic Centre Party (Zentrumspartei) and the liberal "Fortschrittliche Volkspartei" (Progressive People's Party). In Summer 1917 these 3 Parties passed a resolution providing for a peace through rapprochement without annexations and payments (as opposed to a peace through victory and annexations, as the political right was demanding). As everybody else in the country, the committee still believed in a victory.

The Supreme Command outright rejected this resolution as well as the "Fourteen Points" set out by US-President Woodrow Wilson in January 1918. Wilson wanted peace on the basis of "self-determination of peoples" without victors or conquered. Hindenburg and Ludendorff rejected the offer, because, after having gained a victory over Russia, they again believed themselves in a stronger position. They continued to bet on a ‘peace through victory' with far-reaching annexations at the expense of the war opponents.

Consequences of the Russian October Revolution

After the February Revolution in Russia and the toppling of the last Czar, Nikolaus II, on 15. March 1917, the Russian government, which was run by the Mensheviks under Alexander Kerensky, continued the war on the side of the Entente powers. Yet the German Imperial Government saw another chance for a victory. To support the anti war sentiment in Russia, it let the leader of the Russian Bolsheviki, Vladimir Lenin, pass to Saint Petersburg via Sweden and Finland from his exile in Switzerland.

As hoped, the Bolsheviki, who had demanded an immediate end of the war, took power in the Revolution of October 1917. Lenin's success raised fears among the German Bourgeoisie (Middle Class) that such a revolution could take place in Germany. With unease the SPD leadership also took note that a determined and well managed party as the Bolsheviki was able to assert itself against the parliament majority of moderate socialists and middle-class-parties. Their endeavour to prevent a similar development in Germany determined their behaviour during the November Revolution. Otto Braun, board member of the SPD and later to become prime minister of Prussia, clarified the position of his party in a leading article in the SPD-Newspaper "Vorwärts" under the title "The Bolcheviki and us":

"Socialism cannot be erected on bayonets and machine guns. If it is to last, it must be realised with democratic means. Therefore of course the prerequisite is necessary, that the economical and social conditions for socializing society are ripe. If this was the case in Russia, the Bolsheviki no doubt could rely on the majority of the people. As this is not the case, they established a reign of the sword that could not have been more brutal and reckless under the disgraceful regime of the Czar. (…) Therefore we must draw a thick, visible dividing line between us and the Bolsheviki. ^[4]

In the same month in which Otto Braun's article appeared another series of strikes swept through the country (January Strikes) with the participation of over 1 million workers. For the first time during these strikes the so called "Revolutionary Stewards" (Revolutionäre Obleute) took action, who were to play an important part in the further development. They called themselves "Councils" (Räte) like the Russian "Soviets". In order to weaken their influence Ebert joined the strike leadership and attained an earlier termination of the strike.

In March 1918 the new Soviet Government agreed to the savage peace Treaty of Brest-Litovsk negotiated with the Germans by Leon Trotsky. This settlement contained much harsher terms for the Russians than the later Treaty of Versailles demanded of the Germans. The Supreme Command was now able to move all the eastern armies to the western front. Most Germans believed that victory in the west also was at hand.

Request for cease fire and change of Constitution

After the victory in the east the Supreme Command ordered a new offensive in the west (German Spring Offensive 1918) in order to bring about a decisive turn in favour of the Germans. But by July the last reserves were burnt up; the military defeat of Germany was sealed. 8 August Canadian, Australian and French divisions broke through the German lines between Albert and Moreuil. In mid-September the Balkan Front collapsed. Bulgaria, an ally of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary, capitulated 27. September. The collapse of Austria-Hungary was only a matter of days.

The Supreme Command informed the Kaiser, who was the Supreme War Lord, and the Imperial Chancellor Count Georg von Hertling on 29. September at the army headquarters in Spa (Belgium) that the military situation was hopeless. Ludendorff, probably fearing a break-through, claimed, that he couldn't guarantee the front to hold for another 24 hours and demanded the Entente be requested for an immediate cease fire. In addition he recommended to accept the main demand of US President Wilson and put the Imperial Government on a democratic footing, hoping for more favourable peace terms. This enabled him to save the face of the Imperial Army and put the responsibility for the capitulation and its consequences squarely into the hands of the parliament. As he said to officers of his staff on 1. October: „They now must lie on the bed that they've made" .^[5]

Thus the so called "Myth of the Stab in the Back" was born, according to which the revolutionaries had attacked the undefeated army from the rear, only thus turning the almost certain victory into a defeat. Ludendorff who intended to cover up his own failure, contributed to this grave distortion and falsification of history considerably. It was of great importance that the Imperial Government and the German Army managed to shirk their responsibilities at the very beginning and to put the blame for the defeat on the new democratic government. The calculation behind this is verified by the following citation from the autobiography of Groeners successor:

It was just fine with me when Army and Army Command remained as guiltless as possible in these wretched truce negotiations, from which nothing good could be expected. ^[6]

In nationalist circles the myth fell on fertile ground. The Nationalists soon defamed the revolutionaries and even politicians like Ebert, who never wanted a revolution and did everything to prevent it, as "November Criminals" (Novemberverbrecher). The radical right not even stopped at political assassinations, e. g. Matthias Erzberger and Walter Rathenau. In Hitler's attempt at a coup in 1923 together with Ludendorff they deliberately chose heavily symbolic 9. November. In his later ascent to power Hitler, who had participated in the great war as a private, cunningly exploited the sentiments of the homecomers who not only thought that they had been betrayed by the new democratic government but certainly also felt betrayed by their commanders, which so uselessly had sent them to the slaughter, especially at Verdun.

The Imperial Government and shortly afterwards the members of parliament were shocked by the news of the defeat. Nevertheless the parties with the largest factions in the Reichstag, among them the SPD as the most important, were willing to take on the responsibility of government at the last minute. As the convinced royalist Hertling objected to handing over the reigns to the Reichstag, on 3. October, Kaiser Wilhelm II appointed His Grand-Ducal Highness, Prince Prince Maximilian of Baden new Imperial Chancellor. Von Baden was considered a liberal, yet a representative of the royal family, and in his government Philipp Scheidemann was the first Social Democrat to become a member of the cabinet. The following day the new government offered to the allies the truce demanded by Ludendorff.

In was only 5. October that the German public was informed on the dismal situation. In the general state of shock about the defeat, which now had become obvious, the constitutional changes, formally decided by the Reichstag on 28. October, almost went unnoticed. From then on the Chancellor and the Ministers depended on the confidence of the Reichstag majority. The supreme command of the Armed Forces passed from the Kaiser to the Imperial Government. Thus the German Empire changed from a constitutional to a parliamentary monarchy. As far as the SPD was concerned the so called October Constitution met all the important constitutional objectives of the party. Ebert already regarded 5. October as the birthday of German democracy; after the Kaiser voluntarily ceded power. He thus considered a revolution as unnecessary.

The third Wilson note and Ludendorff's dismissal

In the following 3 weeks US-President Wilson responded to the request for a truce with 3 diplomatic notes. As a precondition for negotiations he demanded the retreat of Germany from all occupied territories, the cessation of submarine activities and – in between lines – the Kaiser's abdication. The latter was to render the process of democratization irreversible. After the third Wilson Note of 24th October, Ludendorff, in a sudden change of mind, declared the conditions of the allies as unacceptable. He now demanded to resume the war which he himself had declared lost only one month earlier. It had only been in the course of the request for a truce, submitted on his demand, that the total military weakness of the Empire was revealed to the allies. The German troops had adapted themselves to the ending of the war and were pressing to get home. It was scarcely possible to newly arouse their readiness for battle and desertions were on the increase.

So the Imperial Government stayed on course and replaced Ludendorff as First General Quartermaster with General Wilhelm Groener. Ludendorff fled with false papers to neutral Sweden. 5. November the allies agreed to take up negotiations for a truce. But the third Wilson Note had created the impression among the soldiers and general population, that the Kaiser must abdicate in order to achieve peace.

Revolution

Sailors' revolt

While the war-weary troops and the population disappointed by the Kaiser's government awaited the speedy end of the war, the German Naval Command in Kiel under Admiral Franz von Hipper planned to dispatch the fleet for a last battle against the Royal Navy without authorization. The naval order of 24 October 1918 and the preparations to sail first triggered a mutiny among the affected sailors and then a general revolution which was to sweep aside the monarchy within a few days. The mutinous sailors had no intention of being needlessly sacrificed in the last moment of the war. They were also convinced to be acting in the interest of the newly formed government which was trying to engage in peace talks. An attack by the German fleet would have destroyed its credibility. The sailors revolt started on the Schillig Roads off Wilhelmshaven, where the German fleet had anchored in expectation of a planned battle. 29 October the crews of the ships "Thüringen" and "Helgoland" refused the order to sail. The mutiny could be suppressed this time because the other ship's crews didn't join. But the Naval Command dropped its plans as they couldn't be sure of the crew's loyalty. The 3. Navy Squadron which hadn't participated in the mutiny was ordered back to Kiel. On board were roughly 1,000 arrested mutineers who were to be court-martialed.

The remaining sailors wanted to prevent this since the mutineers had also acted in their interest. They sent a delegation, requesting the mutineers release, which was turned away by the Naval Command on 1. November. The following day the sailors met for the first time with shipyard workers in the Kiel Union House to discuss further actions. Thereupon the Union House was closed leading to joint open air mass demonstrations on 3. November. Nine people were killed because sub lieutenant Steinhäuser had ordered to open fire upon the demonstrators. A sailor shot back and killed the officer. The mass protest turned into a general revolt.

On the morning of 4. November the sailors of the 3. Navy Squadron elected a Sailor's Council under the chairmanship of first class stoker Karl Artelt. Then they disarmed their officers, took over the ships, freed the mutineers in custody and took control of the public and military installations of Kiel. Army soldiers which the Kiel Garrison Command had called from Hamburg to quash the rebellion allied themselves with the sailors upon arrival in the afternoon of 4. November. Kiel as well as 2 days later Wilhelmshaven was firmly in the hands of about 40,000 revolting sailors, soldiers and workers.

On the same evening the SPD deputy Gustav Noske arrived in Kiel. On behalf of the new Government and the SPD-Leadership he was to bring the revolt under his control in order to prevent a revolution. The Kiel Workers' and Soldiers' Council wanted to strengthen the new government and wanted its support. Noske managed to calm things down and the same evening he was elected "Governor" of Kiel. In the following days Noske actually succeeded in ending the revolution in Kiel. But it was too late: the events had already spread far beyond the city limits.

The revolution catches hold in the whole Empire

As of 4. November delegations of the sailors scattered out to all larger cities in the country. Already by 7. November the revolution had seized all larger coastal cities as well as Hanover, Brunswick, Frankfurt and Munich. In Munich a Workers' and Soldiers' Council forced the last King of Bavaria, Louis III, to abdicate. Bavaria was the first state of the Empire to be declared a "Council Republic" (Räterepublik) Munich Soviet Republic by USPD-Member Kurt Eisner. In the following days the royals of all the other German states abdicated, the last one on 23. November was Günther Victor von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. The Workers' and Soldiers' Councils were almost entirely made up of SPD and USPD members. Their programme was democracy, pacifism and anti-militarism. Apart from the royals they only deprived the hitherto almighty military commands of power. The civilian administration and office bearers remained unscathed. There were also hardly any confiscations of property or occupations of factories because such measures were expected from the new government. In order to create an executive committed to the revolution and to the future government for the time being the councils laid claim only to the supervision of the administration which previously had been in the hands of the military commands. Thus the SPD's power became firmly established on the local level. But while the councils believed to be acting in the interest of the new order, the party leaders of the SPD regarded the councils as disturbing elements for a peaceful changeover of power, which they imagined already to have taken place. Along with the middle-class parties they demanded elections for a national assembly as soon as possible. The assembly was to make the final decision on the type of state. This soon brought them into opposition with a large number of revolutionaries. Especially the USPD took over their demands, one of which was elections as late as possible hoping to create unchangeable facts that met the expectations of a large part of the work force.

Reactions in Berlin

Ebert agreed with Max von Baden, that a social revolution was to be prevented and the state order must be upheld at any cost. For the restructuring of the state Ebert wanted to win over the middle-class parties, which already had cooperated with the SPD in the Reichstag in 1917, as well as the old elites of the Empire. He wanted to avoid a feared radicalization of the revolution along Russian lines and he also worried that the precarious situation of supplies could collapse when the existing administration would be taken over by inexperienced revolutionaries. Ebert believed the SPD would inevitably gain parliamentary majorities in the future, enabling the party to implement its reform plans. As far as possible he therefore spared no effort to act in agreement with the old powers.

Ebert still had in mind to save the monarchy as such. In order to produce some success to his followers he demanded as of November 6 the abdication of the Kaiser. But Wilhelm II, still in his headquarters in Spa, was playing for time. After the Entente had agreed to truce negotiations on that day he hoped to return to Germany at the head of the army and to quell the revolution by force. According to notes taken by Max von Baden Ebert declared on 7. November: "If the Kaiser doesn't abdicate the social revolution is unavoidable. But I don't want it, indeed I hate it like the sin." (Wenn der Kaiser nicht abdankt, dann ist die soziale Revolution unvermeidlich. Ich aber will sie nicht, ja, ich hasse sie wie die Sünde.) ^[7] Ebert planned to travel to Spa and personally convince the Kaiser of the necessity to abdicate. Yet, this plan was taken over by the quickly deteriorating situation in Berlin.

9 November 1919: The end of the monarchy

On the eve of 9. November the USPD called up 26 assemblies in Berlin in which a general strike and mass demonstrations were announced for the following day. Thereupon Ebert demanded the Kaiser's abdication one more time, given as an ultimatum. At these meetings he wanted to present this step as an SPD-success. As a precaution against possible unrest on the same evening the government Max von Baden had the 4. Rifle Regiment Naumburg, considered to be especially reliable, ordered to Berlin. But even the soldiers of this regiment were not willing to shoot at fellow citizens. As on early Saturday morning they were being given hand grenades by their officers, they sent a delegation to editorial staff of the SPD party newspaper "Vorwärts" (Forward) demanding to be enlightened about the situation. There they met the SPD deputy Otto Wels who managed to convince them to support the leadership of the party and its policies. After that he won over additional regiments to put themselves under the control of Ebert.

Thus military control of the capital fell into the hands of the Social Democrats. But Ebert worried that they could be lost just as quick if political forces left of the SPD succeeded in attracting the workers on their side in the upcoming demonstrations. This was a definite possibility when, after a call by the USPD, several large protest marches with hundreds of thousands of people were on their way to the centre of Berlin. On their banners it said: "Unity", "Justice and Freedom" and "Brothers, don't shoot!".

File:Porträt Wilhelm II.jpg

Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Around the same time the Kaiser was informed on the results of a survey among 39 army commanders: Also the troops at the front were not ready to follow his orders anymore. The previous evening, for the first time, a Guards regiment refused to obey orders. Telegrams from Berlin urgently asked him to abdicate immediately, so that the news could have a calming effect. Yet, the Kaiser still hesitated and considered only to abdicate as German Kaiser but not as King of Prussia. Finally Max von Baden took it on his own to take action. Without waiting for a decision from Spa he issued a telegraphic declaration as follows:

"The Kaiser and King has resolved to renounce the throne. The Imperial Chancellor will remain in office until the issues regarding the abdication of the Kaiser, the Crown Prince's renunciation of the thrones of the German Empire and of Prussia , and the appointment of a regency have been solved." ^[8]

The Kaiser reacted by taking flight to the Netherlands where he remained until he died in 1941. Since he signed the abdication document only weeks later in exile, his border crossing equalled desertion which also cost him the sympathy of his officers.

In order to remain master of the situation, in the afternoon of 9. November, Friedrich Ebert demanded the chancellorship for himself. Max von Baden complied but refused to accept the office of a deputy (Reichsverweser). Ebert still considered himself to be Chancellor of the Empire with a Kaiser and he trusted to have found an interim arrangement until a new Regent could be appointed.

The news of the Kaiser's abdication came too late to impress the demonstrators. Nobody followed the public appeals, which had been published in special issues of the "Vorwärts", to return home or to the barracks. More and more demonstrators demanded the total abolishment of the monarchy. Karl Liebknecht, only just recently released from prison, had returned to Berlin and re-founded the Spartakist League the previous day. At lunch in the Reichstag the SPD deputy chairman Philipp Scheidemann learned that Liebknecht planned the proclamation of the Socialist Republic. Scheidemann did not want to leave the initiative to the Spartakists and without further ado stepped out onto the balcony of the Reichstag. From there he proclaimed – against Ebert's professed will – before a mass of demonstrating people on his part the Republic with the words:

"The Kaiser has abdicated. He and his friends have disappeared. The people triumphed over them all along the line. Prince Max von Baden handed over his chancellorship to MP Ebert. Our friend will form a Workers' Government of which all socialist parties will be a member. The new government may not be disturbed in its endeavour for peace and caring for work and bread. Workers and soldiers, be aware of the historical importance of this day: something unheard of has happened. Big and vast problems lie ahead of us. Everything for the people. Everything by the people. Nothing may happen to dishonour to the labour movement. Be united, true and conscientious of your duties. The old and rotten, the monarchy has collapsed. Long live the new. Long live the German Republic!" ^[9]

Only hours later Berlin newspapers published that –presumably at the same time- in the Berlin Tiergarten Liebknecht had proclaimed the Socialist Republic to which again he swore in a crowd of people assembled around 4 p.m. at the Berlin Royal Residence (Stadtschloss):

"Party comrades, I proclaim the Free Socialist Republic of Germany which shall embrace all tribes. In which there will be no more servants, in which every honest worker will find the honest pay for his work. The reign of capitalism which has devastated Europe is broken." ^[10]

At that time Karl Liebknecht's intentions were little known to the public. 7. October the Spartakist League demanded a far reaching restructuring of the economy, the army and the judiciary – amongst other things the abolishment of the death penalty. The biggest bone of contention with the SPD was to be demand of the Spartakist leadership to create facts by socializing and other measures "before" the election of a constituent assembly while the SPD wanted to leave the decision for the future economic system to the assembly.

"Ebert was faced with a dilemma. The first proclamation he had issued on 9 November was addressed 'To the German Citizens'. It began: 'The outgoing Reich Chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, has, with the consent of all the Secretaries of State, transferred upon me the administration of the office of Reich Chancellor. I am about to form the new government in agreement with the parties and shall report to the public forthwith! Now, the Chancellor and the Secretaries of State had no constitutional right to transfer the Chancellor's office to anyone else, nor had anyone else the right to accept this office from them. Ebert's first proclamation thus was constitutionally absurd. Of course, this happened before Scheidemann proclaimed the Republic, but after Prince Max had declared the abdication of the Kaiser. Twenty-four hours later that absurdity could no longer be maintained. Ebert became a People's Commissar and acknowledged that the political power resided in the workers' and soldiers' councils. Germany was, in fact, a soviet republic." ^[11]

Ebert wanted to take the sting out of the revolutionary mood and he wanted to meet the demands of the demonstrators for the unity of the labour parties. He offered the USPD to participate in the government and wanted to accept Liebknecht as a minister. Liebknecht in turn demanded the control of the workers' councils over the army. As USPD chairman Hugo Haase was in Kiel and the deliberations went on the USPD deputies were not able to come to a decision on that day.

Neither the premature announcement of the Kaiser's abdication by Max von Baden and Ebert's chancellorship, nor Scheidemann's proclamation of the Republic were covered by the constitution. These all constituted revolutionary actions by protagonists who did not want a revolution but nevertheless created lasting facts. However, as late as the same evening, a real revolutionary action took place which, in the end, would prove to have been in vain.

Around 8 p.m. a group of 100 Revolutionary Stewards (Revolutionäre Obleute) from the larger Berlin factories occupied the Reichstag and formed a Revolutionary Parliament. Most of them were the same persons who made their début in January as strike leaders. They did not trust the SPD leadership and had planned a coup independently from the sailor's revolt for 11. November but had been surprised by the revolutionary events since Kiel. In order to snatch the initiative from Ebert they now decided to announce elections for the following day: On that Sunday every Berlin factory and every regiment was to decide on workers' and soldiers' councils which then were to elect a revolutionary government from members of the 2 labour parties (SPD and USPD). This Council of the People's Representatives (Rat der Volksbeauftragten) was to execute the resolutions of the Revolutionary Parliament as the revolutionaries intended and to replace Ebert's function as chancellor.

10 November: SPD leadership in opposition to the revolutionary stewards

As late as Saturday evening the SPD leadership heard of these plans. As the elections and the following councils' meeting could not be prevented Ebert sent speakers to all Berlin regiments and into the factories in the same night and the early following morning. They were to influence the elections in his favour and announce the participation of the USPD in the government.

In turn, these activities did not escape the attention of the Stewards. When it became foreseeable that Ebert would also play the tune in the new government, they planned to propose to the assembly not only the election of a government but also the appointment of an Action Committee. This committee was to co-ordinate the activities of the Workers' and Soldiers' Councils. For this election the Stewards had already prepared a list of names on which the SPD was not represented. In this manner they hoped to install a monitoring body acceptable to them.

In the assembly that convened 10th November in the Circus Busch the majority stood on the side of the SPD: almost all Soldiers' Councils and a large part of the workers representatives. They repeated the demand for the "Unity of the Working Class" which had been put forward by the revolutionaries the previous day and now used this motto in order to push through Ebert's line. As planned, three members of each socialist party were elected into the "Council of People's Representatives", from the USPD, their chairman Haase, the deputy Wilhelm Dittmann and Emil Barth for the Revolutionary Stewards; from the SPD Ebert, Scheidemann and the Magdeburg deputy Otto Landsberg.

The proposal by the Stewards to additionally elect an Action Committee took the SPD leadership by surprise and started heated debates. Ebert finally succeeded in also having this 24-member "Executive Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils" equally filled with SPD and USPD members. The Executive Council decided to summon an "Imperial Council Convention" in December to Berlin.

Although Ebert had saved the decisive part of the SPD he was not happy with the results. He did not regard the Council Parliament and the Executive Council as help but only as an obstacle on the way to a new system of government with a smooth transition from the Empire. It was mainly the councils but not the old elites in army and administration that the whole SPD leadership regarded as a danger. They considerably overestimated the old elite's loyalty to the new republic. What bothered Ebert most waas that now in front of the Councils he couldn't act as Chancellor but only as chairman of a revolutionary government. Indeed, conservatives regarded him as a traitor although he had only taken the lead of the revolution in order to stop it.

In the 8 weeks of double rule of Councils and Imperial Government the latter always was dominant. The whole higher level administration only submitted to Ebert although Haase formally was a chairman in the Council with equal rights. As far as the question of real power was concerned the decisive factor was a phone call in the evening of 10. November between Ebert and General Wilhelm Groener, the new 1. General Quartermaster in Spa. The General assured Ebert of the support of the Army and therefore was given Ebert's promise to reinstate the military hierarchy and, with the help of the army, to take action against the Councils.

Behind the secret Ebert-Groener-Pact stood the SPD's worry that the revolution could end in a Council (Soviet) Republic following the Russian example. But the expectation was not to be met, that the Imperial Officer Corps could be won over for the republic. At the same time Ebert's behaviour became increasingly puzzling to the revolutionary workers and soldiers and their Stewards. Thus the SPD leadership lost more and more confidence of its supporters without gaining any sympathies from the opponents of the revolution on the right.

In the turmoil of this day it went almost totally unnoticed that the Ebert government, after a renewed demand by the Supreme Command, had accepted the harsh terms of the Entente for a truce. On 11. November the Centre Party deputy Matthias Erzberger, on behalf of Berlin, signed the armistice agreement in Compiègne, France.

The Stinnes-Legien-Agreement

The ideas among the revolutionaries about the future economical and state system varied greatly. The demand to at least place the heavy industry with importance for the war under democratic control was widely circulated in both SPD and USPD. The left wings of both parties and the Revolutionary Stewards wanted to go beyond that and establish a "direct democracy" in the production sector. The elected delegates in this sector were also to control the political power. In was not only in the interest of the SPD to prevent a Council Democracy, but also in the interest of the unions who would have been rendered superfluous by the councils.

That's why during the revolutionary events the union leaders under Carl Legien and the representatives of big indrsrty under Hugo Stinnes and Carl Friedrich von Siemens met in Berlin 9. to 12. November. On 15. November they signed an agreement with advantages for both sides: The union representatives promised to guaranty orderly production, to end wild strikes, to drive back the influence of the councils and to prevent a nationalisation of means of production. Therefore the employers guarantied to introduce the eight hour day, which the workers had demanded in vain for years. The employers agreed to the union claim of sole representation and to the lasting recognition of the unions instead of the Councils. Both parties formed a "Central Committee for the Maintenance of the Economy" (Zentralausschuss für die Aufrechterhaltung der Wirtschaft). An "Arbitration Committee" (Schlichtungsausschuss) was to mediate in future conflicts between employers and unions. From now on in every factory with more than 50 employees committees together with the management were to monitor the keeping to the wage settlements.

With this the unions had achieved one of their long time demands but undermined all efforts for nationalising means of production and largely eliminated the Councils.

Interim government and the council movement

The Reichstag hadn't been summoned since 9. November. The Council of the People's Deputies and the Executive Council had replaced the old government. But the previous administrative machinery remained unchanged. Imperial servants only had representatives of SPD and USPD assigned to them. Thus these servants all kept their positions and continued to do their work in most parts unchanged.

12. November the Council of People's Representatives published its democratic and social government programme. It lifted the state of siege and censorship, abolished the "Gesindeordnung" (Servant Rules, rules governing relations between servant and master) and introduced general suffrage from 20 up, for the first time also for women. There was an amnesty for all political prisoners. Regulations for the freedom of association, assembly and press were enacted. The eight hour day became statutory on the basis of the Stinnes-Legien-Agreement and benefits for unemployment, social insurance and workers' compensation were expanded.

At the insistence of USPD representatives the Council of People's Representatives appointed a "Nationalisation Committee", among others with Karl Kautsky, Rudolf Hilferding and Otto Hue. This committee was to examine which industries were "fit" for nationalisation and to prepare the nationalisation of the coal and steel industry. This committee sat until 7. April 1919 without any tangible result. "Self-Administration Bodies" were only installed in coal and potash mining and in the steel industry. It's from these bodies that the modern German Works or Factory Committees emerged. Socialist expropriations were not initiated.

The SPD leadership rather worked with the old administration than with the new Workers' and Soldiers' Councils, because it did not consider them capable of properly supplying the needs of the population. As of mid-November this caused continuing strife with the Executive Council. The Council continuously changed its position after whoever it just happened to represent. As a result Ebert withdrew more and more responsibilities planning to end the "meddling and interfering" of the Councils in Germany for good. But Ebert and the SPD leadership by far overestimated the power not only of the Council Movement but of the Spartakist League as well. The Spartakist League, for example, never had control over the Council Movement as the conservatives and parts of the SPD believed and made believe. In Leipzig, Hamburg, Bremen, Chemnitz and Gotha the Workers' and Soldiers' Councils put the city administrations under their control. In addition, in Brunswick, Düsseldorf, Mülheim/Ruhr and Zwickau all civil servants true to the Kaiser were arrested. In Hamburg and Bremen "Red Guards" were formed that were to protect the revolution. The Councils deposed the management of the Leuna Works, a giant chemical factory near Merseburg. The new Councils were appointed spontaneously and arbitrarily and had no management experience whatsoever. But there was a majority of Councils that came to arrangements with the old administrations and saw to it that law and order were quickly restored. For example, Max Weber was part of the workers' council of Heidelberg, and was pleasantly surprised that most members were moderate German liberals. The Councils took over the distribution of foods, the police and the accommodation and provisions of the front-line soldiers that were gradually returning home.

Administration and Councils depended on each other: the former had the knowledge and experience, the latter had political clout. In most cases SPD-members had been elected into the Councils who regarded their job as interim solution. For them as well as for the majority of the population in 1918/19 the introduction of a Council Republic was never an issue. But then they were also never given a chance to think about it. Many wanted to support the new government and expected it to abolish militarism and the authoritarian state. They were weary of the war, there was great poverty and many of them hoped for a peaceful solution. As a result of this they partially overestimated the revolutionary achievements.

Imperial Council Convention

As decided by the Executive Committee the Workers' and Soldiers' Councils in the whole Empire sent deputies to Berlin who were to convene 16. December in the Circus Busch for the "First General Convention of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils" (Erster Allgemeiner Kongress der Arbeiter- und Soldatenräte). On 15. December Ebert and General Groener had troops ordered to Berlin to prevent this convention and to regain control of the capital. 16. December one of the regiments intended for this plan advanced too early. In the attempt to arrest the Executive Council the soldiers opened fire on a demonstration of unarmed "Red Guards" which were Soldiers' Councils affiliated with the Spartakists, and killed 16 people.

With this the potential for violence and the danger of a coup from the right already became visible. Because of this experience Rosa Luxemburg demanded on 12. December in the daily newspaper of the Spartakist League "Red Flag" (Rote Fahne) the peaceful disarmament of the homecoming military units by the Berlin workforce. She wanted the Soldiers' Councils to be subordinated to the Revolutionary Parliament and the soldiers to become re-educated.

On 10. December Ebert welcomed ten divisions returning from the front hoping to use them against the Councils. As it turned out, these troops also were not willing to go on fighting. The war was over, Christmas was at the door and most of the soldiers just wanted to go home to their families. So shortly after their arrival in Berlin they dispersed. The blow against the Convention of Councils did not take place.

This blow would have been unnecessary anyway because the convention that took up its work 16. December in the Prussian House of Representatives also consisted mainly of SPD followers. Not even Karl Liebknecht had managed to get a seat. The Spartakist League was not granted any influence. 19. December the Councils voted 344 to 98 against the creation of a Council System as a basis for a new constitution. They much rather supported the governments decision to call for elections for a constituent national assembly as soon as possible. It was this assembly that was to decide upon the state system.

The Convention disagreed with Ebert only on the issue of control of the army. Among other things the Convention demanded a say for the Central Council, which it would elect, in the supreme command of the army, the free election of officers and the disciplinary powers for the Soldiers' Councils. This would have been contrary to the agreement between Ebert and General Groener. They both spared no effort to undo this decision. The Supreme Command which in the meantime had moved from Spa to Kassel, began to raise loyal volunteer corps (Freikorps) which it intended to use against the supposed Bolshevik menace. Unlike the revolutionary soldiers of November these troops were monarchist-minded officers and men who feared the return into civil life.

Christmas crisis

After 9. November the government had ordered the newly created People's Navy Division (Volksmarinedivision) from Kiel to Berlin for its protection and stationed it in the Royal Stables (Marstall) of the Berlin Stadtschloss (Imperial City Residence). The Division was considered absolutely loyal and had refused to participate in the coup attempt of 16. December. The sailors even deposed their commander because they saw him involved in the affair. It was this loyalty that now gave them the reputation of being in favour of the Spartakists. Ebert demanded their disbanding and withdrawal from the Residence and Otto Wels, as of 9. November commander of Berlin an in line with Ebert, refused the sailor's pay.

The dispute escalated on 23. December. After having been put off for days the sailors occupied the Imperial Chancellery, cut the phone lines, put the Council of People's Representatives under house arrest and captured Otto Wels. The sailors did not exploit the situation to eliminate the Ebert government, as could have been expected from Spartakist revolutionaries. Instead, they still only insisted on their pay. Nevertheless, Ebert, who via secret phone line was in touch with the Supreme Command in Kassel, gave orders to attack the Residence with troops loyal to the government on the morning of 24. December. The sailors repelled the attack under their commander Heinrich Dorrenbach, losing about 30 men and civilians in the fight. The government troops had to withdraw from the centre of Berlin. They themselves were now disbanded and integrated into the newly formed Freikorps. To make up for the loss of face they temporarily occupied the editor's offices of the "Red Flag". But military power in Berlin once more was in the hands of the People's Navy Division. Again, the sailors did not take advantage of the situation.

On one side this shows that the sailors were not Spartakists, on the other, that the revolution had no guidance. Even if Liebknecht had been the revolutionary leader like Lenin, to which legend later made him, the sailors as well as the Councils would not have accepted him as such. So the only result of the Christmas Crisis, which the Spartakists named "Eberts Bloody Christmas", was that the Revolutionary Stewards called for a demonstration on Christmas Day and that the USPD left the government in protest on 29. December. They couldn't have done Ebert a bigger favour since he had only let them participate under the pressure of the revolutionary events. Within a few days the military defeat of the Ebert government turned into a political victory.

Founding of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the January Revolt

The Spartakists concluded after their experiences with the SPD and the USPD that their goals could only be met in a party of their own. Also because of the unhappiness of many workers with the course of the revolution and joined by other left-socialist groups of the whole Empire they founded the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). ^[12]

Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg drew up her founding programme and presented it 31. December 1918. In this programme she pointed out that the communists could never take power without a clear will of the people in the majority. 1. January she again demanded that the KPD participate in the planned elections but was outvoted. The majority still hoped to gain power by continued agitation in the factories and by the "pressure from the streets". After deliberations with the Spartakists the Revolutionary Stewards decided to remain in the USPD.

The first days of the new year were to bring the decisive defeat of the left. As in November almost spontaneously a second revolutionary wave which, this time, was violently suppressed. The wave was started when 4. January the government dismissed the chief constable of Berlin, Emil Eichhorn, who was a member of the USPD and who had refused to act against the demonstrating workers in the Christmas Crisis. USPD, Revolutionary Stewards and the KPD chairmen Karl Liebknecht and Wilhelm Pieck used Eichhorn's dismissal as an opportunity to call for a demonstration on the following day. To the surprise of the initiators the demonstration turned into an assembly of huge masses. On Sunday 5. January, as on 9. November 1918, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the centre of Berlin, many of them armed. In the afternoon the train stations and the newspaper district with the offices of the middle-class press and the "Vorwärts" were occupied. Some of the middle-class papers in the previous days not only had called for the raising of more Freikorps, but also for the murder of the Spartakists.

The demonstrators were mainly the same as two months previous. They now demanded the fulfilment of the hopes expressed in November. The Spartakists by no means had a leading position. The demands came straight from the workforce supported by various groups left of the SPD. Also the now following so called "Spartacist Uprising" only partially originated in the KPD. They were even a minority.

The initiators assembled at the Police Headquarters elected a 53-member "Interim Revolutionary Committee" (Provisorischer Revolutionsausschuss) which had no idea how to make use of its power and was unable to give any clear direction. Liebknecht demanded the topple of the government and agreed with the majority of the committee that propagated the armed struggle. Rosa Luxemburg as well as the majority of KPD leaders thought a revolt at this moment to be a catastrophe and explicitly spoke out against it.

On 6. January the Revolutionary Committee again called for a mass demonstration. This time even more people headed the call. Again they carried placards and banners that said: "Brothers, don't shoot!" and remained waiting on an assembly square. A part of the Revolutionary Stewards armed themselves and called for the overthrow of the Ebert government. But the KPD-activists mostly failed in their endeavour to win over the troops. It turned out that even the units like the People's Navy Division were not willing to support the armed revolt. It declared itself neutral. The other regiments stationed in Berlin mostly remained loyal to the government.

While at Ebert's orders more troops were moving into Berlin, he accepted an offer by the USPD to mediate between him and the Revolutionary Committee. After the advance of the troops into the city became known and an SPD-leaflet appeared saying: "The hour of reckoning is nigh" the Committee broke off further negotiations on 8. January. That was opportunity enough for Ebert to use the troops stationed in Berlin against the occupiers. Beginning 9. January they violently quelled an improvised revolt. In addition to that, on 12. January, the Freikorps, which had been raised more or less as death squads since the beginning of December, moved into Berlin. Gustav Noske, who had been People's Representative for Army and Navy for a few days, accepted the premium command of these troops saying: „If you like, someone has to be the bad guy. I won't shy away from the responsibility."^[13]

After the Freikorps brutally had cleared several buildings and shot the occupiers on the spot, the others soon surrendered. A part of them was nevertheless shot. In this manner 156 people lost their lives.

The murder of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg

The alleged wire pullers of the January Revolt had to go into hiding and in spite of being urged by their compatriots refused to leave Berlin. On the evening of 15. January 1919 Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht were discovered in a Berlin-Wilmersdorf apartment, arrested and handed over to the largest Freikorps, the heavily armed Garde-Kavallerie-Schützen-Division. Their commander, Captain Waldemar Pabst had them questioned and badly mistreated. That same night both prisoners were beaten unconscious with the rifle buts and shot in the head. Rosa Luxemburg's body was thrown into the Landwehr Canal running through Berlin, where it was only found on 1. July. Karl Liebknecht's body, without a name, was delivered to a morgue.

The perpetrators for the most part went unpunished. The Nazis later compensated the few that had been trailed or even put to jail and they merged the Gardekavallerie into the SA (Sturmabteilung). In an interview given to "Der Spiegel" in 1962 and in his memoirs Papst maintained that he had talked on the phone with Noske in the Chancellery. ^[14] Noske and Ebert had approved of his actions. Apart from this statement by the perpetrator no proof has been found that such an order was issued by Ebert and Noske, especially since neither parliament nor the courts examined the case.

After the murders of 15. January the opposition between SPD and KPD grew even more irreconcilable. One result of this in the coming years was that in the Weimar Republic both parties could not decide on joint action against the Nazis (NSDAP) which was growing in strength as of 1930.

File:Spartacus fight.JPG

Communists of the Spartacist League fighting in the streets

Further revolts in tow of the revolution

In the first months of 1919 there were further armed revolts all over Germany. In some states Councils Republics were proclaimed and existed, even if only temporarily.

These revolts were triggered by Noske's decision end of February to take armed action against the Council Government of Bremen. In spite of an offer to negotiate he ordered his Freikorps units to invade the city. Approximately 400 people were killed in the ensuing fights.

This caused an eruption of mass strikes in the Ruhr District, the Rhineland and in Saxony. Members of the USPD, the KPD and even the SPD called for a general strike which started 4. March. Against the will of the strike leadership the strikes escalated into street fighting in Berlin. The Prussian government, which in the meantime had declared a state of siege, called the Imperial government for help. Again Noske made use of the Gardekavallerie-Schützendivision commanded by Pabst against the strikers in Berlin. He ordered anybody offering armed resistance shot. By the end of the fighting 16. March they had killed approximately 1,200 people, many of them unarmed and uninvolved. Amongst others 29 members of the Peoples Navy Division, who had surrendered, were executed on the spot.

The situation in Hamburg and Thuringia also was very much like a civil war. The Council Government holding out the longest was the one in Munich Munich Soviet Republic. It was only 2. Mai that Prussian and Wurttemberg Freikorps units drove them out using the same violent methods as in Berlin and Bremen.

According to modern predominating opinion of historians ^[15] the establishment of a Bolshevik-style council dictatorship, as late as 9./10. November, was beyond the realm of the possible. Yet the Ebert Government felt threatened by a coup from the left and co-operated with the Supreme Command and the Freikorps. The brutal actions of the Freikorps during the various revolts estranged many left democrats from the SPD. They, and of course the USPD and the KPD, regard Ebert's, Noske's and the other SPD leader's behaviour during the revolution to this very day outright as betrayal against the own followers.

National Assembly and New Imperial Constitution

On 19. January a Constituent National Assembly (Verfassungsgebende Nationalversammlung) was elected. Aside from SPD and USPD, the catholic Centre Party (Zentrumspartei) and several middle-class parties took part, which had established themselves since November: the left-liberal German Democratic Party (Deutsche Demokratische Partei DDP), the national-liberal German Peoples Party (Deutsche Volkspartei DVP) and the conservative, nationalist German National Peoples Party (Deutschnationale Volkspartei DNVP). In spite of Rosa Luxemburg's recommendation the KPD did not participate in these elections. The SPD became the strongest party in the Reichstag with 37.4 % and 165 out of 423 deputies. The USPD only received 7.6 % and sent 22 deputies into the parliament. The rating of the USPD temporarily went up one more time after the Kapp-Lüttwitz-Coup (Kapp-Lüttwitz-Putsch) in 1920 but the party then dissolved in 1922. The Centre Party was runner-up to the SPD with 91 deputies, the DDP had 75, the DVP 19 and the DNVP 44. As a result the SPD formed a coalition with the Centre Party and the DDP. To get away from the post-revolutionary confusion in Berlin the National Assembly met on 6. February in Weimar, where Friedrich Ebert was elected temporary Imperial President on 11. February and Philipp Scheidemann Prime Minister (Ministerpräsident) of the newly formed coalition on 13. February. Ebert was constitutionally sworn in as Imperial President (Reichspräsident) 21. August.

The new Weimar Constituion (Weimarer Verfassung) which transformed the German Empire into a democratic republic was passed 11. August with the support of the SPD, Centre Party and DDP. This constitution continued the liberal and democratic tradition of the 19. century and –as did the Basic Law of modern Germany- took over word for word many of the passages from the "Paul's Church Constitution" of 1849. But basic demands of the November revolutionaries remained unfulfilled: the nationalisation of the coal and steel industries, the expropriation of large banks, industries and the nobility and the democratisation of the officers' corps, which already had been started by the Imperial Council Convention. The positions and pension claims of the imperial civil servants and soldiers were expressly protected.

On one hand the Weimar Constitution offered more possibilities for direct democracy (e. g. plebiscites) than the modern German Basic Law. On the other hand Article 48 (Emergency decree) gave the President far-reaching authority to act also against the majority in parliament and to employ the army inside the country if necessary. This article proved to be a decisive means to destroy democracy in 1932/1933.

Historical classification

The November Revolution is one of the most important events in recent German history and can be rightful placed among the big revolutions of the world. But, unlike the French or American Revolution, it is only barely embedded in the historical memory of Germans.

There is hardly a historical event which has been subject to so many lies as this Revolution of 1918/1919. Three of the myths have proven to be especially tough:

Most of the German middle-class to this very day simply deny that a revolution ever took place. All that ever happened in their eyes was a collapse of state order. The temporary weakness of the government made a sailor's revolt look like a revolution.
The SPD denies to this very day, that the November Revolution was the revolution it had been proclaiming and demanding for 50 years. Instead, the SPD claims, it was a Bolshevik revolution, a version from Russia, creating chaos, from which they saved the country.
Ludendorff and Hindenburg gave birth to the myth, that the revolution caused the defeat of Germany in the Great War (Myth of the Stab in the Back). This bold lie itself was a stab in the back of the new Social Democrat government which they had installed to take on the responsibility of ending the war. The myth was pretext enough for the German Right to hound Ebert and the Social Democrats until Hitler took power. The great irony of history is that Ebert aborted a Social Democratic Revolution, thus himself doing some back-stabbing and saving the German Right. But Ebert and the SPD were punished by the Right, whom they had helped, and not by their followers, whom they had betrayed.

Unlike the middle-class, both the radical right as well as the radical left nourished the idea that there was a communist revolt with the aim to turn Germany into a Council Republic along Soviet Russian lines. Of course the centre democratic parties, especially the SPD, had no interest in a just assessment of the events that turned Germany into a republic.

From the time of its birth the new republic had the stigma of having caused the defeat in the war. A large part of the middle-class and the old elite in the military, courts and administration never accepted the new type of state. They regarded the democratic republic as a structure to be disposed of at the first opportunity. On the left the SPD's behaviour during the revolution had driven many of its followers to the communists. As a result of the aborted revolution of November the Weimar Republic remained a "Democracy without Democrats"^[16] and it perished after only 14 years.

Because of all this, to this very day Germans take no pride in their revolution. In addition to that, the foundering of the Weimar Republic and the so called Third Reich of the National Socialists blurred any view into the past. The complicated background is hardly ever taught in a German schools and unfortunately modern interpretation is still more defined by legends than actual facts.

References

^ siehe hierzu Ullrich, Die nervöse Großmacht S. 173-176
^ siehe Ullrich, Die nervöse Großmacht S. 446 f.
^ zit. nach Haffner, Der Verrat S. 12
^ zit. nach Schulze, Weimar. Germany 1917-1933, S. 158
^ zit. nach Haffner, Der Verrat S. 32f.
^ zit. nach Schulze, Weimar. Deutschland 1917-1933 S. 149
^ zitiert nach v. Baden: Erinnerungen und Dokumente S. 599 f.
^ zit. nach Michalka u. Niedhart (Hg.): Deutsche Geschichte 1918-1933, S. 18
^ zit. nach Michalka u. Niedhart (Hg.): Deutsche Geschichte 1918-1933, S. 20 f.
^ zit. nach Michalka u. Niedhart (Hg.): Deutsche Geschichte 1918-1933, S. 21
^ zit. nach Coper, Rudolf, Failure of a Revolution: German in 1918-1919 S. 102
^ siehe hierzu Winkler, Weimar S. 55 f.
^ zit. nach Winkler, Weimar S. 58
^ siehe Der Spiegel v. 18.04.1962
^ vgl. Schulze, Weimar. Deutschland 1917-1933 S. 169 u. 170
^ siehe hierzu Sontheimer, Antidemokratisches Denken

External links

An overview of the German Revolution by Gerhard Rempel of Western New England College
Three texts on the German Revolution written by council communists
Library of materials on the German Revolution at marxists.org
archive of texts on the German Revolution at libcom.org
Homepage from Kiel Interview with one of the leaders of the mutiny in Kiel: Lothar Popp; CV of Lothar Popp; interviews with other "time witnesses"; evaluations

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[1] siehe hierzu Ullrich, Die nervöse Großmacht S. 173-176

[2] siehe Ullrich, Die nervöse Großmacht S. 446 f.

[3] zit. nach Haffner, Der Verrat S. 12

[4] zit. nach Schulze, Weimar. Germany 1917-1933, S. 158

[5] zit. nach Haffner, Der Verrat S. 32f.

[6] zit. nach Schulze, Weimar. Deutschland 1917-1933 S. 149

[7] zitiert nach v. Baden: Erinnerungen und Dokumente S. 599 f.

[8] zit. nach Michalka u. Niedhart (Hg.): Deutsche Geschichte 1918-1933, S. 18

[9] zit. nach Michalka u. Niedhart (Hg.): Deutsche Geschichte 1918-1933, S. 20 f.

[10] zit. nach Michalka u. Niedhart (Hg.): Deutsche Geschichte 1918-1933, S. 21

[11] zit. nach Coper, Rudolf, Failure of a Revolution: German in 1918-1919 S. 102

[12] siehe hierzu Winkler, Weimar S. 55 f.

[13] zit. nach Winkler, Weimar S. 58

[14] siehe Der Spiegel v. 18.04.1962

[15] vgl. Schulze, Weimar. Deutschland 1917-1933 S. 169 u. 170

[16] siehe hierzu Sontheimer, Antidemokratisches Denken

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