Germany -- History -- Revolution, 1918; Germany -- Politics and government -- 1918-1933
In vain did the Government poster the streets with pathetic protests
that "socialisation is already here," and issued manifestoes pointing
to its legislative achievements--Eight-Hour Day, Unemployment Benefit,
Land Settlement, what we should call "Whitley Councils" in coal-mining
districts, War Pensions, and Repeal of War Measures. These had already
been put in force provisionally by the previous Government, and did
not amount to much any way. In vain did the Government profess its
intention of pushing through the two Bills approving, in principle,
nationalisation of coal mines and potash deposits; for no one wanted
nationalisation except as a step to socialisation. The workmen felt
that the Government was, as one put it to me, "a revolution
profiteer." It had perverted the purposes and pocketed the profits of
the revolution. They felt that Weimar, as another one expressed it,
was only a "soviet of profiteers" and would produce no socialist
legislation.
The revolutionary opponents of the Coalition saw their opportunity,
but their leaders could secure no combination or concerted action.
Nothing, indeed, was more surprising than the incapacity of the
Germans to associate and organise for a political purpose.
The general impression one got was that Germany had so grown to look
on political responsibility as the function of a specialised class
that they never could consider anyone outside that class as capable of
replacing any member of it. We see something of the same sort of
helplessness growing up in England, where it is becoming increasingly
difficult for the man in the street to conceive a Cabinet formed from
outside a small clique of the ruling class. And the German
revolutionaries of the Opposition showed themselves as incapable of
making use of their opportunities as did their Liberal opponents in
the Government. The game was in the revolutionaries' hands in the
early months of the year if they could have combined. But the
different disturbed districts declared war on the Government at just
such intervals of time as allowed them to be conveniently beaten in
detail by very small forces. Each district again was divided into all
manner of dissentient organisations in different stages of
development. In some the Councils were really representative, in
others they had co-opted themselves; while there were as many kinds of
revolutionary corps as of Councils.
In Berlin alone there were some ten different corps. A leader of one
of the last insurgent parties to hold out, told me, during an attack
by the Government troops, that it was not the great disparity of
numbers and munitions that had defeated him, but the difficulty of
getting the revolutionaries to work together.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account