The German Revolution and the Debate on Soviet Power Documents: 1918-1919

by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Kautsky, V. I. Lenin

Book Overview

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0937091006
• ISBN13: 9780937091005
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Anchor Foundation
• Length: 624 Pages

Customer Reviews

An important and exciting book

For anyone looking to understand the 20th Century this book is critical reading. It tells the untold story of the German revolution of 1918, the revolt of the German people against their own government during the First World War. How that revolution developed and it's decline. What makes this work unique it that it is told through the writings and speeches of key players in that revolt and events surrounding it. The struggle to forge a leadership of the revolution which would not stop half way is a key theme of the book. Here we can read for ourselves Rosa Luxembourg, Trotsky and Lenin as well as many others as they work out the battles of the day. The book is critical for understanding WWI. I highly recommend it.

An important debate on reform vs. revolution

The background to The German Revolution and the Debate on Soviet Power is the revolt that erupted in Germany as a consequence of the terrible suffering among workers and farmers during World War I. This culminated (as a similar process did in Russia the year before against the Tsar) in the overthrow of the German Kaiser in November 1918. Immediately millions of people of all social classes found themselves confronting profound political choices as to what kind of new government would best advance their interests. The majority of leaders of the trade union and socialist movements came out in support of a coalition government with liberal elements of the capitalists. A minority of workers, looking to the Spartacist group led by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Leibknecht and others influenced by the example of the Russian Revolution, advocated a course of fighting for a government of workers and farmers. The revolutionary-minded workers trying to forge a new organization in the heat of this struggle made errors that ultimately contributed to their being crushed in blood-with profound consequences for decades to follow. The second part of this book shows how this debate became international in character as workers all around the world were inspired by the workers uprising in Germany and sought to contribute to their deliberations as well as understand the lessons of their fight.The underlying differences were over reform vs. revolution. The book documents this in the exciting form of excerpts from workers' newspapers, political debates and resolutions from all sides and positions allowing the reader to make up their own mind as the historical events unfold. It's obvious that Pathfinder's editors went to great efforts of original research, outstanding translation work, map making, preparation of enlightening photos and other editorial aids in publishing this book because they want to make this material attractive and accessible to thinking workers who want to reknit the historical continuity of our class. They certainly succeeded as far as I'm concerned. At the same time, Pathfinder demonstrates a high degree of respect and confidence in its readers' abilities to make up our own minds and draw the necessary conclusions in the objective way they present all sides of this vital debate for our consideration.

A critical chapter in the class struggle

The Russian Revolution brought an end to the great slaughter we call World War I. It wasn't alone. Not only was Russia not alone, but the new Council Republic it established served as an inspiring model to the oppressed and exploited around the world.Just a year later, the second largest imperialist power, Germany, underwent a similar revolution by the workers. Although the German Revolution represents a giant page in history, history classes in capitalist countries overlook it. How the German and Chinese Revolutions arose and how could they have kept power was -- and remains -- a major issue among those who seek to abolish oppression and exploitation once and for all.This book is the second in a series named The Communist International in Lenin's Time.

Exciting historical debate with important lessons for today

The background to The German Revolution and the Debate on Soviet Power is the revolt that erupted in Germany as a consequence of the terrible suffering among workers and farmers during World War I. This culminated (as a similar process did in Russia the year before against the Tsar) in the overthrow of the German Kaiser in November 1918. Immediately millions of people of all social classes found themselves confronting profound political choices as to what kind of new government would best advance their interests. The majority of leaders of the trade union and socialist movements came out in support of a coalition government with liberal elements of the capitalists. A minority of workers, looking to the Spartacist group led by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Leibknecht and others influenced by the example of the Russian Revolution, advocated a course of fighting for a government of workers and farmers. The revolutionary-minded workers trying to forge a new organization in the heat of this struggle made errors that ultimately contributed to their being crushed in blood--with profound consequences for decades to follow. The second part of this book shows how this debate became international in character as workers all around the world were inspired by the workers uprising in Germany and sought to contribute to their deliberations as well as understand the lessons of their fight. The underlying differences were over reform vs. revolution. The book documents this in the exciting form of excerpts from workers' newspapers, political debates and resolutions from all sides and positions allowing the reader to make up their own mind as the historical events unfold. It's obvious that Pathfinder's editors went to great efforts of original research, outstanding translation work, map making, preparation of enlightening photos and other editorial aids in publishing this book because they want to make this material attractive and accessible to thinking workers who want to reknit the historical continuity of our class. They certainly succeeded as far as I'm concerned. At the same time, Pathfinder demonstrates a high degree of respect and confidence in its readers' abilities to make up our own minds and draw the necessary conclusions in the objective way they present all sides of this vital debate for our consideration.

The survival of capitalism in the advanced countries

Lenin and his Bolsheviks showed the way for a modern socialist revolution in 1917 in Russia. Sadly, the questions Lenin and the Bolsheviks asked were answered negatively in Germany in 1918-1919, when the German working masses overthrew the Kaiser and set about to take power into their hands. This discussion between the leaders of both revolutions is one of the most important in modern history. The stakes are no less than that of the survival of capitalism in the advanced countries of Europe, Japan, and North America! The absence of a trained revolutionary party, the absence of a party with a set of democratic demands to defend the rights of Germany's peasants, and the confusions marked by the attempts to build a party in the middle of revolution itself, the conflicting changing banners of different parties, and grouping put before the working class, spelled defeat for the German workers, even though they had some of the greatest leaders in the history of our class in Karl Leibneckt and Rosa Luxemburg. In this well noted, exquisitely glossaried, scholarly edition, the debates on strategy and tactics, on party building, and on the meaning of the struggle for power among the Bolsheviks, German Revolutionists, and the international movement are collected.