Otto Rühle on Participation in Elections at the Founding Party Congress of the KPD

I oppose Levi's proposal that we participate in the elections to the National Assembly. Only a few days ago, I was of the opinion that the question of voter participation was completely out of the question for us. To my great surprise, I was disabused of this by the article in the Roten Fahne1 , and today we experienced the unreasonable demand that we participate in the elections to the National Assembly. Yesterday and today, we freed ourselves from the burden we had created with the Gotha resolution, and now we are immediately re-entering the territory of opportunistic compromise politics. We have experienced enough with compromises and opportunism. I urgently warn you not to tread on this ground and decisively reject participation in the elections to the National Assembly. This leaves us completely suspended in the air. It is self-evident that the establishment of the National Assembly will bring about a major strangulation of the workers' and soldiers' councils. Müller from the party executive and Fräßdorf from Dresden have already argued that the establishment of the National Assembly spells the end of the councils. We must continue to incite the lively politics of the street; we must not lull the movement back to sleep by giving workers a ballot paper.

What should we tell people? Vote us into the National Assembly so we can hollow it out from within, blow it up, sabotage it, expose it to the laughter of the world. People simply don't understand that. When people say we must give women and young people the opportunity to vote… I don't know how to make it clear to them that they should vote us in. We can no longer view parliamentarism as our instrument. We are not voting for a National Assembly. You will have the opportunity to vote when it comes to electing representatives from your workplaces to the councils. We have demanded this universal, equal, and secret suffrage from civil society. Once we are in power, we will want something else, create something else. After all, we are about to seize power. Once we have power, we will not allow the National Assembly to wrest it away from us again. In any case, the situation is such that if two or three of us enter the National Assembly, they won't have the platform they expected. The Reichstag was no longer our platform either. The petty questions disappeared, they were no longer allowed through, the shouts were no longer recorded; the Reichstag had long since ceased to be our platform. Comrade Levi said that we needed this platform. We now have other platforms. The street is the greatest platform we have won, and we will never let it go again, even if we are shot at. We are not even comparing it with this ridiculous, miserable parliamentary platform we have in the National Assembly, where perhaps one of our speakers manages to speak. The newspapers will carry two or three lines of his speech; the only paper that will report the speech will be Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag) . And Die Rote Fahne can publish dozens and hundreds of its wonderful articles. This serves the cause in a completely different way than a parliamentary speech.

Comrade Levi says the question is serious, and the fate of our movement is at stake. If the fate of our movement depends on our participation in the elections, then our movement must be in a pitiful state. If the National Assembly is moved to Krähwinkel, then it will judge itself. Comrade Levi says it won't judge itself. Now, comrades, let the National Assembly be moved to Schilda, then we will have a different government here in Berlin, and then our task will be to first try to overthrow it. And if that fails, then let it go to Schilda. Then we will establish ourselves as a new government here in Berlin. We still have 14 days. In these 14 days, we can go to the most remote areas and make it clear to the comrades what we are all about. The National Assembly may be the organ of the bourgeoisie. Our organ looks different. We will create our organ either after the National Assembly or, if it is not possible to overthrow it, at the same time as the National Assembly. Now we will be able to take up the fight in all forms.

I urgently appeal to you not to succumb to this opportunistic policy. I'm not saying it's a deliberate opportunist policy. But in its effect, it will be opportunistic. For the broad masses of rural residents and small-town dwellers, it amounts to a policy of compromise. I urgently appeal to you not to succumb to it; pursue the straightforward path of a completely consistent policy that raises one single demand: a council system!

• 1This refers to the leading article in the Rote Fahne , No. 38 of 23 December 1918, The Elections to the National Assembly , written by Rosa Luxemburg .