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Council Democratic” Movements in the First World War Era: a Comparative-Historical Study of the German and Italian Cases

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Council Democratic” Movements in the First World War Era: a Comparative-Historical Study of the German and Italian Cases The London School of Economics and Political Science “Council Democratic” Movements in the First World War Era: A Comparative-Historical Study of the German and Italian Cases Babak Amini A thesis submitted to the Department of Sociology of the London School of Economics and Political Science for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy London, March 2021 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorization does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 100,299 words. 2 Abstract Practical engagements with and theoretical reflections on “council democracy” have resurfaced periodically in the past, most notably in the interwar period, in the “long 1960s”, and since the turn of the century. There is a relative gap in the literature to analyze “council democracy” both comparatively, rather than singularly as individual empirical cases or intellectual currents, and as social movements, rather than primarily as theoretical debates or intellectual traditions. This thesis offers a comparative-historical analysis of some of the earliest and most radical instances of “council democratic” movements that developed after the First World War in Germany (1918-1919) and Italy (1919-1920) by looking at the processes that contributed to their emergence and their trajectories, using a strategic-relational approach. It grounds the analysis on a Marxian conception of the formal separation between the “political” and the “economic” spheres as a unique characteristic of capitalist social relation and interprets “council democracy” as a sublation of counter tendencies towards radical democratic control within each of these spheres. Such conception allows the analysis to capture the empirical diversities in the historical manifestations of “council democracy” and illuminates the links between “council democracy” and wider traditions such as radical republicanism and anarcho-syndicalism. In analysing the making of these movements, the study focuses on the particular characteristics of state-led war mobilization in Germany and Italy in contrast to those in France where such movements did not emerge after the war. It sees the militarised corporatist state form under which Germany and Italy were mobilized for the war as contributing directly to the emergence of these types of movements after the war. In exploring the trajectories of these movements, the study looks at the ways in which various organized forces came to shape the devolution of these movements in Germany and Italy in contrast to those in Russia where such movements temporarily “succeeded” in establishing a form of “council democracy”. It sees the organizational capacities of the forces involved, the programmatic vision of the radical demands, and the alliance patterns capable of stabilising the movement into an articulated whole as decisive in the movement trajectories. Aside from the comparative study of the two cases, this study also offers a novel way to study the “council democratic” movements empirically in their historical and theoretical diversities. 3 Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my parents, whose extraordinary lives to pursue their political convictions fearlessly and critically have always been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for me. The boundless love and support of my parents and sister, for which I will be eternally grateful, have been the backbone of my life. I am also cordially thankful to Marcello Musto for the incredible opportunities and support that he has so generously provided me time and again throughout the years and above all, for the unbreakable friendship and comradeship that we have formed. I remain forever indebted to Thomas Kemple for allowing me to take his inspiring social theory course as an undergraduate student in Engineering, guiding me to pursue a path to studying sociology, and providing me with his insights and friendship over the years. I want to deeply thank my supervisor, Dr Robin Archer, for his generous support, continuous guidance, inexhaustible patience, and intellectual openness throughout the PhD journey, as well as his meticulous reviews of all the many drafts of each chapter of this thesis. I would like to thank Professor Cihan Tuğal for his mentorship during the LSE Radical Democracy and Subaltern Politics Workshop and his incredibly detailed and thought-provoking feedback on one of the chapters in the thesis. I want to also thank both the LSE and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council in Canada for providing the joint funding that made this research possible. B. G. I want to express my most sincere gratitude to Maria-Christina Vogkli for her unshakeable friendship and support from the first day of the PhD journey. My gratitude also goes to Gaia Marturano for her patient support in difficult phases during the PhD. There are many other names to mention of those whose love, kindness, and compassion I benefited tremendously throughout the process. They will all stay forever in my heart. 4 Table of Contents List of Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 10 A Theoretical Foundation for “Council Democracy” .............................................................................. 11 Methodological Considerations in the Analysis of “Council Democratic” Movements ......................... 20 On Comparative Process Tracing ........................................................................................................ 20 On Case Selection ................................................................................................................................ 23 On Strategic-Relational Approach to the State .................................................................................... 24 On Strategic-Relational Approach to the Movement ........................................................................... 26 Analytical Framework.............................................................................................................................. 28 Analytical Framework for the Study of the State ................................................................................. 28 Analytical Framework for the Study of the Movement ......................................................................... 32 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................................ 34 Part I: The Making of “Council Democratic” Movements Chapter 2: The Making of the “Council Democratic” Movement in Germany .................................. 38 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 38 The Character of the German War Mobilization ..................................................................................... 41 First Period (August 1914 – July 1916) ............................................................................................... 41 Second Period (August 1916 – August 1917) ....................................................................................... 47 Third Period (September 1917 – November 1918) .............................................................................. 55 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................................ 60 Chapter 3: The Making of the “Council Democratic” Movement in Italy .......................................... 64 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 64 The character of the Italian War Mobilization ......................................................................................... 68 First Period (May 1915 – June 1916) .................................................................................................. 68 Second Period (July 1916 – November 1917) ...................................................................................... 73 Third Period (December 1917 – November 1918) ............................................................................... 76 Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................................ 80 Chapter 4: The Making of “Council Democratic” Movements in a Comparative Perspective ......... 84 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................. 84 Overview of the Case of France ............................................................................................................... 84 Comparing the making of the movements France with Germany
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