The real revolutionaries realised this mistake and Liebknecht, after accepting office, withdrew and joined the Communists and "Spartacists." The Communists were and are, of course, "whole-hoggers" in the Council movement, whose war cries are, "All power to the Soviets" and "Down with the Assembly." The Independents ranged from men like Ledebour, Däumig and Richard Müller, who saw in the Councils the salvation, not only of the revolution, but of civilisation, to men like Haase, Cohn and Breitscheidt, who believed that Parliamentary democracy and proletarian dictatorship could be co-ordinated. The Social-Democrats ranged from members of the Council organisation, who believed that the Councils should have economic functions, and who were last summer coming over to the Independents, down to men like Legien, who would abolish the Councils as a revolt against the Trade Unions, or Noske, who would abolish them as rebels against authority. The Democrats included intellectuals, who recognised the political utility of the Councils, but consisted mostly of Liberals with no appreciation for them: though many of these latter had been coming over to the idea, as, for instance, the veteran economist, Brentano, or the internationalist, Schucking. Owing to a tactical blunder of the Independents, the Central Council, as well as the Cabinet of Commissaries, came under the sole control of the Social-Democrats, the Trade Unions, and Moderate Socialists. Consequently, the Central Council, instead of being the citadel of the Council system, became a salient from which the enemies of the system could undermine its whole position. The Central Council, pursuing the Government's policy that all power in the hands of revolutionary authorities must be surrendered to the parliamentary institutions, in February publicly and formally recommitted its mandate, whatever that might be, to the Assembly. One might have supposed that this solemn suicide of its central authority would have been the end of the Council movement. But exactly the same surrender of the Central Council occurred at a similar stage of the Russian revolution, with the result, not that the movement collapsed, but that control of it passed from the Socialists to the Communists. This seems likely to be the result in Germany. The first consequence of the abdication of the Central Council was that leadership passed to the Executive Council of Berlin, where the Independents and Communists were already in a majority. The Executive Council proceeded to press for a convocation of the Congress of Councils, and thereby a re-election of the Central Council. The latter procrastinated, but gave way on the Executive Council threatening to convene the Congress itself, but even then succeeded in having it postponed more than once.