The struggle for socialisation

Between mid January and mid February 1919 the attempt of the Essen Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council to socialise the coal-mining industry (referred to below as the Essen model) was the centre of attention in the Ruhr and elsewhere in Germany. It was the only time between November 1918 and spring 1919 that major steps were taken to push the revolution beyond the stage of mere constitutional change. Because of its unique character the Essen model has subsequently attracted the interest of historians. Peter von Oertzen in ‘Die grossen Streiks der Ruhrbergarbeiterschaft im Frühjar 1919’, presents the attempt to socialise the coal-mining industry as evidence for his argument that the German November Revolution offered a ‘third way’ between a ‘red dictatorship’ and a coalition with the conservative establishment. ¹ His conclusions have repeatedly been challenged, ² most recently by Erhard Lucas who depicts the Essen model as a means of forestalling an even more radical change in Hamborn and the western Ruhr. ³ A study of the background and course of the Essen model will enable us to decide whether in fact it was a realisierbare Konzeption ⁴ or a mere diversionary tactic.