8. The German Revolution¶
Core Argument¶
In November 1918, the German Revolution erupted with the establishment of workers’ and soldiers’ councils in Berlin. The Social Democratic Party (SPD), whose leader Ebert professed to hate revolution “like sin,” moved to contain the uprising. It pressured the Kaiser to abdicate, formed a government with the Independent Social Democrats (USPD), and allied with the old army general staff to preserve order. The councils, a spontaneous creation of the movement, initially handed power to this coalition. Rosa Luxemburg, released from prison on 9 November, warned that the monarchy was merely the facade of imperialism; the real task was socialist revolution through the councils. She called for a Red Guard, the confiscation of large estates, and a workers’ world congress.
A period of dual power followed, with the government coexisting alongside the councils. The SPD sought a bourgeois parliamentary democracy and pushed for a National Assembly to undermine the councils. The Spartacists, led by Luxemburg, demanded all power be transferred to the councils. At the National Congress of Councils in December, the SPD secured a majority for a National Assembly, despite the congress also passing radical resolutions. The Spartacists were organisationally weak, with no more than fifty members in Berlin, and were forced to build their organisation during the revolution itself. Lenin later stressed that revolutionary discipline required class consciousness and correct leadership proven by experience. Pressure from younger members and clashes with the USPD led to the founding of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) on 30 December 1918. In her founding speech, Luxemburg argued that illusions in the government had shattered and that the class struggle would sharpen, but warned that the communists lacked majority support.
At its founding congress, the KPD debated participation in elections for the National Assembly. Luxemburg argued for participation to reach the masses, but the majority of young delegates voted to boycott. The party also adopted an ultra-left attitude towards the government, calling for its overthrow without a strategy to replace it. Negotiations with the Revolutionary Stewards failed, leaving the KPD without a foothold in Berlin’s factories. In January 1919, the SPD government provoked a confrontation by dismissing left-wing police chief Emil Eichhorn. Mass protests and occupations followed, but the revolutionary leaders deliberated indecisively, allowing the movement’s peak to pass. The counter-revolution, led by Social Democrat Gustav Noske and the Freikorps, prepared its offensive. On 15 January, Luxemburg and Liebknecht were arrested, taken to Freikorps headquarters, and murdered. Luxemburg’s final article, ‘Order Reigns in Berlin’, denounced the false order imposed by the counter-revolution and predicted the revolution’s return. The suppression of the uprising and the assassination of its leaders marked a decisive defeat for the revolutionary left, clearing the way for the consolidation of the Weimar Republic under conservative and military forces.