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Ernst Däumig and the German Revolution of 1918

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 December 2008

David W. Morgan
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Extract

One of the oldest commonplaces about the German Revolution of 1918 is that the leadership of the revolutionary left was ineffectual—that the revolution never found its Lenin. Yet anyone who seeks insight into particular leaders of this revolution will find little to go on. Apart from the peripheral but ever-popular Spartacist leaders and Kurt Eisner, only a handful of leading radicals and revolutionaries have been studied in any depth. Others, however important they were then, are shadowy figures to history. Among these is Ernst Däumig, intellectual leader of the Berlin Executive Council, foremost spokesman of the German workers' council movement, and sometime chairman of two important political parties during the revolutionary years: the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) and the United Communist Party (VKPD).

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Articles
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Central European History , Volume 15 , Issue 4 , December 1982 , pp. 303 - 331
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Copyright © Conference Group for Central European History of the American Historical Association 1982

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References

1. See Ratz, Ursula, Georg Ledebour 1850–1947 (Berlin, 1969)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stoecker, Helmuth, Walter Stoecker: Die Frühzeit eines deutschen Arbeiterführers 1891–1920 (Berlin, 1970)Google Scholar; Calkins, Kenneth R., Hugo Haase: Democrat and Revolutionary (Durham, N.C., 1979; orig. German ed. 1976).Google Scholar Among shorter studies see esp. Wheeler's, Robert F. biographical preface to Curt Geyer, Die revolutionäre Illusion (Stuttgart, 1976).Google Scholar

2. The previously collected data about Däumig's career are sparse. There are quasi-autobiographical entries under his name in the Handbuch des Vereins Arbeiterpresse, Dritter Jahrgang (Berlin, 1914)Google Scholar and Reichstags-Handbuch, 1. Wahlperiode, 1920 (Berlin, 1920)Google Scholar; unattributed biographical details in the text are from these sources. Johannes Fischart (pseud, of Erich Dombrowski), Das alte und das neue System, Dritte Folge: Köpfe der Gegenwart (Berlin, 1920), pp. 257–61Google Scholar, and Unger, Emil, Politische Köpfe des sozialistischen Deutschlands (Leipzig n.d., [1920]), pp. 121–24Google Scholar, are brief studies by contemporaries. The best personal appreciation is by “P.L.” (undoubtedly Paul Levi) in Freiheit, July 6, 1922. See also the recent brief treatments in Neue Deutsche Biographie and Biographisches Lexikon zur deutschen Geschichte.

3. Ross, Colin, “Die ersten Tage der Revolution,” Das Tagebuch 1 (1920): 287Google Scholar, asserts that Däumig's father was an army sergeant, which is plausible but unconfirmed. According to P.L. in Freiheit, July 6, 1922, Däumig never talked about himself; even his friends knew only scanty details about his early life.

4. Obituaries in Freiheit, July 6, 1922. The “religious” quality of his convictions is repeatedly mentioned by contemporaries.

5. Details of his military service are in letters from Däumig to Karl Kautsky in 1900: Karl Kautsky papers (International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam), D VII 237–241. Kautsky published two of Däumig's articles in Neue Zeit in 1900; see also the fictional pieces Däumig collected as Moderne Landsknechte: Erzählungen aus dem Kolonial-Soldaten-leben (Halle n.d., [ca. 1904]).Google Scholar

6. On Däumig as sleeping-car conductor see Scheidemann, Philipp, Memoiren eines Sozialdemokraten, 2 vols. (Dresden, 1928), 1: 269Google Scholar; Müller, Hermann, Die November-Revolution (Berlin, 1928), p. 102Google Scholar; and Geyer, p. 159. For his struggles to establish himself as a writer see the letters to Kautsky cited in n. 5.

7. See Jahrbuch für Partei- und Gewerkschafts-Angestellte for 1908, entry under Halle Volksblatt, and for 1910, entry under Erfurt Tribüne.

8. See the issues of Mitteilungs-Blatt des Verbandes der sozialdemokratischen Wahlvereine Berlins und Umgegend for the autumn of 1912. He held this office until 1918.

9. Ibid., Apr. 9, 1913, p. 5.

10. Unger, Politische Köpfe, p. 122.

11. See [Däumig,] “Organisationskritik,” Mitteilungs-Blatt, June 10, 1914, pp. 1–3, and his defense of the article, ibid., July 8, 1914, pp. 6–7.

12. P.L. in Freiheit, July 6, 1922.

13. See not only his letters to Kautsky in 1900 and Moderne Landsknechte but his propaganda play Maifeier (Berlin, 1901).Google Scholar

14. P.L. in Freiheit, July 6, 1922. Two published works derive from his concerns as an ethical humanist, or freethinker: Wanderungen durch die Kirchengeschichte: Eine Vortragsfolge, gehalten in der freireligiösen Gemeinde (Berlin, 1917)Google Scholar and Freier Volks-Katechismus: Ein Wegweiser zur echten Nächstenliebe und freien Menschenwürde (Berlin n.d., [1918]).Google Scholar

15. Text in Prager, Eugen, Geschichte der U.S.P.D. (Berlin, 1921), pp. 30–31.Google Scholar

16. See his remarks of Feb. 1915 reported in Deutsches Zentralarchiv Potsdam, Reichs kanzlei 1395/9, pp. 190–91; also Das Kriegstagebuch des Reichstagsabgeordneten Eduard David 1914 bis 1918, ed. Miller, Susanne with Matthias, Erich (Düsseldorf, 1966), p. 38Google Scholar, and letter from Wilhelm Pieck to Karl Schröder, Feb. 21, 1915, in the Karl Schröder papers (Archiv der Sozialen Demokratie, Bonn-Bad Godesberg), 22.

17. See anti-Spartacist resolutions proposed by Däumig in Groger, Max, ed., Zur Abwehr (Berlin, n.d. [1916]), p. 6Google Scholar, and Vorwärts, Sept. 11, 1916.

18. On this conflict see Zum Vorwärts-Konflikt (Berlin, 1916)Google Scholar, for the Party Executive's version; Der Gewaltstreich des Parteivorstandes gegen den “Vorwärts” und die Berliner Partei-organisation (n.p., n.d. [1916])Google Scholar, for the opposition viewpoint; and Koszyk, Kurt, Zwischen Kaiserreich und Diktatur (Heidelberg, 1958), pp. 45–48 and 79–85.Google Scholar

19. Mitteilungs-Blatt, Nov. 19, 1916, p. 8.

20. Freiheit, Dec. 24, 1919 (m. = morning ed.).

21. Mitteilungs-Blatt, Sept. 30, 1917. That Däumig was behind certain unsigned editorials is likely from suggestions in the style, comments of contemporaries, other indications of his views at the time and later, and of course the fact that he was chief editor of the paper.

22. Ibid., Nov. 18, 1917.

23. Ibid., Dec. 16, 1917.

24. Speech reported in Die Auswirkungen dergrossen sozialistischen Oktoberrevolution auf Deutschland, ed. Stern, Leo, 4 vols. (Berlin, 1959), 2: 388.Google Scholar His newspaper at this time was still far more cautious.

25. Däumig, Wanderungen durch die Kirchengeschichte, p. 3.

26. Speech of Aug. 1918 reported in Die Auswirkungen, 3: 1494. See also Mitteilungs-Blatt, Feb. 24 and Mar. 31, 1918.

27. Leipziger Volkszeitung, May 3, 1918.

28. Koszyk, p. 96.

29. Müller, Richard, Vom Kaiserreich zur Republik, 2 vols. (Vienna, 1924), 1: 127Google Scholar; and Barth, Emil, Aus der Werkstatt der deutschen Revolution (Berlin n.d., [1919]), pp. 30, 32, and 35–36.Google Scholar The other party figure was Georg Ledebour.

30. See Liebknecht's diary entry for Oct. 28, 1918, in Illustrierte Geschichte der deutschen Revolution (Berlin, 1929), p. 203Google Scholar; and the sources on the meeting of Nov. 2, cited in Morgan, David W., The Socialist Left and the German Revolution (Ithaca, N.Y., 1975), p. 113.Google Scholar According to R. Müller, Vom Kaiserreich, 1: 138, Däumig had the risky task of trying to establish contacts with the garrison.

31. R. Müller, Vom Kaiserreich, 1: 141; Barth, p. 52; Ledebour, in Der Ledebour-Prozess (Berlin, 1919), p. 30Google Scholar; unpublished memoirs of Wilhelm Dittmann (typescript in IISH, Amsterdam), pp. 862–63.

32. Dittmann memoirs, pp. 927–29; H. Müller, Die November-Revolution, p. 103; Die Regierung der Volksbeauftragten 1918/19, ed. Miller, Susanne with Potthoff, Heinrich, 2 vols. (Düsseldorf, 1969), 1: 83 and 88.Google Scholar

33. Däumig himself said he was still a member in mid-December; USPD, Protokoll über die Verhandlungen des ausserordentlichen Parteitages vom 2. bis 6. März 1919 in Berlin (hereafter cited as: USPD Parteitag, Mar. 1919), p. 263. His resignation was not reported in the press.

34. Freiheit, Dec. 16, 1918 (m.).

35. The formal content of Däumig's conception is described and evaluated in Gutmann, Franz, Das Rätesystem: Seine Verfechter und seine Probleme (Munich, 1922), pp. 61–66Google Scholar; von Oertzen, Peter, Betriebsräte in der Novemberrevolution (Düsseldorf, 1963), pp. 89–99Google Scholar; and Dähn, Horst, Rätedemokratische Modelle: Studien zur Rätediskussion in Deutschland 1918–1919 (Meisenheim am Glan, 1975), pp. 44–56.Google Scholar It was a model of direct democracy based on the constant active participation of the working population (in a broad sense) through their places of work (where possible), or at least their occupational groupings. Councils would operate in both political and economic matters, combining policy-making and administrative functions. This model seems to have been suggested both by Däumig's direct experience of shop-floor political activism and by his understanding of the soviets in Russia.

36. Allgemeiner Kongress der Arbeiter- und Soldatenräte Deutschlands vom 16. bis 21. Dezember 1918 (Berlin, n.d.), p. 114.Google Scholar

37. USPD Parteitag, Mar. 1919, p. 95.

38. Ibid., pp. 95–96; see also Allgemeiner Kongress, p. 117.

39. Allgemeiner Kongress, p. 113.

40. Freiheit, Nov. 27, 1919 (e. = evening ed.).

41. Unpublished minutes of the general assemblies of the Berlin councils (Institut für Marxismus-Leninismus, Zentrales Parteiarchiv, East Berlin), Mar. 7, 1919, St. 11/13, p. 174.

42. Der Arbeiter-Rat 1 (1919), no. 28: 2.Google Scholar

43. Däumig, , Der erste Akt der deutschen Revolution! (Berlin, n.d.), p. 1.Google Scholar This is the text of a speech delivered on Dec. 27, 1918.

44. Minutes of the Berlin general assembly of Jan. 31, 1919, St. 11/12, pp. 73–74.

45. Unpublished minutes of the Berlin Executive Council (IML-ZPA, Berlin), Jan. 28, 1919, St. 11/5, p. 216.

46. USPD, Protokoll über die Verhandlungen des ausserordentlidien Parteitages in Leipzig vom 30. November bis 6. Dezember 1919, pp. 239–40.

47. Freiheit, Dec. 21, 1919.

48. Ibid., Nov. 27, 1919 (e.).

49. Details in Materna, Ingo, “Der Vollzugsrat der Berliner Arbeiter- und Soldatenräte in der Novemberrevolution” (unpubl. diss., Humboldt University, Berlin, 1969), pp. 88 and 101–2.Google Scholar

50. Minutes of the Berlin Executive Council, Nov. 19 and 23, 1918, St. 11/1, pp. 35 and 62.

51. The classic account of the Executive Council is Kolb, Eberhard, Die Arbeiterräte in der deutschen Innenpolitik 1918–19 (Düsseldorf, 1962), pp. 125–37Google Scholar; see also Erich Matthias's introduction to Die Regierung der Volksbeauftragten, 1: xcii–cvii, and Materna.

52. Allgemeiner Kongress, pp. 113–18.

53. Der erste Akt, p. 6.

54. Ibid., p. 1.

55. A rare surviving private letter of Däumig's has bitter comments on the government's “persecution” of him and his friends; letter to Hans Ostwald, Sept. 13, 1919, in ASD, Bonn-Bad Godesberg, collection: Verschiedene Originalbriefe und Dokumente, 12.

56. Der erste Akt, p. 6.

57. Müller, Richard, Der Bürgerkrieg in Deutschland: Geburtswehen der Republik (Berlin, 1925), pp. 33–34Google Scholar; Ledebour in Der Ledebour-Prozess, p. 53; Däumig's own account in Protokoll der Reichskonferenz vom 1. bis 3. September 1920 zu Berlin, pp. 179–80.

58. Däumig's preface to Müller, Richard, Was die Arbeiterräte wollen und sollen (Berlin, n.d. [1919]), p. 4.Google Scholar

59. See Morgan, The Socialist Left, pp. 230 and 232–36.

60. Fischer, Ruth, Stalin and German Communism (Cambridge, Mass., 1948), p. 173CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Nollau, Günther, International Communism and World Revolution (London, 1969), p. 68.Google Scholar The scanty evidence about the preparations is cited in Morgan, The Socialist Left, p. 333. Däumig several times made vague public references to this side of his activity; see USPD Reichskonferenz, Sept. 1920, p. 184; Verhandlungen des Reichstages, vol. 345, p. 925, and vol. 347, p. 2242.

61. Däumig, in Die Revolution: Unabhängiges sozialdemokratisches Jahrbuch für Politik und proletarische Kultur 1920 (Berlin, 1920), p. 90.Google Scholar

62. Mentioned by him in USPD Parteitag, Mar. 1919, p. 232.

63. See especially his comments at the USPD's September conference, reported in Freiheit, Sep. 11, 1919 (m.); and in Die Revolution, pp. 95–97. The quoted words are from the announcement of a new school for training members of the councils of which Däumig was cosponsor; Die Räteschule, no. 2 (Jan. 1920), p. 3.

64. Freiheit, Nov. 11, 1919 (m.).

65. Metallarbeiter-Zeitung, Nov. 15, 1919.

66. A good guide to his thinking is his May Day article in Die Republik, May 1, 1919.

67. Däumig's preface to Price, Philips, Die Wahrheit über Sowjet-Russland (Berlin, n.d. [1919]), p. 5.Google Scholar

68. See for instance Allgemeiner Kongress, p. 116; USPD Parteitag, Mar. 1919, pp. 96–97 and 228–29; Der Arbeiter-Rat 1 (1919), no. 20: 3Google Scholar; USPD Parteitag, Dec. 1919, p. 372. The only “error” he specified was the Bolsheviks' use of political repression and terror. Däumig's reticence is also noted in Lösche, Peter, Der Bolschewismus im Urteil der deutschen Sozialdemokratie 1903–1920 (Berlin, 1967), pp. 228–29.Google Scholar

69. See Lenin's comments in Die Kommunistische Internationale, no. 2, pp. 76–77, and no. 3, p. 29. Däumig's article in Die Republik, May 1, 1919, appears to reflect knowledge of such comments.

70. USPD Parteitag, Dec. 1919, p. 371.

71. Die Republik, Dec. 8, 1918. His reasons for disaffection are best expressed in Der erste Akt, pp. 4–5.

72. Freiheit, Dec. 29, 1918, and Jan. 3, 1919 (m.); USPD Parteitag, Mar. 1919, pp. 263–64.

73. Der Gründungsparteitag der KPD: Protokoll und Materialien, ed. Weber, Hermann (Frankfurt, 1969), pp. 270–80Google Scholar; Freiheit, Jan. 3, 1919 (e.); R. Müller, Bürgerkrieg, pp. 86–89; USPD Parteitag, Mar. 1919, p. 263; USPD Reichskonferenz, Sept. 1920, pp. 180–81.

74. Däumig wrote regularly for Die Republik from April on, and was coeditor from the beginning of June until the paper's suppression by the government on June 23.

75. USPD Parteitag, Mar. 1919, p. 254.

76. See for instance ibid., p. 105.

77. In March 1919 Däumig strenuously resisted an attempt to renew the coalition of the two socialist parties; see Das Kabinett Scheidemann: 13. Februar bis 20. Juni 1919, ed. Schulze, Hagen (Boppard am Rhein, 1971), p. 41n.Google Scholar

78. Minutes of the Berlin general assembly of Mar. 7, 1919, St. 11/13, p. 182; USPD Parteitag, Mar. 1919, p. 106; Däumig, Ernst and Müller, Richard, Hie Gewerkschaft! Hie Betriebsorganisation! Zwei Reden (Berlin, n.d. [1919]), pp. 15 and 18–19.Google Scholar

79. Däumig in Freiheit, Dec. 21, 1919.

80. This relationship is evident from Geyer, pp. 128 and 159.

81. The words Geyer puts in Däumig's mouth as the latter tried to resist being nomi nated—“I am not the man you think I am” (pp. 159–60)—may or may not be historical, but the fact of his resistance surely is.

82. USPD Parteitag, Dec. 1919, esp. p. 243.

83. Freiheit, Dec. 24, 1919.

84. On this whole affair see Morgan, The Socialist Left, pp. 311–20.

85. The illness is mentioned in Geyer, p. 180. On the USPD leadership in the Kapp Putsch see Morgan, The Socialist Left, pp. 320–32.

86. Zietz, Luise in Protokoll über die Verhandlungen des ausserordentlichen Parteitages in Halle vom 12. bis 17. Oktober 1920, p. 64Google Scholar; Koenen, Wilhelm, “Zur Frage der Möglichkeit einer Arbeiterregierung nach dem Kapp-Putsch,” Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Arbeiterbewegung, 4 (1962): 348.Google Scholar

87. See Rosenberg, Arthur, Geschichte der deutschen Republik (Karlsbad, 1935), pp. 114 and 136.Google Scholar

88. Protokoll der Fraktion der U.S.P. (unpubl. minute book, IISH Amsterdam), minutes for June 21, 1920. His maiden speech in the Reichstag, on October 30, began with words on the futility of parliamentary speechmaking; Verhandlungen des Reichstags, vol. 345, p. 918. In two years in the Reichstag he made only three speeches, the last in March 1921.

89. On the development of the issue in the spring of 1920, see Wheeler, Robert F., USPD und Internationale (Frankfurt, 1975), chap. VII.Google Scholar

90. The best source is accounts given by the four delegates, especially those in USPD Reichskonferenz, Sep. 1920. See also Wheeler, USPD und Internationale, chap. VIII.

91. Der zweite Kongress der Kommunist. Internationale: Protokoll der Verhandlungen vom 19. Juli in Petrograd und vom. 23. Juli bis 7. August 1920 in Moskau (Hamburg, 1921), pp. 366–73.Google Scholar

92. See Stoecker's letter to his wife, July 28, 1920, in H. Stoecker, p. 231.

93. See Levi's report of Aug. 25, 1920, in Levi papers (ASD, Bonn-Bad Godesberg), P 27; Dittmann memoirs, pp. 1150–51. Däumig's article appeared in Freiheit, Aug. 26, 1920 (e.).

94. Däumig's preface to Für die dritte Internationale! by Geyer, Curt et al. (Berlin, 1920), p. 5.Google Scholar

95. Freiheit, Aug. 26, 1920 (e.).

96. See his speeches in USPD Reichskanferenz, Sept. 1920, pp. 37–52 and 178–93, where an underlying ambivalence is unmistakable. He justified the conditions in detail only in Für die dritte Internationale! pp. 5–8.

97. USPD Reichskonferenz, Sept. 1920, pp. 40 and 42.

98. Kommunistische Rundschau, Oct. 1, 1920, pp. 9–10, and Oct. 14, 1920, p. 3; USPD Parteitag, Oct. 1920, pp. 104–5.

99. For the sole significant mention of the councils, see USPD Parteitag, Oct. 1920, p. 111.

100. Ibid., p. 101.

101. Freiheit, Aug. 26, 1920 (e.), and Sept. 13, 1920 (e.).

102. See Däumig's preface to Fricke, Fritz, Die Rätebildung im Klassenkampf der Gegenwart (Berlin, 1920), p. 6Google Scholar; Kommunistische Rundschau, Dec. 6, 1920, p. 2; Bericht über die Verhandlungen des Vereinigungsparteitages der U.S.P.D. (Linke) und der K.P.D. (Spartakusbund), abgehalten in Berlin vom 4. bis 7. Dezember 1920, p. 46.

103. Kommunistische Rundschau, Oct. 1, 1920, pp. 6–11, esp. p. 9; these imputations were rather graciously withdrawn in the second issue (Oct. 14, 1920, pp. 5–6). But see other uncharacteristically personal aspersions in Für die dritte Internationale! pp. 6 and 8.

104. USPD Parteitag, Oct. 1920, p. 108.

105. See Lowenthal, Richard, “The Bolshevisation of the Spartacist League,” in St. Antony's Papers Number 9: International Communism, ed. Footman, David (London, 1960), pp. 23–71Google Scholar; Angress, Werner, Stillborn Revolution: The Communist Bid for Power in Germany, 1921–1923 (Princeton, 1963), pp. 86–102.Google Scholar

106. This is the burden of their brief declaration in Rote Fahne, Feb. 28, 1921. Levi, like Däumig, was always ambivalent about the leadership positions he occupied.

107. Verhandlungen des Reichstages, vol. 348, pp. 3207–10.

108. For the story of the March Action see Angress, chaps. 4 and 5; Lowenthal, pp. 57–64; and Brandt, Willy and Lowenthal, Richard, Ernst Reuter: Ein Leben für die Freiheit (Munich, 1957), pp. 151–59.Google Scholar On the Berlin factories see Brandt and Lowenthal, p. 158, and Fischer, p. 176.

109. See Däumig's letter of March 28 to the Central Committee, in Sowjet, May 1, 1921, pp. 9–10; and a protest letter cosigned by him, ibid., May 15, 1921, p. 57.

110. Däumig was specially invited to attend the Comintern congress in Moscow: letter from Levi to Mathilde Jacob, Aug. 5, 1921, in Levi papers, P 84. He was too ill to go. In spite of his robust appearance Däumig was subject to recurrent ill health which seems to have become more frequent from this time onward.

111. Declaration by Däumig and Adolph Hoffmann in Mitteilungsblatt der Kommunistischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Oct. 1, 1921.

112. The obituaries in Freiheit and Leipziger Volkszeitung, July 6, 1922, stress how much weakened in every respect Däumig seemed after his breach with the Communist Party. Dittmann, p. 1236, says he was a “spiritually broken man” at the end.

113. Mitteilungsblatt der Kommunistischen Arbeitsgemeinschaft, Nov. 25, 1921.

114. See Morgan, The Socialist Left, pp. 412–14.

115. Verhandlungen des Reichstages, vol. 355, p. 7795, and vol. 356, p. 8287.

116. Only P.L. (Levi), in Freiheit, July 6, 1922, has done justice to the duality of Däumig's personality and character.

117. Däumig to Karl Kautsky, Aug. 3, 1900, in Kautsky papers, D VII 241. In his early play Maifeier (1901) there is a petty-bourgeois convert to socialism whose resulting family conflicts are particularly vividly portrayed; this may be a piece of reworked autobiography.