VV(13) - Kiel Revolt

[David Morris]

The German Revolution of 1918

The revolution that occurred in Germany in 1918-1919 was not really a 
revolution-at least not in the traditional sense of the French Revolution of 
1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917, or even the German Revolution of 
1848. Perhaps, by calling it the "German Revolution," we imply that things 
are conceived and done differently in Germany. Perhaps, that is true. Her 
political traditions were somewhat different from those of France and 
Russia.

The conditions which gave birth to revolution in November 1918 were unlike 
those of 1789 in France, and although somewhat similar to those in Russia in 
1917, they were still not quite the same. Neither in France nor Russia did 
revolution come as a complete surprise even to purported revolutionaries. 
But it did in Germany. There was no sustained revolutionary agitation and 
strategy preceding it and when it came even the Social Democrats were 
completely overwhelmed by events.

I. Background

The war was lost, the emperor fled: a war-weary and hungry country became 
rebellious. So, the government turned to the Social Democrats in 
desperation. They were asked, nat to make a revolution-they were reformist 
by nature anyway-but to liquidate the crumbling edifice of the empire. The 
Socialists wound up doing things they did nat really want to do-they crushed 
their Spartacist cousins by force, preserved bourgeois society and 
re-created the army in the process. There were no stirring revolutionary 
manifestoes, no radical breaks in policy, no marching songs like the 
"Marseillaise" or the "Internationale."

It was the first songless revolution in history. Very few socialists, except 
the leftwing Independents like Emil Barth, Richard Müller and Georg 
Ledebour, claimed credit for making the revolution. The Majority Socialists 
had always believed that revolutions were not made in any case, but just 
happened in the course of socio-economic evolution.
[...]
There were three centers of revolutionary action in November, 1918: Kiel, 
Munich and Berlin. In each one the underlying cause was the desire for 
peace, much more so then the desire for genuine social revolution. The 
rebels were against the Kaiser personally and not necessarily against the 
institution of the monarchy. In fact, if William II had not waited so long 
to abdicate, the monarchy might have survived and the English system of 
constitutionally limited monarchy might have developed. It was a combination 
of the powerful desire for peace and the feeling that the Kaiser stood in 
its way, that led to the precipitous proclamation of the republic on 
November 9. Philip Scheidemann, who made this announcement, seems to have 
acted out of momentary inspiration. It "was the logical conclusion of a lost 
war," he wrote, "of unmatched privation and of loathing of the war 
mongers....It was the protest against the continuation of an utterly 
hopeless slaughter....It was the day on which it was impossible to carry on 
any longer."
[...]
Yet these were the actions of a small radical minority and they had very 
little to do with the actual outbreak of revolution. That happened quite 
independently in Kiel and Munich. What existed in Germany then, was a 
revolutionary situation, in the sense that there was widespread despair, 
stimulated by the military collapse, apprehension about Bavarian separatism 
and a considerable amount of Revolutionsfurcht, or fear of revolution. 
Because of this the government of Prince Max made some last minute efforts 
at democratic reforms. But they came too late. The whole situation was so 
volatile that any incident would topple the whole structure. That incident 
was provided by the sailor's revolt in Kiel.
[...]


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