Part 11 (2/2)

The delegation thereupon announced that the battalion would place itself on the side of the workingmen. The Kaiser Alexander Guards followed the _Jager's_ example.

There were some good troops in Berlin--such as the _Jager_ already mentioned--but the great majority of the men were by no means of the highest standard. The best troops were naturally at the front, and those at home were in large part made up of men who had been away from the firing-line for some weeks or even longer, and who had been subjected to a violent campaign of what the Socialists call _Aufklarung_, literally, clearing up, or enlightenment. The word is generally used as part of a phrase, _Aufklarung im sozial-demokratischen Sinne_, that is, ”enlightenment in the social-democratic sense.” The great majority of any army is made up of men who work with their hands. A great part of the others consists of small shopkeepers, clerks and others whose a.s.sociations in civilian life are mainly with the workingmen. An appeal not to shoot one's ”proletarian brother” is, in the nature of things, an appeal which strikes home to these people. The Kaiser was still nominally occupying the throne, but it was certain that he would abdicate. This was a further element of weakness for the government, since such of the troops as were still _kaisertreu_ (loyal to the Kaiser) saw themselves about to be deprived of their monarch, who, however they may have regarded him personally, nevertheless represented for them the majesty and unity of the German State. Hence, even before the order came not to fire on the people, the troops had begun to place themselves on the side of the revolutionaries and were everywhere permitting themselves to be disarmed. Otto Wels, a Majority Socialist member of the Reichstag, and others of his colleagues made the round of the barracks, appealing to the soldiers not to shed their brothers'

blood. And then came the no-resistance order.

The streets filled with marching crowds, civilians and soldiers, arm in arm, cheering and singing. Hawkers appeared everywhere with small red flags, red rosettes, red ribbons, red flowers. The red flag of revolution began breaking out on various buildings. Soldiers tore off their regimental insignia and removed the c.o.c.kades from their caps.

Factories were deserted.

The revolution had come!

CHAPTER XI.

The Kaiser Abdicates.

Events moved with lightning rapidity. All that has been related in the foregoing chapter concerning the developments of November 9th had happened before 11:00 A.M. The Majority Socialists, still in session in the Reichstag and now in complete fellows.h.i.+p with the Independents and members of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council, decided that the republic must be proclaimed. Some enterprising individuals prepared an Article reporting the Kaiser's abdication. Ross took it to the _Vorwarts_, which published it in an extra edition, nearly two hours before the abdication actually took place. The paper was fairly torn from the hands of the venders in the streets, and processions of red-ribboned marchers became more frequent.

The cabinet had meanwhile been in almost constant telephonic communication with the Kaiser. It had been repeatedly represented to him that only his abdication could prevent rioting and bloodshed. But the decision which he was called upon to make was not an easy one, and it cannot be wondered that he hesitated. He was particularly insistent that, while he could consider abdicating as German Emperor, he could not and would not abdicate as King of Prussia. The decision had still not been reached at noon. The cabinet, fearing to delay longer, had the following report sent out by the Wolff Bureau:

”The Kaiser and King has decided to surrender the throne (_dem Throne zu entsagen_). The Imperial Chancellor will remain in office until the questions connected with the abdication of the Kaiser, the abandoning by the Crown Prince of the German Empire and Prussia of his rights to the throne, and the installation of a regency shall have been adjusted. It is his intention to propose to the regent the appointment of Deputy Ebert as Imperial Chancellor and to submit to him a draft of a measure regarding the immediate calling of general elections for a const.i.tuent German national a.s.sembly, which shall finally determine the future form of government of the German people, and also of those peoples that may desire to be included within the borders of the Empire.

(signed) ”The Imperial Chancellor, ”Max, Prince of Baden.”

It will be observed that this, so far from being the proclamation of a republic, clearly contemplated the continued existence of the monarchy.

The question of the future form of government was, it is true, to be left to the national a.s.sembly, but if the events of Sat.u.r.day afternoon and Sunday had not occurred it is probable that this a.s.sembly would have decided upon a const.i.tutional monarchy. Speculations along this line are of merely academic interest, but for a better understanding of the extent of the reversal of these two days it may be pointed out that a clear majority of the German people was undoubtedly monarchic in principle. The only body of republican opinion was represented by the Social-Democrats of both wings, who composed less than forty per cent of the total population, and even among them, as we have seen, there were men who felt that the time had not yet come for a republic.

Prince Max's proclamation antic.i.p.ated by a full hour the Kaiser's actual abdication. It was furthermore erroneous in its a.s.sertion that ”the King” had abdicated. The Kaiser's first abdication did not include the royal throne of Prussia. Only when all hope was definitely lost did he surrender this.

A detachment of _Jager_ occupied the Reichstag, and a great crowd gathered outside. Scheidemann, in an address from the Reichstag steps, told the crowd that the dynasty had been overthrown, and that Ebert had been appointed to form a new government on republican lines and with the partic.i.p.ation of all political parties.[29] Scheidemann, like Max, also antic.i.p.ated events, for the republic had not yet been authoritatively proclaimed, nor had Ebert been appointed Chancellor.

[29] The Majority Socialists honestly intended to form a people's government representing all parties. That only Socialists were eventually admitted was due to the flat refusal of the Independents to let the despised _bourgeoisie_ have any voice whatever in the governmental affairs.

Two hours later, shortly after 2:00 P.M., Ebert, Scheidemann, Braun and two members of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council, Prolat and Hiller, went to the palace of the Chancellor in an automobile carrying a red flag and guarded by armed soldiers. They informed Prince Max that they considered it absolutely necessary to form a socialistic government,[30]

since this alone could save Germany. The Prince thereupon requested Ebert to accept the chancellors.h.i.+p. Ebert complied and thus became for one day ”Imperial Chancellor,” the possessor of an office which did not exist in an empire which no longer existed.

[30] ”Socialistic” in a non-partisan sense; a republic based on the Socialist party's tenets, but not necessarily conducted exclusively by them. The exclusion of the _bourgeoisie_ was a later idea.

Ebert's first act was to proclaim the republic officially. He did this in an address to a crowd which filled Wilhelmstra.s.se and Wilhelmplatz in front of the Chancellor's official residence. Hysteric cheering followed the announcement that the German Empire had become history.

The greatest revolution of all times was an accomplished fact before three o'clock on Sat.u.r.day afternoon, November 9th. The old system, with its tens of thousands of trained and specialized officials; with armies that had successfully fought for years against the combined resources of the rest of the world; with citizens trained from their very infancy to reverence the Kaiser and to obey those in authority; with the moral support of the monarchic Germans, who far outnumbered the republican--this system fell as a rotten tree falls before a gale. The simile lacks in perfection because the tree falls with a crash, whereas the old German governmental system made less noise in its collapse than did the Kingdom of Portugal some years earlier. It simply disappeared.

_Fuit Germania_.

Up to this time the Majority Socialists, by stealing the thunder of the Independents and acting with a good deal of resolution, had kept themselves in the center of the stage. The real makers of the revolution, the Independents and Spartacans, had been confined to off-stage work. It was Liebknecht, with his instinct for the theatrical and dramatic, who now came to the front. A vast crowd had gathered around the royal palace. It was made up in part of the ”cla.s.s-conscious proletariat,” but in large part also of the merely curious. Liebknecht, accompanied by Adolf Hoffmann[31] and another left wing Socialist, entered the palace and proceeded to a balcony in the second story, where, lacking a red flag, he hung a red bed-blanket over the rail of the balcony and then delivered an impa.s.sioned harangue to the crowd below. The real revolution, he declared, had only begun, and attempts at counter-revolution could be met only by the vigilance of an armed proletariat. The working-cla.s.ses must arm themselves, the _bourgeoisie_ must be disarmed. Hoffmann, who spoke briefly, said that he was enjoying the happiest and proudest moment of his life. While he was still speaking a red flag was hoisted over the palace, to the cheers of the people gathered around the building.

[31] Hoffman was for several years a member of the Prussian Diet and prominent in the councils of the Social-Democratic party.

Although a professed atheist and unable to write a sentence of his mother-tongue without an error in spelling or grammar, he became under the first revolutionary government Prussian Minister of Education (_Kultusminister_), with charge over the church and schools. Hoffman left the old party at the time of the split in 1915, and has since been an abusive and virulent enemy of his former colleagues. He distinguished himself in the Diet chiefly by disregard of the ordinary amenities of civilized intercourse and parliamentary forms.

Speaking from the speaker's rostrum in the Diet, with his back to the presiding-officer--after the usual European custom--he would utter some insult to the royal house, the authorities in general, one of the _bourgeois_ parties of the house or one of the members. He appeared to know instinctively whenever his remarks were inadmissible, for he would pause, hunch up his shoulders like one expecting to be struck from behind, and wait for the presiding-officer to ring his bell and call him to order. A few minutes later the same scene would be reenacted.

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