Alf
21st November 2008, 00:29
International Communist Current
Public Forum
November 1918: what can we learn from the German revolution?
Saturday November 29 2008, 2pm-5pm
Conway Hall
Red Lion Square
London WC1
Every November 11 it’s Armistice Day, marking the ‘peace accords’ of November 1918 – a state-organised celebration which, far from denouncing the barbarism of the First World War, provides a justification for it.
But there is another November 1918, buried by official history: the beginnings of the German revolution when the sailors of Kiel mutinied rather than being dispatched to the slaughter. Within days workers and soldiers’ councils sprang up all over Germany and the bourgeoisie – not only in Germany but world wide – fell over themselves to bring the war to an end. The threat was real that the German workers would follow the example of October 1917 in Russia and take power for themselves.
And this is why the ruling class has done its best to bury or distort this whole experience: it contains so many lessons which are profoundly subversive for the present social order.
It showed that the Russian revolution was not a purely Russian affair, but part of an international wave of mass strikes and uprisings – the beginning of the world revolution, which was the only hope for the proletarian power in Russia.
It showed that the workers’ struggle can bring an end to imperialist war.
It showed that workers’ revolutions can take place in advanced capitalist countries.
It showed that the ruling class of the world will always unite against the proletarian danger, even when they are tearing each other apart in bloody conflicts.
It showed that it was above all the left wing of capitalism – the social democratic party of Noske and Scheidemann – which acted as the ‘blood hound’ of the counter-revolution.
It showed that in a revolutionary situation parliament and ‘democracy’ will be used to break the power of the workers’ councils.
It showed that if the working class does not make the revolution, decaying capitalist society will head towards barbarism. Stalinism, fascism, the Second World War – these were the grim consequences of the Russian and German revolutions succumbing to the bourgeois counter-revolution. That’s why the lessons of the German revolution remain so vitally relevant ninety years later.
Presentation followed by discussion. All welcome.
Read our recent series of articles on the 90th anniversary of the German revolution, beginning here:: http://en.internationalism.org/ir/133/germany_1919
Public Forum
November 1918: what can we learn from the German revolution?
Saturday November 29 2008, 2pm-5pm
Conway Hall
Red Lion Square
London WC1
Every November 11 it’s Armistice Day, marking the ‘peace accords’ of November 1918 – a state-organised celebration which, far from denouncing the barbarism of the First World War, provides a justification for it.
But there is another November 1918, buried by official history: the beginnings of the German revolution when the sailors of Kiel mutinied rather than being dispatched to the slaughter. Within days workers and soldiers’ councils sprang up all over Germany and the bourgeoisie – not only in Germany but world wide – fell over themselves to bring the war to an end. The threat was real that the German workers would follow the example of October 1917 in Russia and take power for themselves.
And this is why the ruling class has done its best to bury or distort this whole experience: it contains so many lessons which are profoundly subversive for the present social order.
It showed that the Russian revolution was not a purely Russian affair, but part of an international wave of mass strikes and uprisings – the beginning of the world revolution, which was the only hope for the proletarian power in Russia.
It showed that the workers’ struggle can bring an end to imperialist war.
It showed that workers’ revolutions can take place in advanced capitalist countries.
It showed that the ruling class of the world will always unite against the proletarian danger, even when they are tearing each other apart in bloody conflicts.
It showed that it was above all the left wing of capitalism – the social democratic party of Noske and Scheidemann – which acted as the ‘blood hound’ of the counter-revolution.
It showed that in a revolutionary situation parliament and ‘democracy’ will be used to break the power of the workers’ councils.
It showed that if the working class does not make the revolution, decaying capitalist society will head towards barbarism. Stalinism, fascism, the Second World War – these were the grim consequences of the Russian and German revolutions succumbing to the bourgeois counter-revolution. That’s why the lessons of the German revolution remain so vitally relevant ninety years later.
Presentation followed by discussion. All welcome.
Read our recent series of articles on the 90th anniversary of the German revolution, beginning here:: http://en.internationalism.org/ir/133/germany_1919