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Book SynopsisRichard Muller, a leading figure of the German Revolution in 1918, is unknown today. As the operator and unionist who represented Berlin's metalworkers, he was main organiser of the 'Revolutionary Stewards', a clandestine network that organised a series of mass strikes between 1916 and 1918. With strong support in the factories, the Revolutionary Stewards were the driving force of the Revolution. By telling Muller's story, this study gives a very different account of the revolutionary birth of the Weimar Republic.
Trade Review"Hoffrogge has done historians of the German Revolution and the Weimar Republic a valuable service by reconstructing the trajectory of a key figure in the revolution (and one of its most important early historians), and by enabling us to see these events through the different focus afforded by a leading protagonist of the workers’ councils" —Andrew G. Bonnell, Labour History, Australia “In this study of Richard Müller’s role in the German Revolution, Ralf Hoffrogge sheds light on one of the most important, and yet understudied, aspects of the upheaval: the role of revolutionary shop stewards and workers’ councils in the overthrow of the old order and the establishment of the new one…[T]his work provides a much-needed perspective on the German upheaval from the bottom up. It places Richard Müller’s long neglected role in the revolution at center stage, and reminds us of the revolutionary promise that was the German Revolution." —William Smalldone, Against the Current “Hoffrogge’s biography differs from those written about revolutionary icons like Liebknecht or Luxemburg for very practical reasons. The latter were from middle-class backgrounds and used to writing letters and articles offering biographers insights into their political but also private lives. An ordinary worker like Müller did not leave comparable records…Hoffrogge’s book is a first-rate invitation to think about a link between Richard Müller and the Revolutionary Shop Stewards and today’s still unfocused struggles against imperialist wars and capitalist exploitation” —Ingo Schmidt, WorkingUSA "The merit of Hoffrogge’s contribution is a capacity to translate his extensive research into a wide-ranging historical analysis and narrative of the role of the Revolutionary Shop Stewards and Richard Müller. " —Dario Azzellini "Ralf Hoffrogge has authored an invaluable addition to the literature of German radicalism by detailing the life of one of the key leaders of the Revolutionary Shop Stewards." —William A. Pelz "Ralf Hoffrogge ... explores the complicated relationship between the Stewards and the various socialist political parties with great skill and discusses the emergence of a new kind of socialism amongst Müller and his colleagues, which did not focus on state power and centralization but rather on grassroots democracy and workers’ control, sometimes known as council communism." —Dick Geary "This study deserves special consideration because it addresses two of the main puzzles of modern German history: how did a supposedly strong state collapse in 1917 and 1918, and how did the SPD subsequently assume power? Already in the 1920s, Arthur Rosenberg pointed out that the Social Democrats followed a dual tactic of propagating but also preventing revolution. By clarifying the roles played in all this by Müller and the shop stewards, Hoffrogge has moved the discussion forward, showing the way in which revolutionary unrest spread and forced the Social Democrats into a much more active role than they had previously adopted." –Central European History“The important value of this book is to reveal a thing that is often overlooked in the socialist movement: Whether the theory of the working class political parties can be accepted by the masses. For a long time, in the history of the communist movement, writers stressed, on the one hand, the important role of revolutionary leaders, and on the other the important role of the working class. But who is the link between the two? Richard Muller's experience seems to give the answer to this question.” —Ma Jiahong, Contemporary World Socialism Issue No. 2016, No. 119-122.
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Abbreviations Sisyphus of the Revolution: A Preface, Wolfgang Wippermann Author’s Preface 1 Introduction: A Forgotten Revolutionary The Politics of Historical Interpretation The Makers of the German Revolution 2 Background, Youth, and Early Union Activities: 1880-1913 From Farm to Factory Müller’s (Very) Private Life Fighting Taylorism with its Own Weapons Bureaucracy in the Service of Agitation 3 Opposition to the Burgfrieden: 1914-1918 ‘The Great Betrayal’ From Discipline to Opposition Early Ambiguities and their Price 4 The Revolutionary Shop Stewards and Political Mass Strikes: 1916-1918 The Stewards’ First Political Strike: Protesting Liebknecht’s Arrest Repression and the New Opposition Müller’s Arrest and the April Strike Marking Time under Repression Preparing for the January Strike: Rising Discontent and the Bolshevik Example The January 1918 Strike: Council Power Emerges The Politics of the Action Committee and the End of the January Strike Barth and Däumig lead in Müller’s Absence Müller’s Return 5 The German Revolution in Berlin, 1918 The Stewards and the Spartacists: A Tale of Two Styles Arming the Revolution Outbreak Council Power The State of the Revolution 6 Chairman of the Berlin Executive Council: 1918–1919 Conflict, Caution and Counter-revolution Loss of National Power 7 Richard Müller and the Council Movement: 1918–1919 The Council Movement in War and Revolution The First Council Congress and the Triumph of Parliamentarianism The Blocked Path to Socialism Berlin’s January Uprising Political Murder, Demoralisation, and the End of the Revolutionary Shop Stewards Theorising Council Socialism The March Strikes of 1919 After the Tumult 8 From Council Movement to Works Councils: 1919-1920 Council Ideal and Works Council Reality Leading the Left Opposition in the DMV Defeat at Nuremberg, Compromise in Stuttgart The Works Councils Act, Armed Conflict and Party Split DMV Political Divisions and the Works Council Centre The first Works Council Congress 1920 The State of the Revolution in 1920 9 From Council Socialism to Party Communism and Beyond: 1920-1924 The Leninist Model and the USPD Split The Communist Union Centre The Red International of Labour Unions Crisis in the Communist Party and the March Action of 1921 Post-March Crises and `Made in Moscow´ Resolution The Revelation Affair Müller, the unwanted Communist 10 Richard Müller as Historian of the German Revolution: 1923-1925 Müller’s Historiographical Approach Müller as Publisher 11 Footnotes and Suppression - Richard Müller’s Impact on Historiography The Millstones of Social Democracy and Marxism-Leninism Müller in East Germany Müller in West Germany 12 Break with Politics, Withdrawal into Private Life: 1925-1943 The DIV, the ‘Construction Issue’ and Union Fragmentation Müller as Landlord Drifting back to Social Democracy? Returning to Obscurity 13 Conclusion: The Darkness of History Bibliography 1. Printed Sources 2. Literature About the Author Index
