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Chapter XXVI
Whilst Hitler continued to languish in prison as punishment for his actions, the party he would eventually come to lead had fallen into dire straits.
Despite earnest efforts to rebuild from the failed revolutions of 1919, the KPD found itself in a dreadful state as the news of the Kapp Putsch spread across the nation. As such it is possible to understand with the hesitancy of the party's right-wing dominated central committee whilst still recognising that their bungled and incompetent response ultimately lies in their own actions.
Paul Levi was a survivor of the Spartacist uprising that had led to the murder of the founders of the party, most notably Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. It appears that his experience of the doomed revolt in the capital had made him wary of further direct action in the short-term and through his allies in the KPD central committee he had worked to remove those he suspected of overly anarchic or violent positions from influence. Levi feared that any further spontaneous actions by the party would be met with no more popular support than they had the previous year and only leave the party weaker than it already was. He asserted that the restoration of relative calm that the provisional government's alliance with Freikorps had brought would endure for several years and argued that this lull would be time that the party could use to better organise itself and build their support amongst the proletariat and the trade unions in preparation for the next crisis.
It was a line which many in the party detested, and when Levi's timetable fell apart in the spring of 1920 he was left with few sympathisers, especially as he continued to call for inaction in the face of the Weimar coalition's calls for a general strike. Levi had nullified the KPD to such an extent that the centre-left was now taking more radical steps to oppose the reactionary coup, a failure on his part that would leave his future leadership of the party untenable. Most party members and supporters ignored his calls for waiting out the putsch and took part in the strikes and protests sponsored by the democratically elected government. Others took more radical steps, and rose up in arms once more in the largest revolutionary struggle the young republic had yet seen.
The heavy industry of the Ruhr was the nirvana of Marxist theory, a strong working class resided there with a proud identity, one that was detached from the KPD in Berlin. Worker's councils had arose in the Ruhr as in many other places but here they had been far more radically inclined. Even as it seemed that the revolutions of 1919 had been crushed the communist presence remained in the hands of the workers and the large numbers of former soldiers returning from the front to their old jobs. They were bitter but they had hope, and more importantly they had organisation and experience that neither the neither the Spartacists nor the Bavarian Soviet could call upon.
In the chaotic days following the news of the Kapp Putsch, armed workers had assembled in Hagen for what had been planned as a peaceful, if intimidating, protest against Kapp and in support of the general strike. Local communists had been quick to ignore the orders coming from Berlin and marched out alongside other workers in the display of strength.
It was not long, however, before news spread of an ongoing shootout in the city of Wetter.
~ Benito MacDiarmid, The KPD, From Protest to Power
---
"They let them out? They didn't even have to escape, they just let them out?!"
Colonel Hans von Seisser was already suffering from the stress of the last few days, he certainly didn't need more work to do. It had been his job for the entire morning to try and maintain order in Munich, all of Germany seemed to have become a powder keg and after the events of the previous spring he was not going to take any chances. The news delivered by his secretary was not liable to help the situation.
The always helpful guards at Stadelheim prison had been on the line, politely telling Hans that their problem had become his, that an unknown number of convicts had disappeared and were now likely walking the streets of Munich. It wasn't the first time in the last week that he felt his head was ready to cave in from undue pressure from the outside world.
The irony was that he actually had a great deal of time for the ideas that had been put forward by Kapp’s provisional government. Germany had become weak and unstable and those who had thrown together a constitution in Weimar were largely to blame. It was only their fault if the army had refused to be broken apart by such weaklings, and if Germany could have been delivered from them then all the better. After all, he had been forced to spend the previous spring in exile as the Communists had run amok, if Germany had a strong nationalist government like they had had during the war then he wouldn’t have to endure such nonsense again.
Except here he was, trying to work out how he would cope with the fact that the Freikorps who had saved Munich last spring were now responsible for his colossal headache. They had sworn allegiance to Kapp’s provisional government and had almost immediately begun jailing anyone they considered to be their political opponents. Now Kapp was gone, it was impossible to tell who exactly was in charge in Berlin and the former soldiers had sullenly gone back to their homes.
With the putsch brought to an end amidst a general strike it had seemed that those who were concerned about Stadelheim overflowing had been overly keen to make sure that everyone imprisoned without trial was released as quickly as possible before a mob of workers showed up at the door. As it turned out, there had been no repeat of the revolutionary violence, at least for now.
He wondered how long that would remain the case, as the secretary continued his report.
“He claims that the Freikorps marched in and threw people into cells without any proper registry and it created some confusion as to which communists were to be held, sir.”
“They didn’t keep any records?!”
“It seems that they were incomplete sir, given the confusion from last year…”
“We were supposed to prevent the chaos from last year from happening again! Not causing it!”
The frustration was getting the better of Hans but he felt that he couldn’t help it any longer, the incompetence of his peers would ultimately reflect on himself. The workers who had gone on strike in Munich had not yet settled down and who knows how many dangerous would now lurk among them, spreading seeds of chaos and treachery wherever they wanted.
He held is head in his hands as he privately cursed everyone around him. Trying to find these people was not a task he was going to look forward to.
---
The woodcut is 'Man on a Plain' by Edvard Munch.
Thanks for everyone's patience.
"They were prisoners of their own leftism."
~ Gilbert Badia on the KPD
~ Gilbert Badia on the KPD
Whilst Hitler continued to languish in prison as punishment for his actions, the party he would eventually come to lead had fallen into dire straits.
Despite earnest efforts to rebuild from the failed revolutions of 1919, the KPD found itself in a dreadful state as the news of the Kapp Putsch spread across the nation. As such it is possible to understand with the hesitancy of the party's right-wing dominated central committee whilst still recognising that their bungled and incompetent response ultimately lies in their own actions.
Paul Levi was a survivor of the Spartacist uprising that had led to the murder of the founders of the party, most notably Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. It appears that his experience of the doomed revolt in the capital had made him wary of further direct action in the short-term and through his allies in the KPD central committee he had worked to remove those he suspected of overly anarchic or violent positions from influence. Levi feared that any further spontaneous actions by the party would be met with no more popular support than they had the previous year and only leave the party weaker than it already was. He asserted that the restoration of relative calm that the provisional government's alliance with Freikorps had brought would endure for several years and argued that this lull would be time that the party could use to better organise itself and build their support amongst the proletariat and the trade unions in preparation for the next crisis.
It was a line which many in the party detested, and when Levi's timetable fell apart in the spring of 1920 he was left with few sympathisers, especially as he continued to call for inaction in the face of the Weimar coalition's calls for a general strike. Levi had nullified the KPD to such an extent that the centre-left was now taking more radical steps to oppose the reactionary coup, a failure on his part that would leave his future leadership of the party untenable. Most party members and supporters ignored his calls for waiting out the putsch and took part in the strikes and protests sponsored by the democratically elected government. Others took more radical steps, and rose up in arms once more in the largest revolutionary struggle the young republic had yet seen.
The heavy industry of the Ruhr was the nirvana of Marxist theory, a strong working class resided there with a proud identity, one that was detached from the KPD in Berlin. Worker's councils had arose in the Ruhr as in many other places but here they had been far more radically inclined. Even as it seemed that the revolutions of 1919 had been crushed the communist presence remained in the hands of the workers and the large numbers of former soldiers returning from the front to their old jobs. They were bitter but they had hope, and more importantly they had organisation and experience that neither the neither the Spartacists nor the Bavarian Soviet could call upon.
In the chaotic days following the news of the Kapp Putsch, armed workers had assembled in Hagen for what had been planned as a peaceful, if intimidating, protest against Kapp and in support of the general strike. Local communists had been quick to ignore the orders coming from Berlin and marched out alongside other workers in the display of strength.
It was not long, however, before news spread of an ongoing shootout in the city of Wetter.
~ Benito MacDiarmid, The KPD, From Protest to Power
---
"They let them out? They didn't even have to escape, they just let them out?!"
Colonel Hans von Seisser was already suffering from the stress of the last few days, he certainly didn't need more work to do. It had been his job for the entire morning to try and maintain order in Munich, all of Germany seemed to have become a powder keg and after the events of the previous spring he was not going to take any chances. The news delivered by his secretary was not liable to help the situation.
The always helpful guards at Stadelheim prison had been on the line, politely telling Hans that their problem had become his, that an unknown number of convicts had disappeared and were now likely walking the streets of Munich. It wasn't the first time in the last week that he felt his head was ready to cave in from undue pressure from the outside world.
The irony was that he actually had a great deal of time for the ideas that had been put forward by Kapp’s provisional government. Germany had become weak and unstable and those who had thrown together a constitution in Weimar were largely to blame. It was only their fault if the army had refused to be broken apart by such weaklings, and if Germany could have been delivered from them then all the better. After all, he had been forced to spend the previous spring in exile as the Communists had run amok, if Germany had a strong nationalist government like they had had during the war then he wouldn’t have to endure such nonsense again.
Except here he was, trying to work out how he would cope with the fact that the Freikorps who had saved Munich last spring were now responsible for his colossal headache. They had sworn allegiance to Kapp’s provisional government and had almost immediately begun jailing anyone they considered to be their political opponents. Now Kapp was gone, it was impossible to tell who exactly was in charge in Berlin and the former soldiers had sullenly gone back to their homes.
With the putsch brought to an end amidst a general strike it had seemed that those who were concerned about Stadelheim overflowing had been overly keen to make sure that everyone imprisoned without trial was released as quickly as possible before a mob of workers showed up at the door. As it turned out, there had been no repeat of the revolutionary violence, at least for now.
He wondered how long that would remain the case, as the secretary continued his report.
“He claims that the Freikorps marched in and threw people into cells without any proper registry and it created some confusion as to which communists were to be held, sir.”
“They didn’t keep any records?!”
“It seems that they were incomplete sir, given the confusion from last year…”
“We were supposed to prevent the chaos from last year from happening again! Not causing it!”
The frustration was getting the better of Hans but he felt that he couldn’t help it any longer, the incompetence of his peers would ultimately reflect on himself. The workers who had gone on strike in Munich had not yet settled down and who knows how many dangerous would now lurk among them, spreading seeds of chaos and treachery wherever they wanted.
He held is head in his hands as he privately cursed everyone around him. Trying to find these people was not a task he was going to look forward to.
---
The woodcut is 'Man on a Plain' by Edvard Munch.
Thanks for everyone's patience.
- The Red
- Word Count: 1.2k