November 1918: The Unfinished Revolution

On 9 Novem­ber 1918, the German Empire was topp­led after mass upri­sings brought the monar­chy and First World War to an end. The achie­ve­ments and limi­ta­ti­ons of the Novem­ber Revo­lu­tion greatly shaped the deve­lo­p­ment of the German state in the fateful deca­des of the 1920s and 1930s. Analy­sing the histo­ri­cal lessons of the Novem­ber Revo­lu­tion has also been a crucial point of conten­tion within the German workers’ move­ment, for it raises the ques­tion of the working class’s rela­tion to state power.