Friedrich Gelwitzki on Participation in Elections at the Founding Party Congress of the KPD

You have heard all the statements presented to us on the question of the National Assembly. I would like to ask you to join Comrade Rühle. I ask you to adopt the following resolution, which a number of Berlin district assemblies have already adopted. I then submit a second resolution.1

These two resolutions were adopted unanimously in my district, despite all the machinations used to lead the workers down a different path. Perhaps another comrade would be serving as a delegate at this conference if I hadn't represented a position that coincides with the position expressed in the resolutions. The unfortunate speech delivered by Comrade Levi today will leave no impression on the memory of that morning, which we comrades present will never forget. In view of this, I consider the afternoon, when one draws a conclusion, disgraceful that this question still has to be discussed for hours. If the matter is as the comrades in the Reich have stated, there is no need for further major discussions; the verdict has been made. If one presents arguments based on the lofty vantage point of the ideas that sustain us, this vantage point is available to us everywhere. We don't need it on the platform of the National Assembly; we have it on every street corner, on every balcony; we have platforms everywhere to address the masses and to summon the masses. We consider participation in the National Assembly to be confusing in the current situation. The clarity of purpose with which we have won over the masses so far must not be shaken by the machinations of any central function. It is gratifying that we can declare today that we have freed ourselves from the authoritarianism of our leaders. We used every authoritative means to lead the masses down the wrong path, but they refused to obey. It is claimed that if we do not participate in the elections, the votes that might have benefited us will go to the independents. This argument is as worm-eaten as anything. It is nothing more than vote-catching. Do we want to win votes? No, we don't want votes, we want fighters. Ten men on the street are worth more than a thousand votes in the election.

Then, at the same time, we have the duty to consider: What do we do in return? As a replacement, we do this: All power to the workers' and soldiers' councils! This slogan that was given to us, with which we first won the masses, behind which the revolutionary elements of Greater Berlin are lining up, this slogan we must see to by January 19th. Until the day of the National Assembly, we have the damned duty and obligation to work with utmost energy, to spread this idea to the masses, not just in the factories. Our greatest duty lies in going to the barracks, in making clear the difference: here, the Council Assembly, there, the National Assembly. The Council Assembly is the government of the world proletariat, and the National Assembly is the government of the counter-revolution. We must show this to the workers clearly and unambiguously. Then we will be successful if we enter into intensive activity until January 19th. This is the logical tactic that we must implement without fail. The greatest harm lies in our participation in the elections—this must be clear to everyone—that is a blurring of the fundamental principle. This is truly a vague policy. I warn you that the bourgeois newspapers, along with the Scheidemanns, would descend upon us. A loud outcry would resonate throughout the international world if we did not make our position clear. It has even been suggested that those comrades who might participate would risk receiving a medal. We must educate and organize actions to transfer all power to the workers' and soldiers' councils. We must not forget that the workers' and soldiers' councils, as they are currently composed, are not the representation we need to anchor the proletarian revolution. We must expand these councils so that they actually anchor the proletariat firmly and securely. That is not the case at the moment. When one attended the conference of the councils and saw how most of the soldiers' representatives were officers, how officers and sergeants were elected at the Busch Circus, and how Liebknecht was not allowed to speak, this vital element of the social revolution must be fundamentally restructured so that we can be sure that proletarian Germany is properly represented. That is not the case now.

They say we must let development take its course. Who is development? Aren't we development? We are the executive organs who must drive development forward. We have a duty to ensure, by all means, that what we want comes to fruition: all power to the workers' and soldiers' councils. I ask you to adopt our resolution unanimously. Do not participate in the National Assembly elections. When the time comes, and we cannot prevent the elections, we must be in a position to create a parliament through our own actions, because we do not want the destruction of the revolution, but its thoroughgoing continuation.

• 1The two resolutions are not included in the manuscript. The Berliner Tageblatt and Handels-Zeitung , No. 666 of December 31, 1918, states the following about the content of the resolutions: " Gelwitzki (Berlin) read two resolutions from District Associations 14 and 15, Berlin Wedding and Reinickendorf. The members of these associations declare themselves against participation in the National Assembly. Rather, they demand that all means of power be used to oppose this use. Furthermore, they call on all revolutionary workers to ensure that all power is firmly anchored in the workers' and soldiers' councils. They want to win power on the streets, if necessary, with bloodshed, to achieve world revolution." The bourgeois daily newspaper Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger , No. 661 of December 31, 1918, also mentions that Gelwitzki read two resolutions from District Associations 14 and 15, Berlin-Wedding and Reinickendorf. However, these districts are not mentioned in the report of the Mandate Review Commission.