Chapter Two: In the throes of Revolution¶
Core Argument¶
The November Revolution of 1918 erupted not from below but from the crumbling apex of German society. The old regime, trapped between world war, revolution and autocratic rule, was disintegrating. Mass pressures, long suppressed by military censorship, were breaking through. The Ludendorff Offensive of spring 1918 had stalled; by autumn, with Turkey and Austria-Hungary signing armistices, defeat was inevitable. The High Command sought an 'honourable' peace, sidelining Ludendorff and appointing Prince Max von Baden as Chancellor on 3 October in a cosmetic manoeuvre to stabilise the situation. An amnesty on 23 October freed political prisoners including Karl Liebknecht, greeted by 20,000 Berlin workers.
The revolution began on 3 November with a naval mutiny at Kiel, after the High Command ordered a suicidal North Sea offensive. Sailors refused to sail, disarmed officers and took control of ships. The mutiny spread to 100,000 sailors and then to workers onshore, who established workers' councils and stormed prisons. By 7–8 November, Sailors', Soldiers' and Workers' Councils had taken power in cities across Germany. In Brunswick, Spartacist August Merges became President of the Socialist Republic of Brunswick. On 9 November, Workers' and Soldiers' Councils were established in Berlin. Prince Max von Baden handed the chancellorship to SPD leader Friedrich Ebert, who hated revolution "like sin". Scheidemann proclaimed a German Republic from the Reichstag balcony, while Liebknecht proclaimed a German Socialist Republic.
The masses could have taken power peacefully but lacked revolutionary leadership. Workers and soldiers established councils in every factory and barracks, yet looked to their traditional parties for direction. On 10 November, the Berlin Workers' and Soldiers' Councils appointed a Council of People's Commissars, but Ebert had already made a secret pact with General Groener to fight Bolshevism in exchange for army loyalty. The National Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils, held from 16-21 December, voted overwhelmingly (344 to 91) to support a parliamentary democracy, bringing forward National Assembly elections to 19 January 1919. Ernst Däumig called this the councils' "death sentence". The Spartacists made a tactical mistake by refusing to participate, isolating themselves from the masses who still saw the Assembly as a democratic gain. Rosa Luxemburg later came out in favour of participating on a revolutionary basis, but the damage was done.
The Spartacist League transformed itself into the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) at a conference opening on 29 December. Despite Luxemburg's intervention, delegates voted overwhelmingly to boycott the National Assembly elections. Ultra-left motions proposed making trade union membership incompatible with party membership, despite millions of radicalised workers flooding into the unions. The correct orientation was not adopted until October 1919. Within two weeks, the party faced the 'Spartacist week' and the murder of Liebknecht and Luxemburg.