3. Counter-Revolution Raises Its Head¶
Core Argument¶
By late December 1918, the German Revolution was at a critical juncture. Advanced workers grew increasingly impatient as the gains of November slipped away, while reaction, in league with the right-wing Social Democratic ministers Ebert and Noske, plotted a bloody reckoning. General Groener later testified that Ebert summoned Noske on 29 December to lead troops against the Spartacists. The provocation came when the government demanded the resignation of Emil Eichhorn, the left-wing USPD police president of Berlin. In response, the USPD, Revolutionary Shop Stewards, and the newly formed KPD called a mass demonstration on 5 January, drawing hundreds of thousands of workers onto the streets. A Revolutionary Committee, including Karl Liebknecht and Wilhelm Pieck, was established and decided to attempt the overthrow of the government. Workers occupied newspaper offices and other strategic buildings.
Yet the movement was fatally undermined by vacillation. The Committee lacked coherent strategy and direction, and the KPD’s official position opposed insurrection as premature, meaning Liebknecht and Pieck acted without party authority. This indecision dissipated the mass movement. On 11 January, Noske unleashed Freikorps troops, who retook buildings with heavy artillery. The White Terror had begun. On 15 January, Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were arrested and murdered by Freikorps officers. The German proletariat had lost two of its most outstanding leaders.
The counter-revolution soon turned its attention to Munich. Hoffmann’s troops encircled the city, cutting off food and fuel, while Noske reinforced them with 30,000 Freikorps men. Munich was “liberated” on 1 May. The final Communist declaration urged workers to “sell your lives dearly.” Over 1,000 workers were killed in street battles. Before his execution, Communist leader Eugen Leviné declared that Communists were “dead men on leave” and that his ideas would outlive him. Impromptu Freikorps court-martials shot scores of people; others were beaten with rifle butts or kicked to death. Few leaders escaped the White Terror. The counter-revolution had raised its head, and the blood of the German proletariat was the price.