Review of "Failure of a revolution: Germany 1918-1919" by Sebastian Haffner

 

This is one of the best books I've read all year. As the title suggests it's an account of the failed German revolution at the end of WW1, and even though we know how it ends it's gripping all the way through. It's also tragic, and bitter, and has sparked a lot of thoughts in me. Firstly, about how hard it is to make a revolution; it's easy to focus on the successes, but most attempts at insurrection fail. This one got further than most - the masses really were on the street, the old order had more or less collapsed, and still it failed...I do wish the Extinction Rebellion "High Command" would read this instead of the pseudo-scientific bollocks from Erica Chenoweh that they wallow in. This shows what happens when a movement is able to create a revolutionary situtation but is neither ready nor willing to seize power; someone else will seize it instead. Here is was the right wing of the SPD, who paved the way for the restoration of the old order (minus the Kaiser). 

Second, about how awful Second International socialist parties could be. The German SPD had become a part of the Willhelmine German Empire, but still postured as a party of revolutionary socialism, red flags and Internationale and all. It had supported the Empire in pursuing the War - almost all its parliamentary deputies had voted for war credits, and its efforts to end the war once it became obvious that Germany would not win an easy victory were half-hearted and pitiful. And its politics during the period covered by this book are heart-breakingly awful, supporting its enemies - the old officer class, the reactionary nationalists, and the conservative forces in society - in massacring the party's working class supporters. In my readings about the 1930s I've generally tended to put the blame on the German Communist Part - the KPD - for not making a united front with the SPD against the Nazis. But reading this book gives me a better understanding as to how hard this would have been, and how deep the hostility must have run. When the KPD said the SPD were 'social fascists', there was some truth to it, at least as far as the leadership is concerned.  Why the SPD rank and file stayed with the party is something of a mystery to me, but I suppose the alternative was largely the Stalin-inflected KPD, which was equally awful in a completely different way.

I read this book in a free download from Libcom, obtained from here. https://libcom.org/library/failure-revolution-germany-1918-1919-sebastian-haffner

I heard about it in a review in the LRB, which was ostensibly about another book about Weimar but kept coming back to talking about Haffner, for which I am grateful.