Working class politics in the German Revolution : Richard Müller, the revolutionary shop stewards and the origins of the council movement PDF
Preview Working class politics in the German Revolution : Richard Müller, the revolutionary shop stewards and the origins of the council movement
Working-Class Politics in the German Revolution Historical Materialism Book Series Editorial Board Sébastien Budgen (Paris) Steve Edwards (London) Marcel van der Linden (Amsterdam) Peter Thomas (London) This volume in collaboration with: Future of World Capitalism Book Series Series editors Radhika Desai Alan Freeman VOLUME 77 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hm Working-Class Politics in the German Revolution Richard Müller, the Revolutionary Shop Stewards and the Origins of the Council Movement By Ralf Hoffrogge Translated by Joseph B. Keady Edited by Radhika Desai LEIDEN | BOSTON First published in German by Karl Dietz Verlag as Richard Müller – Der Mann hinter der November Revolution, Berlin, 2008. This English edition was completely revised for the English speaking audience and contains new sources and recent literature. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hoffrogge, Ralf, 1980– [Richard Müller. English] Working class politics in the German Revolution : Richard Müller, the revolutionary shop stewards and the origins of the council movement / by Ralf Hoffrogge ; translated by Joseph B. Keady ; edited by Radhika Desai. pages cm. — (Historical materialism book series, ISSN 1570-1522 ; volume 77) “First published in German by Karl Dietz Verlag as Richard Müller : der Mann hinter der November Revolution, Berlin, 2008”—Title page verso. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-21921-2 (hardback : acid-free paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-28006-9 (e-book) 1. Müller, Richard, 1880–1943. 2. Labor unions—Germany—Officials and employees—Biography. 3. Revolutionaries—Germany—Biography. 4. Germany—History—Revolution, 1918. 5. Shop stewards—Germany—History—20th century. 6. Working class—Political activity—Germany— History—20th century. 7. Labor movement—Germany—History—20th century. 8. Germany—Politics and government—1918–1933. 9. Germany—Social conditions—1918–1933. I. Desai, Radhika, 1963– II. Title. HD6695.M85H6413 2014 331.8094309’04—dc23 2014027750 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual ‘Brill’ typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1570-1522 isbn 978-90-04-21921-2 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-28006-9 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Global Oriental and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. 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Contents Sisyphus of the Revolution: A Preface ix Wolfgang Wippermann Author’s Preface x List of Illustrations xii List of Abbreviations xiii 1 Introduction: A Forgotten Revolutionary 1 The Politics of Historical Interpretation 2 The Makers of the German Revolution 4 2 Background, Youth, and Early Union Activities: 1880–1913 11 From Farm to Factory 12 Müller’s Private Life 14 Fighting Taylorism with its Own Weapons 16 Bureaucracy in the Service of Agitation 17 3 Opposition to the Burgfrieden: 1914–18 21 ‘The Great Betrayal’ 21 From Discipline to Opposition 24 Early Ambiguities and their Price 31 4 The Revolutionary Shop Stewards and Political Mass Strikes: 1916–18 35 The Stewards’ First Political Strike: Protesting Liebknecht’s Arrest 35 Repression and the New Opposition 38 Müller’s Arrest and the April Strike 39 Marking Time under Repression 43 Preparing for the January Strike: Rising Discontent and the Bolshevik Example 46 The January 1918 Strike: Council Power Emerges 49 The Politics of the Action Committee and the End of the January Strike 50 Barth and Däumig Lead in Müller’s Absence 56 Müller’s Return 58 vi contents 5 The German Revolution in Berlin: 1918 61 The Stewards and the Spartacists: A Tale of Two Styles 61 Arming the Revolution 64 Outbreak 65 Council Power 72 The State of the Revolution 75 6 Chairman of the Berlin Executive Council: 1918–19 79 Conflict, Caution and Counter-revolution 80 Loss of National Power 87 7 Richard Müller and the Council Movement: 1918–19 91 The Council Movement in War and Revolution 91 The First Council Congress and the Triumph of Parliamentarianism 93 The Blocked Path to Socialism 96 Berlin’s January Uprising 100 Political Murder, Demoralisation, and the End of the Revolutionary Shop Stewards 106 Theorising Council Socialism 108 The March Strikes of 1919 117 After the Tumult 123 8 From Council Movement to Works Councils: 1919–20 127 Council Ideal and Works Council Reality 127 Leading the Left Opposition in the DMV 129 Defeat at Nuremberg, Compromise in Stuttgart 132 The Works Councils Act, Armed Conflict and Party Split 135 DMV Political Divisions and the Works Council Centre 140 The First Works Council Congress 1920 142 The State of the Revolution in 1920 145 9 From Council Socialism to Party Communism and Beyond: 1920–24 147 The Leninist Model and the USPD Split 147 The Communist Union Centre 151 The Red International of Labour Unions 154 Crisis in the Communist Party and the March Action of 1921 158 Post-March Crises and ‘Made in Moscow’ Resolution 162 The Revelation Affair 171 Müller, the Unwanted Communist 174 contents vii 10 Richard Müller as Historian of the German Revolution: 1923–25 182 Müller’s Historiographical Approach 185 Müller as Publisher 191 11 Footnotes and Suppression – Richard Müller’s Impact on Historiography 197 The Millstones of Social Democracy and Marxism-Leninism 197 Müller in East Germany 201 Müller in West Germany 206 12 Break with Politics, Withdrawal into Private Life: 1925–43 212 The DIV, the ‘Construction Issue’ and Union Fragmentation 212 Müller as Landlord 222 Drifting Back to Social Democracy? 227 Returning to Obscurity 230 13 Conclusion: The Darkness of History 232 Bibliography 239 1. Printed Sources 239 2. Literature 240 Index 251 Sisyphus of the Revolution: A Preface What sort of nation is it that doesn’t know its revolutionaries? Richard Müller was a revolutionary. He had a decisive influence on the German Revolution of 1918 and, as head of the Executive Council of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils, he was the head of state of the Socialist Republic of Germany.1 Although Müller was undoubtedly one of the most influential personalities of the German labour movement, its historiographers have mentioned him only in passing and none has written his biography to date. The present work fills this inexplicable and grievous void. Ralf Hoffrogge’s ‘political biography’ of Richard Müller deserves particular praise for its wealth of facts. This applies not least to its treatment of Müller’s political work during the critical years of 1916 to 1921, including the prelude to and aftermath of the German Revolution. Beyond that, Hoffrogge has also succeeded in illuminating the periods preceding and following those critical years. Müller no longer ‘emerges from nowhere and disappears into darkness’. Now we know a few things about his child- hood as well as his professional and political work before he appeared in the limelight of history. We also know what Müller achieved afterwards when he was still a union official and – astoundingly – a rather successful entrepreneur. These details must surely have been quite laborious to dig up and they certainly bring us closer to the person of Richard Müller. This was achieved through intensive interpretation of the source materials and an insightful description of Müller as a person, whom Hoffrogge ultimately characterises as the ‘Sisyphus of the Revolution’. This is particularly apt because Müller, the revolu- tionary and staunch council socialist, would be badly derided by anti-revolutionary social democrats and pseudo-revolutionary state socialists. As Hoffrogge puts it, he was ‘crushed between the millstones of social democracy and Marxism-Leninism’. This well-written work on the life of a labour organiser, revolutionary and, briefly, German head of state who has been largely forgotten despite, or perhaps because of, his important and remarkable life, is rich in material and methodologically correct. It should be read widely. Wolfgang Wippermann Professor of History, Freie Universität Berlin Berlin, June 2008 1 The German state was officially called the Socialist Republic of Germany by the revolution- ary government during November and December 1918. Author’s Preface This work was first published in German in November 2008 on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the German Revolution of 1918. In its present English form, it con- stitutes as much a new edition as a translation. It contains new material and research that I have conducted in the last four years, takes relevant new literature into account, has been edited for better flow and readability and corrects small errors in the first edi- tion. I was also able to find rare copies of the magazine Kampf-Front from 1928/1929 in the Staatsbibliothek Berlin, which verified facts concerning Richard Müller’s engage- ment with the left-wing union the Deutscher Industrie-Verband during those years. While that research added details without changing the general picture very much, I was able to gain new insights during a research trip to Moscow in the summer of 2012. In the Russian State Archive’s (RGASPI) Comintern holdings, I discovered a personal file on Richard Müller that included a long letter he had written containing comments on the political situation in the Weimar Republic up to 1924. The file also revealed that Müller had been a member and active supporter of the KPD until 1924, whereas his- torians had previously assumed that he had left the party years earlier. All of this new research has been included in this edition. I would like to use this space to thank everyone whose advice, corrections, and encouragement supported me in completing this work. I would specifically like to thank Ottokar Luban, Ingo Materna, Dirk H. Müller, Ulla Plener, Jörn Schütrumpf, Klaus Kinner, and not least Professor Wolfgang Wippermann and Professor Gerhard Baader at the Freie Universität Berlin for their detailed corrections to the manuscript of the first German version as well as their informed advice and help. I owe my grati- tude to a great many other historians and students for their varied advice and sugges- tions. I would also like to mention my parents, whose support made my studies as well as this book possible. I would also like to thank the staff of the Bundesarchiv Berlin, the Landesarchiv Berlin, the RGASPI Moscow, and the Archiv der sozialen Demokratie in Bonn. Without their patient help, a great many sources would have been left undiscovered. Daren Zuk and Quinn Richert gave timely and invaluable help in cleaning up the manuscript and bibliography for final submission. Special thanks go to Radhika Desai and Alan Freeman who first had the idea to make this work accessible to the English-speaking world and supported me for several years with advice. The translation was first conceived as a contribution to Radhika and Alan’s ‘The Future of World Capitalism’ series, published by Pluto Press. Furthermore, Radhika has acted as a true editor, clarifying, shaping, re-organising and sharpening
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