Threat of the left

• The threat of the left, and a communist revolution, also helped the Weimar Republic survive.
• Russian Revolution of October 1917 filled the extreme left with hope and the rest of Germany with fear.
• Lenin's revolution in Russia established a Communist government that took property away from the rich and violently suppressed its political enemies.
• German communists hoped to create their own October Revolution.
• The 1919 Spartacist uprising and the 1920 Ruhr uprising showed that there was a genuine threat from the communist left in Germany.
• The Ebert-Groener Pact:

  SPD worked with conservatives and nationalists to ensure the survival of the new government .
• The Ebert-Groener Pact:

  Ebert reached a deal with army chief Wilhelm Groener that the army would defend the new republic from the revolutionary left.
• The Ebert-Groener Pact:


  Groener did not support democracy
• The Ebert-Groener Pact:

  He entered the agreement with Ebert for 2 reasons

  1 - he wanted to end the communist threat

  2 - Ebert promised to respect the independence of the army
• The Ebert-Groener Pact:

  The pact secured the future of the new regime during the early 1920s.
• The Ebert-Groener Pact:

  The army was unreformed and the government missed an opportunity to deal with highly powerful organisation that was opposed to democracy.
• The Freikorps:

  Following WW1 German soldiers were demobilised.
• The Freikorps:

  Faced with the threat of revolution, the demobilised soldiers formed the Freikorps, an anti-communist force of volunteers.
• The Freikorps:

  Were not a political party, but in general they were motivated by r/w nationalists and anti-democratic political goals.
• The Freikorps:

  They fought to preserve the republic from communism, as they preferred democracy to communism.
• The Freikorps:

  Fought alongside the army and helped crush the Spartacist uprising and the 1920 Ruhr uprising.
• The Freikorps:

  Their actions saved the Republic in the short term, they were destabilising in the long-term.
• The Freikorps:

  Their actions had widespread support.
• The Freikorps:

  They helped to legitimise the use of political violence, and the use of nationalist violence against the political left.
• Popular support:

  Threat from the left led to significant support for the 3 main pro-Weimar political parties.
• Popular support:

  January 1919 they gained 76.2% of the vote.
• Popular support:

  This reflected a desire to support the regime against the threat of communist revolution.
• Popular support:

  Support for these parties continued in subsequent elections between 1920 and 1930, the 1919 election was their high point.
• Popular support:

  As the communist threat receded, support for pro-Weimar parties diminished and they failed to get a majority of the vote again after 1919.