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Germany in Dissolution
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
340 pages, Hardcover
Published November 18, 2015
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February 19, 2022
Germany's 1918-19 revolution was one of the world's most decisive events, but it failed, and is now almost forgotten. Every personal account of it is precious. Here is one from a British patriot.
Percy Brown was a journalist during World War One, interned in Germany then released by the revolution, which left him free to explore the turmoil in the ravaged country. His journalistic anecdotes are interesting and colourful, though somewhat apocryphal. He had no serious connection to the immense struggles taking place within the workers’ movement (for that I would recommend Harman’s The Lost Revolution or Pelz's People's History of the German Revolution), so his insights had to rely on interviews with elite figures.
For Brown, the German rising was mainly just fluff, never coming near to shaking the hold of the old Junker rulers. He was fond of the revolutionary Karl Liebknecht and his followers, but patronising: “I pitied them as I saw them innocently falling in line with the plans of their masters who, for the time being, were retiring behind the scenes.”
Elsewhere he reports a meeting with a member of one of Germany's revolutionary sailors councils: “don’t think," the man told Brown, that "we want to see a revolution in England, the pivot rock of Europe and the birthplace of democracy… England can put new life into her neighbours and help us all.” This certainly seems to be the author’s view; by contrast, he says, the German masses were “drilled and schooled into servile obedience”.
Percy Brown was a journalist during World War One, interned in Germany then released by the revolution, which left him free to explore the turmoil in the ravaged country. His journalistic anecdotes are interesting and colourful, though somewhat apocryphal. He had no serious connection to the immense struggles taking place within the workers’ movement (for that I would recommend Harman’s The Lost Revolution or Pelz's People's History of the German Revolution), so his insights had to rely on interviews with elite figures.
For Brown, the German rising was mainly just fluff, never coming near to shaking the hold of the old Junker rulers. He was fond of the revolutionary Karl Liebknecht and his followers, but patronising: “I pitied them as I saw them innocently falling in line with the plans of their masters who, for the time being, were retiring behind the scenes.”
Elsewhere he reports a meeting with a member of one of Germany's revolutionary sailors councils: “don’t think," the man told Brown, that "we want to see a revolution in England, the pivot rock of Europe and the birthplace of democracy… England can put new life into her neighbours and help us all.” This certainly seems to be the author’s view; by contrast, he says, the German masses were “drilled and schooled into servile obedience”.
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