Part 9 (2/2)

If they had come a few months earlier the subsequent course of Germany's and the whole world's history would doubtless have been changed. But, unknown to the great ma.s.s of Germans except through wild rumor, revolution had already come and the German Empire was tottering to its fall.

CHAPTER IX.

A Revolt Which Became a Revolution.

The elements that had long been working to bring about a revolution had for months been nearer their goal than even they themselves suspected, but they were nevertheless not ready for the final step when events, taking the bit into their teeth, ran away with the revolutionists along the very road which they had wanted to follow.

It lies in the nature of the employment of those that go down to the sea in s.h.i.+ps that they are more resolute and reckless than their sh.o.r.e-keeping brothers, and less amenable to discipline. They are also subject to certain cosmopolitan, international influences which do not further blind patriotism. Furthermore, the percentage of rude, violent and even criminally inclined men is proportionately higher afloat than ash.o.r.e. The Russian revolution of 1905 started among the sailors in Cronstadt. The same men set the example in atrocities against officers in the Russian revolution of 1917. Sailors played a prominent part in the Portuguese revolution, and there are few fleets in the world without their history of rough deeds done by mutinous mariners.

On October 28th there came an order from the Admiralty at Berlin that the fleet was to be prepared for a cruise into the North Sea. Just what this cruise was intended to accomplish is not clear. High naval officers have a.s.sured the writer that it was to have been primarily a reconnaissance, and that no naval battle was intended or desired. The report circulated among the crews, however, that a last desperate stand was to be made, in which the whole fleet would be sacrificed, but in which as great losses as possible were to be inflicted on the British Fleet. This was not at all to the liking of men demoralized by long idleness--an idleness, moreover, in which Bolshevist Satans had found much work for them to do.

Just at this time, too, came a gruesome story which further unfavorably affected the crews' morale. A submarine cruiser, it was reported, had become entangled in a net, but had freed itself and reached port, dragging the net with it. When the net was pulled ash.o.r.e, it was declared, three small U-boats were found fast in it, their crews dead of suffocation. The story was probably false, but it increased the men's opposition to the cruise ordered. They were also disquieted by the fact that large numbers of floating mines were being brought aboard the speedier cruisers.

Rumblings of the coming storm were heard first on board the battles.h.i.+ps _Thuringen_ and _Helgoland_, a part of whose crews flatly refused to obey orders to carry out the cruise ordered by the Admiralty. The mutiny was not general even aboard these s.h.i.+ps, and it was quickly quelled. The embers, however, smouldered for three days and then burst into flame.

Alone among the great revolutions of the world, the German revolution was the work of the humblest of the proletariat, unplanned and unguided by _bourgeois_ elements. It came from below not only in the figurative but also in the literal sense of the word, for it came from the very hold of a battles.h.i.+p. It was the stokers of the _Markgraf_ at Kiel who set rolling the stone which became the avalanche of revolution.

The crews of the _Markgraf_ and of some of the other s.h.i.+ps in the Kiel squadron demanded that the mines be taken ash.o.r.e and the projected cruise abandoned. The officers refused their demands. Thereupon the stokers of the _Markgraf_ left the s.h.i.+p and went ash.o.r.e. This was on Sunday morning, November 3d. The stokers were joined by members of other s.h.i.+ps' crews ash.o.r.e at the time, and a meeting was held. When the stokers returned to the _Markgraf_ they found her guarded by marines and they were not permitted to come aboard. They boarded another s.h.i.+p nearby and demanded their dinner. Messtime had pa.s.sed while they were holding their meeting ash.o.r.e, and their demand was refused. The stokers broke into the provision-rooms and helped themselves. Thereupon the mutineers, about one hundred and fifty in number, were arrested and taken to the military prison in the center of the city. All the small boats of the _Markgraf_ were taken ash.o.r.e to prevent the rest of the crew from reaching land.

When the arrest of the mutinous stokers became known aboard their battles.h.i.+p there was an outburst of indignation. The officers, in sending the boats ash.o.r.e, had overlooked an old barge which lay alongside the s.h.i.+p. As many of the crew as the barge could carry clambered into it and rowed ash.o.r.e, using boards as paddles. Then they sent the small boats back to bring ash.o.r.e the rest of their comrades. At four o'clock in the afternoon practically the entire crew of the _Markgraf_ held a meeting on the large promenade and maneuver grounds near the harbor. A great many members of other s.h.i.+ps' crews attended this meeting. Violent speeches were made and it was decided to demand the immediate release of the _Markgraf's_ stokers. Shortly before six o'clock the inflamed mob--it was already little else--went to the Waldwiese (city park), where a company of the First Marine Division was quartered. The mutineers demolished the barracks, released several men who were locked up for minor military offenses, and stole all the arms and ammunition in the place.

An ordered procession then started toward the center of the city. It grew steadily in size as it went through accretions from sailors, marines and other members of war-vessels' crews, and also from the riotous and criminal elements common to all larger cities and especially to harbor-cities.

The military authorities had meanwhile made preparations to deal with the mutineers. As early as four o'clock _erhohte Alarmbereitschaft_ (literally, ”increased readiness to respond to an alarm”) had been ordered. Buglers and drummers pa.s.sed through the streets, proclaiming the order and warning against demonstrations.

The mutineers' procession reached the central railway station about 7 P.M., and proceeded, its numbers increasing steadily, through the Holsteinstra.s.se to the Market Place. It pa.s.sed through the Danische Stra.s.se and Brunswigerstra.s.se toward Feldstra.s.se, in which was situated the military prison where the _Markgraf_ stokers were confined. The procession had by this time become a howling, whistling, singing mob, whose progress could be heard many blocks away. Pa.s.sers-by were compelled to join the procession. The entrances to the Hospitalstra.s.se and to the Karlstra.s.se at the so-called _Hoffnung_, near the prison, were guarded by strong military forces, and the prison itself was protected by a machine-gun detachment. Firemen were also ready to turn their hoses on the mob.

The procession reached the _Hoffnung_ and prepared to force its way into the Karlstra.s.se. The commander of the troops stationed there ordered the mob to halt. His order was disregarded. The troops fired a blind volley over the heads of the mutineers, who nevertheless forged steadily ahead.

The next volley was poured into the ranks of the marchers. It was followed by shrieks of rage, by scattering shots from the mutineers and by some stone-throwing. There was a sharp conflict for two or three minutes, and then the mob, howling and cursing, scattered panic-stricken.[23] Eight of them lay dead on the street, and twenty-nine were wounded. The officer in command of the troops and one lieutenant were also fatally injured, the former by knife-thrusts and stones.

[23] In all the clashes that marked the subsequent course of the German revolution not one instance can be found where the enemies of authority failed to run like sheep before loyal troops and determined officers. The ”martyrs of the revolution” were mainly killed by stray bullets or overtaken by bullets while they were running away.

An hour later the street was quiet, and the night pa.s.sed without further disturbances. The city was strongly patrolled, but otherwise there was nothing to indicate that the curtain had gone up on the world's greatest and most tragic revolution.

The leaders of the mutineers spent most of Sunday night and Monday morning in conference. A Soldiers' Council was formed--the first in Germany. The military governor of Kiel issued a proclamation, calling upon the mutineers to formulate and present their demands. They complied. Their demands were: The release of all persons arrested for breach of discipline; recognition of the Soldiers' Council; abolis.h.i.+ng of the duty to salute superiors;[24] officers and men to have the same rations; the proposed expedition of the fleet to be abandoned, and, in general, better treatment of the s.h.i.+ps' crews. The governor accepted all these demands, and announcement was made to that effect by wireless to all s.h.i.+ps in the Kiel squadron. The mutineers declared themselves satisfied, and promised to resume their duties, to obey orders and to preserve order in the city and board their s.h.i.+ps.

[24] It is difficult to understand why Socialists attach such importance to this question. It will be remembered that the very first decree issued by Kerensky was his famous (and fatal) ”Prikaz No. 1,” abolis.h.i.+ng the salute. The Socialists, it is true, hate authority as embodied in a state, yet they voluntarily submit to a party authority quite as rigid as that of Prussian militarism.

In circ.u.mstances at all approaching the normal this would have marked the end of the revolt. But all the circ.u.mstances were abnormal. The men of the navy had, indeed, suffered fewer actual privations and hards.h.i.+ps than those of the land forces, but even they had been underfed. Their families, in common with all Germans at home, had endured bitter want, and had written thousands of complaining letters to their relatives afloat.[25] The Socialist contagion--particularly of the Independent brand--had affected wide circles among sailors and marines. Indeed, the chief field of operations of the Ruhles, Haases, Cohns and their Russian helpers had been the navy, where idle hands invited the finding of mischief for them to do. The morale of the members of the navy had also, in common with the morale of the land troops and of the whole German people, been badly shaken by the reverses that began in July, 1918, and by the desertion of Germany by her allies.

[25] Complaining letters from home to the men in the trenches were early recognized by the authorities as a source of danger for the spirit of the troops.

In addition to and above all this there were two fatal factors: authority, the corner stone of all civilized governments, had been shaken, and the mutineers had learned their own strength. If horses were sentient beings with means of communicating their thoughts, and if all the horses of a certain community suddenly discovered that they were really immeasurably stronger than their masters, it would require no great effort of imagination to realize that few horses in that community would thereafter suffer themselves to be harnessed. The only ones that would submit would be a small number of especially intelligent animals who could look ahead to the winter, with deep snow covering the pastures, with no straw-bedded stalls and walls set up against the cold winds.

So it was in Kiel. The mutineers had made their first kill; they had tasted blood. From all the s.h.i.+ps of the squadron they streamed into the city. Patrols, established to maintain order, began going over to the revolting seamen. The mutineers secured more arms and ammunition from the barracks at the s.h.i.+pyards and the soldiers stationed there joined them. In the afternoon (Monday) the mutineers joined for a giant demonstration. A procession numbering possibly twenty thousand sailors, marines and soldiers, with a band at the head, marched to the different civil and military prisons and lockups and released the prisoners, who joined the procession. The civil and military authorities of Kiel, gravely disquieted, had meanwhile communicated with the government at Berlin and asked for help. The government replied that it would send Conrad Haussmann and Gustav Noske. Haussmann, who had for many years been one of the leaders of the Clerical (Catholic) party in the Reichstag, was a member of Prince Max's cabinet. He was chosen as the government's official representative. Noske, who was later to demonstrate himself to be one of the few really able and forceful men of Germany, had been for some years a member of the Reichstag as Majority Socialist. A woodworker by trade, he had as a youth lifted himself out of the ruck of his party by energy, ambition, hard work and straightforwardness. He became a party secretary and later editor of a Socialist paper in Chemnitz.[26] Although not so widely known as many other Socialist leaders in the Reichstag, he nevertheless played a prominent part in his party's councils and was highly regarded and respected. He enjoyed also a wide popularity among members of the fleet, and it was confidently expected that he would be able to calm the unruly troublemakers and restore order.

[26] The typical career of a German Socialist leader. It is not far afield to estimate that seven of every ten of the Socialist leaders and government officials in Germany have been or still are members of the editorial staffs of Socialist newspapers or magazines. Most of the others are lawyers; proletarians who earn their bread by the actual sweat of their brows are rare in the party leaders.h.i.+p.

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