1. The best work on Noske is Wette, Wolfram, Gustav Noske. Eine politische Biographie (Düsseldorf, 1987).Google ScholarCzisnick, Ulrich, Gustav Noske. Ein sozialdemokratischer Staatsmann (Göttingen, 1969) is a shorter, more apologetic and less comprehensive work.Google Scholar Documentary material on military policy is collected by Heinz, Huerten, ed., Zwischen Revolution und Kapp Putsch. Militär und Innenpolitik 1918–1920 (Düsseldorf, 1977).Google Scholar See also Noske, Gustav, Von Kiel bis Kapp. Zur Geschichte der deutschen Revolution (Berlin, 1920) and idem,Google ScholarAufstieg und Niedergang der deutschen Sozialdemokratie. Erlebtes aus Aufstieg und Niedergang einer Demokratie (Zurich, 1947).Google Scholar

2. The problem of the Free Corps was treated by Waite, R. G. L., Vanguard of Nazism: The Free Corps Movement in Post-War Germany 1918–1923 (New York, 1952).Google Scholar I have found Schulze, Hagen, Freikorps und Republik 1918–1920 (Boppard am Rhein, 1969)Google Scholar and Diehl, James, Paramilitary Politics in Weimar Germany (Bloomington, 1977) to be more judicious interpretations.Google ScholarCarsten, Francis L., The Reichswehr and Politics 1918 to 1933 (Oxford, 1966)Google Scholar and Gordon, Harold J., The Reichswehr and the Germany Republic 1919–1926 (Princeton, 1957) confront the professional armed forces.Google Scholar The SPD's effort to disown Noske is covered by Miller, Susanne, Die Bürde der Macht. Die deutsche Sozialdemokratie 1918–1920 (Düsseldorf, 1978), 233–41, 301 ff., and esp. 410.Google Scholar

3. The Noskepolitik should be separated from the so-called Ebert-Groener Pact. The thesis of the “pact” has taken on a mythological life of its own since Sauer, Wolfgang, “Das Bündnis Ebert-Groener. Eine Studie über Notwendigkeit und Grenzen der militärischen Macht (Phd. diss., Free University of Berlin, 1956).Google Scholar Sauer's argument was, in fact, highly qualified, showing that Ebert and Groener attached different meanings to their conversations. Kluge, Ulrich, Soldatenräte und Revolution. Studien zur Militärpolitik in Deutschland 1918/19 (Göttingen, 1975), 101 ff., offered an important qualification of the “pact,” limiting it to a necessary agreement to retreat and demobilize the army, rejecting any notion of an elaborate conspiracy.Google ScholarRakenius, Gerard, Wilhelm Groener als Erster Quartiermeister. Die Politik der Obersten Heeresleitung 1918/19 (Boppard am Rhein, 1977), 2 ff., 68–76, takes Kluge's interpretation still further away from the thesis presented originally by Groener before the Untersuchungsausschuss after Ebert's death.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Few historians now think a “pact” existed or had much meaning in November and Dec until the fighting at the Royal Stables over Christmas 1918; see, for example, Winkler, Heinrich August, Von der Revolution zur Stabilisierung. Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung in der Weimarer Republik 1918 bis 1924 (Berlin/Bonn, 1984), 69 ff, 111 ff.Google Scholar On Ebert, see Carl Schorske, German Social Democracy 1905–1917: the Development of the Great Schism (1955; New York, 1972), 124.Google ScholarHunt, Richard N., “Friedrich Ebert and the German Revolution of 1918”, in The Responsibility of Power: Historical Essays in Honor of Hajo Holborn, ed. Leonard, Krieger and Fritz, Stern (New York: 1967), 315 ff., reduced the revolution and the SPD to Ebert's actions.CrossRefGoogle Scholar George Hallgarten offered a bit more complexity in a double conspiracy theory for the Weimar Republik: the “Stinnes-Legien pact” and the “Ebert-Groener pact,” Hallgarten, George F. and Radkau, Joachim, Deutsche Industrie Politik von Bismarck bis in die Gegenwart (Frankfurt am Main, 1986), 140 ff.;Google ScholarEley, Geoff, “The SPD in War and Revolution, 1914–1919,” in Bernstein to Brandt: A Short History of German Social Democracy, ed. R., Fletcher (London, 1987), 71 concurs as doesGoogle ScholarMaser, Werner, Ebert. Der erste deutsche Reichspräsident. Eine politische Biographie (Munich, 1987).Google Scholar More qualified is Maehl, William Harvey, The German Socialist Party: Champion of the First Republic, 1918–1933 (Philadelphia, 1986), 20 ff.Google Scholar Ebert's role is best appreciated, I think, by Witt, Peter-Christian, Friedrich Ebert. Parteführer. Reichskanzler. Volksbeauftragter. Reichspräsident (Bonn, 1987), 100 ff.,Google Scholar and Buse, Dieter K., “Ebert and the German Crisis 1917–1920,” in Central European History 2 (1972): 234–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4. The essential work on this point is Loesche, Peter, Der Bolshewismus im Urteil der deutschen Sozialdemokratie 1903–1920 (Berlin, 1967), 163–72. Loesche should, I think, have drawn a sharper distinction between the SPD's fear of “Bolshevik conditions” and its fears of bolshevism.Google Scholar

5. Haupts, Leo, Deutsche Friedenspolitik 1918–1919. Eine Alternative zur Machtpolitik des Ersten Weltkrieges (Düsseldorf, 1976), 227 ff.Google Scholar

6. Offer, Avner, The First World War: An Agrarian Interpretation (Oxford, 1989), 391.Google ScholarMayer, Arno, The Politics and Diplomacy of Peace Making: Containment and Counter-Revolution at Versailles 1918–1919 (New York, 1967), 200–1.Google ScholarSchwabe, Klaus, Deutsche Revolution und Wilson-Friede. Die amerikanische und deutsche Friedensstrategie zwischen Ideologie und Machtpolitik 1918/19 (Düsseldorf, 1971), 238–48, 250–51, 269–67, looks at the political dimensions of the issue, but he concludes there was a food problem.Google ScholarFeldman, Gerald D., The Great Disorder: Politics, Economy and Society in the German Inflation 19 14–1924 (Oxford, 1993), 102, n. 2, notes inconsistent German depictions of their situation. KEA/REAA assessments were actually fairly consistent throughout 1918/19 projecting a deficit in the grain harvest and ration plan of about one million tons, and expecting a “transition crisis” about two months before the new harvest could begin in August 1919. The controversy may well have arisen from the fact that REA was not directly consulted as the authority on the food situation either by the Entente or by AA and WAKO. Finally, many locales in fact still had not received allotted supplies for their 1918/19 ration plans and became quite desperate during the Revolution as demobilized troops were added to their rolls; often, they expected to run out in four to six weeks (a common deadline mentioned was 7 February 1919), if new supplies did not arrive. See Haupts, Deutsche Friedenspolitik, 237–53 on the internal German conflicts.Google Scholar

7. See “Eberts Hochverrat an der Revolution,” Rote Fahne, no. 13 (28 November 1918), and “Es bleibt bei Eberts Henkerarbeit,” RF, no. 15, (30 November 1918).Google Scholar See Mayer, Gustav. Erinnerungen. Vom Journalisten zum Historiker der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung (Zurich, 1949), 302–3, (reissued Hildesheim, 1993).Google Scholar See also Epstein, Klaus, Matthias Erzberger und das Dilemma der deutschen Demokratie, trans. I., Kutscher (Berlin, 1962), 337 ff.; Miller, Bürde der Macht, 227, and Haupts, Deutsche Friedenspolitik, 185.Google ScholarMason, Tim. “The Legacy of 1918 for National Socialism,” in German Democracy and the Rise of Hitler: Essays in Recent German History, ed. Nicholls, A. J. and Matthias, E. (London, 1971), 215–39, is also interesting in this context.Google Scholar

8. On Germany's dependence on East European grain, see my essay, “Persistence of Illusions and the Continuity of Crisis: The German Search for Food 1914–1918”, in Proceedings of the American Historical Association, 1990 (University Microfilms, reference #10485).Google Scholar

9. KEA to RWA (5 August 1918), Bls. 62 ff., in BAP/ St. d. RK no. 45062. KEA received full support from the War Ministry, which argued: ‘Without the addition (of the Ukranian grain, WCM) we cannot make it in any case”; however, RWA and the Reichsbank raised objections. The Reichsbank refused to risk a more rapid depreciation of the Mark to purchase more than 10–20 million Rubels per month (KEA needed 250 million Rubels in August to close its grain deals for 500,000 tons of bread grain and 300,000 tons of feed at the end of the harvest; otherwise, the KEA feared the grain would either be taken over by the Austrians or be lost in the chaos of the East). RWA preferred to try a barter agreement with the Ukrainians and force them to accept a financial arrangement to depreciate the Rubel, see Besprechung über die Getreidelieferung aus der Ukraine am 10 August 1918 bei St. d. RK, Bls. 73 ff.Google Scholar

10. The problems of the potato harvest are evident in Deutscher Landwirtschaftsrat, Saatenbericht (Streng Vertraulich!), no. 6 (20 August 1918), no. 7 (30 September 1918) and no. 8 (17 October 1918), in BHSA/ Ges. Berlin 1219.Google Scholar

11. See KEA. wochenberichte (30 August–5 September 1918), (4–10 October 1918), and (11–17 October 1918), Bls. 226 ff., in BAP/REM no. 16 and Zusammenstellung der Wochenberichte … (1–7 September 1918), (8–14 September 1918), (15–21 November 1918), and (22, 28 November 1918), and (22, 28 November 1918), in BAP/ Rem no. 17. See Aufzeichnung über die Sitzung des Vorstandes des REA am 13 December in REA, in BHSA/ MWi 7860. The harvest, weather, and the transport situations closely paralleled conditions reported during the turnip winter. Transportation of the harvest recovered markedly in early December, allowing REA to denounce as erroneous press reports that the grain supply would collapse on 7 February 1919. Nevertheless, REA predicted ‘essential disruptions and local emergencies by the end of March and in April” and could see little hope after May. In fact the domestic grain supplies ran out in July, potatoes ran out in May, Haupts, Deutsche Friedenspolitik, 283, n. 34; on the press reports see Aufzeichnung über die Sitzung des Vorstandes des REA am 13. Dezember 1918 in REA, 19–22, 26–31, in BHSA/MWi 7860.Google Scholar

12. The German collapse of 1918 is a relatively neglected topic despite the fact that controversy has always surrounded it. The best work is Kocka, Jürgen, Klassengesellschaft im Krieg. Deutsche Sozialgeschichte 1914–1918 (1973; Frankfurt am Main, 1988), especially 173 ff., which examines the conditions and breakdown of public order under the impact of field theft, plundering etc. Local histories are also useful, but they are confined to western and southern Germany for the most part. See Volker Ullrich on Hamburg, Günther Mai on Württemburg, Friedhelm Boll on Hanover and Braunschweig, Karl Ay on Bavaria (the first such local history), Klaus Dieter Schwarz on Nuremberg, and Merith Niehuss on Augsburg. The conditions are summerized by Volker Ullrich, ‘Everyday Life and the German Working Class, 1914–1919,” 55–65,Google Scholar and Ute Daniel, ‘The Politics of Rationing vs. the Politics of Subsistence: Working Class Women in Germany 1914–1918,” 89–95, both in Fletcher, ed., Bernstein to Brandt. Health conditions are covered by Vincent, Charles Paul, The Politics of Hunger: The Allied Blockade of Germany, 1915–1919 (Athens, Ohio, 1985).Google Scholar Food riots were an almost daily occurrence during the war and revolution. On 9 November 1918 “From all sides came reports that the transport and distribution of food was endangered, rail cars (Wagen) stopped and plundered,” according to the Lord Mayor of Berlin, Wermuth, Adolf, Ein Beamtenleben. Erinnerungen (Berlin, 1922), 363–64, 413–14.Google Scholar The collapse of public morale is well shown by Henning, Heinz, “Die Situation der deutschen Kriegswirtschaft im Sommer 1918 und ihre Beurteilung durch Heeresleitung, Reischsführung und Bevölkerung,” (PhD. diss., University of Hamburg, 1957). KEA was particularly demoralized in the fall after the debacle in the Ukraine. Von Waldow did not think the conference on the state of the economy planned for 14 October 1918 could turn things around (due to the pace of events, the conference was never held), see BAP/ RWM no. 3420; he also refused to support Ludendorff's about-face to revive the war effort on 17 October,Google Scholar see E., Matthias and R., Morsey, eds., Die Regierung des Prinzen Max von Baden, (Düsseldorf, 1962), Doc. 64: Sitzung des Gesamtkabinetts (17 October 1918), 232–34. The grain and potato harvests looked dismal to KEA, Aufzeichnung über die 63. Sitzung des parlamentarischen Beirats für Volksernährung im RT vom 18 Oktober 1918, in BHSA/ MWi 7862.Google ScholarVon Waldow would approve a 20 gm. increase in the flour ration, because he expected ‘in the spring an import of some grain and flour will result.” Otto Wels (SPD) pressed for 40 gm. Aufzeichnung über die 64. Sitzung des parlamentarischen Beirats für Volksernährung im RT am 8 November 1918. in BHSA/ MWi 7862.Google Scholar

13. On the politics and diplomacy of food imports under the armistice, see Haupts, Deutsche Friedenspolitik, 211–329, and Schwabe, Deutsche Revolution, 363–79, and Kohler, Heinrich, Novemberrevolution und Frankreich. Die französische Deutschlands-Politik 1918–1919 (Düsseldorf, 1980), 106–27.Google Scholar The financing of the imports is covered by Schremmer, Eckart, ‘Deutsche Lebensmittelimporte und ihre Finanzierung zwischen Waffenstillstand und Friedensvertrag. Das Hungerjahr 1918/19”, in Wirtschaftskräfte und Wirtschaftswege, vol. 3 Auf dem Wege zur Industrialisierung. Festschrift für Hermann Kellenbenz, ed. J., Schneider (Bamberg, 1978), 627–53. The first imports began arriving in mid-April 1919.Google Scholar

14. Determining the ration at any time or place in Germany during and after World War I is very difficult because local plans were dependent on the cold realities of distributing limited reserves and on local circumstances. The national plan increased the bread ration to 316 gm. by January 1919, while the potato ration was cut about 200 gm., so that overall calories fell from 1619 to 1614, Rubner, Max, ‘Ernährungswesen im allgemeinen,” in Deutschlands Gesundheitsverhältnisse unter dem Einfluss des Weltkriegs, ed. F., Bumm (Stuttgart, 1928), 2:15–17. Transportation problems and disruptions by local councils (Räate) were often cited as the principle problems in the food administration. The grain supply, struggling under the increased ration, was hampered by the loss of Posen, coal shortages, and the loss of POW labor, not to mention the supplies abandoned during the army's retreat. The ration plan was jeopardized unless imports arrived in the spring. See Reichsgetreidestelle to Kuratorium usw. 4 January 1918[1919], Anlage: Niederschrift über die Sitzung des Kuratoriums und des Aufsichtsrats der Reichsgetreidestelle am 13 December 1918, p. 8, in BHSA/ Ges. Berlin 1609. Bavaria had problems maintaining its potato supplies and wanted to cut the ration, see Bay. MI to REA (19 December 1918), Bay. MI to Huber (4 January 1919), and Huber to MI (8 January 1919), in BHSA/ Ges. Berlin 1624. Things were always at their worst in Saxony and especially in Leipzig; the 7 pound weekly ration could not be held in December, see ‘Der Leipziger Bürgermeister über die Ernährung”, in LVZ, no. 287(10 December 1918) as well as Säch. Ges. Berlin to Säch MA (Lipinski) (6 January 1919), Bls. 172 ff., in STA-Dresden/ Ges Berlin no. 505.Google Scholar

15. The SPD's wartime food policy is conveniently documented in SPD-K, no. 8 (26 October 1916), no. 6 (31 July 1916), and no. 17(20 May 1916).Google Scholar

16. Doc. 162 (16 May 1917), in Der Hauptausschuss des Deutschen Reichstags 1915–1918, ed. R., Schiffer and M., Koch [Quellen zur Geschichte des Parlasmentarismus und der politischen Parteien, 1. Reihe, Band 9/111] (Düsseldorf, 1981), Band III, 1480. On Hoch, Doc. 165 (5 July 1917), 1511–12.Google Scholar

17. Boll, Friedhelm, Frieden ohne Revolution? Friedensstrategien der deutschen Sozialdemokratie vom Erfurter Programm 1981 his zur Revolution 1918 (Bonn, 1980), 209 ff.Google Scholar

18. The SPD's response to the crisis of the summer of 1918 is shown in Henning, ‘Die Situation,” 186 ff. By September the SPD was pressing the Hertling government for real political change; see Denkschrift des Parteivorstandes und der Generalkommission, über die Ernährungsfrage (9 September 1918), in SPD-K, no. 14 (14 September 1918), 170 ff., and SPD, Protokoll der gemeinsamen Sitzung des Parteiausschusses und der Reichstagsfraktion. Montag, den 23 September 1918 im RT zu Berlin. Als Manuskript gedruckt. (Nicht veröffentlichen!), Scheidemann, 9, and Noske, 14. Noske's views had an impact in turn on the Zentrum, strengthening Erzberger's position against Herding, Säch. Ges. Berlin to Säch. MA (27 September 1918), no. 2630, Bl. 41 ff., in STA-Dresden/ no. 366.Google Scholar

19. See Otto Wels in Aufzeichnung über die 63. Sitzung des parlamentarischen Beirats für Volksernährung im RT vom 18 October 1918, 11, in BHSA/ MWi 7862.Google Scholar

20. There is no study of Schmidt. Schmidt's role in the Reichstagfraktion is shown in Miller, Susanne, Das Kriegstagebuch des Reichstagsabgeordneten Eduard David 1914 bis 1918, (Düsseldorf: 1966), 5, 17, 28–29, 53–54, 105.Google ScholarGeneral, Kommission, ed., Beschlüsse der Konferenzen von Vertretern der Zentralvorstände (Berlin, 1919), 52 (20–22 March 1917),Google Scholar and E., Matthias and E., Pikart, eds., Die Reichstagsfraktion der deutschen Sozialdemokraten 1898 bis 1914, (Düsseldorf, 1966), vol. 2, Doc. 382 (13 March 1915), Doc. 397 (14 March 1916), Doc. 420 (26 October 1916), Doc. 434 (23 February 1917), and Doc. 466 (February 1918).Google Scholar

21. See Schmidt's remarks in Aufzeichnung über die 56. (ausserordentliche) Sitzung des Beirats für Volksernährung vom 26 April 1918 im RT, 7, in BHSA/ MWi 7862.Google Scholar

22. Fraktionssitzung (18 October 1918), BI. 188, in ASD/ FES, NL Giebel.Google Scholar

23. Fraktionssitzung (6 November 1918), BI. 197.Google Scholar

24. Robert Schmidt, “Das Proletariat unter der Diktatur”, in Vorwärts, no. 334a (5 December 1918); see also Potthoff, Heinrich, Gewerkschafren und Politik zwischen Revolution und Inflation (Düsseldorf, 1979), 37–38, and Beschlüsse (see n. 20), 21 Konferenz (3 December 1918), 110.Google Scholar

25. See Susanne, Miller and Heinrich, Potthoff, eds., Die Regierung der Volksbeauftragten 1918/19 (Düsseldorf, 1969), vol. 2, Doc. 80 (28 December 1918), 135.Google Scholar The best source on Schmidt's activities during the Revolution is Staudinger, Hans, Wirtschaftspolitik im Weimar Staat. Lebenserinnerungen eines politischen Beamten im Reich und Preussen 1889 his 1924, ed. Hagen, Schulze, Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, Beiheft 10 (Bonn, 1982), 19–21. Staudinger characterized Schmidt as ‘responsible” and ‘ethical.” He led a group of officials in defending the Reichskanzlei during the Spartacist uprising.Google Scholar

26. Ebert's comment in E., Kolb and R., Ruerup, eds., Der Zentralrat der deutschen sozialistischen Republik 19 December 1918–8 April 1919, (Leiden, 1968), 127 ff.Google Scholar

27. Ebert, it must be said, was growing increasingly skeptical in the face of the economic Cassandra calls that collapse was around the corner. To the Zentralrat, he wanted to gain their support against any further compromising of the government after the exit of the Independents from the regime. In January 1919, however, he refused to panic over the grim situation, saying that he had heard worse reports earlier; instead, he stressed making the situation clear to the people, see Besprechung in RK über die wirtschaftliche Lage am 21 January 1919, Bls. 2 ff., 12, in BAK R 431/ 1146.Google Scholar

28. Wurm had been a principle SPD spokesman on food in RT before joining the USPD in 1917. See Wurm, Emanuel, Die Teuerung. Ihre Ursachen und Bekämpfung. Ein Überblick über die Lebensmittelversorgung seit Kriegsbeginn, insbesondere in Gross-Berlin (Berlin, 1915), and SPD-Partei-Vorstand, Die Volksernährung (1915), a speech by Wurm in RT.Google Scholar

29. The USPD had left the SPD, because they were convinced that the food issue would drive the workers into opposition against the war and against the SPD's Buigfriedenpolitik. See Bericht des Vereins für Sozialpolitik (30 December 1915), 48 ff. and (28 February1916), 88 ff in PA/AA, Abt. I: Europa Generalia, Bd. 26. For the USPD analysis, see Verhandlungen des Reichstages. Stenographische Berichte, Bd. 309, 89, (22 March 1917), 2631 ff.Google Scholar

30. Wurm's assumption of the Food Office on 11 November 1918 came only after two days of confusion, Wermuth, Beamtenleben, 413–18.Google Scholar

31. Hans Staudinger, Robert Schmidt's executive in REA, characterized Wurm as ‘talented, but somewhat nervous”, although he had a higher regard for Wurm's assistant, Dr. Paul Hertz: ‘clever and adroit”, Staudinger, Wirtschaftspolitik, 19; Wermuth, Beamtenleben, 417–18, thought Wurm was “one of the best minds among the Independents. He carefully administered, perhaps a little overanxiously, the supplies of the 1918 harvest.”Google Scholar See also Wurm, in Reichstag, Die Ursachen des Deutschen Zusammenbruches im Jabre 1918. [Das Werk des Untersuchungsausschusses der Verfassungsgebenden Deutschen Nationalversammlung und des Deutschen Reichstages 1919–1928. 4. Reihe] (Berlin, 1928), vol. 2, pt. 4, 192 ff. as well as Haupts, Deutsche Friedenspolitik, 211 ff. Wurm did not hesitate to go forward with KEA's orientation on imports, ‘Lebensmitteleinfuhr aus Amerika,” Aufzeichnung über die Sitzung des Vorstandes der KEA in KEA am 19 November 1918, in BHSA/ MWi 7859.Google Scholar

32. Wurm, Aufzeichnung über die Sitzung des Vorstandes des REA am 13 December 1918 im REA, p. 1, in BHSA/ MWi 7860. On the Räte and their controls, see Kolb, Eberhard, Die Arbeiterräte in der deutschen Innenpolitik 1918–1919 (Frankfurt am Main, 1978), 83–135.Google Scholar

33. Wurm's position was made clear at the Reichskonferenz on 25 November 1918, Regierung der Volksbeauftragten, 1:201 ff. Kurt Eisner, Dittman, and Emil Barth concurred in their assessment of this basic analysis of the food crisis, although they differed when to hold elections. On Dittman see, ‘Wie das alles kam,” ASD/ FES, NL Dittmann; on Barth, ‘Der Volksbeauftragte Barth über die Notwendigkeit der Produktion,” SPD-K, vol. 14 (1 February 1919), 43.Google Scholar On Eisner see Schade, Franz, Kurt Eisner und die bayerische Sozialdemokratie (Hanover, 1961), 61 ff.Google Scholar Also see, Landauer, Carl, European Socialism: The History of Ideas and Movements from the Industrial Revolution to Hitler's Seizure of Power (Berkeley, 1959), 2:811 ff., which is informed by interviews with Eduard Auer.Google Scholar

34. The USPD left the Reich government on 29 December 1918, the Prussian government on 3 January 1919.Google Scholar

35. Regierung der Volksbeauftragten, vol. 2, (15 January 1919), 279–80.Google Scholar

36. Besprechung in RK über die wirtschaftliche Lage am 21 January 1919, Bls. 2 ff., 13, in BAK R 43 I/ 1146.Google Scholar

37. The cabinet's discussion of Noske's plan took place at 11:40 A.M. and no representative from REA was present, although other ministries were, Regierung der Volksbeauftragten, vol. 2, (21 January 1919), 287 ff. The discussion in the RK about the economic situation on 21 January 1919 took place at 5 P.M., BAK R 43 1/ 1146, Bls. 2 ff. Ebert's summation is on 16.Google Scholar

38. Feldman, Gerald, Kolb, Eberhard and Ruerup, Reinhard, ‘Die Massenbewegung am Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs (1917–1920),” in Politische Vierteljahresschrift 13 (August 1972): 84–105 brings the mass movements into focus.Google ScholarMommsen, Hans, ‘Die Bergarbeiterbewegung an der Ruhr 1918–1933”, Arbeiterbewegung an Rhein und Ruhr. Beiträge zur Geschicte der Arbeiterbewegung in Rheinland-Westfalen (Wuppertal, 1974), 275–314;Google ScholarTampke, Jürgen, The Ruhr and the Revolution: The Revolutionary Movement in the Rhenish-Westphalian Industrial Region 1912–1919 (Canberra, 1978).Google Scholar The problems of the miners' demands and the long term cosequences are best covered by Feldman, Gerald, ‘Arbeitskonflikte im Ruhrbergbau 1919–1922. Zur Politik der Zechenverbände und Gewerkschaften in der Überschichtsfrage” Vierteljahrsheft für Zeitgeschichte 28, no. 2 (April 1980): 168–223,Google Scholar and Tschirbs, Rudolf, Tarifpolitik im Ruhrbergbau 1918–1933 (Berlin, 1988), 31ff.Google Scholar On Silesia see Schumann, Wolfgang, Oberschlesien 1918/19. Vom gemeinsamen Kampf deutscher und polnischer Arbeiter (Berlin, 1961), which is highly influenced by DDR historiography, but it is one of the few books on the topic.Google Scholar See also, Institut für Marx-Leninismus, , ed., Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung (Berlin, 1966), 3:3, 3:66–67, 3:49–50. On the effect of coal shortages see, for example, Vertrauliche Anlage zu Bericht no. 16 (2 December 1918), Kassette III, and Tagesbericht Zweigstelle 6 (22 November 1918), Kassette V, in ASD/ FES NL Barth; Oberbergamt Frankfurt am Main to AA (4 February 1919), in BA/ R 85/912. On the impact in Berlin, see ‘Gross Berlin’, 327 (28 November 1918) and ‘Die Katastrophe rückt näher” (29 January 1919), in Vorwärts; for Leipzig, ‘Zum Kohlenmangel,” LVZ, 282 (4 December 1918). These reports are part of broader trends in 1918/19 in my opinion.Google Scholar

39. Lucas, Erhard, ‘Ursachen und Verlauf der Bergarbeiterbewegung in Hamborn und im westlichen Ruhrgebiet 1918/19”, in Duisburger Forschung 15 (1971): 1 ff.Google Scholar

40. The Spartacists and the Bremen Left, which together formed the German Communist party at the end of December 1918, expected a “second revolution” to develop out of the strikewave. See “Berliner Arbeiterrat und Streikbewegung”, Die Rote Fahne 13 (28 November 1918); ‘Die Streikwelle steigt”, RF 27 (12 December 1918); Lange, Paul, ‘Betriebsräte und Zentralstreikkommission”, RF (39 December 1918).Google Scholar Rosi Wolfenstein and Rosa Luxemburg stressed the significance of the miners' strikes, Hermann, Weber, ed., Der Gründungsparteitag der KPD. Protokoll und Materialien, (Frankfurt am Main, 1969), 129 ff., 189 ff.Google Scholar See also Waldman, Eric, The Spartacist Uprising of 1919 and the Crisis of the German Socialist Movement: A Study of the Relation between Political Theory and Party Practice (Milwaukee, 1958), 99–105, 129–31.Google ScholarPelz, William A., The Spartakusbund and the German Working Class Movement 1914–1919 (Lewiston, 1988) is poorly informed and largely mythological.Google Scholar

41. See Bock, Hans Manfred, Syndikalismus und Linkskommunismus von 1918–1923. Zur Geschichte und Soziologie der Freien Arbeiter-Union (Syndikalisten), der Allgemeinen Arbeiter Union und der Kommunistischen Arbeiter-Partei Deutschland (Meisenheim am Glan, 1969),Google ScholarLucas, Erhard, Zwei Formen von Radikalismus (Frankfurt am Main, 1976).Google Scholar For an example of this diverse culture, see Scholing, Michael and Walter, Franz, “Der neue Mensch. Sozialistische Lebensform und Erziehung in der sozialdemokratischen Arbeiterbewegung Deutschlands und Österreichs,” in Solidargemeinschafl und Klassenkampf, Politische Konzeptionen der Sozialdemokratie zwischen den Weltkriegen, ed. Richard, Saage (Frankfurt am Main, 1986), 250 ff,Google Scholar and Laessig, Simone, ‘Politische Radikalität und junge Kunst. Zum Wirken Otto Rähle's in Dresden,” in Dresdner Hefte 25, no. 1 (1991): 53–67.Google Scholar

42. Ehlert, Hans Gotthard, Die wirtschaftliche Zentralbehörde des Deutschen Reiches 1914–1919. Das Problem der ‘Gemeinwirtschaft” in Krieg und Frieden (Wiesbaden, 1982), 89 ff., n. 39, n. 40.Google Scholar Mueller's role is also discussed by Elben, Wolfgang, Das Problem der Kontinuität in der deutschen Revolution, Die Politik der Staatssekretäre und der militäarischen Führun, vom November 1918 bis Februaer 1919 (Düsseldorf, 1965), 76–77, 82–90.Google Scholar

43. Elben, Problem der Kontinuität, 83–213.Google Scholar

44. Regierung der Volksbeauftragten, vol. 2, December 113 (21 January 1919), 285–86, and Besprechung in der RK ueber die wirtschaftliche Lage am 21 January 1919, Bls. 2 ff., 1, in BAK/ R 43 1/1146.Google Scholar

45. See Barclay, David Edward, Rudolf Wissell als Sozialpolitiker (Berlin, 1984), 75 ff.Google Scholar

46. Wissell to Noske (19 January 1919), Bl. 112, in BAK R 1 /2181.Google Scholar

47. Elben, Problem der Kontinuität (see n. 42)Google Scholar

48. Most works on the USPD overlook the party's concern for the food issue and coal shortages during the Revolution. Morgan, David, The Socialist Left and the German Revolution: A History of the German Independent Social Democratic Parry 1917–1922 (lthaca, 1975), 118 ff.;Google ScholarKrause, Hartfried, U.S.P.D. Zur Geschichte der Unabhängigen Sozialdemokratischen Partei Deutschland (Frankfurt am Main, 1975), 121 ff.,Google Scholar and Calkins, Kenneth, Hugo Haase: Democrat and Revolutionary (Durham, 1979), 154 ff., all overlook the Independents' concern to address material problems and emphasize the revolutionary dimensions of this party. Wurm simply does not appear in their analysis, yet Wurm was an integral figure in the Centrist group of Kautsky, Hilferding, Breitscheid, Hertz, and Haase. Until the USPD left the governments in the Reich and Prussia, they opposed the miners' strikes and were deeply concerned with the food problem. See Miller, Bürde der Maclit, 203 ff., 225 ff.Google Scholar

49. Peter, Kuckuk, ed., Revolution und Räterepublik in Bremen (Frankfurt am Main, 1969), 138 ff.Google Scholar

50. Whether food imports would have been jeopardized is debatable and contemporary accounts vary widely in their assessment of conditions in Bremen, Ibid., 143 ff., 165 ff., 168 ff. See Miller, Bürde der Macht, 236–42, and Kolb, Eberhard, Die Arbeiterräte in der deutschen Innenpolitik 1918–1919 (Berlin, 1978), 238M ff. Noske insisted, rightly under the circumstances, that there was ‘absolutely no certainty of conditions in Bremen … The flow of food must be absolutely secured in view of the extraordinary shortages,” in “Noske über die Expedition nach Bremen,” Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (31 January 1919), in PA/ AA Bremen, Bd. 2. See also Noske, Von Kid his Kapp, 78–79. Most of the imports of food, however, when they came, were sent through Hamburg.Google Scholar

51. SPD-K, 14/4 (23 March 1919), 75–80. Emphasis in original.Google Scholar

52. On this problem of coal shortages and their long term impact on the inflation, see the literature cited in n. 39 as well as Feldman, The Great Disorder, 168ff., 175–76, 189, 197–98.Google Scholar

53. Mathews, William Carl, “The Continuity of German Social Democratic Economic Policy 1919 to 1920: The Bauer-Schmidt Policy,” in Die Anpassung an die Inflation, ed. G., Feldman et al. , (Berlin, 1986), 485–512 and Feldman, The Great Disorder, 165–211.Google Scholar

54. SPD-PT 1919, 226. Emphasis in original.Google Scholar

55. Zwischen Revolution und Kapp Putsch (see n. 1), 190–92, 200, 212, 235–37, 265–68, 310–11, documents the crisis; Ebert/Bauer, Volksgenossen! (4 November 1919) BAK R 43 I/2183, Bl. 69, gives the government's position. The radical wave is covered well by Morgan, Socialist Left, 279–320,Google Scholar but Wheeler, Robert, USPD and International. Sozialistischer Internationalismus in der Zeit der Revolution (Frankfurt am Main, 1975), is exceptional. See also Miller, Bürde der Macht, 332–75.Google Scholar

56. Fraktionsprotokolle-SPD, III (23 June 1919, 24 June 1919), IISH.Google Scholar

57. Miller, Bürde der Macht, 363ff. See also SPD, Parteiausschus (28/29 August 1919), (13 December 1919), and (27 January 1920), which show the steady loss of confidence and patience with Noske's policies.Google Scholar

58. Ebert was the last to defend Noske, see Miller, Bürde der Macht, 375–97, 410, for her analysis of Noske and the SPD.Google Scholar

59. Witt, Ebert, 92ff., makes this point very well.Google Scholar

60. See Brandt, Willy and Loewenthal, Richard, Ernst Reuter. Ein Leben für die Freiheit. Eine politische Biographie (Munich, 1957), 115–18,Google Scholar and Loewenthal, Richard, “The ‘Missing Revolution’ in Industrial Societies: Comparative Reflections on a German Problem,” in Germany in the Age of Total War: Essays in Honor of Francis Carsten, ed. V., Berghahn and M., Kitchen (London, 1981), 240–57.Google Scholar

61. Noske, Gustav, “Die Abwehr des Bolshewismus,” in Zehn Jahre Deutsche Geschichte 1918–1928, ed. H., Mueller and G., Stresemann (Berlin, 1928), 21ff. Noske stressed the role of Oskar Cohn's contacts to the Soviet ambassador and Soviet money. Others who shared these concerns would be Ebert, Phillip Scheidemann, Albert Suedekum, and Wolfgang Heine.Google Scholar

62. For example, Landsberg, Otto, “Der Rat der Volksbeauftragten,” in Friedrich Ebert und seine Zeit. Ein Gedenkwerk über den ersten Präsidenten der deutschen Republik (Charlottenburg, 1928), 186, as well as his remarks in Protokoll der gemeinsamen Sitzung des Parteiausschusses und der Reichstagfraktion (23 September 1918) (Als Manuskript gedruckt!), 26;Google Scholar see also, Schmidt, Robert, “Kommunistische Wirtschaftsprobleme,” Vorwärts 203 (22 April, 1920), who stressed the collapse of transportation and the nutritional economies in Russia as the conditions that produced bolshevism.Google Scholar

63. On the impact of the food imports, see Mathews, “Continuity of Social Democratic Economic Policy.”Google Scholar

64. Malanowski, Wolfgang, November-Revolution 1918. Die Rolle der SPD (Frankfurt am Main, 1968), 12–13, stressed the SPD's fetish while Richard Hunt, “Friedrich Ebert and the German Revolution of 1918,” stressed the influence of the party bureaucracy.Google ScholarBrinkmann, Hans, “Lebensmittelnöte und Hungerrevolten in der französischen Revolution,” in Die Neue Zeit 1, part 1 (1918/1919): 229–35, and part 2, 257–61. On the SPD and the Russian Revolution, see Loesche, Der Bolshewismus (see fn. 4).Google Scholar

65. Staudinger, Wirtschaftspolitik (see fn. 25), 16–17, noted Rosa Luxemburg's complete lack of sensitivity about the impact of the blockade on Germany's situation. Sobering reassessments of the revolutionary councils have come from Mommsen, Wolfgang, “Die deutsche Revolution 1918–1920: Politische Revolution und sozialer Protest”, in Der autoritäre Nationalstaat. Verfassung, Gesellschaft und Kultur im deutschen Kaiserreich (Frankfurt am Main, 1990), 463 ff.,Google Scholar and Bracher, Karl-Dietrich, “Zeitgeschichte im Wandel der Interpretation”, in Historische Zeitschrift 22, no. 3 (December 1977): 642–45.Google Scholar

66. Geyer, Curt, Die revolutionäre Illusion. Zur Geschichte des linken Flügels der USPD. Erinnerungen, ed. Benz, W. and Gaml, H., intro. by Wheeler, Robert (Stuttgart, 1976), is a superb example of the problem faced by the Left.Google Scholar

67. Rosenberg, Arthur, Geschichte der Weimarer Republik (Frankfurt am Main, 1975), 58ff;Google Scholar also see Morgan, David, “Ernst Daeumig and the German Revolution of 1918,” in Central European History 15, no. 4 (December 1982): 303–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar