Left-Wing and The 'Other' History: Introduction and The Spartacist Uprising

A Spartacist militia in Berlin during the Uprising

This is a new series which I have wanted to do for a long time. I have a great interest in the far-left and looking at history from below - present-day subaltern studies has its origins with the Marxist Antonio Gramsci so there is some overlap. Just like World History we will be looking at and explaining the history of the Left including individuals, movements, events, books, and ideas. However, I also want to look at the history of 'The Other': groups marginalised in society and how they managed to find their voice, or survive in human history. As my own speciality is 'early modern' and 'modern' history - and modern Left/Right concepts are just over two hundred years old - we will mostly look at history since the 1600s. To also avoid confusion I will delineate between which posts cover Left-wing history, 'the Other', or both. This post will look at Left-wing history.

As of writing, it has just been the centenary of the Spartacist Uprising. Coming at the end of the First World War as various socialist and working-class revolts broke out in Germany, partially inspired by the Russian Revolution, and the Spartacists led one in Berlin. Led by the ideas of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, among others, the Spartacists hope to bring socialism to Germany, but they were crushed by the Freikorps - a far-right militia allied to the newly formed government. 

Luxemburg and Liebknecht

Rosa Luxemburg

Rosa Luxemburg is perhaps one of the best known German Marxist thinkers since the death of Marx and Engels themselves. She has been celebrated by individuals across the world and history: in 2003 Dr Zweledinga Pallo Jordan of the ANC in South Africa quoted her when commemorating the murder of anti-Apartheid activist Chris Hani; the People's Republic of China has hosted several international conferences on her; and Dr Sobhanlal Datta of the University of Calcutta has broken from traditional Indian leftism to honour Luxemburg. Born in 1871 in Zamosc, Russian Poland to Jewish parents growing up speaking Yiddish, and her liberal and well-read parents ensured that she got a good education. Most likely thanks to intense antisemitism in 1874 the family moved to Warsaw where the anonymity of a city could offer Jews some measure of safety. However, thanks to antisemitism they lived close to the former Jewish quarter and started making themselves appear 'less Jewish': the parents started 'assimilating' at a faster rate, began speaking less Yiddish, and started wearing clothes from Western Europe. Many other Jewish families also began this process. At the age of ten she managed to enter the Russian Second Gymnasium for Girls in spite of the harder entrance exams which Jews had to take. Quoting Paul Frolich she had to face the triple 'yoke of oppression': a Jew facing antisemitism, the shackles of tsarism, and living in Poland facing Russian imperialism. Furthermore, society was very patriarchal adding a fourth form of oppression. This installed in her a strong sense of oppression and justice, a poem she wrote stated: I want to burden the conscience of the affluent with all the suffering and all the hidden, bitter tears. In 1886, while still in school, she joined the Proletariat Party and even helped organise a strike, but the party was banned in 1887 so she continued at meetings in secret. With the young Rosa immersed in socialist politics the began a lifelong career of activism.

She would later move to Zurich to attend university there, obtaining a doctorate in Public Law and Political Science in 1898, where she became immersed in Marxist literature. Many Marxists and socialists had fled, or were exiled, to Switzerland, including Georgi Plekhanov, an individual whom Lenin credited with helping form Russian socialism. As a result, it was very easy for Luxemburg to come into contact with far-left theories, and she soon became noted for her strong criticisms of not only capitalism but also fellow Marxists. Her criticism of Lenin's What is to be Done? (1902) found its roots in her time criticising other Marxists. While in Zurich she wrote consistently for the German journal Die Neue Zeit and helped form the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) with fellow expatriate (and lover) Leo Jogiches. Luxemburg had Germany on her mind. Europe's continental political and economic powerhouse with a strong labour movement, despite the attempts to crush it by Otto von Bismarck. The Social-Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) was one of the largest parties in Europe with a million members, and, quoting J.P. Nettl, 'German trade unionism was the creature of the political party'. By 1898 Germany was attracting Marxists from across Europe, however, Rosa faced discrimination: a woman, a Polish Jew, short, and she walked with a limp. She had to fight hard to be respected in the SPD's ranks and managed to become one of the party's main thinkers. Her speeches won her respect from miners and workers at Konigshutte, Katscher, and Gleiwitz, and her later speeches attracted mass crowds in 1905 and 1914.

Karl Liebknecht

Karl Liebknecht is often overlooked when discussing the Spartacists, largely thanks to the presence of Luxemburg: she had to overcome so much more, wrote much more, and was very active in working-class strikes stemming from her time in school. Nevertheless, Liebknecht was highly influential in the German Marxist movement. Born to one of the SPD's founders, Wilhelm Liebknecht, in 1871 he grew up heavily influenced by Marxist theory. The SPD was regularly under attack from conservative governments and was actually banned, and Wilhelm had taken part in the failed Frankfurt Assembly during the 1848 Revolution. Like his father Karl started exposing Marxist ideas when he started studying law and political economy at Leipzig and Humboldt University in Berlin. Eventually, in 1897, he earned his doctorate from Wurzburg becoming a lawyer with his brother when they moved to Berlin in 1899. Karl proved essential to the German Marxist movement defending fellow SPD members in court when they were charged for translating and exporting leftist material to Russia. He was also active in the international left-wing movement. One reason why Karl was so eager to defend SPD members for sending Marxist literature to Russia was due to him also sending the literature. Karl got involved in the Second International, an attempt to unite labour and Marxist movements, and helped found the Socialist Youth International.

The German Left before 1917

SPD activists in 1919

To understand the Spartacists we have to understand how the German Left functioned before they were formed. When the SPD first entered the German Reichstag it already terrified the ruling classes - revolutionary language evoked imagery of 1848 and SPD co-founder August Bebel in 1871 openly praised the Paris Commune in the Reichstag. Russian anarchists assassinated Tsar Alexander II in 1881 which made the radical Left seem much more than utopian idealists speaking revolution with no intention of bringing it about. Originally, Bismarck's anti-socialist bill was rejected by other parties, but an attempt on the life of the German emperor ensured a bill was passed by 221 votes to 149. Despite officially banning socialist parties and meetings the movement continued on - as did Catholic meetings who also faced persecution under Bismarck's rule - and thrived underground. Although the socialist vote dropped from 493,000 in 1877 to 312,000 in 1880 it soon rose again to 550,000 in 1884. Socialism's emancipatory rhetoric also attracted minorities - such as Jews and Poles - but the SPD largely remained Christian German dominated. Being driven underground had made the SPD a well-organised, mass party and the envy of the international Left - the socialists were so popular that Bismarck had to plant the seeds of today's welfare state in order to try and undercut them. Nevertheless, German working-class agitation remained strong and this would be essential in years to come. Meanwhile, the SPD remained divided between radicals and moderates, as well as between Germans and non-Germans. 

Clara Zetkin (left) and Rosa Luxemburg (right) in 1910

Among the radicals included Luxemburg, Liebknecht, and Clara Zetkin. In 1907 Liebknecht published his best known work, Militarism and Anti-Militarism, where he argued that war is used to profit the capitalist classes so by maintaining the military it retains their power, and the harsh actions against dissenting soldiers and anti-war activists are related to the threat to this power. Due to this he was imprisoned - thanks to Bismarck German nationalism placed much emphasis on the military - and was actually elected to the Reichstag while still in prison. Luxemburg, meanwhile, wrote extensively on the need to support mass strikes, and how Marxists (and the SPD) should not abandon revolutionary struggle as advocated by Eduard Bernstein in Reform or Revolution (1899). Due to alienation thanks to her being a Jewish woman from Poland Luxemburg had to fight to be heard, and formed close friendships with fellow Marxist women including Zetkin, Sonya Liebknecht, and Luise Kautsky - the wife of the SPD's chief theoretician Karl Kautsky whom Rosa often clashed with. Fearing marginalisation in a male dominated party Luxemburg and Zetkin spoke little on 'the women question' - women's suffrage - but they made their viewpoint clear: the current suffrage movement sidelined working-class women. In a 1912 speech she urged class and gender to come together, 'Fighting for women's suffrage, we will also hasten the coming hour when the present society falls in ruins under the hammer strokes of the revolutionary proletariat.' Luxemburg is particularly known for her critiques of what would become Marxism-Leninism - in her view Lenin's advocacy of a vanguard party leading the working-class was the antithesis of a proletariat revolution. While in prison (later published in 1922) she wrote that 'the rule of the Bolsheviks in Russia is a distorted expression of the dictatorship of the proletariat.' Although Lars Lih has argued that Luxemburg never actually read What is to be Done? her writings regardless shows her idea of what a socialist state should be compared to Lenin's: less focus on centralised leadership in favour of a classless democracy. 

Freedom only for the supporters of the government, only for the members of one party – however numerous they may be – is no freedom at all. Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently. Not because of any fanatical concept of "justice" but because all that is instructive, wholesome and purifying in political freedom depends on this essential characteristic, and its effectiveness vanishes when "freedom" becomes a special privilege... But socialist democracy is not something which begins only in the promised land after the foundations of socialist economy are created; it does not come as some sort of Christmas present for the worthy people who, in the interim, have loyally supported a handful of socialist dictators. Socialist democracy begins simultaneously with the beginnings of the destruction of class rule and of the construction of socialism.

In 1914 the First World War broke out and it divided the German Left as it did elsewhere. Despite the Second International opposing the war - seeing it as a war between empires costing the lives of the working-class - the SPD voted in support of war bonds. Radical members abstained and despite also abstaining Karl Kautsky angered radicals by suggesting that, although deplorable, the war was a defensive one against tsarist Russia. Ten months later he changed his mind, but his initial stance offered a mark against his name. With the SPD even suggesting that it would prevent strikes Luxemburg came close to suicide feeling that all her ideas had been prevented from occurring. Using his position in the Reichstag Liebknecht virulently denounced the war effort. Opposing the war Liebknecht, Luxemburg, Zetkin, and Franz Mehring formed Die Internationale to push back against the support for the war in August which evolved into the Spartacist League in January 1916. The Spartacists were named after the famed Roman gladiator 'Spartacus' who led a slave uprising. Both Die Internationale and the Spartacists were made illegal for their criticisms of the war in pamphlets signed off as 'Spartacus' or 'Junius' (for Luxemburg) after a founder of the Roman Republic. The German government ignored its own laws about preventing politicians from conscription by sending Liebknecht to the eastern front for his criticisms. He refused to fight, opting to bury bodies, and was soon removed from the front due to ill health. The SPD kept its words - strikes were prevented, but it really did not need to do so, the war was genuinely popular in the early years. Radicals did protest the war resulting in their imprisonment - while in prison Liebknecht and Luxemburg wrote some of their best work. Despite this, the Spartacist League continued underground and aligned with the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) who were pacifists, like Hugo Haase, angered by the SPD's continued support of the war so split in 1917. Then in November 1917 the Bolsheviks took power in Russia which would change everything.

The November Revolutions

An image of sailors during the Kiel Mutiny

Although the November Revolution in Russia soon devolved into a brutal Civil War it offered a symbol: one of hope for the downtrodden, one of despair for the ruling classes. At the same time the war was going badly for Germany: thousands had died fighting with little results to show for it, rationing was constricting everyday life, and the British blockade was preventing the importation of much needed food and medical supplies. The Spanish Influenza epidemic was so severe in Germany as rationing and the blockade weakened immune systems the flu turned extremely deadly. As support for the government dropped Spartacist and USPD pamphlets started to get a larger audience. A conference on 7 October 1918 called for an end to the compulsory labour laws, release political prisoners, nationalise major industries, democratise the military, transfer food to workers, and annul war loans. Die Rote Fahne (The Red Flag) published an issue on 5 November 1918 which caused the Workers' and Soldiers' Council of Stuttgart demanding a peace obtained from a government ran by the proletariat. When Chancellor of Germany, Prince Maximilian of Baden in October issued an amnesty releasing political prisoners a crowd of workers supposedly led Liebknecht directly to the Soviet assembly. He immediately started advocating revolt, such as in a speech in November saying:

 Lay down your weapons, you soldiers at the front. Lay down your tools, you workers at home. Do not let yourselves be deceived any longer by your rulers, the lip patriots, and the munitions profiteers. Rise with power and seize the reins of government. Yours is the force. To you belongs the right to rule. Answer the call for freedom and win your own war for liberty.

The spark for revolt came from the navy. A naval order on October 24 ordered the navy to set sail to clash with the Royal Navy in the English Channel. On the night of October 29 sailors revolted at Schillig Roads, but on November 3 the larger Kiel Mutiny began. Mutinying sailors made alliances with the local unions, SPD, and USPD and took over Kiel. An SPD politician, Gustav Noske, was sent by the government (which was in the coalition) to take control of the mutiny, but he was welcomed regardless. Seeing that around 40,000 had took over Kiel revolt spread across Germany inspired by both Kiel and the Bolsheviks in Russia. Local princes fled as on November 7 and 8 workers' and soldiers' councils were established in Dresden, Leipzig, Chemnitz, Magdeburg, Brunswick, Frankfurt, Cologne, Duesseldorf, Hanover, Nuremburg, and Stuttgart. A socialist state was even declared in Bavaria under Kurt Eisner. Seeing his empire crumble around him Kaiser Wilhelm II fled and a fragile republic declared.

The Spartacist Uprising

At the end of December revolution was in the air and several leftist politicians and societies formed the Communist Party (KPD). The SPD was in power under Friedrich Ebert who became Germany's first president, and he was no radical. Ebert's politics were set very much against more radical socialism - he believed reform could bring about socialism. In the last few years Bernie Sanders (in the US) and Jeremy Corbyn (in the UK) have been described as representing Ebert's side of the SPD - it is an oversimplification but it is useful for a basic understanding. Emil Eichhorn, a USPD member, was dismissed as Chief of Police due to his support for Berlin radicals. The Prussian SPD (the state which Berlin belonged to) had issued a campaign in the papers calling for his dismissal beforehand. This made radicals fearful that the SPD would soon move against them. Eichhorn's successor, Eugen Ernst, after the Uprising said to the Manchester Guardian: a success of the Spartacists was a priori impossible; we forced them to resort to force prematurely because of our preparations. They had to fight before they were ready and therefore we were in a position to challenge them successfully. On Sunday 5 January a mass, and armed, demonstration protested outside the police headquarters at the Alexanderplatz, and occupation of SPD papers, including Vorwärts. Leaders of the Spartacists soon gathered at the Alexanderplatz and Liebknecht demanded a revolution, much to the disagreement of other leaders, including Luxemburg, who viewed a revolution as being premature due to the KPD only being recently formed. 

A Spartacist poster from 1919 - a Spartacist slays a hydre of Kapitalismus (capitalism), Junkertum (Junkers, Prussian landed nobility), and Neuer Militarismus (new militarism)

Liebknecht and several others the next day declared that the government was deposed by 'the representatives of the revolutionary socialist workers and soldiers (USPD and KPD)'. On January 7 the KPD and USPD called for a general strike, which attracted 500,000 participants, and key buildings were soon seized. The strike leaders, the Revolutionary Committee, remained divided between revolutionaries wanting the government deposed and reformers wanting to negotiate. The Committee soon found that the military, unlike in Kiel, remained loyal to the state and the KPD resigned in protest to the USPD inviting Ebert to negotiate. Soon enough the Uprising was soon crushed. In Vorwärts a flyer proudly declared 'The hour of reckoning is coming soon!' as the USPD started negotiating with Ebert. The SPD had made an alliance with the conservatives in Germany and struck an alliance with the Freikorps - this was a far-right paramilitary organisation made of veterans wanting revenge on those blamed on causing their defeat in the war. They disliked the SPD but loathed the communists. Many of their members would later fill up the ranks of the Nazis and their paramilitary force, the SA. Freikorps forces wiped out the Spartacists, and murdered Luxemburg and Liebknecht on January 15 - their bodies were dumped in the Landwehr Canal. The Spartacist Uprising had been crushed.

Legacy and Conclusion

Although the Spartacists were crushed socialist uprisings continued until 1920 where most were crushed by the SPD's alliance with the Freikorps. With the execution, exile, or imprisonment of the KPD's, and the success of Lenin, Marxist-Leninist's took over the party, although some of the older members remained like Clara Zetkin. The socialist uprisings were just one event which fed into the 'stab-in-the-back-myth' - Right-wing Germans argued that Germany didn't lose the war, subversives had stolen victory from them. Due to Jewish presence in the KPD anti-socialism and antisemitism came together with this myth. Despite the Spartacist defeat their legacy lives on - particularly with Luxemburg. Managing to become a driving force in a misogynistic, antisemitic, and ableist world earns respect, and her death at a young age (47) made her a martyr. Her ideas also offered valuable insight into democratic Marxism and intersectionality (between class and gender), and I would consider her one of the biggest contributors to my own politics. Today, at the sight where she was murdered there is a memorial to her (although sadly not Liebknecht), and there are streets in Berlin named after both - albeit that is thanks to the post-war East German state. Liebknecht's Militarism and Anti-Militarism found a new audience in 2003 with the Iraq War as what he wrote a century prior was still found to be true. Although the Spartacists were quickly crushed their legacy and ideas live on.

The Luxemburg Memorial in Berlin from when I visited in August 2018

The sources I have used are as follows:

-Eric Waldman, The Spartacist Uprising of 1919, and the Crisis of the German Socialist Movement: A Study of the Relation of Political Theory and Party Practice, (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1958)

-Paul Le Blanc and Helen C. Scott, (eds.), Socialism or Barbarism: The Selected Writings of Rosa Luxemburg, (London: Pluto Press, 2010)

-William Carr, A History of Germany, 1815-1985, Third Edition, (London: Edward Arnold, 1987)

-Elzbieta Ettinger, Rosa Luxemburg: A Life, (London: Boston, 1987)

-J.P. Nettl, Rosa Luxemburg, Vol. 1, (London: Oxford University Press, 1966)

- J.P. Nettl, Rosa Luxemburg, Vol. 2, (London: Oxford University Press, 1966)

-Karl Liebknecht, 'Call for Revolution', (1/11/1918), Marxists.org, [Accessed 10/01/2019]

-Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht, Klara Zetkin and Franz Mehring, 'A Call to the Workers of the World', (25/11/1918), Marxists.org, [Accessed 10/01/2019]

-Karl Liebknecht, Militarism and Anti-Militarism, (Cambridge: Rivers Press Limited, 1973)

Thank you for reading. We will, eventually, have a full page of these posts which you can look at here. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby.