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Germany: From Revolution to Counter-Revolution
From 1918 to 1933 revolution and counter-revolution followed hot on each others’ heels. The barbarity of the Nazis is well-documented. Less well-known are the events that preceded Hitler’s rise to power.
Rob Sewell gives a picture of the tumultuous events - the 1918 revolution, the collapse of the Kaiser’s regime, the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, the Kapp putsch in 1920, the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 and the ensuing revolutionary upheavals culminating in the abortive Hamburg uprising, finally Hitler’s rise to power in 1929-33.
Above all this book shows in the decisive and tragic role of the German workers’ leadership the answer to one of the key questions of the modern era: How was it possible for the mightiest labour movement in Europe to be trampled under the iron heel of fascism?
This edition features several new articles by Rob Sewell, including an analysis of the pre-revolutionary situation Britain faced in 1919.
Rob Sewell gives a picture of the tumultuous events - the 1918 revolution, the collapse of the Kaiser’s regime, the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, the Kapp putsch in 1920, the French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 and the ensuing revolutionary upheavals culminating in the abortive Hamburg uprising, finally Hitler’s rise to power in 1929-33.
Above all this book shows in the decisive and tragic role of the German workers’ leadership the answer to one of the key questions of the modern era: How was it possible for the mightiest labour movement in Europe to be trampled under the iron heel of fascism?
This edition features several new articles by Rob Sewell, including an analysis of the pre-revolutionary situation Britain faced in 1919.
142 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 26, 2025
Informative and detailed
It is a very informative book, well researched and well written. The glossary was very helpful in sorting out all the different factions in play during this period. It seems that a lack of leadership and cohesion with the various splinters stunted their potential of fulfillment of their purpose and vision.
It is a very informative book, well researched and well written. The glossary was very helpful in sorting out all the different factions in play during this period. It seems that a lack of leadership and cohesion with the various splinters stunted their potential of fulfillment of their purpose and vision.
June 25, 2023
Excellent insight into this stormy period in German history. Exposes the betrayals and inadequacies of the Social democrats and Stalinists in squandering the revolutionary potential of one of the strongest working classes in the world. Valuable lessons for any revolutionary.
November 21, 2023
Concise and accesible introduction and overview of the period. I have the longer version of this book plus Jan Valtin's memoir on my tbr in order to deepen my knowledge on this subject.
August 12, 2021
read selected chapters on marxists.org
pretty accessible, probably would have understood some sections better if i'd had better knowledge of Trotsky/Lenin/Bolshevism. overall a great portrait of the struggle of the communists and the workers from WW1 to the hyperinflation crisis and its aftermath. very interesting to learn about the uprisings from a leftist point of view.
pretty accessible, probably would have understood some sections better if i'd had better knowledge of Trotsky/Lenin/Bolshevism. overall a great portrait of the struggle of the communists and the workers from WW1 to the hyperinflation crisis and its aftermath. very interesting to learn about the uprisings from a leftist point of view.
May 13, 2025
REREAD REVIEW: Upon reread, have a pretty similar opinion as the first time I read it. Annoying partisan toward Trotsky, but still a very handy crash course on the subject. Kind of interesting/cool to read this two years later and, after having read up more on the subject for the book I'm writing about the time period, have a much stronger grasp of the stuff it's covering.
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Germany had arguably the strongest socialist movement in the entire world in the early 1900s. How, then, did socialism fail there while succeeding in Russia? And how did a country with such a strong socialist movement not only fail to achieve socialism, but fall to fascism? This short book is about the failed 1918-19 German Revolution, its aftermath, Germany during the 1920s, and of course the unfortunate ascent of fascism at the beginning of the 1930s. Sewell gives his own take on all of the questions that arise from such a fascinating, important, dire time period.
Sewell is a dyed in the wool Trotskyite. I don't have a problem with that- I don't have a particular defined tendency as a socialist, and I've read some Trot stuff before that I've liked- but Sewell is uncompromising. Every figure, organization, or political bloc who makes a decision that went against Trotsky's line is either a reformist traitor, ultra-left adventurist, Stalinist, or whatever other dismissive term Sewell wants to throw their way. No one, apparently, has ever disagreed with Trotsky/Trotskyite thinking and had good points.
But any good student of history knows that every historical work has its own thesis/subsequent bias and that your task is to read while taking that perspective into account, rather than just dismissing it entirely. After all, there is no such thing as an untainted, perfectly objective history existing somewhere out there in the wild. So, reading this book with a critical eye, I found in incredibly useful.
The book is great at being concise while still providing a class-informed, pro-worker account of everything happening during this time. It was illuminating for me. The only reason I give this 4 stars, as opposed to 5, is that his aforementioned bias is so strong that I barely get a sense of where the interesting fissures and areas of debatable interpretation are for this time period. It's hard to know what most leftwing historians/analysts would agree upon and what is a specifically Trot interpretation of everything, since Sewell states everything with such certainty. The only debate I could pick up on is if the 1923 planned German worker uprising could've succeeded or not, since Sewell spent so much time defending his argument that it could have.
Still, overall, I definitely found this a useful and worthwhile read. Next I'll be reading a more standard liberal, rather than leftist, history of the same time period (though the focus will be more on the rise of the fascists; I'm not sure what part, if any, the 1918-19 German Revolution will play in this next book). It'll be interesting to see how the two books compare!
ORIGINAL REVIEW: Germany had arguably the strongest socialist movement in the entire world in the early 1900s. How, then, did socialism fail there while succeeding in Russia? And how did a country with such a strong socialist movement not only fail to achieve socialism, but fall to fascism? This short book is about the failed 1918-19 German Revolution, its aftermath, Germany during the 1920s, and of course the unfortunate ascent of fascism at the beginning of the 1930s. Sewell gives his own take on all of the questions that arise from such a fascinating, important, dire time period.
Sewell is a dyed in the wool Trotskyite. I don't have a problem with that- I don't have a particular defined tendency as a socialist, and I've read some Trot stuff before that I've liked- but Sewell is uncompromising. Every figure, organization, or political bloc who makes a decision that went against Trotsky's line is either a reformist traitor, ultra-left adventurist, Stalinist, or whatever other dismissive term Sewell wants to throw their way. No one, apparently, has ever disagreed with Trotsky/Trotskyite thinking and had good points.
But any good student of history knows that every historical work has its own thesis/subsequent bias and that your task is to read while taking that perspective into account, rather than just dismissing it entirely. After all, there is no such thing as an untainted, perfectly objective history existing somewhere out there in the wild. So, reading this book with a critical eye, I found in incredibly useful.
The book is great at being concise while still providing a class-informed, pro-worker account of everything happening during this time. It was illuminating for me. The only reason I give this 4 stars, as opposed to 5, is that his aforementioned bias is so strong that I barely get a sense of where the interesting fissures and areas of debatable interpretation are for this time period. It's hard to know what most leftwing historians/analysts would agree upon and what is a specifically Trot interpretation of everything, since Sewell states everything with such certainty. The only debate I could pick up on is if the 1923 planned German worker uprising could've succeeded or not, since Sewell spent so much time defending his argument that it could have.
Still, overall, I definitely found this a useful and worthwhile read. Next I'll be reading a more standard liberal, rather than leftist, history of the same time period (though the focus will be more on the rise of the fascists; I'm not sure what part, if any, the 1918-19 German Revolution will play in this next book). It'll be interesting to see how the two books compare!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews