ABSTRACT
This study of the November Revolution in the Ruhr has been based on an analysis of the economic and social background of the various parts of the region. A long urban tradition, early industrialisation and, stemming from it, social insecurity and frequent economic hardship, led to the growth of a comparatively radical labour movement in the country to the south of the Ruhr, particularly in the metal manufacturing region around Solingen and Remscheid and the Rhenish steel centre of Düsseldorf. In these areas the local SPD adhered to the Erfurt Program based on Kautsky’s interpretation of Marx’s dialectical unity of theory and practice. In cities here union and party branch life flourished, directing its efforts at the practical level towards relieving immediate hardship and improving the workers’ position. But theoretical discussion was always important in these branches and the lower Rhine SPD enjoyed a radical image in the pre-war years. It was because of this radical background that from the start of the war the socialists in Düsseldorf and the Berg district were in disagreement with the Burgfrieden policies of the party’s Reichstag caucus. As the war progressed they were among the most outspoken critics of official party and union policies and the majority of their members joined the USP immediately after the split. They were ready for the revolution in November 1918 and were willing to put theory into practice. The left-wing socialists in Solingen, Remscheid and Düsseldorf did not shrink from establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat and were ready to support the transformation of Germany into a socialist society. But less than a month after the revolution, the British occupation authorities had silenced the more radical parts of the Lower Rhine. In Düsseldorf the left wing remained in command and sharply criticised the course the revolution took under the SPD leadership. Gradually more and more Independent Socialists realised that the revolution had failed and that a new start had to be made. The revolution in Düsseldorf continued under the leadership of the left-wing USP and the communists until the city was occupied by government troops at the end of February.
