German Revolution 1918
Content about the German Revolution of 1918.
The Lessons of the “March Action”
The Lessons of the “March Action”-Gorter’s Last Letter to Lenin
Dear Comrade Lenin:
When we last parted in November of 1920, your last words on our quite divergent ideas concerning revolutionary tactics in Western Europe were to the effect that neither your opinions nor mine had been sufficiently tested: that experience would soon prove which of the two is correct.
We were in complete agreement on that.
From the Bourgeois to the Proletarian Revolution - Otto Ruhle
Written in 1924, this pamphlet charts the development of the Russian and German revolutions, and attempts to point forward from the failure of these two major events, analysing the role of the parties and the trade unions in their respective failures.
This online version taken from http://www.marxists.org
From the Bourgeois to the Proletarian Revolution
1 The Bourgeois Revolutions
Order Prevails in Berlin - Rosa Luxemburg
Written just after the defeat of German Revolution and hours before she and other leaders of the struggle would be arrested and killed by the Friekorps. It details the ebb and flow of recent class struggles and is the last known work of Rosa Luxemburg.
"Order prevails in Warsaw!" declared Minister Sebastiani to the Paris Chamber of Deputies in 1831, when after having stormed the suburb of Praga, Paskevich’s marauding troops invaded the Polish capital to begin their butchery of the rebels.
A Call to the Workers of the World - Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg's call to the international working class to support the 1918 German Revolution by taking up arms against their own ruling classes. Originally published in Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag), November 25, 1918
PROLETARIANS! Men and Women of Labor! Comrades!
The Beginning - Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg's essay at the outbreak of the 1918 German Revolution.
The revolution has begun. What is called for now is not jubilation at was has been accomplished, not triumph over the beaten foe, but the strictest self-criticism and iron concentration of energy in order to continue the work we have begun. For our accomplishments are small and the foe has not been beaten.
The German Revolution: The First Stage - Anton Pannekoek
Anton Pannekoek's article on the unfolding German revolution of 1918 shows some of the hopes which the upheaval inspired. Originally written in 1918, it was later published in Workers Dreadnought in 1919.
The German Revolution - Paul Mattick
The German Revolution, chapter 7 from Mattick's work Reform or Revolution, looks at the events upsurge of working class militancy in Germany during November 1918.
Contrary to Bolshevik expectations, the Russian Revolution remained a national revolution. Its international repercussions involved no more than a growing demand for the ending of the war. The Bolsheviks’ call for an immediate peace without annexations and reparations found a positive response among the soldiers and workers in the Western nations.
German Revolution 1918 photo gallery
Images from the German Revolution, including the Wilhelmshaven Revolt.
Programme of the Communist Workers Party of Germany (KAPD), 1920
May 1920 programme of the party, with appended background and information notes
Preface
Bernard Reichenbach:The KAPD in retrospect - An interview with a member of the Communist Workers Party of Germany
A former member of the anti-parliamentary, councilist KAPD describes his experiences of the German Revolution, his time spent in Moscow amongst the Bolsheviks and the difficulties faced in a revolutionary situation.
Published in Revolutionary History, Vol. 5, No. 2 Spring 1994.
We have omitted the footnotes from this text as they are mainly short biographies of people in the text. This interview first appeared in Solidarity Vol. 6 no.2 when Reichanbach was a militant in the anti-parliamentary Left in Germany. He was interviewed by Rudi Dutschke (RH)
