Germany 1919: workers and soldiers reached for power

Scan page 11

January 1919: Workers and soldiers patrol the streets of Berlin after rebuffing army coup attempt.

Karl Liebknecht speaking against Ebert-Scheidemann government during Dec. 16, 12 SOCIALIST ACTION AUGUST 1989 Seventy years ago, the workers and soldiers of Germany held the course of the history of the 20th century in their hands. In 1919, workers' and soldiers' councils contested for state power against the German capitalists and landowners.

Victory for the workers could have led to the extension of the socialist revolution, launched in Russia in October 1917, throughout all of Europe.

But ultimately, it was the German capitalists who enjoyed the fruits of victory— a victory that would have been impossible were it not for the betrayals of the leadership of the world's most powerful working-class party, the German Social-Democratic Party.

Like the Russian Revolution, the German Revolution had its roots in the devastation caused by World War I. Launched in 1914, the First World War threw the working people of Germany and all of Europe into the bloodiest conflict the world had seen at that time. Over 10 million died in a war started by competing capitalists and bankers that was fought purely for a redivision of the world's economic markets.

In 1914, Germany had the largest socialist party in the world, with traditions that reached back directly to Engels and Marx. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) had over 1 million members and many affiliated trade unions. This party was in a position to expose World War I as an imperialist bloodbath and channel opposition to the war into a struggle against the government of Kaiser Wilhelm.

Tragically, decades of prosperity and steady growth for the party had led to the entrenchment of a bureaucratic leadership receiving privileges from German capitalism. These leaders-Friedrich Ebert, Philipp Scheidemann, and others-believed that advances could be made through gradual reforms and parliamentary activity. They shunned any activities that would make the party seem "irresponsible" to liberal German capitalists.

When Germany entered the war, the SPD's parliamentary fraction voted on Aug. 4, 1914, to approve war credits. The party told the millions of workers under its influence to kill workers of other countries in the interest of "democracy and socialism." Ironically, the war that signaled capitalism's death agony 1918, demonstration of 250,000 in Berlin. also ended the SPD's potential to lead a fight against capitalism.

Opposition in the SPD For three years, the SPD maintained its monopoly over the leadership of the German workers' movement and continued to support the war. However, the war was having an effect on the workers. Opposition to the Kaiser and the war were growing inside and outside the SPD. In 1917, the SPD expelled thousands of its members for opposition to the war.

About 120,000 these met in April 1917, and launched the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD). The USPD was a centrist party; that is, it vacillated between revolutionary and reformist positions. This party included a pacifist current-led by Karl Kautsky and Hugo Hasse-as well as the revolutionary Spartacus Group—led by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, and others The Spartacus Group had formed within the SPD in December 1914, after Karl Liebknecht, a leader of the left wing and a member of the party's parliamentary fraction, voted against war credits.

They published leaflets and newsletters opposing the leadership's support for the war and called for a workers' revolution as the only way to resolve the problems of capitalism. Both Liebknecht and Luxemburg were imprisoned by the German government for their antiwar activities.

The year 1917 also saw the victory of a socialist revolution in Russia. The Bolshevik Party, led by V.I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky, came to power on a program of bread, peace, land, and workers' power. The Russian Revolution also created a new kind of state— one based on workers' councils, or "soviets." The victory of the Bolsheviks in Russia made the prospect of workers' revolution much more realistic for many German workers.

Workers take to the streets The year 1918 was marked by growing workers' unrest and military defeats for the German army. Strikes shook Germany and Eastern Europe throughout the year. From Jan. 28 to Feb. 4, political strikes involving over 1 million people took place in 50 German cities. A new strike wave took effect in June of that year.

On Aug. 14, 1918, the German army high command reported that the war could not be won. The German government was losing all credibility in the eyes of the German people.

Demonstrations against the government and mutinies in the armed forces took place in October. Germany was entering a prerevolutionary period. Karl Liebknecht was released from prison that month and was welcomed by 20,000 workers upon his return to Berlin.

Liebknecht called for an end to the war and for a workers' government. Upon hearing of Liebknecht's release, Karl Radek, a leader of the Bolshevik Party, reported, "We felt that the German Revolution had a leader."

Revolutionary upsurges took place at the end of October throughout the Austro-Hungarian empire. On Nov. 4, a workers' and soldiers' council took over the city of Kiel in Germany. Within the next six days, similar councils were formed spontaneously in 95 cities.

These councils were inspired by the soviet model in Russia, and were representative of all the working people and soldiers in a given area. Delegates were elected from each workplace and armed detachment. The councils were formed in order to organize the struggle against the government and to administer the needs of the workers upon taking power.

"Maintain law and order!"

On Nov. 9, the revolution reached Berlin, and the Kaiser was forced to step down. Prince Max von Baden, chancellor of Germany, resigned and appointed SPD leader Friedrich Ebert as his replacement.

Ebert's first public act as chancellor was to issue a proclamation of a "people's government" that ended with these words of advice to the "people": "Fellow citizens! I urgently appeal to you: Leave the streets! Maintain law and order!" These lines would be repeated many times in the following months.

In the full swing of a revolutionary upsurge, however, it would take more than a proclamation to pull the workers out of the streets. Max von Baden and the German capitalists realized that workers' power had become a reality, and that armed force would have been ineffective against the organized workers and soldiers. They needed to slow down and reverse the radicalization, and this is where Ebert and the SPD came in.

The SPD had served the capitalists well throughout the war as their representatives in the workers' movement. Max von Baden was gambling that the SPD in power would satisfy the workers' movement and that their bureaucratic leadership would prevent any encroachments on private property. The SPD leadership was fully prepared to play this role.

The SPD also had to acknowledge the new power of the workers. The Executive Com(continued on next page)

Scan page 12

... Germany (continued from preceding page) mittee of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils claimed full power across the country, and the USPD had gained a large influence over the radicalized workers and soldiers.

The SPD proposed that the Executive Committee support a "Council of People's Commissars" with representatives from the SPD and USPD. This council would administer the government until a national assembly could be elected.

The USPD leadership accepted this proposal, and on Nov. 10, 1918, the Executive Committee voted to support the new government. But there was not unanimous support for this proposal. The Spartacus Group in the USPD argued that the workers' and soldiers' councils should use the power which they held in their hands to take state power-not transfer it back to the capitalists.

However, representatives of the capitalists remained in control of all the government's ministries. The SPD had no intention of dismantling the capitalist state apparatus and would only use the power granted by the workers' councils to hold back the revolution.

Spartacus League formed

On Nov. 11, the Spartacus Group broke with the USPD leadership because of its participation in the capitalist government and formed an independent organization, the Spartacus League (SL). The SL challenged the SPD-USPD government for the next two months over the question of the national assembly.

The SPD, which sought to cloak the government in a "socialist" disguise, began every article and leaflet with the assertion that the capitalist government had fallen and that the task was to construct a democratic assembly in which all "citizens" could send representatives.

The SL pointed out that the capitalists maintained all of their economic power and that the coercive institutions of the capitalist state the army, the police, etc.—had not been touched. They urged the workers' and soldiers' councils to dismantle the old institutions and establish themselves as the institutions of the new workers' state. This would be more representative of the working class and the forces which had carried out the revolution than a national assembly.

The SPD argued that socialists were for "democracy" and that a national assembly was the only way to give the "whole people" the chance to participate in the government. What they concealed with their abstract arguments was their determination to maintain the political power of the capitalist class. A government of workers' and soldiers' councils would leave no room for capitalists to influence the state.

The SL's call for a workers' government had an appeal for radical workers, but they were fighting an unequal battle with the SPDUSPD government. The SPD and the USPD had massive organizations with links in all of the workers' organizations. They also held the reins of government.

The SL was still a relatively small organization trying to get a hearing. In December 1918, the SL fused with other radical workers' organizations into the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), but their forces remained limited.

A flawed approach Unfortunately, the SL was also hampered by an incorrect analysis of the relationship between the workers as a class and their revolutionary leadership. They tended to downplay the role of an organized revolutionary party which would lead the workers to power. Instead, they expected the class as a whole to come to revolutionary positions and act independently of any party.

Flowing from this position was a flawed approach to the mass organizations of the working class. Since they viewed the workers' councils as the leadership independent of any party, they related to the councils in some ways as a political tendency rather than as mass organizations.

Liebknecht, for example, declined nomination to the Executive Committee of the Workers' and Soldiers' Councils of Berlin on the basis that this committee had given support to the SPD-USPD government.

However, the councils were not a political party based on a program, but mass organizations uniting all of the workers in Berlin that were temporarily dominated by reformist political parties (the SPD and USPD). A counterrevolutionary political position, foisted on these councils by its reformist leadership, did not change their character, and Liebknecht could have used his position on the Executive Committee to reach out to the millions of workers under its influence.

The Spartacus League did participate in many of the councils, however, and many of their positions were in a process of development during this revolutionary period.

Attack by the counterrevolution December 1918 saw a further polarization of forces in Germany. On Dec. 6, the High Command of the armed forces attempted to put down the revolution by moving troops into Berlin and occupying the public buildings. It was later revealed in a 1925 court testimony that Ebert of the SPD was fully informed of this plan and supported it.

The entire Executive Committee of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils was arrested, but the workers and soldiers of Berlin responded quickly and repulsed the attack, freeing the prisoners.

The SPD put up no resistance to the coup, and after the reactionary generals had been defeated they placed most of the blame for the incident on Spartacus League "provocations." The workers were outraged by the counterrevolutionary attack. A Dec. 8 demonstration organized by the SL calling for a workers' government attracted 150,000 armed workers and soldiers.

From Dec. 16-21, the first General Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Councils of Germany met in Berlin. But the Congress voted to delegate all government responsibilities to a future national assembly and leave power in the hands of Ebert for now.

On Dec. 24, the government launched another attack on the workers. Government troops attacked the People's Naval Division in Berlin. The government scored some victories in these battles, but the end result was a further radicalization of the Berlin armed forces.

Workers fill the streets In late December, the government began moving a new armed division, the Freikorps, around Berlin. The Freikorps was a volunteer force recruited by right-wing officers. Many of its cadre would later rally around Hitler's fascist movement, but for now they served the "socialist" Ebert government against the working class.

The government launched a further provocation on Jan. 4, 1919, when it fired Emil Eichhorn, a popular police chief in Berlin. Eichhorn refused to step down, and the government moved in with force.

This was the last straw for the Berlin workers and soldiers. Beginning on Jan. 5, hundreds of thousands of workers filled the streets in opposition to the government. The revolutionaries, however, were caught off guard by the tremendous display of workers' power. The leaders of the new KPD debated great country over the next two months, but in the end the "socialist" government succeeded in putting down the workers and preserving capitalism.

Murder of Luxemburg and Liebknecht On Jan. 15 the government arrested Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. While in custody, they were both murdered by the Freikorps. This was a tremendous loss for the world's labor movement.

Despite mistakes made by these revolutionaries and their co-thinkers, the blame for the loss of the German Revolution belongs to the leaders of the SPD and the USPD. Using the name of socialism to camouflage their preservation of capitalism, these parties betrayed the interests of the German working class and set the stage for the ultimate triumph of fascism.

It's true that the revolutionaries struck prematurely in January, but the only reason the political conditions were not ripe was that the SPD and USPD had been miseducating the working class for months. Their damage had to be undone before the workers could finally strike together against capitalism.

Eugen Ernst, the SPD member who replaced Eichhorn as chief of police in Berlin, explained his party's provocation to a reporter on Jan. 16, 1919: "The Spartacus people could not succeed because through our preparations we compelled them to strike prematurely. They had to make their move