Bavarian Soviet Republic
The
Bavarian Soviet Republic (
Bayrische Räterepublik) â€" also known as the
Munich Soviet Republic (
Münchner Räterepublik) â€" was a short-lived
revolutionary government in the
German state of
Bavaria in
1919 that sought to replace the fledgling
Weimar Republic in its early days.
On
7 November 1918, the anniversary of the Russian
October Revolution,
Kurt Eisner of the
USPD declared Bavaria a "
free state" â€" a declaration which overthrew the
monarchy of the
Wittelsbach dynasty which had ruled for over 700 years. Eisner became
Minister-President of Bavaria. Though he advocated a "
socialist republic", he distanced himself from the
Russian
Bolsheviks, declaring that his government would protect property rights. For a few days, Munich economist
Lujo Brentano served as Minister of Trade (
Volkskommissar für Handel).
After Eisner's
USPD had lost the elections, he decided to resign from his office. On
21 February 1919, as he was on his way to parliament to announce his resignation, he was shot by
Anton Graf Arco-Valley, who was rejected from membership in the
Thule Society because of
Jewish ancestry on his mother`s side. This assassination caused unrest and lawlessness in Bavaria, and the news of a Soviet revolution in
Hungary encouraged
Communists and
anarchists to seize power.
On
6 April, the "Bavarian Soviet Republic" was proclaimed. Initially, it was ruled by USPD members such as
Ernst Toller and
Gustav Landauer, and anarchists like
Erich Mühsam. However, Ernst Toller, a playwright, was not very good at dealing with politics, and his government did little to restore order in the city.
His government members were also not always well-chosen. For instance, the Foreign Affairs Deputy (who had been admitted several times to
psychiatric hospitals), declared war on
Switzerland, over Switzerland's refusal to lend 60 locomotives to the Bavarian Soviet Republic. Another incident saw him send cables to both the Pope and Lenin, asking as to the whereabouts of the key to the lavatory.
[Burleigh, Michael (2000). The Third Reich: A New History. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-330-48757-4. pp40.] As such, the regime collapsed within six days, being replaced by the
communists, with
Eugen Levine, sometimes characterized as a "potential German Lenin" as their leader.
Levine began to enact communist reforms, that included expropriating luxurious apartments and giving them to the
homeless and placing factories under the ownership and control of their workers. Levine also had plans to abolish paper money and reform the education system. However, he never had time to implement them.
Levine refused to collaborate with the regular army of the city, and also organized his own army, the
Red Army (
Rote Armee) under
Rudolf Egelhofer, similar to the
Red Army of
Soviet Russia. In order to support the revolutionary government, thousands of unemployed workers volunteered; soon the ranks of the Rote Armee reached 20,000. The
Red Guards began arresting suspected counterrevolutionaries and on
29 April 1919, eight men, including the well-connected Prince von
Thurn und Taxis, were accused as right-wing spies and executed.
Soon after, on
3 May 1919, the
Freikorps (having a force of 30,000 men) together with the "White Guards of Capitalism" (having a force of 9,000) entered the Bavarian Soviet Republic and defeated the Communists, after bitter street fights in which over 1,000 volunteer supporters of the government were killed. About 800 men and women were arrested and executed by the victorious Freikorps. Eugen Levine was among those executed. Levine was condemned to death for the execution of Prince von Thurn und Taxis and seven others.
*
Aftermath of World War I*
History of Bavaria*
History of Germany*
Weimar Republic*
Lenin: Message of Greetings to the Bavarian Soviet Republic
