Witness to the German Revolution (6 page)
Read Witness to the German Revolution Online
Authors: Victor Serge
Tags: #History, #Europe, #Former Soviet Republics, #Germany, #Modern, #20th Century, #Political Science, #Political Ideologies, #Communism; Post-Communism & Socialism
The bourgeois and socialist counter-revolution struck down three of these thinkers; then old Franz Mehring died in the sudden dark despairing twilight of defeat. Social democracy understood only too well that a class that has been beheaded is halfway to defeat. Its killers finished off the work of demoralization that had been begun by the SPD's treachery. If, instead of that, it had carried out its most elementary socialist duty, what a future would have been opened up to the working class of Europeâcertainly after a hard struggle; but the bleak present serves only to delay and to prolong ! Let us think of this on the day of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. We must remember what the enemy is capable of. In the crime of January 15, 1919, there is a great historical lesson.
On January 11 French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr, following the
dispute about unpaid reparations. The German government launched a
campaign of “passive resistance,” refusal to cooperate with the occupying forces.
Meanwhile the French Communist Party, in association with the KPD,
embarked on a major campaign of opposition to the occupation. The Ruhr crisis
worsened Germany's already difficult economic situation.
dispute about unpaid reparations. The German government launched a
campaign of “passive resistance,” refusal to cooperate with the occupying forces.
Meanwhile the French Communist Party, in association with the KPD,
embarked on a major campaign of opposition to the occupation. The Ruhr crisis
worsened Germany's already difficult economic situation.
News from Germany
Correspondance internationale
, February 9, 1923
, February 9, 1923
What is happening to German finances? An eminent economist who took on the job of predicting their development would be a brave man. Bankruptcy is a fact. Every day it is more ruinous, more complete. How far will it go?
From January 17 to 23 (according to an official report) the national bank issued new banknotes to a value of 217,000,000,000 (nine zeros) marks. And at the beginning of February, large financial establishments in Berlin paid out no more than 150,000 marks, for paper money was in short supply!
In recent days the issue of 50,000 mark notes has been announced, to be followed shortly by 100,000 mark notes.
On January 23 there were in circulation banknotes for 1,654,600,000,000â¦âin words, one thousand six hundred and fifty-four billionâ¦banknotesâ¦
The state presses are still functioning. And the most bald-headed statesmen are studying the problem of stabilizing the mark.
The rise in prices or, more accurately, the automatic reduction of wages, continuing to infinity, naturally keeps step with the issuing of banknotes. Make your own judgment.
On the evening of February 3, a pound
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of good quality butter cost 6,900 marks; on February 5, 7,200 marks. In the same period, second rate margarine, poor people's butter, rose by 10 percent, from 4,200 to 4,500; potatoes went up 15 percent, from 26 marks a pound to 30; lard went from 6,000 to 7,200 marks per pound (20 percent); an egg from 380 to 420 marks (11 percent).
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of good quality butter cost 6,900 marks; on February 5, 7,200 marks. In the same period, second rate margarine, poor people's butter, rose by 10 percent, from 4,200 to 4,500; potatoes went up 15 percent, from 26 marks a pound to 30; lard went from 6,000 to 7,200 marks per pound (20 percent); an egg from 380 to 420 marks (11 percent).
It should be noted that it is the most commonly consumed items that are rising the fastest.
Meanwhile, subsequent wage increases are under discussion. By the time they happen, prices will have doubled or tripled again.
A hundred or so cases of poisoning from bad flour have been reported in the area surrounding Berlin, and several cases involving rotten horse meat. There have been several deaths. From these miscellaneous news items you can see how the poor of Germany are being fed.
In January 116,574 homeless people, including 9,135 women, were accommodated in the Berlin night-shelters. In January last year, the number of Berlin homeless was only 78,263âan increase of 38,211 in one year. Who is paying theâ¦reparations?
We reported earlier the death of a Communist deputy in the Bavarian Landtag: Hagemeister, one of the courageous prisoners from the soviet revolution in Munich.
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He died on January 16 in the Niederschönenfeld fortress, where he was serving a long sentence of imprisonment with forced labor.
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He died on January 16 in the Niederschönenfeld fortress, where he was serving a long sentence of imprisonment with forced labor.
The truth, which has been revealed by the Communist fraction in the Reichstag, is that Hagemeister died as a result of ill treatment. When he was sick he was refused medical assistance. He spent nights of despair, wholly isolated in his cell, suffering from a fever which alternately froze and burnt him. The prison administration knowingly left him to die, a doomed, defenseless class enemy.
That is how people are put to death in the prisons of German democracy. We should note that the genuine death of Hagemeister caused much less stir in the European socialist press than the fictitious death
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of the Social Revolutionary Timofeyev in Moscow, not long agoâ¦
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of the Social Revolutionary Timofeyev in Moscow, not long agoâ¦
There is a fair amount of killing going on in the Ruhr. The poor wretches shot down by French and Belgian sentriesâwho have been brutalized by their vicious instructionsâare now being counted by the dozen. At Düsseldorf a schoolboy was killed: perhaps he gave the troops in the square an impudent look. A little girl next to the murdered boy got a bullet in the stomach. M. Poincaré has called for the “peaceful (!) protection of his engineers.” He makes an ingenious use of euphemism. Basically he is simply treating the inhabitants of the Ruhr as he did the strikers of Le Havre.
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It's his job. But when he faces a firing squad, he will have got what was coming to him.
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It's his job. But when he faces a firing squad, he will have got what was coming to him.
From July to December 1923 (with the exception of two weeks in August-
September)
Correspondance internationale
carried a weekly column by “R.
Albert” under the heading “Reports from Germany.” These columns are all
reproduced here, together with a few additional pieces that appeared in the bi-
weekly edition. The Ruhr occupation was still continuing, but the French and
German ruling classes recognized that they had a common interest in restricting
the development of working-class opposition.
September)
Correspondance internationale
carried a weekly column by “R.
Albert” under the heading “Reports from Germany.” These columns are all
reproduced here, together with a few additional pieces that appeared in the bi-
weekly edition. The Ruhr occupation was still continuing, but the French and
German ruling classes recognized that they had a common interest in restricting
the development of working-class opposition.
A Document on German Patriotism
Correspondance internationale
, July 1, 1923
, July 1, 1923
The Communist press in France and Germany has just been enriched by a contribution which was as valuable as it was unexpected. It came from Herr Lutterbeck, deputy to the chief district official of Düsseldorf, the author of a letter to General Denvignes,
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certain passages of which deserve to be preserved in the annals of working-class literature. This official from Düsseldorf is asking for the favor of assistance from the French commander in order to repress the working-class movement. It would be impossible for us to express better than he does the necessities and reasons for international capitalist solidarity. The recall of the events of 1871
70
takes on
a very particular flavor when a senior Prussian civil servant is writing to one of Foch's officers. We will quote from the text:
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certain passages of which deserve to be preserved in the annals of working-class literature. This official from Düsseldorf is asking for the favor of assistance from the French commander in order to repress the working-class movement. It would be impossible for us to express better than he does the necessities and reasons for international capitalist solidarity. The recall of the events of 1871
70
takes on
a very particular flavor when a senior Prussian civil servant is writing to one of Foch's officers. We will quote from the text:
Events such as those at Gelsenkirchen are liable to encourage elements hostile to the state. Further disturbances will occur, and order, the necessary basis for civilization and production, risks being shaken for a long time to come.
There would be great risks if France imagined that, in the present circumstances, it could easily re-establish the normal state of affairs. The industrial region is so complex that it is possible for a spark in one city to become a flame in another, and the flame will be such that the force of arms cannot control it, and that neither the Rhine nor the German frontier beyond the Rhine can stop it. This threat hangs over the whole world. And if the French command waits passively until the rising attacks it, then it will appear as if France wishes German authority to be shaken in the Ruhr at any price, even if it be the price of a rising which would threaten European civilization by putting the Ruhr in the hands of the rabble. This is a dangerous game for France itself. The army of occupation is not made up of inanimate material, rifles, machine-guns and tanks. The weapons are borne by men who have eyes and ears. There is a danger that they will carry from the Ruhr a seed destined to take root in French territory. In face of such dangers, may I take the liberty of stressing the heavy responsibility which would be incurred by the French command if it were to show itself as being indulgent in the face of anarchy. If it does not act itself, then at the very least its obligation is to leave the German authorities with their hands free in order to do their duty. Prime Minister Poincaré recently told a Socialist deputy called Auriol that incidents in the occupied territory are not inevitable, citing the precedent of 1871-72. At that time in France there were no conflicts in France between the population and the occupying forces. May I recall in this respect that at the time of the Paris Commune the German command did its best to anticipate the needs of the French authorities as far as repression was concerned. I am under an obligation to request you to observe a similar attitude if, in the future, dangerous clashes cannot be avoided.
This senior Prussian civil servant is not embarrassed by patriotic scruples. The pursuit of revenge against France, which is doubtless dear to him, in no way obscures his clear judgment as a class conscious bourgeois. He is the sort of person who will get on well with those clearsighted French bourgeois who, in 1918-19, when the dead of the Great War had scarcely been buried, bluntly declared that Ludendorff was better than Liebknecht.
By July the continuing economic crisis was causing serious political tensions. In
the Rhineland demands were growing for independence from the German
republic. The government of the shipping magnate Wilhelm Cuno, based on the
parties of the center, was increasingly unpopular.
the Rhineland demands were growing for independence from the German
republic. The government of the shipping magnate Wilhelm Cuno, based on the
parties of the center, was increasingly unpopular.
Amid the Collapse of Bourgeois Germany
Correspondance internationale
, July 14, 1923
, July 14, 1923
The revolutionary situation is ripening in Germany. The remarkable and rapid growth of Communist influence is perhaps the best indication of it. After having remained for several months with an average print run of 25,000 copies,
Die Rote Fahne
of Berlin is now printing 60,000, more than
Vorwärts.
And it is, after all, only one of the KPD's 30 daily papers. The growth in the party's membership is also noticeable, as is the extension of its trade union influence, its moral leadership within the factory committee movementâthe most active current in Germany's proletariatâits key role in the political life of Saxony and Thuringia, and its striking electoral successes in such a backward area as Mecklenburg-Strelitz. All these facts are evidence that the masses' will for action is awakening. When a Communist Party develops in this way, it is because it is approaching a historical turning point. The German revolutionaries are well aware of this.
Die Rote Fahne
of Berlin is now printing 60,000, more than
Vorwärts.
And it is, after all, only one of the KPD's 30 daily papers. The growth in the party's membership is also noticeable, as is the extension of its trade union influence, its moral leadership within the factory committee movementâthe most active current in Germany's proletariatâits key role in the political life of Saxony and Thuringia, and its striking electoral successes in such a backward area as Mecklenburg-Strelitz. All these facts are evidence that the masses' will for action is awakening. When a Communist Party develops in this way, it is because it is approaching a historical turning point. The German revolutionaries are well aware of this.
On July 12
Die Rote Fahne
published a document whose style and tone take us back to just before the great days of 1919. It is an appeal from the KPD central committee to the party members. The gravity of the political situation is set out in precise termsâbluntly and with no bombast. The conclusions are formulated with the sober energy of a challenge issued after mature consideration to the reactionary elements which are biding their time just outside the frontiers of legality. The KPD central committee mentions the preparations being made in the Rhine region to proclaim a Rhineland republic, under the aegis of the occupation authorities and with their financial assistance. The Bavarian fascists used to get French money; some Rhineland fascists are still getting it. The government, and the social democrats who are members of it, are quite well aware of the preparations for a reactionary violent coup and for foreign intervention. Fascist action could also begin as a result of measures by the Reich against red Saxony and Thuringia; or else it could be the unexpected result of a simple wage struggle. To quote the document itself:
Die Rote Fahne
published a document whose style and tone take us back to just before the great days of 1919. It is an appeal from the KPD central committee to the party members. The gravity of the political situation is set out in precise termsâbluntly and with no bombast. The conclusions are formulated with the sober energy of a challenge issued after mature consideration to the reactionary elements which are biding their time just outside the frontiers of legality. The KPD central committee mentions the preparations being made in the Rhine region to proclaim a Rhineland republic, under the aegis of the occupation authorities and with their financial assistance. The Bavarian fascists used to get French money; some Rhineland fascists are still getting it. The government, and the social democrats who are members of it, are quite well aware of the preparations for a reactionary violent coup and for foreign intervention. Fascist action could also begin as a result of measures by the Reich against red Saxony and Thuringia; or else it could be the unexpected result of a simple wage struggle. To quote the document itself:
Our party must raise the combativity of its organizations to such a level that they will not be surprised by civil war wherever it may be launched.
[â¦] If legal communications are interrupted by a general strike in the railways and postal services, or by military operations, we must make sure of all our lines of communication in advance.
[â¦] The fascists count on winning in civil war by the most resolute use of violence and of crushing brutality. Any workers who resist them and are then taken prisoner will be executed. To break strikes, they will go so far as to shoot every tenth striker. Their violent coup can only be stopped by meeting white terror with red terror. If the fascists, armed to the teeth, shoot our proletarian fighters, they will find us implacable and determined to destroy them. If they put every tenth striker up against the wall, the revolutionary workers will kill one fascist in five.
The fascist associations have arms and military equipment.
Those workers who are not yet in possession of arms must know where and when they can obtain them if they are needed.
Those workers who are not yet in possession of arms must know where and when they can obtain them if they are needed.
It is in the Ruhr and the occupied region that the working-class faces the greatest threat. The KPD considers armed struggle against French imperialism to be impossible, and envisages a general strike there if necessary.
Why?
German corn is more expensive inside Germany than American and Argentinean corn. At Hamburg at the beginning of July 100 kilograms of cereals cost (including freight for foreign corn):
| La Plata wheat | 11.5 guilders 71 or 730,000 marks |
| American wheat | 11.7 guilders or 737,000 marks |
| Russian rye | 8.35 guilders or 530,000 marks |
| German rye | 610,000 marks |
| German wheat | 850,000 marks |
Â
The consequence is that within one week the price of a loaf has risen from 7,000 to 20,000 marks on the free market, and from 4,200 to 10,000 (from July 23) on ration cards for the poor. From June 29 to July 5, the minimum subsistence level for a household with two children has risen by 147,000 marks a week, to a total of 919,668 according to the official index. Between July 10 and 11 in Berlin, the cost of living rose by 22 percent in 24 hours. A pound of margarine went from 34,000 to 38,000 marks, an egg from 3,400 to 4,400, a pound of bacon from 35,000 to 48,000 (that is, 37 percent increase). It is true that there is talk of raising wagesâevery ten days.
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