Chapter Three: Counter-Revolution Raises its Head¶
Core Argument¶
The November Revolution in Germany had been only half-completed, leaving state power firmly in bourgeois hands. By late December 1918, advanced workers sensed the revolution unravelling and attempted to retake the initiative. The right-wing SPD government, in league with the military top brass, deliberately provoked an armed uprising to justify crushing the movement. The dismissal of left-wing police president Emil Eichhorn on 4 January 1919 served as the provocation. A Revolutionary Committee comprising the USPD, Revolutionary Shop Stewards and KPD called mass demonstrations; hundreds of thousands of workers marched, many armed, occupying newspaper offices and key buildings. The government hung by a thread.
Yet the Revolutionary Committee dithered, failing to give coherent direction. The KPD's official position opposed a premature insurrection given the national balance of forces, but its fiery language blurred the line between demonstration and uprising. Karl Liebknecht and Wilhelm Pieck, without party mandate, backed overthrowing the Ebert government. Karl Radek urged an organised retreat, but was ignored. The movement dissipated. The government used the uprising as justification for a bloody counter-revolutionary crackdown.
The Freikorps entered Berlin on 10 January, commanded by monarchist officers under Noske's direction, and began a military assault to retake the Vorwärts building. Heavy shelling forced the 350 occupiers to surrender, but government troops showed no mercy, clubbing and shooting prisoners. By 12 January, officially 156 were dead, though this was a gross underestimate. The so-called 'Spartacist Rebellion' was not a conscious Spartacist strategy but was triggered by government provocation and rank-and-file anger. The Spartacist leadership was divided: Luxemburg criticised Liebknecht for endorsing the insurrection, and Radek urged retreat. The action lacked mass support and clear revolutionary leadership. Luxemburg's final article argued the defeat was forced by government provocation and that the masses would learn from it.
The counter-revolution then moved to decapitate the movement. On 15 January, Liebknecht and Luxemburg were arrested, beaten, and murdered by Freikorps officers. In a 1962 interview, Pabst admitted his superiors approved his actions and that Noske issued an order ensuring the officer who killed Luxemburg received a suspended sentence. The German proletariat thus lost two outstanding leaders with the full compliance of Social Democratic ministers. Leo Jogiches was also shot in cold blood on 10 March. The text argues that if Luxemburg and Liebknecht had gone into hiding, like Lenin in July 1917, they might have survived, potentially guaranteeing the German Revolution's success. The author rejects Chris Harman's claim that Luxemburg's error was failing to break earlier from Social Democracy, arguing instead that her real failing was not building a strong faction within the SPD from 1905.
The KPD wrongly boycotted the 19 January National Assembly elections against Luxemburg's advice. The SPD polled 11.5 million votes and the Left Independents 2.5 million. Noske, as Minister of War, scrapped army democratisation, restored officer authority, and used Freikorps to destroy Workers' Councils across Germany. By late February, Berlin Workers' Councils voted overwhelmingly for a general strike, which gripped the whole city within 24 hours. The government granted Noske dictatorial powers; he ordered 30,000 Freikorps into the city on 4 March, provoking hand-to-hand fighting. Noske issued his Schiessbefehl, ordering anyone found armed against the government to be shot on sight. By the fighting's end, some 3,000 workers were killed and at least 10,000 wounded. The young KPD lost its leadership.
In Bavaria, Kurt Eisner was assassinated on 21 February 1919. After a brief SPD government fled, a Bavarian Soviet Republic was declared. On May Day 1919, Freikorps entered Munich; an estimated 2,000 workers were killed. Eugen Leviné was arrested, tried, and defiantly proclaimed the inevitability of proletarian dictatorship before being shot for high treason on 5 June. This defeat ended the first stage of the German revolution. Simultaneously, the Russian Civil War intensified,