Overthrow the Cabinet #13
The letter arrived anonymously one morning, but it was easy enough to guess the sender.
“There is no longer any possibility of dialogue with the German National People’s Party, Representative Heinz. In the end, their lust for power has driven them into an alliance with the Nazis.”
“Until now, I believed the far right and the far left were equally authoritarian and anti-democratic. But perhaps it is time to reconsider that view. Representative Heinz, you and I support different values. Yet at least under the name of democracy, we stand together. The council democracy you desire can only become reality after the Nazi and fascist forces have been completely crushed. Please direct organizations such as the People’s Front’s Red Revolutionary Front and the anti-fascist movement not against the government, but first against the Nazi Party. If this country collapses now, the world that follows will not belong to the left—it will belong to the right.”
So Brüning had met secretly with a German National People’s Party representative. Probably Hugenberg. It seemed even the Chancellor had grown desperate.
The Worker’s Factory project offered no pretext for suppression. Banning anti-fascist groups, the Red Front Fighters’ League, or the Red Revolutionary Front would be political suicide. Meanwhile, the very moderate press and civic organizations that should have supported Brüning’s centrist position were defecting to the People’s Front in droves. No wonder he had reached out to the conservatives—and been burned for it.
At least those people could be reasoned with. But unlike the Chancellor, I had no intention of playing along.
From the beginning, Antifa was literally an “anti-fascist movement”—a civic organization, not a structured political entity under our control. And because the Nazis had already colluded with the conservative industrialists and landowners, it was obvious whose side the state would take if our people clashed with the Nazis in the streets. That was a problem for the Chancellor to solve, not me. In the face of money and power, the political neutrality of the police was meaningless.
My answer, therefore, was no.
Of course the Nazis remained the greatest threat going forward, but I had no interest in cooperating with state institutions to deal with them. They wouldn’t cooperate with us anyway.
“If we can secure the full support of both the Comintern and the Socialist International by June or July, revolution will be only a matter of time. If we eliminate any room for Western governments to react and coordinate our timetable with Russia, we could launch the revolution as early as this autumn.”
We continued drafting our own schedule.
“But Britain and France will surely interfere…?”
“That is for the Socialist International to handle. The British Labour Party holds the largest bloc in Parliament, and the combined left-wing seats in France fall just short of a majority. If we can restrain their actions through parliamentary pressure, it is entirely feasible.”
“Still, Italy and Poland are highly likely to seize the opportunity.”
“Then we fight. Revolution was never going to be handed to us on a silver platter. In return, the Comintern will give us their complete backing.”
Bels’s concerns were reasonable. Since Mussolini’s fascists had taken power, Italy had rapidly expanded its military. During the Spanish Revolution, Italy had defied the League of Nations’ strict “non-intervention” policy and pushed for full involvement until they were stopped.
“My goal in bridging the Socialist International and the Communist International is to minimize civil war and international conflict after the revolution and to advance world revolution. It is not to avoid war if it comes knocking.”
“So if the fascists pick a fight, we give them one. That’s what you’re saying.”
“Exactly. Russia has nearly completed building the army it will need to support world revolution. If things go well, we could see the communization of all of Central Europe and the Balkans—and perhaps even pull France and Italy into the revolutionary camp.”
“But wouldn’t that essentially mean another Weltkrieg?” Representative Krishpin asked uneasily.
“Then it is a war that cannot be avoided. Didn’t Marx himself say it? ‘Workers of the world, unite!’ If the West insists on defending capitalism to the bitter end, we must destroy capitalism to the bitter end.”
The Social Democrats, who would once have responded with cries of “impossible,” “too violent,” and every other cliché in the book, remained completely silent. We were all in the same boat now.
“In any case. Since the Socialist International is still withholding our membership, let us do everything we can until then. We must completely transform Germany’s base structure—its economic foundation—so that revolution can break out at any moment without surprise.”
“Reports of Antifa’s successful operations are coming in from all over, Heinz.”
“The Worker’s Factory projects remain mostly profitable and are entering a phase of expansion.”
“Excellent!”
Brüning’s austerity measures were gradually reducing the number of starving unemployed workers. The time had come to formally demand the Chancellor’s resignation. Having transformed the base, it was now time to seize power at the top. With virtually the entire citizenry now on our side, Brüning had no options left.
“Withdraw the Emergency Decree! The Chancellor must resign!”
Following Antifa’s founding, both the RRF and Antifa threw themselves fully into the campaign of protests demanding the Chancellor’s resignation. There was no longer any need for the Social Democrats and Communists to quarrel over doctrinal lines, nor any debate over whether the police or the Nazis struck first. If the police arrested Nazis, we would cooperate with them. If the police attacked us, we would fight back. Once the Chancellor resigned, elections would follow. Either way, the superstructure would soon be ours.
“We’ve really come this far,” Bels said as we marched together within the crowd of demonstrators.
“He brought this on himself. He must accept the consequences. The Chancellor refused to listen to the will of the people until the very end, and now he is paying the price,” Thälmann replied.
“…I hope his resignation truly ends all of this.”
“If the Chancellor steps down, we will hold an outright majority. If Chairman Heinz does her part and the West refrains from intervening, the revolution will come quickly.”
“To think we would need a parliamentary majority to carry out a revolution.”
Yes, the world truly is full of surprises. Yesterday’s friend can become today’s enemy, and yesterday’s enemy today’s friend. Fortunately for the Communists, only the latter had occurred. Thälmann and Bels, who had snarled at each other constantly until last year—no, until just a month ago—now exchanged words with easy smiles, as if those days had never happened.
The name Antifa had proven more than enough to erase the middle class’s ingrained terror of the left and draw them into the streets. After all, it stood not for socialism, communism, or labor, but solely for “anti-fascism.”
When one protest ended, the next began the following day. Chancellor’s resignation. Revocation of the Emergency Decree. Immediate general elections. One day passed, then two, then three, four, a full week…
“Just when is he going to come out?!”
By Tuesday, March 31st—the last day of the month—the demonstrators’ patience was reaching its limit. The crowds that had once filled the streets with nearly half the urban population had already shrunk considerably. Still, they were large enough to occupy several blocks near the Chancellery.
“I can’t take this anymore. How long are we supposed to sit in the street waiting for him to show himself?”
“Mm…” Thälmann pressed.
“To be honest, I thought he would have surrendered within a week…”
“Same here. I never imagined he would hold out this long.”
Within the bounds of the German Empire and while still recognizing its constitutional framework, we had done everything possible. The reason we weren’t simply doing what Comrade Lenin had done thirteen years ago—why we kept wasting time like this—was because we had not yet met with the Socialist International. The risk of Western intervention following a revolution remained high. The reason the world had not intervened in Russia back then was that every other nation had been embroiled in war. But France was barely affected by the current depression, and Italy would certainly try to intervene in Germany just as it had attempted in Spain two years earlier. They even shared a border. If revolution broke out while the victors’ military restrictions were still in effect, France might easily crush it. Even the hardline revolutionary Thälmann understood this much.
“Is there any option left, Heinz?”
“The only option left is revolution. We ignore the German Empire’s imperial authority and parliament entirely, occupy Frankfurt, and establish a Frankfurt Soviet just like the Petrograd Soviet in Russia.”
“Didn’t you say it was still too early?”
“Which is why there are no other options.”
If Brüning truly decided to dig in his heels, we would waste four precious months until the Socialist International congress in July. There was only one way to prevent that.
“You have nowhere left to run, Chancellor!”
In the end, we had to persuade the Chancellor to resign of his own accord.
“Look at everything you have accomplished so far! Your austerity measures, meant to save Germany, have only tightened the noose around the people’s necks. In the name of stopping extremism, you have destroyed democracy yourself! Is this truly the democracy you wanted?!”
Please, just listen.
“You are the last hope of German democracy! Resign immediately! It has already been days! The people demand your resignation!”
I shouted into the speaker, but there was still no response.
“Haa…”
There really was no answer. Yet I didn’t want to spark a revolution and create an irreversible situation. Even with Russia and the Comintern giving us full support, we might avoid civil war—but we could not avoid intervention by France and Italy. The Red Army was in no position to fight another war right now… What were we supposed to do?
In the end, the People’s Front had been driven into a corner.
“Heinz?” Thälmann suddenly called out to me urgently.
What was it? Had the Chancellor finally appeared?
“Get down!!!”
The moment he shouted, Thälmann yanked me toward him.
“Whoa?!”
I tumbled forward off the platform in an undignified heap. A gunshot rang out—crack—and a bullet slammed into the exact spot where I had been standing.
“…!”
“It’s a Nazi attack! Everyone arm yourselves!”