All Power to the Councils!: A Documentary History of the German Revolution of 1918-1919
Language: English
Pages: 353
ISBN: B008ELH686
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
“Gabriel Kuhn’s excellent volume illuminates a profound global revolutionary moment, in which brilliant ideas and debates lit the sky.” —Marcus Rediker, author of Villains of all Nations and The Slave Ship “This remarkable collection, skillfully edited by Gabriel Kuhn, brings to life that most pivotal of revolutions, crackling with the acrid odor of street fighting, insurgent hopes, and ultimately defeat… In an era brimming with anticapitalist aspirations, these pages ring with that still unmet revolutionary promise of a better world: I was, I am, I shall be.” —Sasha Lilley, author of Capital and Its Discontents and coauthor of Catastrophism The German Revolution erupted out of the ashes of World War I, triggered by mutinying sailors refusing to be sacrificed in the final carnage of the war. While the Social Democrats grabbed power, radicals across the country rallied to establish a communist society under the slogan "All Power to the Councils!" The Spartacus League launched an uprising in Berlin, council republics were proclaimed in Bremen and Bavaria, and workers' revolts shook numerous German towns. Yet in an act that would tragically shape the course of history, the Social Democratic government crushed the rebellions with the help of right-wing militias, paving the way for the ill-fated Weimar Republic—and ultimately the ascension of the Nazis. This definitive documentary history collects manifestos, speeches, articles, and letters from the German Revolution—Rosa Luxemburg, the Revolutionary Stewards, and Gustav Landauer amongst others—introduced and annotated by the editor. Many documents, such as the anarchist Erich Mühsam's comprehensive account of the Bavarian Council Republic, are presented here in English for the first time. The volume also includes materials from the Red Ruhr Army that repelled the reactionary Kapp Putsch in 1920 and the communist bandits that roamed Eastern Germany until 1921. All Power to the Councils! provides a dynamic and
concerns especially the comrades in uniform—that the system smells of Bolshevism. But neither I nor anyone with a clear vision will be detracted by this. Any revolution will be vilified. The sans-culottes, the patriots, the demagogues, the communards of 1971, they were all vilified, defamed, and attacked. In other words, we simply have to accept being called “Bolsheviks.” However, comrades, this is no big deal. What is not Bolshevism today? To some people, every one of you, as you sit here, is a
the dictatorship of the proletariat. The phrase has always threatened the bourgeoisie. Lately, however, even the reform socialists portray the dictatorship of the proletariat as the ultimate evil. Recent developments in Russia, Hungary, Munich, etc., seem to justify this.5 A dictatorship that is not built on the proletarian masses (only on a proletarian minority) and only able to defend its power by military means is destined to fail. A dictatorship, however, in which millions of class-conscious
a member of the Council of People’s Delegates until the three USPD members resigned in December 1918; severely injured by an assassin in October 1919, he died one month later. Hindenburg, Paul von (1847–1932): appointed chief of the general staff in 1916, Hindenburg wielded strong influence during the last years of the Kaiserreich; served as the president of Germany from 1925 to 1934, paving the way for the Nazi takeover of the country. Hoelz, Max (1889–1933): the son of a rural laborer, Hoelz
troops, the decision not to confiscate their weapons, the oath—everything happened without the Executive Council, or, more precisely, behind its back. We are absolutely convinced that the Executive Council got to know about all this the same way everyone else did: from the papers. This can only suggest that the entire episode, including the oath from which the Executive Council was excluded, was a conscious maneuver against the Executive Council. The parade of the guards, their arms, the
must be organized according to the common good. Today’s mode of production, exploitation, and robbery as well as today’s trade, which is nothing but fraud, have to be abolished. Comrades working in freedom must replace the employers and their wage slaves. Everyone fulfilling his duty to society shall be guaranteed a humane life. Hunger must no longer be the curse of the worker, but the punishment of the idler! Only in such a society will servitude and the hatred between the peoples be uprooted.