Nothing to Lose but Your Chains! / a German Revolution TL

[Thomas1195]

The young leftist German Republic is going to have a very tough time ahead. Based on OTL, interwar Germany socially, politically and culturally was a right-of-centre country, and now ITTL all the parties are leftist to far-left. I don't think the Right would just roll over.

 

[NukeZeit]

The young leftist German Republic is going to have a very tough time ahead. Based on OTL, interwar Germany socially, politically and culturally was a right-of-centre country, and now ITTL all the parties are leftist to far-left. I don't think the Right would just roll over.

Well part of the reason Germany was a right of center country in the interwar period is because of what happened in the 1919-1923 period as the left wing was repressed brutally. This allowed a remaking of the political structures of Weimar Germany that empowered the right wing. I think you could safely say there was a socialist majority in Germany in 1919, but it was never politically realized because of the SPD’s political decisions.

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

Well part of the reason Germany was a right of center country in the interwar period is because of what happened in the 1919-1923 period as the left wing was repressed brutally. This allowed a remaking of the political structures of Weimar Germany that empowered the right wing. I think you could safely say there was a socialist majority in Germany in 1919, but it was never politically realized because of the SPD’s political decisions.

Agreed. Even in traditionally conservative areas like East Prussia you can see the SPD vote increasing massively in the OTL 1919 federal election.
That said, right-wing groups will be a serious problem for the young socialist republic, and I've yet to decide whether there will be any breakaway reactionary states like in the Spartakus mod.

 

[vlitramonster]

Watching this with interest. Dying to see how this will play out.

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

Consolidation of the Opposing Forces in Germany, Part 1

The near-disaster of the ‘Eichhorn affair’ demonstrated two unpalatable truths to the Communist Party: the German proletariat were not yet ready to take control; and the party had only a negligible military force. The apparent solution to the first problem was to organise in the factory councils and, at least according to the old centrists of the USPD, in the trade unions. The party program of a socialist republic governed by workers’ and soldiers’ councils was to be paramount in propagandising to the working class, the constituent assemblies and any succeeding parliaments were to be considered only temporary measures and ultimately unable to deliver a socialist republic. The main obstacle in achieving this mobilising work was the haphazard organisation of the party. The SPD had been relatively centralised, and as part of the rejection of reformism the new Communist Party had unofficially adopted a decentralised model of organisation. The subject of membership cards, subscriptions, and the position of local branches to the central party remained somewhat taboo to discuss. The party leadership decided that a Second Congress of the party would have to take place, though realistically it was unlikely to happen before the elections for the constituent assemblies in Bavaria and Württemberg scheduled for 12th January.

Even though Kurt Eisner of the USPD was the Bavarian head of government, brought to power by workers’ and soldiers’ councils, he had conceded to the bourgeoisie’s demand for a constituent assembly. The Communists and the Independents, doubtful of their chances in the election, agreed to a coalition agreement. Eisner even extended the offer to the SPD but their local leadership haughtily refused, angering some of their members. The results were disappointing but not unexpected: 7 out of 180 seats for the KPD-USPD coalition against 57 for the SPD.[1] The right were the undisputed winners of the election, with the Bavarian People’s Party (Bayerische Volkspartei/BVP) getting 66 seats, the Democratic Party 25, and the other right-wing parties taking the remainder. Eisner refused to bow into pressure for an early opening of the constituent assembly, citing paramilitary violence as an excuse. Ironically, this only radicalised the right further and increased aforementioned violence. Consequently, Eisner had to retreat further into his support from the councils. The socialists in Württemberg were in a slightly more enviable position; at the beginning of the Revolution a broad coalition of socialists from the councils had come together and formed a government, though ultra-leftism at the time prevailed in the Spartacist leadership and so they ordered August Thalheimer and Albert Schreiner to resign from the cabinet. After the Communists split from the USPD, the SPD members in the cabinet were less inclined to share power with the more revolutionary parties and so used their allies in the police force to harass the KPD. This harassment, combined with a lack of cooperation between the KPD and the USPD, harmed both parties’ performance in the election to the benefit of the SPD. Out of 150 seats, the Communists won 3, the Independents only 1, and the SPD 52.[2] The right-wing parties, including a number of farmers’ associations, won the remaining seats.

A modified postage stamp from the People's State of Bavaria​

The poor showing of the party in the recent parliamentary elections coloured their perceptions going into the Second Congress of the Communist Party of Germany. A membership of approximately 115,000 was represented by 98 elected delegates meeting in Berlin on 15th January. Heinrich Laufenberg of the Hamburg International Communists requested permission for some members of his organisation to attend the Congress as observers; after some debate among the KPD leadership, permission was granted and Laufenberg, Karl Becker, and Paul Frölich attended the Congress. The Bolshevik ambassadors Karl Radek, Nicholas Krebs, and Ernst Reuter were also in attendance. After the opening proceedings and reports were dispensed with, Karl Schröder of the ultra-left tendency immediately raised the subject of bourgeois election participation. Believing their position to be vindicated by the party’s recent disappointing election results, the ultra-left delegates reiterated their previous argument of an exclusive focus on the councils, much to the approval of the IKD observers. Once again, Rosa Luxemburg, Paul Levi, and Georg Ledebour led the defence of electoralism as a potentially effective tactic. This time they could point to the party’s success in Brunswick as an example of how organising in the councils could lead to parliamentary representation and participation in governance, which in turn could be used to spread the message of a conciliar republic. After continued back and forth between the two sides, the delegates voted on Schröder’s motion: 69 against, 23 for, and 6 abstentions. With the matter of electoralism settled, the issue of the upcoming state elections was discussed; the bourgeoisie had managed to schedule elections for constituent assemblies in five states, all for 26th January. Both Saxe-Altenburg and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen had small, relatively industrialised populations and so were considered target areas. With industrial populations smaller relative to the rural population, Hesse, Lippe, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin were considered to be less of a priority, but the Congress endorsed running for those elections anyway.

The next item of the Congressional agenda was the reorganisation of the party structure. The core of the leadership’s proposal was to divide local branches into twenty-seven economic regions rather than the old parliamentary constituencies, as a way of rationalising party organisation and improving the efficiency of propagandising in the workplace. Furthermore membership dues were to be set at 30 pfennigs, with a fifty percent reduction for women and the youth. Part of the proposal also affirmed democratic centralism, through the Congress and its Central Committee, as a guiding principle. The ultra-left delegates were torn; the reorganisation of the local branches was a clear move towards focusing on workers’ councils, but the proposal as a whole would result in the party becoming more centralised. On the other hand, more than a few of the non-Spartacists of the old USPD supported the centralisation but not the shift away from constituency-based organisation, leading to the peculiar situation of the ultra-left and some of the ‘reformists’ voting together against the proposal. Their efforts were in vain however; the reorganisation proposal passed with 54 votes against 42 (plus 2 abstentions). On the heels of the vote, Paul Eckert advanced a motion for the establishment of a trade union department to coordinate organising work within that sector; Eckert was mindful to condemn trade union bureaucracies in his speech. Apart from a handful of obstinate ultra-leftists, the proposal was almost unanimously passed, as was the appointment of Richard Müller as its head.

The final subject of the Congress was the party’s military support. Up until that point, the KPD had relied on the ‘proletarian hundreds’ (ad-hoc groups of volunteer workers), the League of Red Soldiers, and elements of the People’s Navy Division; a real proletarian army was needed to compete with the Freikorps. Levi, on behalf of the Central Committee, proposed a bold plan: the amalgamation of the League of Red Soldiers and pro-KPD sailors of the People’s Navy Division into a new Red Guard (Rote Garde) unit, subordinate to the Central Committee. The ultra-leftists were furious; besides the perceived continuing centralising of power, the League of Red Soldiers was the primary organisation for the ultra-left and ‘adventurist’ sections of the party. As a result, the ultra-left delegates vociferously argued against the motion. In order to break the deadlock former lieutenant Heinrich Dorrenbach, commander of the People’s Navy Division and arguably the revolutionaries’ military coordinator, proposed an amendment in which the new Red Guard would still elect its officers while remaining subordinate to the Central Committee. This proposal mollified most of the ultra-leftists and was acceptable to the Zentrale. The amended motion was passed by 62 votes to 22 ‘no’ votes and 14 abstentions. The Congress concluded on 17th January with the election of the following delegates to the Central Committee: Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Georg Ledebour, Ernst Däumig, Paul Levi, Richard Müller, Clara Zetkin, Wilhelm Pieck, Otto Bachmann, Heinrich Brandler, Franz Dahlem, Herman Duncker, Käte Duncker, Hugo Eberlein, Paul Eckert, Curt Geyer, Leo Jogiches, Paul Neumann, August Thalheimer, and Paul Wegmann; Luxemburg and Liebknecht were appointed as co-Chairmen.

[1] OTL, 3 for the USPD and 61 for the SPD.
[2] OTL those 4 seats went to the USPD.

Dramatis Personae (OTL biographies)

August Thalheimer: One of the original Spartacists, Thalheimer was at the forefront of the KPD leadership after the failures of 1919. Generally being on the right of the party, Thalheimer spent most of his time engaged in factional battles with the ultra-left. In 1924 he was forced to flee to the USSR because of police pressure, where he worked as a lecturer in Moscow. He returned to Germany in 1928 and organised the Communist Party Opposition, which resulted in his expulsion from the Comintern in 1929. After the Nazis came to power, Thalheimer escaped to France and then to Cuba in 1941. He died there in 1948.
Albert Schreiner: Another original Spartacist, Schreiner was an important KPD figure in Württemberg. In 1923 he was a leader of the party's Military Apparatus and was sent to Moscow for training. Schreiner was involved in the establishment of the Red Front Fighter League but was expelled from the party for investigating the corruption scandal surrounding Willy Leow; afterwards he joined the Communist Party Opposition. He very briefly rejoined the KPD before leaving again, fled to France after the Nazis' seizure of power, and permanently rejoined the KPD, for whom he was a commander in the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. He spent the 1940s in exile in the USA before returning to (East) Germany in 1946 and joining the SED. Schreiner spent the remainder of his life as a historian and died in 1979.
Heinrich Dorrenbach: A former office worker and SPD member, Dorrenbach volunteered for the army upon the outbreak of war and was eventually promoted to the rank of second lieutenant before being demoted and discharged in 1917 for the development of anti-war views. Dorrenbach helped to plan the abortive socialist insurrection of early November 1918 and from there rose in prominence among the People's Navy Division. His fame grew as a result of his leading role in the Christmas crisis over the People's Navy Division's pay, and so the revolutionaries believed his exaggerated claims of military support during the January Uprising. The failure of the uprising led to Dorrenbach being a fugitive; he was arrested a few times but escaped or was acquitted, before finally being caught and executed on 18th May 1919.

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

Here's a post I just made in the List of Alternate Political Parties thread. It's a bit of a teaser for Germany's political landscape after the civil war.

Bit of a teaser/spoiler for my Nothing to Lose but Your Chains! timeline (subject to change of course):

Free Socialist Republic of Germany/Freie Sozialistische Republik Deutschland (1st party period)

Communist Party of Germany (Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands/KPD)
Leader: Rosa Luxemburg
Ideology: Orthodox Marxism, communism
Political position (in the FSRD): Centre
Description: The KPD are the dominant party in Germany and support the status-quo of socialist council democracy. The socialisation of the economy, including the agricultural sector, is their main concern in the aftermath of the German Civil War. The party supports the continuance of strong relations with the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the other Bolshevik-ruled socialist states. The KPD is a member of the Communist International.

Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands/USPD)
Leader: Emil Barth
Ideology: Centrist Marxism, reformist socialism
Political position (in the FSRD): Right
Description: The USPD are regular coalition partners with the KPD and support the status-quo of socialist council democracy. There are some on the right of the party however (mostly former SPD members who joined during or after the civil war) who favour a return to a parliamentary system. In terms of the economy, the USPD advocate for the decentralising of economic planning and a reliance on worker cooperatives; some on the right argue for the introduction of limited marketisation. The party is unafraid of criticising the Bolsheviks when deemed appropriate, but is otherwise generally supportive of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and the other Bolshevik-ruled socialist states. The USPD is a leading member of the International Working Union of Socialist Parties (2 1/2 International).

Communist Workers' Party of Germany (Kommunistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands/KAPD)
Leader: Heinrich Laufenberg
Ideology: Marxism, left-communism/council communism
Political position (in the FSRD): Left
Description: The KAPD are the successors to the ultra-left International Communists of Germany. They are staunch defenders of socialist council democracy and so consider it to be their duty to criticise any perceived slide into bureaucratisation or undemocratic practices on the behalf of the government. The KAPD support rapid socialisation of the economy, but carried out through the decentralised planning of the councils rather than the central government. The party frequently criticises the Bolsheviks for perceived bureaucratisation, which gives them a tenuous position in the Communist International.

Free Workers' Union of Germany (Freie Arbeiter Union Deutschlands/FAUD)
Leader: Rudolf Rocker
Ideology: anarcho-syndicalism
Political position (in the FSRD): Left
Description: The FAUD are the successors to the Free Association of German Trade Unions. They argue for a syndicalist system whereby revolutionary trade unions are the basis for both the political system and the economy. They often side with the KAPD in opposition to the perceived bureaucratisation of the KPD-USPD government. The FAUD helped establish the International Workers' Association after the German Civil War.

 

[Deleted member 94680]

Agreed. Even in traditionally conservative areas like East Prussia you can see the SPD vote increasing massively in the OTL 1919 federal election.

How much of that was a vote for the “peace party” though? Would the traditionally conservative East Prussia remain voting for the SPD after the world has begun to settle post-War?

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

How much of that was a vote for the “peace party” though? Would the traditionally conservative East Prussia remain voting for the SPD after the world has begun to settle post-War?

The first election was on 19th January 1919, well after the 11th November 1918 ceasefire. While the Paris Peace Conference had only just begun, the chance of Germany going back to war was very unlikely; for example, the ceasefire with the Polish rebels was enacted when the Entente made it clear that the rebels were classed as Entente forces.
As counter-revolutionary as the SPD were, they did introduce universal suffrage, eight-hour workday, various other welfare/healthcare, and gave the impression that they supported mass nationalisation/socialisation. Furthermore, in the next election (6th June 1920) there was a huge swing from the SPD to the USPD (plus a small percentage for the Communists, who obviously are part of this leftward shift).

 

[Deleted member 94680]

The first election was on 19th January 1919, well after the 11th November 1918 ceasefire. While the Paris Peace Conference had only just begun, the chance of Germany going back to war was very unlikely; for example, the ceasefire with the Polish rebels was enacted when the Entente made it clear that the rebels were classed as Entente forces.

I think less than two months can hardly be described as “well after”. But I meant the peace party as in the party that had brought peace. As you say, everyone bar a few hold outs and dreamers knew there was no chance of resuming combat. The cachet of ending the fighting would be a boon to the SPD’s popularity. But that popularity isn’t going to last once the stab-in-the-back myth and nostalgia over the course of the war take hold.

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

I think less than two months can hardly be described as “well after”. But I meant the peace party as in the party that had brought peace. As you say, everyone bar a few hold outs and dreamers knew there was no chance of resuming combat. The cachet of ending the fighting would be a boon to the SPD’s popularity. But that popularity isn’t going to last once the stab-in-the-back myth and nostalgia over the course of the war take hold.

As I said though, the SPD's rise in popularity wasn't solely due to an end to the war but was also part of a genuine surge in popularity of left-wing politics. In the few years following the end of the war, this manifested in a shift from of support from the SPD to the USPD and KPD. You do have a point about the stab-in-the-back myth, but I would argue that the collapse in support for Zentrum and the DDP in favour of the DVP and DNVP show where that section of the electorate were "moving".
Regardless, I plan for the civil war to have started before the end of the year, so the SPD's future electoral fortunes will be irrelevant (though I'm still not decided on whether there will be any counter-revolutionary breakaway states).

 

[rommel12]

One question I have is war reparations. I have seen that when the communists come to power in Germany they do not pay and France and England do nothing.

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

One question I have is war reparations. I have seen that when the communists come to power in Germany they do not pay and France and England do nothing.

France and Britain will be intervening in the civil war, but they'll be unsuccessful and thus they won't be receiving war reparations from socialist Germany. If there are breakaway German states, they'll have to foot the bill for the reparations.

 

[Deleted member 94680]

As I said though, the SPD's rise in popularity wasn't solely due to an end to the war but was also part of a genuine surge in popularity of left-wing politics.

And as I’ve said, how many of those voters OTL were simply voting for the party that ended the War, as opposed to some new-found political beliefs? I think you’re missing my point. I’m not saying all of the SPD’s votes were based on a peace platform, rather asking what percentage could be argued as voting for the “party of the moment” that ended the War. The same way the Conservatives/Liberals/Labour won their respective “khaki elections” in the U.K. I’m sceptical about a genuine surge in popularity for left-wing politics, as the SPD was pretty popular pre-War. The OTL figures would suggest quite a few were emotive voters, given the way the SPD’s support slowly drained away.

In the few years following the end of the war, this manifested in a shift from of support from the SPD to the USPD and KPD. You do have a point about the stab-in-the-back myth, but I would argue that the collapse in support for Zentrum and the DDP in favour of the DVP and DNVP show where that section of the electorate were "moving".

I disagree. The electorate as a whole were becoming more radicalised, as opposed to only some kind of fair weather friend right of centre bloc that abandoned the SPD as soon as they could. Everyone began leaving the SPD, whether it be to the left or the right, in the years following the War - although the tepid response to the Wall Street Crash probably has a lot to do with that.

Regardless, I plan for the civil war to have started before the end of the year,

Ah, now that will make for some interesting differences.

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

Consolidation of the Opposing Forces in Germany, Part 2

Besides the Marxist sections of the German socialist movement, there was also a notable anarcho-syndicalist movement. The Free Association of German Trade Unions (Freie Vereinigung Deutscher Gewerkschaften/FVdG) was originally established in 1897 as a reaction against the reformist and bureaucratic nature of the dominant trade unions and the SPD leadership. Before and during the war, the FVdG had gradually come under anarchist and syndicalist influence, and as such welcomed the outbreak of the November Revolution. At the Association’s Berlin conference of 26th and 27th December, attended by 33 delegates representing 43 local unions, the FVdG officially declared its opposition to parliamentarianism and participation in the constituent assemblies. Due to its anti-electoralism, the anarcho-syndicalist group worked well with the various ultra-left communists, especially in the Rhineland, Westphalia, and the Ruhr.

After the government’s sacking of Gustav Noske he was replaced by his colleague Rudolf Wissell, who also supported Friedrich Ebert’s idea of a parliamentary republic. Though Wissell was obedient to Ebert’s orders, like Noske he regularly got into conflict with Hugo Haase and Wilhelm Dittman over the government’s recent proclamations. The decision to retain Emil Eichhorn as Berlin’s police chief was a sore point for the SPD, especially as his deputy Anton Grylewicz was openly a Communist. The SPD members of the cabinet secretly decided among themselves to continue their infiltration efforts in the Berlin police in the hope that there would be a future opportunity to depose Eichhorn. The issue of the paramilitaries was also in reality reneged upon. The proclamation of the Freikorps’ disarmament was unenforceable: Noske had sided with the military and officially the government had no means of imposing their authority. Unofficially though, Ebert remained in contact with Noske and instructed the former minister to have the Freikorps lay low and bide their time. On the other hand, the SPD ministers argued with their USPD counterparts that the People’s Navy Division and the various armed mobs of workers already fulfilled the proclamation of “arming the proletariat”. Haase and Dittman were wary of Communist influence among the armed sections of the working class and so didn’t push too hard for further armament. The Independents refused to budge on the congress of the Berlin councils however and the debate on the subject threatened to distract the government from the upcoming Paris Peace Conference. In exasperation, the SPD ministers agreed to allow the councils to reconvene on 20th January.

Ahead of the slew of upcoming elections, the Communists campaigned vigorously in the councils and factory committees. In the states of Hesse, Lippe, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin the local KPD branches negotiated coalitions with the USPD, but the campaigns in Berlin, Saxe-Altenburg, and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen remained competitive. Once again there were over 1,500 delegates elected to the Berlin congress, though this time the meeting was less violent than the first congress. The Communist split from the USPD had done little to improve the SPD’s image among Berlin’s workers, and so the Communists and Independents together had a majority of delegates. Former minister Emil Barth presided as Chairman again; the Vice-Chairman was Ernst Däumig, and Hermann Müller of the SPD was Secretary. Much to the consternation of the SPD leadership, their delegates submitted a motion confirming the election of a federal constituent assembly for 16th February. They were right to be concerned as Communist delegates amended the motion to include a provision confirming the ultimate goal of the Revolution was a socialist republic of workers’ and soldiers’ councils. The amended motion was supported by all of the Communists and Independents as well as some SPD delegates. Herman Müller tried to claw back control by presenting a motion for the Second All-German Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils to take place after the federal election. Müller’s ploy backfired; immediately Communist delegates began to argue that the Congress should be held before the election. Soon enough delegates from the USPD and even the SPD joined the argument for an early Congress and, before Müller could attempt to intervene, Barth and Däumig called the session to a vote; the motion was overwhelmingly passed. To prevent any further embarrassment to the government Müller suggested that the congress conclude and elect an Executive Committee. The result was a disaster for the SPD; their influence over the soldiers’ councils had waned over the months since the first congress and so there was no way they could strong-arm the election like last time. The elected Executive Committee comprised 16 Communist members, 8 Independents, and 6 from the SPD; this time there was no disproportionate representation given to the soldiers.

The revolutionaries’ victory in Berlin was down-played and misreported by Vorwärts and other counter-revolutionary newspapers in the city, thus diminishing the potential impact on the upcoming state elections. As agreed at the KPD’s Second Congress, Saxe-Altenburg and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen were target areas. Demonstrations and factory meetings were a commonplace tactic by all three socialist parties in the run-up to the elections and the results in both states delivered a clear majority to the socialists. Out of Saxe-Altenburg’s 40 seats the Communists won 11, the Independents 5, and 8 for the SPD.[1] In Schwarzburg-Sondershausen’s 16 seat assembly the results worked out to 7 for the KPD, 1 for the USPD, and 2 for the SPD.[2] In both states the three parties agreed to form a coalition government. In the other three states the KPD-USPD coalition respectively won: 2 seats (against the SPD’s 30) out of 70 in Hesse;[3] 1 seat (against the SPD’s 10) out of 21 in Lippe;[4] and 3 seats (against the SPD’s 29) out of 64 in Mecklenburg-Schwerin.[5] In all three states the Communists and Independents were shut out of bourgeois government, though together they held majorities in most of the local workers’ councils.

With the Freikorps instructed to refrain from attacking socialist revolutionaries for the time being, the reactionary volunteers took it upon themselves to assist the German forces battling the Polish rebels in Greater Poland. By the time the Freikorps began their intervention on 10th January, the Polish Military Organisation had expanded its area of control and its air force had even bombed a military airfield in Frankfurt an der Oder. The Naczelna Rada Ludowa had also officially announced its assumption of power in Greater Poland and was beginning to replace German administrative officials with their own. Over the following couple of weeks the frontlines of the conflict moved back and forth, with frontier towns being lost and retaken multiple times. On 14th January the NRL appealed to the government of the Polish Republic to help negotiate a ceasefire with Germany. On the 21st, Polish delegates at the Paris Peace Conference appealed to the Entente for a military mission in return for aid against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. The Entente diplomats agreed but made clear their preference to facilitate a negotiated settlement between Germany and Poland. The undeclared war continued in the meantime, prompting Roman Dmowski (one of the Polish delegates at the Conference) to accuse the Germans of being duplicitous, concerning both their desire for peace and their census statistics of Poles in Germany. On the 2nd February negotiations between Poland and Germany commenced in Berlin, but the situation was slowly starting to deteriorate for the Polish Military Organisation.

Soldiers of the Polish Military Organisation​

[1] OTL the SPD and USPD were in coalition, and the SPD got all 24 seats.
[2] Again there was a coalition OTL, but the USPD got all 10 seats.
[3] OTL, USPD = 1, SPD = 31.
[4] OTL, USPD = 0, SPD = 11.
[5] OTL, USPD = 0, SPD = 32.

Dramatis Personae (OTL biographies)

Anton Grylewicz: Following the usual path from the SPD into the USPD, Grylewicz fought in the war and afterwards became police chief Emil Eichhorn's deputy in Berlin. From there Grylewicz was elected as chairman of the USPD's Greater Berlin district and continued to hold an important organisational role after the USPD majority joined the KPD. On the left of the party, he had helped to plan the failed Hamburg uprising of 1923 but was elected to the party Zentrale in 1924. Grylewicz was expelled from the party in 1927 for Trotskyist sympathies, whereupon he founded the Lenin League. In 1933 he fled to Prague, then to Paris in 1937, and Cuba in 1941. In 1955 he returned to West Berlin and rejoined the SPD, while remaining a Trotskyist. Grylewicz died in 1971.

 

[Taimur500]

Consolidation of the Opposing Forces in Germany, Part 2

Besides the Marxist sections of the German socialist movement, there was also a notable anarcho-syndicalist movement. The Free Association of German Trade Unions (Freie Vereinigung Deutscher Gewerkschaften/FVdG) was originally established in 1897 as a reaction against the reformist and bureaucratic nature of the dominant trade unions and the SPD leadership. Before and during the war, the FVdG had gradually come under anarchist and syndicalist influence, and as such welcomed the outbreak of the November Revolution. At the Association’s Berlin conference of 26th and 27th December, attended by 33 delegates representing 43 local unions, the FVdG officially declared its opposition to parliamentarianism and participation in the constituent assemblies. Due to its anti-electoralism, the anarcho-syndicalist group worked well with the various ultra-left communists, especially in the Rhineland, Westphalia, and the Ruhr.

After the government’s sacking of Gustav Noske he was replaced by his colleague Rudolf Wissell, who also supported Friedrich Ebert’s idea of a parliamentary republic. Though Wissell was obedient to Ebert’s orders, like Noske he regularly got into conflict with Hugo Haase and Wilhelm Dittman over the government’s recent proclamations. The decision to retain Emil Eichhorn as Berlin’s police chief was a sore point for the SPD, especially as his deputy Anton Grylewicz was openly a Communist. The SPD members of the cabinet secretly decided among themselves to continue their infiltration efforts in the Berlin police in the hope that there would be a future opportunity to depose Eichhorn. The issue of the paramilitaries was also in reality reneged upon. The proclamation of the Freikorps’ disarmament was unenforceable: Noske had sided with the military and officially the government had no means of imposing their authority. Unofficially though, Ebert remained in contact with Noske and instructed the former minister to have the Freikorps lay low and bide their time. On the other hand, the SPD ministers argued with their USPD counterparts that the People’s Navy Division and the various armed mobs of workers already fulfilled the proclamation of “arming the proletariat”. Haase and Dittman were wary of Communist influence among the armed sections of the working class and so didn’t push too hard for further armament. The Independents refused to budge on the congress of the Berlin councils however and the debate on the subject threatened to distract the government from the upcoming Paris Peace Conference. In exasperation, the SPD ministers agreed to allow the councils to reconvene on 20th January.

Ahead of the slew of upcoming elections, the Communists campaigned vigorously in the councils and factory committees. In the states of Hesse, Lippe, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin the local KPD branches negotiated coalitions with the USPD, but the campaigns in Berlin, Saxe-Altenburg, and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen remained competitive. Once again there were over 1,500 delegates elected to the Berlin congress, though this time the meeting was less violent than the first congress. The Communist split from the USPD had done little to improve the SPD’s image among Berlin’s workers, and so the Communists and Independents together had a majority of delegates. Former minister Emil Barth presided as Chairman again; the Vice-Chairman was Ernst Däumig, and Hermann Müller of the SPD was Secretary. Much to the consternation of the SPD leadership, their delegates submitted a motion confirming the election of a federal constituent assembly for 16th February. They were right to be concerned as Communist delegates amended the motion to include a provision confirming the ultimate goal of the Revolution was a socialist republic of workers’ and soldiers’ councils. The amended motion was supported by all of the Communists and Independents as well as some SPD delegates. Herman Müller tried to claw back control by presenting a motion for the Second All-German Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils to take place after the federal election. Müller’s ploy backfired; immediately Communist delegates began to argue that the Congress should be held before the election. Soon enough delegates from the USPD and even the SPD joined the argument for an early Congress and, before Müller could attempt to intervene, Barth and Däumig called the session to a vote; the motion was overwhelmingly passed. To prevent any further embarrassment to the government Müller suggested that the congress conclude and elect an Executive Committee. The result was a disaster for the SPD; their influence over the soldiers’ councils had waned over the months since the first congress and so there was no way they could strong-arm the election like last time. The elected Executive Committee comprised 16 Communist members, 8 Independents, and 6 from the SPD; this time there was no disproportionate representation given to the soldiers.

The revolutionaries’ victory in Berlin was down-played and misreported by Vorwärts and other counter-revolutionary newspapers in the city, thus diminishing the potential impact on the upcoming state elections. As agreed at the KPD’s Second Congress, Saxe-Altenburg and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen were target areas. Demonstrations and factory meetings were a commonplace tactic by all three socialist parties in the run-up to the elections and the results in both states delivered a clear majority to the socialists. Out of Saxe-Altenburg’s 40 seats the Communists won 11, the Independents 5, and 8 for the SPD.[1] In Schwarzburg-Sondershausen’s 16 seat assembly the results worked out to 7 for the KPD, 1 for the USPD, and 2 for the SPD.[2] In both states the three parties agreed to form a coalition government. In the other three states the KPD-USPD coalition respectively won: 2 seats (against the SPD’s 30) out of 70 in Hesse;[3] 1 seat (against the SPD’s 10) out of 21 in Lippe;[4] and 3 seats (against the SPD’s 29) out of 64 in Mecklenburg-Schwerin.[5] In all three states the Communists and Independents were shut out of bourgeois government, though together they held majorities in most of the local workers’ councils.

With the Freikorps instructed to refrain from attacking socialist revolutionaries for the time being, the reactionary volunteers took it upon themselves to assist the German forces battling the Polish rebels in Greater Poland. By the time the Freikorps began their intervention on 10th January, the Polish Military Organisation had expanded its area of control and its air force had even bombed a military airfield in Frankfurt an der Oder. The Naczelna Rada Ludowa had also officially announced its assumption of power in Greater Poland and was beginning to replace German administrative officials with their own. Over the following couple of weeks the frontlines of the conflict moved back and forth, with frontier towns being lost and retaken multiple times. On 14th January the NRL appealed to the government of the Polish Republic to help negotiate a ceasefire with Germany. On the 21st, Polish delegates at the Paris Peace Conference appealed to the Entente for a military mission in return for aid against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. The Entente diplomats agreed but made clear their preference to facilitate a negotiated settlement between Germany and Poland. The undeclared war continued in the meantime, prompting Roman Dmowski (one of the Polish delegates at the Conference) to accuse the Germans of being duplicitous, concerning both their desire for peace and their census statistics of Poles in Germany. On the 2nd February negotiations between Poland and Germany commenced in Berlin, but the situation was slowly starting to deteriorate for the Polish Military Organisation.

Soldiers of the Polish Military Organisation​

[1] OTL the SPD and USPD were in coalition, and the SPD got all 24 seats.
[2] Again there was a coalition OTL, but the USPD got all 10 seats.
[3] OTL, USPD = 1, SPD = 31.
[4] OTL, USPD = 0, SPD = 11.
[5] OTL, USPD = 0, SPD = 32.

As always, great update!
I still have hope for some sections of the SPD to see the movement of history and properly join the revolutionary movement.

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

German State Elections in January 1919

Constituent Assembly of the State of Baden - 5th January

Party​	Seats​	% of vote​
Centre Party (Z)​	39​	36.6​
Social Democratic Party (SPD)​	36​	32.1​
Democratic Party (DDP)​	25​	22.8​
National People's Party (DNVP)​	7​	7​
Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD)​	0​	1.5​
	107​

Constituent Assembly of the State of Bavaria - 12th January

Party​	Seats​	% of vote​
Bavarian People's Party (BVP)​	66​	35​
Social Democratic Party (SPD)​	57​	31.7​
Democratic Party (DDP)​	25​	14​
Bavarian Farmers' League (BBB)​	16​	9.1​
National People's Party (DNVP)​	9​	5.8​
Communist-Independent coalition (KPD-USPD)​	7​	4.4​
	180​

Constituent Assembly of the State of Württemberg - 12th January

Party​	Seats​	% of vote​
Social Democratic Party (SPD)​	52​	34.4​
Democratic Party (DDP)​	38​	25​
Centre Party (Z)​	31​	20.8​
Various farmers' associations (WBB/WWK/VLO)​	14​	8.9​
National People's Party (DNVP)​	11​	7.4​
Communist Party (KPD)​	3​	2​
Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD)​	1​	1.5​
	150​

Constituent Assembly of the State of Hesse - 26th January

Party​	Seats​	% of vote​
Social Democratic Party (SPD)​	30​	42.1​
Democratic Party (DDP)​	13​	18.9​
Centre Party (Z)​	13​	17.6​
People's Party (DVP)​	7​	10.1​
National People's Party (DNVP)​	5​	7.4​
Communist-Independent coalition (KPD-USPD)​	2​	3.9​
	70​

Constituent Assembly of the State of Lippe - 26th January

Party​	Seats​	% of vote​
Social Democratic Party (SPD)​	10​	47.7​
National People's Party (DNVP)​	5​	22.3​
Democratic Party (DDP)​	4​	19.8​
Independents​	1​	7.7​
Communist-Independent coalition (KPD-USPD)​	1​	2.5​
	21​

Constituent Assembly of the State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin - 26th January

Party​	Seats​	% of vote​
Social Democratic Party (SPD)​	29​	40.4​
Democratic Party (DDP)​	17​	27.3​
National People's Party (DNVP)​	10​	13.1​
Communist-Independent coalition (KPD-USPD)​	3​	7.5​
Independents​	3​	7.4​
People's Party (DVP)​	2​	4.3​
	64​

Constituent Assembly of the State of Saxe-Altenburg - 26th January

Party​	Seats​	% of vote​
Communist Party (KPD)​	11​	27.3​
Democratic Party (DDP)​	10​	24.6​
Social Democratic Party (SPD)​	8​	20​
National People's Party (DNVP)​	6​	16.8​
Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD)​	5​	11.3​
	40​

Constituent Assembly of the State of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen - 26th January

Party​	Seats​	% of vote​
Communist Party (KPD)​	7​	43​
Democratic Party (DDP)​	3​	16​
Social Democratic Party (SPD)​	2​	15.8​
National People's Party (DNVP)​	2​	15.3​
Independents​	1​	5.8​
Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD)​	1​	4.1​
	16​

 

[Taimur500]

Good data update, waiting for more

 

[Teutonic_Thrash]

The Polish Question and Contentious Elections

The ongoing conflict with the Polish rebels in eastern Germany was growing in its unpopularity. The armistice with the Entente had given the German people the impression that the war was over, yet the Deutsches Heer (army) and divisions of Freikorps were engaged with an enemy force which was clearly an extension of the Republic of Poland. Negotiations for a ceasefire had begun on 2nd February but the fighting continued unabated. The Communists, and to a lesser extent the USPD, seized on the undeclared war, sharply criticising the SPD as being no different from the previous military dictatorship. It is difficult to discern whether this line of attack had much of an effect on the outcome of the three state elections of 2nd February; all three states (Saxony, Reuss-Gera, and Reuss-Greiz) were urban and industrialised. The KPD won 14 of Saxony’s 96 seats, against 40 for the SPD and 3 for the Independents.[1] In the two states of Reuss, Communist performance was much better: in Reuss-Gera, the KPD won 7 of the 21 seats available, while the SPD and USPD respectively won 2 and 4;[2] in Reuss-Greiz, the KPD won 5 out of 15 seats, and the SPD and USPD each received 2.[3]

The day after the Polish-German talks began, a German offensive broke through on the northern front and began to push towards Gnesen/Gniezno.[4] The radical miners’ councils of the Ruhr and central Germany, who had effectively socialised their mines throughout January against the wishes of the SPD-led government, escalated their discussions for a coordinated general strike against the undeclared war. The Communists and Independents united in support of the miners and helped to facilitate the planning of the strike throughout the country. On 6th February the news of the German siege of Gniezno and the failure of armistice negotiations induced the miners to begin their strike immediately. Gustav Noske, acting as a secret liaison between Chancellor Ebert and the Freikorps, urged Ebert to redirect some Freikorps divisions from the Polish front to repress the miners’ strike. The Chancellor refused however, knowing that a repression of the miners would cause the collapse of his already fragile coalition between the SPD and the USPD. Instead Ebert pinned his hopes on quickly defeating the Polish rebellion and thus negating the primary justification for the strike. In both the Ruhr and central Germany combined a few hundred thousand workers had joined the strike; alongside their demand for an end to the war, they also demanded the imminent convention of the Second All-German Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils. Just prior to the elections in the states of Coburg and Lübeck on 9th February, Gniezno was taken by German forces and unorganised sympathy strikes were appearing across Germany, including in Coburg and Lübeck. In both states the Communists and Independents formed coalitions and went on the offensive against the SPD. Out of Lübeck’s 80 seats the KPD-USPD coalition won 11 seats against the SPD’s 29.[5] In Coburg’s small assembly of 11 seats the anti-war socialists won 2 seats, the SPD 5, and the DDP-led right-wing coalition 4 seats.[6]

The Executive Committee of the Berlin councils heeded the call of the striking miners and, without consulting the government, declared the Second All-German Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils to be opened on 11th February. In comparison to the First Congress the organisation of the Second had little involvement from the SPD, who had since focused almost exclusively on the parliamentary elections. Additionally the workers’ councils throughout the country had become more confident in themselves and their proletarian character, and so sent considerably more delegates of working class background. Overall there were 582 delegates, 90 of whom were sent from the soldiers’ councils. The SPD had lost the majority they had won in the First Congress, falling to 229 delegates, while the Communists had soared to 211 delegates; with the USPD numbered at 84, they held a majority. The first issue on the agenda was the miners’ strike in relation to the Polish rebellion. Wilhelm Koenen, KPD delegate and one of the leaders of the strike in central Germany, delivered a strident speech castigating the government for continuing the war and arguing that the strike was a measured response to the situation. With the Communists and Independents in support of the strike, a vote to continue the stoppage until the government declared a ceasefire was easily passed. The question of extending the strike was disputed though; the Communists argued in favour of the workers of Berlin joining the strike, while the USPD countered with the claim that such an action would invite repression from the military, and the SPD accused the Communists of seeking to install a dictatorship. Support from the International Communists and the anarchists wasn’t enough to give the KPD a majority, so they relented on expanding the strike.

The next day of the Congress began with a debate on the socialisation of the economy, an issue which all of the delegates of the socialist parties ostensibly agreed upon. The leadership of the SPD were discretely opposed to mass socialisation however and instead preferred gradual nationalisation. To this end they attempted to impress upon their delegates the need to oppose any economic initiatives proposed by the Communists or Independents; the party’s leadership were only partially successful. When Georg Ledebour called for the immediate nationalisation of natural resources and heavy industry, in conjunction with workplace democracy, the Congress reacted with thunderous applause, many of the SPD delegates included; the motion was passed comfortably. The following motion, presented by Heinrich Dorrenbach, concerned the democratisation of the military through the use of the soldiers’ and sailors’ councils. The subsequent debate gave Willi Budich, former leader of the League of Red Soldiers, the opportunity to condemn the government’s collaboration with the Freikorps, to whom Budich had lost an arm in the attempted coup of early December. The vote was passed almost unanimously.

The final debate of the Congress, which consumed the third and final day, surrounded the federal constituent assembly election and the future of the republic. Karl Liebknecht reiterated the KPD’s support for the election and his party’s participation in it, but he plainly stated that the ultimate legislative and executive authority in Germany lay in the councils. His speech drew applause and jeers in equal measure. Max Cohen-Reuss, an SPD delegate who had presided over the First Congress, retorted that the role of the councils had served their purpose and power should be handed over to a constituent assembly forthwith before there was a danger of the councils being subverted by a Bolshevik-like dictatorship. To his surprise many of Cohen-Reuss’ fellow delegates from the SPD turned their ire upon him, angry at his inconsiderate dismissal of their work. The USPD delegate Oskar Cohn affirmed his and his party’s support for the conciliar republic, but argued that it needed to be imbued with the democratic legitimacy of the constituent assembly. However, Cohn’s left-wing colleague Emil Barth responded by pointing out that the participation of the workers in the councils provided all the democratic legitimacy that was necessary. The arguing went back and forth until the Congress’ presidium called for a vote on Liebknecht’s proposal. The vote passed with 362 delegates in favour; all of the Communists and approximately half of the USPD delegates were in support, but that alone fell short of a majority. Fortunately for the revolutionaries a substantial minority of SPD delegates joined their side. With the future of a socialist republic of councils seemingly secured, the Second All-German Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils concluded and the delegates returned home, many of them going on to continue their miners’ strike.

Party​	Delegates​	% of delegates​
Social Democratic Party (SPD)​	229​	39.3​
Communist Party (KPD)​	211​	36.3​
Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD)​	84​	14.4​
International Communists (IKD)​	32​	5.5​
Liberals​	12​	2.1​
Anarchists​	8​	1.4​
Independents​	6​	1​
	582​

Ebert’s government was dismayed at the overtly revolutionary decisions coming out of the Congress, but they were confident in their opinion that the councils would be irrelevant following the federal election on 16th February. Meanwhile, the suppression of the Polish rebellion was foremost in the minds of the cabinet. By the end of the Congress on 13th February German forces had retaken Ostrów, which had been held by Polish rebels since before the armistice with the Entente. Subsequently the Freikorps pursued the retreating rebels across the border into the Republic of Poland, where they engaged the Polish army. The Entente military mission that was present in Poland dispatched a strongly-worded ultimatum to the German government, demanding the immediate retreat from the Polish Republic’s territory or face the resumption of a state of war. To Ebert’s horror, the Freikorps involved were not under his control or that of Noske. When the USPD ministers Hugo Haase and Wilhelm Dittmann became aware of the dire situation they presented Ebert with an ultimatum of their own: outlaw the Freikorps and inform the Entente that they were rogue elements, or the USPD would withdraw from the coalition government. Philipp Scheidemann acted first and accepted the Independents’ demands, instructing the foreign ministry to relay the message to Joseph Noulens, chairman of the Entente mission in Poland. The mostly French forces counterattacked the Freikorps and by the 15th had expelled them from Poland; they remained at the border however and refused to advance towards Ostrów. Meanwhile, most of the soldiers’ councils of the Deutsches Heer on the Polish front had voted to refuse offensive orders from the high command, in effect engaging in a mass mutiny. Thus the German government was in crisis on the eve of the federal election.

[1] OTL, USPD = 15, SPD = 42.
[2] OTL the USPD and SPD were in coalition and the former got 11 seats and the latter got 2.
[3] OTL, USPD = 7, SPD = 2.
[4] This offensive was repulsed IOTL, but with the larger Freikorps presence ITTL it is a success.
[5] OTL it was 42 seats for the SPD. I’ve reasoned that some of the rural anti-war votes shifted from the SPD to the DDP, who got 29 seats OTL.
[6] OTL, 7 seats for the SPD.

Dramatis Personae (OTL biographies)

Wilhelm Koenen: One of the founders of the USPD, Koenen was a leader of the miners' strikes of central Germany in 1919. The next year he was one of the primary organisers of the USPD left's merger with the KPD and was elected to the party Zentrale. From then on he was regular delegate to Comintern congresses. As a centrist in the party Koenen was sidelined during the ultra-left's ascendancy, but gradually shifted to the left in response. In 1933 Koenen fled to France, then Czechoslovakia in 1935, and Britain in 1938. From 1940 to 1942 he was interned in Canada but would later go on to work for British intelligence's anti-Nazi propaganda apparatus. After the war, Koenen joined the SED, became its chairman in Saxony, and was a regular member of the Central Committee until his death in 1963.
Willi Budich: One of the original Spartacists and an ally of Leo Jogiches, Budich organised the League of Red Soldiers. After from his injuries during the attempted coup of early December 1918, Budich moved to Munich where he was a leader of the council republic. Afterwards he fled to the USSR, returned to Germany in 1921, was arrested but escaped and returned to the USSR where worked as an agent of the Comintern and International Red Aid. Budich returned to Germany in 1929, joined the KPD Central Committee. He was arrested by the Gestapo after the Nazis came power and was interned in a concentration camp until an international campaign led to release. He returned to the USSR to continue his work in the International Red Aid until his arrest in 1936 and execution in 1938 during Stalin's purges.
Oskar Cohn: A lawyer and SPD politician, Cohn was a founding member of the USPD. During the November Revolution Cohn acted as a legal advisor to the Soviet Russian embassy and accepted funds to start a revolution. He later worked in the Ministry of Justice during the SPD-USPD coalition government. Cohn opposed the USPD's potential entry into the Comintern and stayed with the rump of the party that rejoined the SPD. During the 1920s Cohn joined Poale Zion and became a staunch Zionist. After the Reichstag fire he moved to Paris and was involved in organising aid for Jewish refugees. Cohn died in Geneva in 1934.

 

[Alexander the Average]

Thus the German government was in crisis on the eve of the federal election.

Everything under heaven is in utter chaos; the situation is excellent.

 

[Taimur500]

Wonderful.