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The Anti-Russian Tide in German Socialism, 1918-1920

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2019

William Maehl
William Maehl*
Affiliation:
Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, Nebraska
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Extract

Had German socialism in 1918 returned to its pre-war Marxian opposition to the nation-state, Lenin could probably have built his immense political cantilever to span Eurasia from the French border to the Pacific. But the German pier was never erected. A majority of the German Socialists proved hostile to the Russian Communist program. For most of them fears of Communism (i.e., Russia) and devotion to the heritage of Bach, Beethoven, Blücher, Bismarck, and Bebel were obverse and reverse of the same nationalist coin.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 18 , Issue 2 , April 1959 , pp. 187 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1959

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References

1 Vorwärts, Nov. 10, 1917.

2 Kautsky, Karl, Die Diktatur des Proletariats (Vienna, 1919), p. 60 Google Scholar.

3 “Weg zur Macht” (1909) appearing in Kautsky, Demokratie oder Diktatur (Berlin, 1919), pp. 26-7.

4 Frolich, Paul, Zenn Jahre Krieg und Biirgerkrieg, 2 vols. (Berlin, 1924), I, 239-41Google Scholar; Flechtheim, Ossip, Die KPD in der Weimarer Republik (Offenbach, 1948), p. 30 Google Scholar; Prager, E., Geschichte der USPD (Berlin, 1921), p. 154 Google Scholar.

5 Q.v. Luxemburg, R., Die Russische Revolution (Berlin, 1922)Google Scholar.

6 Hugo Haase called the SPD's act “propping up the reigning system of the bourgeoisie” ( Haase, Hugo. Sein Leben und sein Wirken, ed. by E. Haase [Berlin, 1929], p. 164 Google Scholar). The most recent historian of German Social Democracy, Hermann Heidegger, has repeated the old refrain that German Social Democracy struck its colors in October-November and even, by its later alliance with the Oberste Heeresleitung, betrayed the cause of socialism (Die Sozialdemokratie und der nationale Staat, 1870-1920 [Göttingen, 1956], pp. 375, 377, 378). Such asseverations, not vindicated by later history, conveniently circumvent the questions: How could a revolutionary Germany in 1918 have held itself aloof from alliance with Russia? How could any independent German socialist society have become possible on the basis of affiliation of the Social Democracy with the Comintern?

7 Cf. von Baden, Prince Max, Erinnerungen und Dokumente (Stuttgart, 1928), pp. 388, 405-07, 614Google Scholar; Stutzenberger, Adolf, Die Abdankung Kaiser Wilhelms II (“Historische Studien,” CCCXII [Berlin, 1937], pp. 68-9Google Scholar; Scheidemann, P., Der Zusammenbruch (Berlin, 1921), pp. 204-05Google Scholar; Memoiren eines Sozialdemokraten, 2 vols. (Dresden, 1928), II, 264-66.

8 Scheidemann, Memoiren, II, 83..

9 Flechtheim, pp. 30-1.

10 See issues of Oct. 10, 1918, Frdnkische Tagespost, Oct. 16-19 of ibid., Volkswacht fur Schlesien, SaalJ“elder Volksblatt, and Magdeburger Volksstimme.

11 See Vorwarts, Oct. 22, 1918.

12 See Ebert's speech in Verhandlungen des Reichstags: Stenographische Berichte (hereafter cited as “V.R.“), CCCXIV (Oct. 22, 1918), 6161-66; Cf. Winnig, A., Das Reich als Republik (Stuttgart, 1928), p. 127 Google Scholar; and Stutzenberger, pp. 77-8.

13 Flechtheim, pp. 31-3; E. Bernstein, Die deutsche Revolution (1921), p. 24.

14 Wilhelm Dittmann, “Wie Alles kam: Deutschlands Weg seit 1914” (unpublished MS in possession of Dittmann family in Zurich. Hereafter cited as “Dittmann MS“), p. 99; Tiedemann, Helmut, Sowjetrussland und die Revolutionierung Deutschlands, 1917-19. (“Historische Studien,” CCXCVI [Berlin, 1936] ), pp. 74, 78Google Scholar.

15 See its appeal in the Schleswig-Holsteinische Volkszeitung, Nov. 4, 1918.

16 Vorwarts, Nov. 6, 1918.

17 Prince Max, op. cit., p. 580.

18 Ibid., p. 592.

19 Bernstein, op. cit., p. 22; see Vorwärts, Nov. 7, 1918.

20 Dittmann MS, p. 103; Flechtheim, p. 34; Scheidemann, Memoiren, II, 309-11.

21 Scheidemann, Memoiren, II, 311.

22 Dittmann MS, p. 103.

23 Interview with W. Dittmann in Zurich, Switzerland, Sept. 5, 1948; Interview with Dr. Otto Braun in Ascona, Ticino, Oct. 3, 1948; cf. Rosenberg, p. 29.

24 Volkmann, E. O., Revolution über DeutsMand (Oldenburg, 1930), p. 68.Google Scholar

25 Braun, Otto, Von Weimar zu Hitler (New York, 1940), p. 16 Google Scholar. This fidelity was by no means as certain as, for instance, Flechtheim makes it appear (op. cit., p. 389). At the all-German conciliar congress of Dec. 16, 1918, the Majority Socialists controlled only 288 out of 489 delegates. The combined forces of the revolutionaries (i.e., left USPD, including Spartacists, and Laufenberg's United Revolutionary sect) did not exceed 70. But it must be remembered that at the first congress of Russian Soviets (Petrograd, June 16, 1917), the S.R.s controlled 285, the Mensheviks 248, and the Bolsheviks only 105 delegates. The ratio of revolutionaries to conservatives was in both cases similar. The most recent work on the Räte is Walter Tormin, Zwischen Rätediktatur und sozialer demokratie (“Beiträge zur Geschichte des Parlamentarismus und der politischen Parteien,” Vol. IV [Düsseldorf, 1954]).

26 Vorwärts, Nov. 11, 1918.

27 Heidegger, p. 203.

28 Vorwärts, Nov. 18, 1918.

29 Müller, II, 50.

30 Tiedemann, p. 65.

31 See Vorwärts, Nov. 29, 1918.

32 See Temps (Paris), Dec. 12, 1918.

33 Vorwärts, Nov. 29, 1918.

34 Proceedings in Allgemeiner Kongress der Arbeiter-und Soldatenräte Deutschlands, vom 16. bis 21. Dezember, 1918 (Berlin, 1919).

35 Müller, II, 203; Flechtheim, p. 43; Bernstein, p. 78; Rosenberg, p. 56.

36 Dittmann said that if the USPD had tried to prevent convocation of the Constituent it would have incurred the hostility of the nation; such an act “would not have been democratic.” (Interview Sept. 3, 1948).

37 A. Kongress der Räte, p. 142

38 Ibid., pp. 117-18.

39 Cf. Heidegger, p. 237.

40 On the Darenbach affair see Miiller, H., Die November Revolution (Berlin, 1928, pp. 234-45Google Scholar; Frölich, I, 269 passim. The Spartacists left the USPD on Dec. 30 to found the Communist Party (KPD). See Borkenau, F., The Communist International (London, 1938), pp. 142-43Google Scholar; and Flechtheim, pp. 45-6.

41 Interview Sept. 3, 1948.

42 Cf. Noske, Aufstieg und Niedergang der deutschen Sozialdemokratie (Zürich, 1947), pp. 114-15.

43 Bernstein, p. 188.

44 Volkmann, p. 237.

45 Ibid.

46 Nationalversammlung. Verhandlungen der verfassunggebenden deutschen Nationalversammlung. Stenographische Berichte der Sitzungen (hereafter cited as “V.V.N.“), CCCXXVI (Feb. 15, 1919), 99-110.

47 Ibid., CCGXXVII, 913-15.

48 See Lutz, R. H., The German Revolution, 1918-19 (Palo Alto, 1922) pp. 152-53Google Scholar.

49 Q.V. Lauffenberg, and Wolffheim, F., Revolutionärer Volkskrieg oder Konterrevolutionärery Bürgerkrieg? (Hamburg, 1920)Google Scholar.

50 Q.v. Eltzbacher, , Der Bolschewismus und die deutsche Zukunft (Jena, 1919)Google Scholar. the Socialists. By her cynical acts France had slammed the door on

51 Q.v. Bericht über die Verhandlungen des 2. Parteitages der KPD (Berlin, 1920), pp. 4–6 Google Scholar.

52 E.g., see Ludwig Quessel, “Alte und neue Ostorientierung,” Sozialistische Monatsheftt, LIV (March, 1920), 169-70; and Hermann Kratzig's speech in V.V.N., CCCXXVIII (July 24, 1919), 1876-82.

53 Seraphim, E., Deutsch-russische Beziehungen, 1918-25 (Berlin, 1925), p. 11 Google Scholar. On Germany's Baltic privateering diplomacy see Noske, G., Von Kiel bis Kapp (Berlin, 1920), pp. 173-81Google Scholar; Winnig, A., Heimkehr (Berlin, 1935)Google Scholar; and Germany, , Die Ruckfuhrung des Ostheeres (Berlin, 1936)Google Scholar.

54 E.g, see Freiheit, Oct. 3, 5, 1919; and Oskar Cohn's remarks in V.V.N., CCCXXX Oct. 24, 1919), 3404.

55 See “Frieden mit Russland?” Vorwärts, Sept. 11, 1919.

56 V.V.N., CCCXXX (Oct 24, 1919), 3409-11

57 H. Miiller's speech in V.V.N., CCCXXX (Apr. 12, 1920), 5048-54.

58 Examples of their policy are L. Quessel, “Die Englische Ostpolitik”, SM, LIV (Jan., 1920), 13-7; M. Cohen, “Die deutsche Politik und Frankreich”, ibid. (May, 1920), pp. 313-27; P. Colin, “Die internationale Aktion in Frankreich und Deutschland”, ibid., pp. 388-93.

59 V.V.N., CCCXXXIII, 5068-75.

60 Vorwärts, July 25, 1920.

61 F. Stampfer's speech in V.R., CCCXLIV (Jl. 26, 1920), 270-4; and R. Breitscheid's in ibid., pp. 274-82.

62 Vorwärts, Jl . 22, 23, 1920.

63 Zetkin, Klara, Reminiscences of Lenin (London, 1935), pp. 19–21 Google Scholar.

64 Carr, E. H., The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917-23, 3 vols. (New York, 1953), III, 215 Google Scholar.

65 See Otto Wels’ speech in V.R., CCCXLVI (Jan. 21, 1921), 1996-2001.

66 Flechtheim, p. 70; Kantorowicz, L., Die Sozicddemokratische Presse Deutschlands (Tübingen, 1922), p. 15 Google Scholar; Borkenau, p. 200.

67 Dittmann Interview, Sept. 5, 1948.

68 The points are given in Stampfer, F., Die vierzehn Jahre der ersten Deutschen Republik (Karlsbad, 1936), p. 197 Google Scholar.

69 Dittmann Interview, Sept. 5, 1948.

70 Q.v. Protokoll über die Verhundlungen des Parteitages der USPD abgehalten in Halle, vom 12. bis 17. Okt. 1920 (Berlin, 1920).

71 Freiheit, Oct. 14, 1920.

72 Ibid., Oct. 17, 1920; Prager, pp. 226-7.

73 Schulthess’ Europäischer Geschichtskalender (Munich, 1920), I, 226-7Google Scholar.

74 Flechtheim, p. 77; Carr, III, 392-94.

75 Interview with Dr. Joseph Wirth, Lucerne, Aug. 7, 1948.

76 For the Socialist background of the Treaty of Rapallo see the author's “German Socialists and the Foreign Policy of the Reich from the London Conference to Rapallo”, JMH, XIX (March, 1947), 35-54.