It must be observed that up to then the change which had been brought about constituted without doubt a revolution, but a revolution remarkably moderate. It is true that constitutional right did not give the Chancellor the authority to name his successor; from the legal point of view the nomination of Ebert certainly constituted a violation of the old constitutional law. Nevertheless in its outer aspect the new government with Ebert at the head sought to appear as the expression of the will of the former government. The idea of a radically new law had not yet made its appearance. In the course of a few hours, however, the situation completely changed. The Independents submitted as the condition of their entry into the government the following twofold demand: The cabinet was to consist only of socialists, and it was to recognize officially that political sovereignty resided in the hands of the Workers and Soldiers Councils. The next day the Social Democrats accepted these conditions--for the Independents were still the actual power in control and “the street belonged to them”--and a government of six chiefs was constituted. It comprised three Socialist Democrats, Ebert, Scheidemann and Landsberg, and three Independents, Haase, Dittmann and Barth.[5] In the evening there was held at the Busch Circus a plenary session of the Workers and Soldiers Councils of Berlin. This assembly passed a resolution which declared among other things the following: “Old Germany is no more. The dynasties are gone forever. The holders of thrones are stripped of their power. Germany is now a Republic, a Socialist Republic. The Workers and Soldiers Councils are now the holders of political power.” Then the assembly nominated an executive committee (Vollzugsrat) of twenty-four members, six Social Democrats, six Independents, and twelve Soldiers, and they proclaimed as the men in control of the government the six named above. Following this meeting the cabinet was constituted. It formed a “college” of which all the members had equal rights and which took the name of “Council of Commissars of the People” (Rat der Volksbeauftragten); Ebert and Haase were nominated chairmen. All the decrees of the government would have to be promulgated by these two in accord and signed jointly by them. It was, so to speak, a Chancellorship of two.