Introduction¶
Core Argument¶
In the aftermath of the First World War, a revolutionary wave convulsed Europe, ignited by the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the German Revolution of November 1918. The ruling classes were gripped by the spectre of Bolshevism, which threatened to consume the existing order. Contrary to official accounts, it was the revolutionary uprising of German soldiers, sailors and workers—not the generals—that ended the war. Lenin and the Bolsheviks understood that Germany, not backward Russia, was the decisive battleground for world revolution. On 9 November 1918, workers’ and soldiers’ councils sprang up across Germany, creating a situation of dual power. The Kaiser fled, monarchies collapsed, and red flags flew everywhere. The Allies, fearing Bolshevism more than German militarism, allowed Germany to retain machine guns specifically to fire on its own people if necessary.
The German Revolution was a genuine revolution, defined by the masses’ forcible entry onto the political stage, breaking the Junker class’s domination and sweeping away the monarchy. Yet, unlike Russia’s October Revolution, it stopped halfway, failing to destroy the economic power of bankers and capitalists. A revolution must go all the way or fail; there is no halfway house. Despite holding power, the German workers’ councils handed it to Social Democratic leaders, who used it to rescue capitalism rather than establish a socialist republic. These reformists, having abandoned Marxism, squandered the revolutionary opportunity and paved the way for reaction.
Victory requires a determined, conscious revolutionary leadership prepared to go to the end. The revolution’s defeat, alongside lost opportunities in 1919, 1920, and 1923, was caused by betrayals and blunders by reformist and Communist leaders. This prepared the ground for fascism. Hitler could have been stopped, but Social Democrats refused to fight, and Stalinist Communist leaders denounced socialists as ‘social fascists’, rejecting Trotsky’s call for a united front. This capitulation was the most humiliating in history. Stalin later abandoned ‘social fascism’ for the Popular Front, preparing defeat in Spain and the Second World War. The new generation must learn these lessons. Today, with capitalism in crisis and revolutionary convulsions approaching, the greatly increased strength of the working class is decisive. Revolutions are the motive force of history.