The Left and Right at the Birth of Weimar Germany

Ebert clearly recognised the threat of the right wing when he came into power. They formed the vast majority of the German establishment, whose acquiescence at the very least he would need to set up his democratic republic. They controlled the press, the civil service, the financial and education systems, and most crucially, the armed forces. They wished to retain German autocracy, but were terrified of the threat of revolution from the extreme left. There was also a small but growing fascist movement on the extreme right.

In 1917 Russia had undergone a bloody Bolshevik Revolution, in which the old autocracy had been entirely replaced by a Soviet Republic. As the new Chancellor of Germany, Ebert began to guide Germany towards electing its first new democratic Government in early 1919, the extreme left of the country, largely united under the KPD or breakaway factions of the USPD, began to push for the revolution they so badly wanted. They mistrusted the moderate Ebert, set on his path inspired by Engels’ talk of a popular Socialist mandate, instead believing power had to be seized by the German working classes. Fuelled by a ‘flu epidemic, food shortages and growing inflation, the Communists moved towards unrest. Ebert knew this had to be avoided if his hopes of free and fair elections were to succeed.

Ebert saw on opportunity to suppress any revolution on the left, and at the same time secure some kind of support from the right. On the 10th November 1918 he called the Quartermaster General of the German army, Wilhelm Groener, promising to maintain the authoritarian officers of the army elite in their positions, in exchange for the control of the unruly left-wing extremists. Groener agreed, and a deal was made, bringing the moderate left and broad right together, however grudgingly, in support of each other. The radical and extreme left was now entirely cut-off from any chances of gaining mainstream power, isolated by Ebert’s SDP. And although in the short term Ebert ensured he was able to establish his Socialist democratic Republic, which met for the first time in Weimar in February 1919, he sacrificed a great deal of power to the right-wing elite, who were still ultimately hostile to his cause. He would later be plagued by the legacy of this deal, the extreme left and right on occasion uniting in their opposition to him, isolated as they were from mainstream politics, while the pre-1918 elite harboured their distaste for Weimar politics. In attempting to seek greater support, Ebert had in fact isolated himself yet further.