The Council of the People's Deputies (, sometimes translated as Council of People's Representatives or Council of People's Commissars) was the name given to the government of the
November Revolution in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
from November 1918 until February 1919. The Council de facto took over the function of head of state (Kaiser) and head of government (Chancellor), and issued
decree
A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used for ...
s replacing the legislation of parliament (Reichstag) and Federal Council. The state secretaries (the heads of the governmental departments, similar to ministers in other countries) stayed in office or were replaced by the Council.
During this period, the main achievements of the Council were the organization of the
armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...
with the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
on November 11, 1918, the ''Reichsrätekongress'' (General Convention) from 16 to 20 December 1918, and the preparation for the elections for the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
(Nationalversammlung) on 19 January 1919. The Council also reformed the system of suffrage and extended the right to vote to German women for the first time.
Establishment and operation
The Council was formed on 10 November 1918 after the November revolution had swept away the old order. It was established after several thousand revolutionary
workers' and soldiers' councils had assembled at ''Zirkus Busch'' in Berlin. Their election or appointment had been initiated the day before by the actions of the ''
Revolutionäre Obleute During the First World War (1914–1918), the Revolutionary Stewards (German: ''Revolutionäre Obleute'') were shop stewards who were independent from the official unions and freely chosen by workers in various German industries. They rejected ...
'', leaders of the workers who had seized the
Reichstag building
The Reichstag (, ; officially: – ; en, Parliament) is a historic government building in Berlin which houses the Bundestag, the lower house of Germany's parliament.
It was constructed to house the Imperial Diet (german: Reichstag) of the ...
. This had happened against the will of the leadership of the Social Democrats, led by
Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first President of Germany (1919–1945), president of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925.
Eber ...
who had been appointed Chancellor (head of government) on 9 November. Unable to prevent the assembly, Ebert's Social Democrats were able to co-opt the process and ensure that many of the delegates came from among their own supporters. In addition, Ebert managed to convince the more radical Independent Social Democrats to join him in a "unified" socialist government containing three of their members.
Thus a coalition between the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been the ...
(SPD – ''Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands'') and the
Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, USPD) was a short-lived political party in Germany during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. The organization was establish ...
(USPD – ''Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands'') made up the council. Until 29 December 1918 there were three members from the SPD (Friedrich Ebert,
Philipp Scheidemann
Philipp Heinrich Scheidemann (26 July 1865 – 29 November 1939) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). In the first quarter of the 20th century he played a leading role in both his party and in the young Weimar ...
,
Otto Landsberg
Otto Landsberg (4 December 1869 – 9 December 1957) was a German jurist, politician and diplomat. He was a member of the revolutionary Council of the People's Deputies that took power during the German Revolution of 1918–19 and then served as Mi ...
) and three from the USPD (
Hugo Haase
Hugo Haase (29 September 1863 – 7 November 1919) was a German socialist politician, jurist and pacifist. With Friedrich Ebert, he co-chaired of the Council of the People's Deputies after the German Revolution of 1918–19.
Early life
Hugo Haa ...
,
Wilhelm Dittmann
Wilhelm Dittmann (1 November 1874, Eutin – 7 August 1954, Bonn), was a German Social Democratic politician. From 1917 to 1922, he was secretary to the Central Committee of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Independent S ...
,
Emil Barth
Emil Barth (Heidelberg, 23 April 1879 – Berlin, 17 July 1941) was a German Social Democratic party worker and socialist politician who became a key figure in the German Revolution of 1918.
Life
Barth joined the anti-war Independent Social Dem ...
).
Ebert and Haase were joint chairmen. The members of the Council had no official portfolios,
but Ebert was responsible for military and interior affairs.
Since they had no parallel civil service, the Council had to rely on the existing bureaucracy. When the last Imperial Chancellor
Prince Max of Baden
Maximilian, Margrave of Baden (''Maximilian Alexander Friedrich Wilhelm''; 10 July 1867 – 6 November 1929),Almanach de Gotha. ''Haus Baden (Maison de Bade)''. Justus Perthes, Gotha, 1944, p. 18, (French). also known as Max von Baden, was a Ger ...
had handed the office of ''Reichskanzler'' to Ebert on 9 November, the Secretaries of State of the
Baden cabinet had initially remained in their positions.
Although Ebert soon replaced some of them with members of the SPD and other parties, some senior civil servants—like
Heinrich Scheuch
Heinrich Schëuch (sometimes ''Scheüch''; 21 June 1864, Sélestat – 3 September 1946, Bad Kissingen) was a German officer of the Prussian Army, Generalleutnant of the German Army and (from 1918 to 1919) Prussian Minister of War.
General ...
, the
Prussian Minister of War
The Prussian War Ministry was gradually established between 1808 and 1809 as part of a series of reforms initiated by the Military Reorganization Commission created after the disastrous Treaties of Tilsit. The War Ministry was to help bring the ...
or
Wilhelm Solf
Wilhelm Heinrich Solf (5 October 1862 – 6 February 1936) was a German scholar, diplomat, jurist and statesman.
Early life
Solf was born into a wealthy and liberal family in Berlin. He attended secondary schools in Anklam, western Pomerania, an ...
at the Foreign Office—lasted for weeks or months in office, at least nominally.
The Council was formally in charge of the government when the
armistice
An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the La ...
ending World War I was signed on 11 November 1918. However,
Matthias Erzberger
Matthias Erzberger (20 September 1875 – 26 August 1921) was a German writer and politician (Centre Party), the minister of Finance from 1919 to 1920.
Prominent in the Catholic Centre Party, he spoke out against World War I from 1917 and as a ...
, the German envoy, had in fact been sent to negotiate with the allies in the
Forest of Compiègne
The Forest of Compiègne (french: Forêt de Compiègne, ) is a large forest in the region of Picardy, France, near the city of Compiègne and approximately north of Paris.
The forest is notable as the site of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 b ...
on 6 November by Chancellor Max of Baden, before the latter's resignation on 9 November.
The telegram instructing Erzberger to sign on 10 November was sent after a meeting of the old ''Reichsregierung'', originally set up under Prince Max and now chaired by Chancellor Ebert before the Council of the People's Deputies had even been created.
On 12 November 1918, the Council issued a proclamation ''An das deutsche Volk'' ("To the people of Germany"), which included the following nine legislative measures:
* The
State of Emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
is lifted
* The rights of assembly and association are not subject to any limit. This also applies to civil servants.
* There is no censorship. Censorship of theatrical plays is abolished.
* Freedom of expression in speech and writing
* Freedom of religion
* Amnesty for all political prisoners. Political trials are discontinued.
* The ' is repealed (this had been the legal basis to force all men of eligible age not serving in the military to work in strategic industries)
* ' (the Prussian Servants' law) and special laws for agricultural workers are repealed.
* The rules for the protection of workers rescinded at the start of the war are restored.
The proclamation went on to promise further social reforms. By 1 January 1919 at the latest, the eight-hour-workday was to be introduced. The government also promised to do everything to provide "sufficient" work. A scheme of unemployment assistance that would distribute the burden between Reich, state and municipality was in the works. The earnings ceiling for health insurance would be raised. The lack of housing would be alleviated through "supply of housing". The government would work towards securing regular nutrition for the people. It would strive to keep up orderly production and protect property against private infringement, as well as personal freedom and safety. Future elections, including that for the
constituent assembly
A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...
, were to be held under a franchise that would be equal, secret, direct and universal, based on
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
, and open to all men and women aged 20 and above.
On 15 November 1918, the Council appointed the left wing liberal
Hugo Preuss
Hugo or HUGO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Hugo'' (film), a 2011 film directed by Martin Scorsese
* Hugo Award, a science fiction and fantasy award named after Hugo Gernsback
* Hugo (franchise), a children's media franchise based on a ...
as State Secretary of the Interior and asked him to write a draft of a new republican constitution.
The Council passed the ''Verordnung über die Wahlen zur verfassunggebenden deutschen Nationalversammlung (Reichswahlgesetz)'', the law governing the upcoming elections for a national assembly, on 30 November 1918. This codified the changes to the suffrage announced earlier. For the first time in Germany, suffrage was extended to women.
The Council also organized the ''Reichsrätekongress'' which met at the ''Preußisches Abgeordnetenhaus'' at Leipziger Platz in Berlin from 16 to 20 December 1918. By majority vote, this assembly decided to bring forward the elections to a national assembly to 19 January 1919 and refused a USPD proposal to assume supreme legislative and executive power. However, it also passed a resolution known as ''Hamburger Punkte'' that emphasized some key revolutionary demands that were anathema to the military: supreme military command to be with the Council of the People's Deputies, disciplinary authority to reside with the soldiers' councils, election of officers, no rank insignia and no observance of military rank off-duty.
On 18 December 1918, the Council decided in principle to
socialize
In sociology, socialization or socialisation (see spelling differences) is the process of internalizing the norms and ideologies
An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those hel ...
"suitable" industries. No concrete steps in this direction were taken, however, as the SPD members were not keen on any initiatives that were likely to further disrupt the strained food supply or negatively affect industrial productivity. The Council had its hands full with demobilizing and reintegrating 8 million soldiers, withdrawing 3 million of them over the Rhine and ensuring a sufficient supply of coal and food to last the winter. Moreover, there were threats to the Reich's integrity from separatist movements in the
Rhineland
The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section.
Term
Historically, the Rhinelands ...
and from
Polish territorial expansion.
On 29 December 1918, the USPD pulled out of the Council. The main point of contention was the
military action
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular ...
the government had just taken on 23/24 December against revolting soldiers of the ''Reichsmarinedivision''.
This had happened as a result of the
Ebert-Groener pact between Friedrich Ebert and
Wilhelm Groener
Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener (; 22 November 1867 – 3 May 1939) was a German general and politician. His organisational and logistical abilities resulted in a successful military career before and during World War I.
After a confrontation wi ...
of the
military high command (OHL). However, there had been talk even before the fighting on Christmas about an impending resignation of the USPD representatives.
The vacancies on the Council were filled out with two more SPD members,
Gustav Noske
Gustav Noske (9 July 1868 – 30 November 1946) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as the first Minister of Defence (''Reichswehrminister'') of the Weimar Republic between 1919 and 1920. Noske has been a cont ...
and
Rudolf Wissell
Rudolf Wissell (8 March 1869 – 13 December 1962) was a German politician in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). During the Weimar Republic, he held office as the Minister for Economic Affairs and Minister for Labour.
Early lif ...
. Although there were no portfolios, Noske was in charge of the military and Wissell of economic affairs. From that point on, the Council's external communications were signed "Reichsregierung" rather than "Rat der Volksbeauftragten".
The government organized
elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operate ...
for a
national assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
on 19 January 1919.
End
On 13 February 1919, the Council ceased to exist and formally gave up power to the newly created
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
of ''Ministerpräsident'' Scheidemann. Scheidemann had been appointed by Friedrich Ebert, who in turn had been elected the first temporary president of Germany (''Reichspräsident'') by the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
.
Members of the Council
References
External links
Rat der Volksbeauftragten Archivesat the
International Institute of Social History
The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figur ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Council Of The People's Deputies
Coalition governments of Germany
German Revolution of 1918–1919
Historic German cabinets
1918 establishments in Germany
1919 disestablishments in Germany
Cabinets established in 1918
Cabinets disestablished in 1919