The November Revolution in Germany sounded the death knell for the monarchy and spawned the birth of the first democratic German state. The ‘old order’ had already been called into question in the decades leading up to World War I because it had mostly dismissed endeavors to increase participation and emancipation of the democratic parties, the working class, the feminist movement, and other forces pushing for social change. The overthrow of the monarchy was mainly caused by the war-weariness of the population as well as the inability of the monarchist system to make peace and ensure that the needs of the increasingly needy population were met.
The Course of the Revolution in Munich
After more than four years of war, the war-weary population of Munich too vented its pent-up discontent at the completely inadequate supplies, its hunger, and the inability of the old regime to end the war. The entire Reich seethed after sailors of the German fleet stationed in Kiel refused to fight a militarily pointless battle at the end of October. The mutiny spread like wildfire in the following week. The Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (MSPD), Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD), and trade unions called for a peace protest at Theresienwiese on November 7, 1918. The date was not chosen by chance: It was the anniversary of the October Revolution of the Bolsheviks in Russia. The USPD under the leadership of Kurt Eisner was especially mobilized. According to official estimates, up to 60,000 protesters participated in the rally.
Led by Felix Fechenbach, Eisner’s secretary, a separate group of protesters marched to Munich’s barracks and convinced the soldiers to join the revolution: Strategically powerful locations such as the central railway station, the telegraph office, and the State Parliament were occupied by revolutionaries. That same evening on November 7, 1918, a council of workers and soldiers formed in the Mathäser brewery on Stachus, electing Eisner chairman and State Premier of Bavaria. Later that night, he declared that the king was deposed and Bavaria was henceforth a ‘free people’s state’ – later a ‘free state’.
In addition to the council of workers and soldiers, the provisional National Council was constituted until the promised election of a National Assembly. Initially consisting of representatives of the councils (or soviets), State Parliament members of the MSPD and USPD, the League of Bavarian Farmers, and the liberal association, this National Assembly was later expanded by delegates of other committees and interest groups. The National Assembly confirmed the first revolutionary government, predominantly comprised of members of the MSPD and USPD and led by Eisner as the first State Premier of the ‘Free State’ of Bavaria.
The transition occurred without bloodshed; supporters of the monarchy did not resist. The revolutionary forces in Bavaria were victorious two days before the MSPD and USPD assumed government responsibility on November 9, in Berlin. The Bavarian king fled that same night, freeing the royal officials and soldiers from their oath of allegiance on November 12, 1918.
The revolutionary transition took place in the entirety of Bavaria without notable resistance. As in Munich, quickly formed councils of workers and soldiers assumed power in industrialized cities and communes. They were dominated by representatives of the two workers’ parties, the MSPD and USPD. Local administrations accepted the change and agreed to cooperate in order to tackle the most pressing issues, i.e., demobilization and supplying the populace with food and goods. Thus the old political elite was not replaced.
Democracy and Transparency
The new government led by State Premier Kurt Eisner pursued a domestic policy that completely broke with the monarchy: separation of church and state, introduction of the 8-hour working day, freedom of association, abolition of censorship, introduction of a parliamentary democracy with universal, equal, and secret suffrage. One special feature was that Eisner envisioned the coexistence of parliamentary democracy and the soviet system as reflected in the councils of workers, soldiers and farmers. Eisner viewed the soviets as a ‘school for democracy’. Conversely, the radical left strove for an exclusive soviet dictatorship, as in Soviet Russia. According to theory, in a soviet system, the people should organize themselves into small units, elect their own – always removable – representatives (‘soviets’), take control of the management and organization of the economy and society, thereby replacing capitalism as an economic system and replacing it with a socialist one.
The government also tried to put its mark on foreign policy. In order to build trust abroad and prove the profound transformation of the new Germany, Eisner published – in abridged form – the records of the old imperial government, which was supposed to document its culpability in the outbreak of the war. With this act, Eisner drew the ire of all other parties, but especially of the political right. The government continued to lose approval, in Munich itself, but primarily outside the city, and especially in rural areas where the workers’ party USPD already couldn’t count on much support. The actual prevailing balance of power was demonstrated in January 1919, at the elections for the Bavarian Parliament and the first National Assembly, where the USPD had to swallow catastrophic electoral defeats.
Growing Resistance to the Eisner Government
The election losses weakened State Premier Eisner and his USPD over the long term. Conversely, its coalition partner, the MSPD, found itself strengthened. Interior Minister Erhard Auer (MSPD) became Eisner’s strongest rival. Rather than work with Eisner, he sought cooperation with the bourgeois parties. He accused Eisner of getting too involved with the radical left. The radical left, on the other hand, whose support had also steadily grown in Munich since December 1918, also opposed Eisner because to them he was a supporter of parliamentary democracy. Other parts of the bourgeoisie completely rejected and resisted the revolution and its government as a whole and disparaged and ridiculed it in its press. On the right-hand margins of the political spectrum, groups soon formed that wanted to violently oppose the revolutionary government.
Eisner’s appearance at the first socialist congress in Bern at the beginning of February 1919 was perceived as another affront by opponents of the Eisner government. At this congress, the Bavarian State Premier reiterated his criticism of the war policy of the former Reich Administration and of its support by the Majority Social Democrats on the international stage. At the same time, he emphasized a willingness for reconciliation with the former military adversaries and declared republican Germany ready to help with rebuilding areas of France that were devastated by the war. His appearance in Bern unleashed a wave of indignation and did not stop at covert calls for his murder. Politically, Eisner was finished. On his way to the State Parliament, where he intended to announce his resignation, Eisner was shot in the back by Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley, a monarchist and antisemitic student and officer, on February 21, 1919. This assassination led to an unprecedented radicalization and mobilization of broad swaths of the working class, resulting in the Munich Soviet Republic being declared on April 7, 1919.
