DISCOVERY 



233 



November 28). On the same morning as that on which 

 the Kaiser fled from Army Headquarters to Holland 

 a great strike of working men occurred in Berlin and 

 elsewhere. This was the actual moment of revolution, 

 and this was the point at which the Majority Socialists 

 took the movement in hand. 



At I p.m. (Saturday, November 9) a proclamation, 

 in the name of " The Workers' and Soldiers' Council," 

 was issued as a fly-sheet by the newspaper Voricdrts, 

 the chief Socialist organ. The Vorwarts had made a 

 steady stand against Bolshevik Socialism. The pro- 

 clamation announced that a large part of the Berlin 

 garrison had placed itself at the disposal of the Workers' 

 and Soldiers' Council ; it pleaded for the maintenance 

 of quiet and order ; and ended with, " Long live the 

 Socialist Republic ! " 



This proclamation was followed within two or 

 three hours by another, which showed the hand of 

 the well-organised Social Democratic Party : 



" Fritz Ebert, the chairman of the Social Democratic 

 Party, has become Imperial Chancellor, and is forming 

 in the Empire and in Prussia a new Government of 

 men who have the confidence of the working population 

 in town and country, of the workers and of the soldiers. 

 Herewith public power has passed into the hands of 

 the people. A National Assembly to settle the Con- 

 stitution will meet as quickly as possible." 



The Provisional Government, November 9 



This proclamation showed that a self-appointed 

 Provisional Government now existed. Prince Max of 

 Baden left the seat of government and went to Baden ; 

 and by 8.30 p.m. the new Government was complete. 

 It was a Cabinet of six, who had the ominous name 

 of People's Commissaries ; this name, however, was 

 apparently almost from the first given up in favour of 

 that of Imperial Government. The six were Ebert, 

 Scheidemann, and Landsberg, Majority Socialists (i.e. 

 members of the Social Democratic Party), and Haase, 

 Dittmann, and Barth, Minority Socialists (Independent 

 Social Democratic Party) . The head of the Cabinet was 

 Ebert, Chancellor, who now signed the proclamations. 

 These proclamations, issued before the fateful evening 

 of Saturday, November 9, came to an end, stated the 

 programme of these relatively conservative revolu- 

 tionaries. The first proclamation said : 



" The Social Democratnc Party has taken over the 

 Government and has offered entry into the Government 

 to the Independent Social Democratic Party." 



It went on to state that the Constituent National 

 Assembly would be elected by the suffrage of all 

 citizens, both sexes, over twenty years of age. Finally 

 it declared that human life was sacred, and that " pro- 

 perty is to be protected against illegal interference." 



This statement that property (which plainly meant 



private property) was to be respected, disclosed the 

 essential mark of the Revolution, as the Social Demo- 

 cratic Party would have it. It was a direct challenge to 

 theCommunists, under whatever name they were known, 

 such as Bolshevists or Spartacists. The leaders of 

 the Social Democratic Party went further ; they 

 published (also on the night of November 9) the 

 demands addressed to them by the Independent 

 Socialists and their answers. In those answers the 

 leaders took their stand wisely on the will of the people. 

 To the demand " that Germany is to become a Socialist 

 Republic," the answer was "it is for the People and 

 the Constituent Assembly to decide." Another de- 

 mand was : " The whole executive, legislative, and 

 judicial power is to be exclusively in the hands of 

 the chosen men of the total labouring population and 

 the soldiers." The answer to this was: "If this 

 demand means the dictatorship of a part, a class, 

 without the majority behind it, we must reject this 

 demand, because it would run counter to our democratic 

 principles." A third demand was : " Exclusion from 

 the Government of all bourgeois members." This 

 was refused for the very practical (though not very 

 logical) reason, that " it would seriously endanger 

 the feeding of the people, if not make it impossible." 



Germany becomes a Moderate Socialist 

 Republic, November 12 



On November 12 the definite programme of the 

 Provisional Government was issued. It declared that 

 the Revolution had produced a Government " whose 

 convictions are purely Socialist." This Government, 

 accordingly, was making certain arrangements " which 

 will have the force of law." These arrangements 

 were, chiefly (i) the abolition of martial law ; (2) the 

 suppression of the law of compulsory civilian service ; 

 (3) the enactment of an eight-hour day, and the increase 

 of industrial insurance compensation ; (4) a housing 

 and unemployment scheme ; and (5) the maintenance 

 by Government of " ordered production," and pro- 

 tection of property " against private interference " ; 

 (6) the freedom and security of individuals. The spon- 

 taneous co-operation of the bulk of the people, the 

 absence of any general resistance, showed that this 

 programme had the approval of the community as a 

 whole. 



Thus, by November 12, the day after the Armistice, 

 Germany, as the result of a Revolution, had become 

 a Socialist Republic, based upon the principle of 

 depending upon the whole people, of drawing its 

 officials and representatives from every class indiscri- 

 minately, and of respecting the safety, freedom, and 

 property of all individuals. 



That the Revolution might have taken a very dif- 

 ferent course is proved by the powerful and bitter Spar- 



