German revolution of 1918

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The German Revolution of 1918-1919 represents the end of German Empire and the beginning of the Weimar Republic. For Communists it also represents the failed proletariat revolution and the death of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.

Causes

Social-Democracy

The worker movement of social-democracy started to grow as Germany industrialized and in turn created the proletariat that supported it. By 1870s it already had proven to be a challenge to the establishment with getting 9.1% of the votes in 1877 election. The same year Reichstag restricted the movement with outlawing of magazines and periodicals. Even with these measures taken it was not able to get rid of the social-democracy. By 1887 election the party gained 763,128 votes compared to 493,447 in 1877. What those measures managed to do was set the party in a more moderate direction. Most of the arrested were those who distributed socialist papers against the law. They in turn were sent to prison or in exile. Protest were frequently crushed, with the police beating people in marches. Various strikes around this time period happened. With years from 1900 to 1910 one could expect around two thousand strikes each year.

Organizations

The organization at the time of early 20th century supported a "worker lifestyle", with newspapers like Der Arbeiter Radfaher, who's name translates to Worker Cyclist. There were Workers libraries where one could lend books, red singing societies, workers chess clubs, etc. Lenin himself commented on German worker choirs, saying "But no amount of police harassment can prevent the singing of the hearty proletarian song about mankind’s coming emancipation from wage-slavery in all the great cities of the world, in all the factory neighborhoods, and more and more frequently in the huts of village labourers."[1] There are even records of some workers organizing bookclubs, and reading Marx's Das Capital. In 1913 there was a questionnaire sent out which showed that while the majority believed in peaceful reform towards socialism, there was a minority with radical politics.

World war

The first world war, which started in 1914, proved to the tipping for the revolution. The war proved to be bleakest one yet. Instead of it being a fast war with a win for Germany, it turned out to be a four year long trench war. In October 1914, a British naval blockade prevented ships from entering German ports, causing breadlines. By the winter bread riots broke out, with women and children looting shops for food. The peasants were annoyed because of their sons being brought to the army, and their horses confiscated by the military. Strangely enough the farmers blamed "the city people" for this. As war went on the soldiers began to call themselves "Cannon Fodder". By the end of war years the food problems only increased with rationing meaning one could expect just one egg every month. Officer Krupphausen of the Berlin police wrote “the crowd had already stormed several butter shops because of prices ... Several large display windows were shattered, shop doors destroyed, and entire stocks were simply taken ... the police and officers were completely helpless against the crowd.” While mounted police cleared the street various “objects such as flower pots were thrown at us.” During the war the wage fell while the cost of living rose. In 1913 a worker could expect a wage to be equal to the cost of living; by 1918 the wage he received were nearly half of what they were, while the cost of living were three times of what they were in 1913. The loses of world war went up in millions, with even more being wounded and disabled from war.

References