ABSTRACT
The general strike of February 1919 was short and violent. It lasted from 18 February to 23 February and, at its height, is said to have involved 52 per cent of the miners. In the northern parts of the eastern and central Ruhr Majority Socialist led security guards descended upon the strike with such vehemence that they drove large numbers of miners into the arms of the extreme left. In the western Ruhr, where the workers had already been radicalised, the strike resulted in a full-scale civil war in which the forces of the left, after having started from a position of considerable strength, were soon defeated. There was no co-ordination or planning of their actions. On the contrary, some of the miners and their leaders were getting cold feet, and contradictory orders were given. Hence they proved no match for the much better organised Freikorps, who out-manoeuvred and defeated the radicals within a few days.
