German Civil War DIRECTOR CRISIS MANGERS Aadi Thulasingam Zoë Grossman and Jozef Grygorcewicz CHAIRS MODERATORS Martin Concagh and Nesta Muthunawagonna Qaasim Karim and Amy Zhou UTMUN 2021 JCC Intro Revolution in Germany! With the collapse of the German Army following the failure of the Kaiserschlacht offensive in the West, the Imperial Government was forced to cede power to a civilian government to negotiate a peace with the Western powers, facing massive labour strikes and famine due to British blockade. The new chancellor, the liberal Prince Max of Baden invited the centre-left SPD (Social Democratic Party) into government, the largest party in the Reichstag, in coalition, into power. The SPD, which had purged its radical left-wing, due to their opposition to the war, who formed the USPD, or independent Social Democrats could not keep pace with the revolutionary events happening in Germany. The strikes in January 1918 had led to the establishment of worker’s councils throughout Germany, on the model of the Soviets that had played such a central role in the recent October Revolution. In response to a suicidal order from the Imperial Naval Command to engage in a final battle against the Royal Navy, the sailors of Germany, mutinied on the 24th of October 1918. Taking control of the ports of the country from Kiel outward, the naval rebellion was followed by other strikes and soldier’s mutinies, and the establishment of “Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils” throughout the country. With chaos enveloping the country, the Kaiser is forced to abdicate, on the 9th of November, the date, the date this committee begins on. Taking with him Prince Maximillian’s government, the delegates of this subcommittee, the Spartacus’s, will seek to guide various left-wing figures, and the parties and organizations they support, through the welter of the German Revolution. Said figures can be split into approximately three groups, which will be described in turn. First, in Bavaria, Eisner has seized Munich and established a hodgepodge government of moderates, anarchist dreamers, and hardline Leninists, surrounded by counterrevolutionary forces. Secondly, in Saxony, and in Bremen, local leaders attempt to turn local unions, and the forces of the naval munity to their advantage in regional struggles. Thirdly, and most importantly, are the Berliners. In Berlin, the moderate SPD has seized the chancellorship, under the explicitly anti-revolutionary leadership of Fredrich Ebert and his cabinet. Declaring on the 9th the creation of a Republic, Ebert and his party are attempting to take control in the city of Berlin (and therefore the greater German government) by directing still-loyal military units and taking control of the city police. Meanwhile, the left was also taking action. Within the USPD, there were two factions – the “moderates”, promoting some sort of compromise with the democratic government, and those members of the party-within- the-party, the Spartacist League, the followers of Liebknecht and Luxemburg advocating for total revolution, and the establishment of a council-communist state lead by the Worker’s Councils. Currently, the Spartacists dominate the party, and have the initiative, with Liebknecht having declared, also on November 9th, the creation of a Free Socialist Republic. Such a declaration is supported by the local councils and unions themselves, who, under the leadership of the Revolutionary Stewards, seized the Reichstag with ten thousand men. Ebert has called for a unity government – the Council of People’s Deputies, but such is likely to fail. Meanwhile, right-wing militias, composing of disaffected reactionary soldiers and officers and their civilian supporters, have also begun to assemble in the city. With Armistice negotiations coming to a close, and a situation of dual—power existing in Berlin, it remains to see who will seize the city – and determine the fate of all of Germany, and perhaps Europe. “Tomorrow the revolution will already ‘raise itself … saying I was, I am, I will be!” Committee Goals • Establish political and military power in Berlin, Munich, and elsewhere in Germany, establishing a socialist polity! 2 UTMUN 2021 JCC • Deal with the encroaching famine, and political and social unrest! • Determine the ideology, economics, and culture of a revolutionary Germany! • Deal with the rival Ebert government, and right-wing militias! • Negotiate an end to the War to End All Wars, dealing with both the Western Allies, new states throughout East-Central Europe, and the Bolsheviks! • Defeat capitalism, factionalism, and counterrevolutionaries in the homeland of Marx to bring the Revolution to Germany! Character Descriptions The Berliners Karl Liebknecht: A lawyer and long-time representative in the Prussia Landtag – Liebknecht, with Luxemburg are the twin leaders of the Spartacist League, and the most famous socialists in Germany, and after Lenin, perhaps the world. Unlike Luxemburg, he is not a theoretician, but a street activist, famed on picket lines and strikes throughout Germany. He is most famous for his work “Militarism and Anti-Militarism” that skewed the jingoism and autocracy of Wilhelmine Germany. Liebknecht instead supports the vison of his comrade Luxemburg, that of a council communist state. Expelled from the SPD for brining up the Armenian Genocide, arrested repeatedly until released as part of Prince Max’s October 1918 amnesty to al political prisoners, Liebknecht has returned to Berlin. With the abdication of the Kaiser, he has taken the opportunity to seize the initiative, and declare, at the former royal palace of the Hohenzollerns, the Stadtschloss, a Free Socialist Republic, in direct opposition to Ebert “bourgeois Republic” declared just two hours before. Liebknecht, with his allies and supports, seeks to bring revolution to Germany or die trying – “the emancipation of the working class is the task of the worker alone!”. Faction: Spartacus League (Radical) Aim: Establish a democratic socialist state in Germany through armed revolution; defeat the rival SPD government and the roving Freikorps militias. Rosa Luxemburg: Luxemburg is a famed Marxist theoretician, economist, and revolutionary socialist. She was expelled from the SPD due to her anti-war stance, founding the Spartacus League in response with Liebknecht. In response to the Russian Revolution, and the rise of Leninism, Luxemburg has developed her own form of socialist ideology. She believes in a democratic council communism – local polities (the worker’s and soldier’s councils founded throughout Germany), self-governing while part of a greater socialist state, without need for a party dictatorship like that of the Bolsheviks. A firm believer in the idea of spontaneous action by the working class, she has put her full support behind Liebknecht’s declaration of a free state, and the uprising of the Revolutionary Stewards, and now is one of the primary leaders of the German left as the nation falls into revolution. She believes the success of the German revolution is absolutely necessary to provide a necessary counterweight in the world socialist cause to the Soviet Union. Though lacking military support, Luxemburg is internationally known and popular, especially with working-class Germans, exhausted by the war. She must successfully negotiate with the Revolutionary Stewards (especially the embryonic Executive Council), the Berlin Police (who’s current chief is, though officially undeclared, leaning towards the Spartacists), and the various military units converging on Berlin to ensure her power and position. Luxemburg is opposed at every step by the Ebert government, which controls the “official” organs of power, bar the Reichstag, under popular 3 UTMUN 2021 JCC occupation – radical action is needed to seize the offices of state, establish legitimacy for her government, in Berlin and beyond, bringing her promised revolution to Germany – with all power to the Councils! Faction: Spartacus League (Radical) Aim: Establish a democratic socialist state in Germany and take leadership in the world communist cause. Leo Jogiches: Jogiches, the ex-lover of Rosa Luxemburg, is a seasoned revolutionary, having been involved in the socialist underground since the 1890s in Poland and Germany. When Liebknecht and Luxemburg were arrested for anti-war activities by the Imperial government in 1916, Jogiches took leadership of the underground Spartacist League until March 1918. In this role he played a significant part in organizing the USPD at the Easter 1917 Gotha Congress. Though arrested in 1918, he was quickly released, and joined with Liebknecht and Luxemburg to form the KPD. Though no theoretician, Jogiches is an able debater and organizer of the socialist cause, commanding significant loyalty among the veterans of the Spartacus League. Despite a personal estrangement from Luxemburg, is still entirely loyal to her party, her ideology, and her vison for Germany. Faction: Spartacus League (Radical) Aim: Support the aims of the Spartacist League and Rosa Luxemburg. Paul Levi: A founding member of the Spartacus league, and Luxemburg and Liebknecht’s lawyer of many years, Levi is a devoted member of the German left. Having been conscripted in 1915, he held a hunger strike, leading to his discharge, after which he fled to Switzerland to avoid persecution. There, he became associated with the Zimmerwald Left – most notably Lenin and Radek. Having just returned to Germany, Levi has re- established himself as a leader of the party. Though loyal to Luxemburg,