These days, 104 years ago, in March 1920, businesses came to a
standstill everywhere in the German Reich. The working class is opposing
the reactionary Kapp-Lüttwitz putsch with a general strike. It is the
start of one of the largest workers' uprisings in German history - the
March Revolution in the Ruhr area. ---- Less than two years earlier, the
November Revolution swept away the old order and put an end to the
murderous war of the European imperialists. But the treacherous social
democracy is strangling the social revolution through a pact with the
old elites. Nevertheless, they seek revenge for the loss of their
emperor, the territories and colonies and their strong army.
On March 13, 1920, parts of the Reichswehr under General Lüttwitz and
the Prussian official Wolfgang Kapp attempted a coup in Berlin in order
to restore the old order. The core of the mutinous troops are members of
the Freikorps, reactionary men's groups of former frontline soldiers who
marched with the swastika on their helmets even before the founding of
the NSDAP. While the SPD government is fleeing the putschists in Berlin,
the workers know what to do. A nationwide general strike is called for
March 15th. Within three days the putschists are exhausted and give up.
Resistance to the putsch is particularly strong in the Ruhr area. The
organizations of the workers' movement - parties such as the SPD, USPD
and KPD as well as the trade unions General German Trade Union
Confederation (predecessor of the DGB) and the anarcho-syndicalist Free
Workers Union of Germany (predecessor of the FAU) - form "action
committees" that exercise local power in the cities take over. They rely
on armed workers' formations that are formed to defend themselves
against the putschists. These combat units quickly joined forces to form
the "Red Ruhr Army" and together they succeeded in driving the hated
Reichswehr out of the entire industrial area. The "March Revolution" is
a joint action by the proletariat in the Ruhr area: Social Democrats
fight shoulder to shoulder with communists and anarchists, numerous
unorganized people and even members of Christian trade unions.
As much as there is unity in defending against the immediate danger,
there are quite different opinions about the broader goals of the
uprising: "Defense of the Republic!" some shout. They are concerned with
disarming the troops involved in the coup and purging the state
apparatus of monarchist-minded officials, i.e. with a parliamentary
democracy that is more than just a facade. "Socialization!" and "All
power to the councils!" shout the others. They see the opportunity now
for a much more thorough transformation of society, for the continuation
of the November Revolution of 1918. The working population should wrest
control of the means of production from the bosses ("socialization") and
use them to satisfy their own needs; it should exercise its collective
power itself through grassroots assemblies ("councils") instead of
delegating it to parliaments. Where the opportunity presents itself and
radical forces such as the syndicalists are particularly strong, the
first steps towards realizing these ideas are already being taken.
However, the insurgents should not have time to clarify their internal
contradictions. Barely back in office from exile in southern Germany,
the government once again clearly rejected the many-voiced calls for
social change. "Peace and order" is now the order of the day. In order
to restore this, the SPD leadership entered into an alliance with the
military, as in November 1918. She doesn't even shy away from using the
troops that just staged the coup against her against the workers who
saved her from the coup. The government's first priority is to end the
social experiment on the Rhine and Ruhr before the spark spreads to
other areas.
But the March Revolution remains isolated; the desperate call: "Save the
Ruhr workers!" goes unheard. A major reason for the passivity of the
rest of the workforce are illusionary hopes in their political and trade
union leaders and their negotiations in Berlin and Bielefeld, where an
agreement on the movement's demands is to be negotiated. In this way,
the Reichswehr was able to gather troops from other parts of Germany
unhindered, which crushed the movement three weeks after it was formed
and took terribly bloody revenge in the process. The terror of the
Freikorps offers a foretaste of what was to come after 1933.
According to the official narrative of this state, the Weimar Republic
failed because the democratic center was crushed by the extreme forces
of the left and right. In contrast, the fate of the March Revolution
shows us that the political center, especially the party leadership of
the SPD, at the very beginning of the Weimar period, in alliance with
the extreme right, bloodily suppressed those forces that might have been
able to do so in the 1930s would be to counteract the rise of the Nazis.
Today we remember the millions of workers who courageously opposed the
harshest reaction's grasp on state power. Today we particularly remember
the tens of thousands of Ruhr proletarians who fought for their
liberation from the yoke of capitalism in the spring of 1920. You are
never forgotten!
https://www.dieplattform.org/2024/03/17/vor-104-jahren-generalstreik-gegen-die-reaktion-und-maerzrevolution-im-ruhrgebiet/#more-2928
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
standstill everywhere in the German Reich. The working class is opposing
the reactionary Kapp-Lüttwitz putsch with a general strike. It is the
start of one of the largest workers' uprisings in German history - the
March Revolution in the Ruhr area. ---- Less than two years earlier, the
November Revolution swept away the old order and put an end to the
murderous war of the European imperialists. But the treacherous social
democracy is strangling the social revolution through a pact with the
old elites. Nevertheless, they seek revenge for the loss of their
emperor, the territories and colonies and their strong army.
On March 13, 1920, parts of the Reichswehr under General Lüttwitz and
the Prussian official Wolfgang Kapp attempted a coup in Berlin in order
to restore the old order. The core of the mutinous troops are members of
the Freikorps, reactionary men's groups of former frontline soldiers who
marched with the swastika on their helmets even before the founding of
the NSDAP. While the SPD government is fleeing the putschists in Berlin,
the workers know what to do. A nationwide general strike is called for
March 15th. Within three days the putschists are exhausted and give up.
Resistance to the putsch is particularly strong in the Ruhr area. The
organizations of the workers' movement - parties such as the SPD, USPD
and KPD as well as the trade unions General German Trade Union
Confederation (predecessor of the DGB) and the anarcho-syndicalist Free
Workers Union of Germany (predecessor of the FAU) - form "action
committees" that exercise local power in the cities take over. They rely
on armed workers' formations that are formed to defend themselves
against the putschists. These combat units quickly joined forces to form
the "Red Ruhr Army" and together they succeeded in driving the hated
Reichswehr out of the entire industrial area. The "March Revolution" is
a joint action by the proletariat in the Ruhr area: Social Democrats
fight shoulder to shoulder with communists and anarchists, numerous
unorganized people and even members of Christian trade unions.
As much as there is unity in defending against the immediate danger,
there are quite different opinions about the broader goals of the
uprising: "Defense of the Republic!" some shout. They are concerned with
disarming the troops involved in the coup and purging the state
apparatus of monarchist-minded officials, i.e. with a parliamentary
democracy that is more than just a facade. "Socialization!" and "All
power to the councils!" shout the others. They see the opportunity now
for a much more thorough transformation of society, for the continuation
of the November Revolution of 1918. The working population should wrest
control of the means of production from the bosses ("socialization") and
use them to satisfy their own needs; it should exercise its collective
power itself through grassroots assemblies ("councils") instead of
delegating it to parliaments. Where the opportunity presents itself and
radical forces such as the syndicalists are particularly strong, the
first steps towards realizing these ideas are already being taken.
However, the insurgents should not have time to clarify their internal
contradictions. Barely back in office from exile in southern Germany,
the government once again clearly rejected the many-voiced calls for
social change. "Peace and order" is now the order of the day. In order
to restore this, the SPD leadership entered into an alliance with the
military, as in November 1918. She doesn't even shy away from using the
troops that just staged the coup against her against the workers who
saved her from the coup. The government's first priority is to end the
social experiment on the Rhine and Ruhr before the spark spreads to
other areas.
But the March Revolution remains isolated; the desperate call: "Save the
Ruhr workers!" goes unheard. A major reason for the passivity of the
rest of the workforce are illusionary hopes in their political and trade
union leaders and their negotiations in Berlin and Bielefeld, where an
agreement on the movement's demands is to be negotiated. In this way,
the Reichswehr was able to gather troops from other parts of Germany
unhindered, which crushed the movement three weeks after it was formed
and took terribly bloody revenge in the process. The terror of the
Freikorps offers a foretaste of what was to come after 1933.
According to the official narrative of this state, the Weimar Republic
failed because the democratic center was crushed by the extreme forces
of the left and right. In contrast, the fate of the March Revolution
shows us that the political center, especially the party leadership of
the SPD, at the very beginning of the Weimar period, in alliance with
the extreme right, bloodily suppressed those forces that might have been
able to do so in the 1930s would be to counteract the rise of the Nazis.
Today we remember the millions of workers who courageously opposed the
harshest reaction's grasp on state power. Today we particularly remember
the tens of thousands of Ruhr proletarians who fought for their
liberation from the yoke of capitalism in the spring of 1920. You are
never forgotten!
https://www.dieplattform.org/2024/03/17/vor-104-jahren-generalstreik-gegen-die-reaktion-und-maerzrevolution-im-ruhrgebiet/#more-2928
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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