Part 11 (1/2)
”Inst.i.tutions of this kind conflict with the existing state order and endanger the public safety.
”Under paragraph 9b of the law regarding a state of siege I forbid any formation of such a.s.sociations and the partic.i.p.ation therein.”
This was the last order issued by the military authorities in Berlin. A counterpiece was the last anti-revolutionary order issued by the old police authorities, which forbade eight ma.s.s meetings which the Independent Socialists proposed to hold Thursday evening, with ”The Anniversary of the Russian Revolution” as their theme. The police order, however, was enforced.
The first revolutionary emissaries reached Berlin Thursday evening, in the form of various detachments of armed marines from Hamburg. The military authorities, more resolute than those in the provincial cities, sent troops to the railway station to receive them. The marines suffered themselves to be disarmed and went without resistance to barracks, with the exception of one detachment of about two hundred and fifty men, of whom all but some seventy escaped into the streets with their weapons.
These men formed the nucleus of the revolution in Berlin.
Berlin was still without any but the most meager news of the revolution Friday. The papers complained of an even more narrow-minded and arbitrary censors.h.i.+p by the new government than that under the old regime. The press was on the whole restricted to printing official reports, although some of them added a few paragraphs of explanatory comment. An inspired report that the excesses in the northwest bore no political character was contradicted by the _Vorwarts_, which declared that they had a ”liberty seeking socialistic character everywhere.” Unimportant disturbances took place during the day in Rosenthalerstra.s.se, in the old city, and a few arrests were made, but the day pa.s.sed quietly on the whole.
Crowds stood in front of the bulletin boards of the various newspapers all day, waiting for news from Grand Headquarters. Would the Kaiser abdicate? The term of the Socialist ultimatum expired. Scheidemann gave notice that the party would wait another twenty-four hours, and a few hours later the term was extended until after the decision regarding the armistice, the terms of which were expected to reach Berlin on Sat.u.r.day.
The government, weak, irresolute, inexperienced, faced a situation which would have confounded stronger men. A day earlier they had consented to summon from Kiel and Hamburg about a thousand marines who were supposed to be devoted to Noske. This attempt to cast out the Devil with Beelzebub indicates in some degree the desperateness of the situation.
More troops were brought to the capital on Friday. They were the Naumburg _Jager_ (sharpshooters) and the Lubben _Jager_, excellent troops, who had been in the Finland contingent, had distinguished themselves by patriotic daring and exemplary discipline, and who were considered absolutely reliable. These men, about four thousand in all, were in part quartered in different large restaurants and in part in the barracks of the Alexander Regiment. It was in these barracks that (ironic coincidence!) Kaiser Wilhelm made his well-known speech on March 28, 1901, in which he a.s.serted his confidence that, if the Berliners should again become ”insolent and disobedient” (_frech und unbotma.s.sig_) as in 1848, his troops would know how to protect their imperial master.
In all there were perhaps twenty thousand soldiers in Berlin at this time, including several regiments of the Prussian Guard.
Throughout Thursday and Friday the Independent Socialists were feverishly active. Liebknecht, ”Red Rosa” Luxemburg and other Spartacans joined the Independent agitators in revolutionary propaganda among the soldiers and in making preparations for the final coup. The police, loyal and alert to the last, arrested Daumig on a charge of high treason and closed the central bureau of the Independent Socialist party. Again too late! There were plenty left to carry on the work. The Majority Socialists, or at least their leaders, knew in a general way of the activities of these revolutionary forces, but they were still ignorant of the details.
Prince Max telegraphed the Kaiser, offering to resign. The Kaiser asked him to remain in office for the time being at least.
Friday night the Berlin Workmen's and Soldiers' Council was organized at a meeting summoned by Barth, Haase and other Independents. In addition to the Independents and Spartacans at the meeting, there were a number of more or less well-known men who had not theretofore been identified with these parties. One of them, a man who was to play a prominent role in the events of Sat.u.r.day, the day of the real revolution, was Lieutenant Colin Ross, a prominent journalist and war correspondent.
Another was Captain von Beerfelde. It was von Beerfelde who, at that time a member of the General Staff, betrayed a friend's confidence by making public the Lichnowsky memorandum. This resulted, quite naturally, in his arrest and imprisonment. The government could not have acted otherwise, but there is no doubt that von Beerfelde was subjected to unnecessary indignities during his arrest, and these, in connection with the arrest itself, transformed the somewhat unbalanced and egotistic man into a bitter enemy of all existing inst.i.tutions. The General Staff was further represented at Friday night's meeting by First Lieutenant Tibertius, a man of no particular prominence or importance, who came to the meeting in company with the Independent leaders. Barth had bought some sixteen hundred revolvers with money given him by Joffe, and these were distributed at the meeting and outside, to soldiers and civilians alike. Barth presided at the meeting, which was held in the Reichstag chamber.
The Majority Socialists now saw the hopelessness of keeping apart from the movement. They declared their solidarity with the Independents, and, in the few hours that remained, set about trying to save whatever could be saved out of the wreck which was plainly coming.
Friday night, despite these occurrences, pa.s.sed quietly. The streets were unusually crowded until after midnight, but it was mainly a curious crowd, awaiting further news, particularly of the Kaiser's expected abdication. The royal palace was strongly cordoned by steel-helmeted troops, a searchlight played from the tower of the city hall and the streets of the old city were well patrolled by troops and policemen. The police chiefs of various munic.i.p.alities of Greater Berlin conferred with General von Linsingen on ways and means of meeting eventual disturbances. They decided that further military forces were not needed.
Sat.u.r.day, revolution day, dawned with the great ma.s.s of the inhabitants still ignorant of the events of the preceding days. The coming events nevertheless cast their shadows before. The morning papers reported that the Kaiser's son-in-law, Duke Ernest August of Brunswick, had abdicated after an eleventh-hour attempt to stem the tide by a decree for franchise reform. It was also evident that the Kaiser must go, for the Clericals, National Liberals and Progressives in the government permitted it to be reported that, while they were still supporters of a monarchical form of government, they had, in view of the extraordinary circ.u.mstances, decided that personal considerations must be disregarded.
The Wolff Bureau was forced to admit that the revolt that started at Kiel had extended to many other places in the Empire. The report said:
”A certain carefully planned procedure is now disclosing itself.
Everywhere the same picture: from the chief centers, Kiel and Hamburg, trains carrying armed marines and agitators are being sent out into the country. These men endeavor to seize the centers of communication and abolish the military commands. They then attach to themselves criminal elements, among whom there are great numbers of deserters, and endeavor to corrupt the troops by representing to them that it is not a question of a revolutionary movement, but one to secure military reforms. The attempt has been successful with many troops, but it has met energetic resistance from others. The whole movement plainly proceeds from Russia, and it is proved that the former members of the Berlin representation of the Soviet republic have cooperated in it. As the Russian Government has itself admitted, it hopes by this means to cause Bolshevist ideas to spring into new life here in Germany and thereafter in all Europe.”
This was the first open admission that the Kiel revolt had developed into a revolution. The newspapers were permitted also to publish reports from various water-front cities, showing that the Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils were in power in Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, Kiel and other places, and that these councils ”are in charge of the government in nearly all garrisons in the province of Holstein.” They were also permitted to report the proclamation of the republic in Bavaria, and the complete text of Kurt Eisner's bombastic address to the people. It was reported from Frankfort-on-Main that General von Studnitz, commander in that city, had ordered all garrisons there to hold meetings on Friday evening for the formation of soldiers' councils. This action followed representations from Frankfort's Majority Socialists, acting in concert with the Progressives.
Nowhere, however, was any mention made of Friday night's events in Berlin itself. The papers published articles couched in general terms, warning all citizens to preserve order, and reminding them that the city's provisioning would be gravely disturbed by disorders. In fact, the daily supply of milk had already dropped ninety thousand liters as a result of the ”sudden interruption of railway traffic.”
The Majority Socialists had summoned a meeting for the early morning of Sat.u.r.day in the Reichstag building. They had been in session only a short time when the news came that a large parade of workingmen was proceeding down the Chausseestra.s.se. This was about 9:00 A.M. The parade was largely made up of employees from the Schwartzkopff works, which had been for two years a hotbed of discontent, of radical socialism and Bolshevism. The marchers entered the barracks of the Fusilier Guards--known in Berlin and North Germany generally as the _Maikafer_--and demanded that the soldiers surrender their weapons. A captain, the first officer encountered, shot down four of the rioters before he was himself killed. He was the only officer in Berlin rash, brave and loyal enough to give his life deliberately for his monarch and for the old system. The soldiers then meekly surrendered their rifles and the parade moved on, reinforced in every street with deserters, criminals, hooligans and other undesirable elements such as are to be found in all large cities.
The Majority Socialists realized that their only hope was to try to lead the movement and direct it into comparatively orderly channels. They appointed Scheidemann, Ebert and David to confer with the Independent Socialist delegates Dittmann, Vogtherr and Ledebour, regarding the organization of a new government.
Further reports came of street demonstrations. Bloodshed appeared imminent. Colin Ross went to the palace of the Chancellor and found Prince Max. The Prince was nervous and all but entirely unstrung. Ross told him the Majority Socialists had decided that there must be no firing on the people, and asked him to issue an order to that effect.
Max said he would do so. Ross thereupon went to Minister of War Scheuch and told him that the Chancellor had ordered that the troops should not fire on the citizens. The order was communicated to the various garrisons and also to police headquarters.
What would have occurred if this order had not been issued is a matter of conjecture. a.s.suredly there would have been bloodshed. Quite apart from the question of the reliability or unreliability of the troops there were the Berlin police to deal with. Their ranks had been thinned by calls to the front, but those still on duty were no inconsiderable factor. The force was made up entirely of veteran non-commissioned officers, who must have served twelve years in the army. They were, moreover, like all great city police forces, picked men, above the average physically, and far above the average in bravery, resoluteness and loyalty. Only a negligible number of them had been perverted by red doctrines, and they were well armed and fully prepared for the day's events. High police officials a.s.sured the author that they could have put down the revolution in its very beginnings if the order had not come forbidding them to offer resistance.
Viewed in the light of subsequent events, this statement must be rejected. The police could and would have put up a brave battle, but there were too few of them for one thing, and for another, the revolution had too great momentum to be stopped by any force available to the authorities. One military defection had already occurred when Sat.u.r.day dawned. A corporal of the Naumburg _Jager_, who were quartered in the Alexander barracks, had been arrested for making an incendiary speech to some comrades, and when the troops were alarmed at 3:00 A.M.
and ordered to be ready to go into action they refused to obey. Major Ott, commander of the battalion directly affected, came and told the men that the Kaiser had already abdicated. They sent a delegation to the _Vorwarts_, where they learned that the major's statement was not true.