This is part 3 of my video series on the German revolution. I was originally planning to make more, but I need to take a break, and decided to end it at 3 for now. I'm sorry to anyone this disappoints. I went through the period of counter-revolution very quickly, and there's a lot more to say about the Bavarian Soviet Republic, the March strikes, etc. and a lot more to cover in general all the way to 1923, from the Ruhr Uprising to the Hamburg Uprising, and from an international perspective, things like the founding of the Communist International. If there's enough interest, I might make videos on these events in the future, or at least talk about them in a livestream. This is a very depressing video, but the events it covers are extremely important to understand and learn from, and I hope that you will find motivation to keep the legacy and spirit of Rosa and Karl alive, despite it all. Thank you for watching!
This is the most in-depth well put together documentary about a subject that is barely talked about in our society, that will be watched by thousands if not millions of people who otherwise would never have heard of it. You didn’t need to make this for us but you did. As a former right winger, your vids have had more of an impact on me and my politics than anything else on the internet, and I think Many others will have had similar experiences. You take a break. you more than deserve it
Please, at some point, make a video on the Holocaust's effects/mass killings on the Left, not just in Germany, but as the Nazis took their slaughter abroad.
Thanks for publishing this video on the first of may, the internacional day of working class. In my country, Uruguay, it's a very significant day. We gather with family and eat "asado" for the celebration. I will enjoy the video to night. Sorry for the bad managed of english and thanks agen. All over the world there are people convinced in the need of a revolutionary change and thinking and acting for it. ¡Arriba los que luchan!
"In the dark times. Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times." Wonderfully somber examination of an underrepresented period which even in Germany is usually kept under the rug. Recent school books here shortened it to a few sentences as a prelude to the destruction of the Weimar Republic. The biting irony!
Not be simplistic, but sometimes I get the distint feeling that every single problem of my life would not exist (or be greatly reduced) if the SPD had not cowardly betrayed the working class
Watching from Africa and age 50 I am immensely grateful for this video. My world history knowledge was full of clutters. There were big gaps and disjointed bits and pieces. So now I know where everything had originated from the terms communism, social democracy, proletariat ,capitalism Bourgeoisie, nobility and aristocracy. It was surprising to see that Germany is the epicentre rather than Russia. Thanks
Fun fact to your last sentence, at the time, almost everyone expected and were convinced that the proletarian world revolution would start and dominate in either Germany or France or both and that Russia and/or England would be the most reactionary and counterrevolutionary nations. People were incredibly surprised when the roles switched with Germany becoming fascist and Russia the Socialist bulwark of the world. The communists were also incredibly depressed that it turned out this way and though we were lucky that the Soviets (and not to forget the Chinese!) saved us from German and Japanese fascism, even the Bolsheviks failed ultimately and regressed back into Capitalism, not too dissimilar compared to the SPD.
This has been one of the best series on youtube. The German revolution is pretty much unknown in my part of America, but its history is so crucial for everyone anywhere in the "developed" world.
Learning about the failures of the German Revolution, and the Syndicalists of Italy, were what finally convinced me to read Lenin. lol. I could no longer pretend a disorganized / decentralized movement could succeed organically against the centralized forces of a counter revolution. I think knowing these histories are important for anyone who leans into left politics. It teaches you, through the practical experience of others, that leaving things up to chance will end poorly. The reactionaries won't have any qualms about using that power to crush you.
Not only you did an outstanding synthesis of the German Revolution, with its contradictions, virtues and fatal errrors, but you concluded it with a very lucid message, one that transcends but also feeds our hope as individuals: as long as there's exploitation, there will be struggle, rebellion, revolution, and people to happily fight for them. Thank you very much for your incredible work, Jonas!
From the perspective of communists in our era, even the smallest communist organisations seems motivating because we are so used to extremely lack lustre organisations. So I really feel you on this.
@@plato8427 I'm not a communist/Marxist, but I would identify as a leftist, so I am sympathetic towards the left in these situations. As in the German revolution, the right does does not posses any conscience, they're already alienated from humanity, and will do whatever it takes to oppress the majority, and stay in power. Knowing this, is why I think revolutions in China, Russia, etc, they succeeded because they truly knew what the right was, they knew the cost of failure over there. The elites are not your allies, they don't operate the same as the the rest of us. That's why in these civil wars, it's a kill or be killed mentality, and it's usually adopted if you want a W. So yeah, honestly if Luxemburg and the commies over there succeeded, they'd probably have prevented the rise of fascism in Germany. This is also why monarchies suck, because almost every revolution took place in one, because they're relics of past political systems, and they should've already been abolished, that shit has no place in the modern era. Not even UK should have that shit either. It's a fucking disgusting thing.
It is Hannes Wader. He was a very popular singer during the 1970ies and 80ies. I loved him as a youth. Here you are all the songs: ruclips.net/video/z5BFZCFw3yk/видео.html
Man I was sobbing, literally had to stop eating, get up, and recollect myself. Never thought this video would be like that, just wanted to have something to watch while eating, expecting the typical video essay experience. None of his previous videos was this emotional
the main issue was that workers had no desire to make a communist revolution, no matter how much the radical newspapers told them. it was never a viable fetus, so no chance of birth.
Poignant, insightful, well organized and a completely gut wrenching and fearless inventory of the heartbreaking failure of this movement. I felt myself visibly sober at the amount of organizing work still left, and I felt rightly emotionally slapped across the face by Rosa's final words. I don't say this lightly to literally anyone, but you're a vitally important resource in class struggle today Jonas and I thank you humbly for your labors comrade
@@mclovin9165 what "pureness", she was a chauvinistic bigot who was against national self-determination in a world dominated by huge colonial empires. She collided with Lenin on this. Had her position won the socialist camp would not have helped the Vietnamese or the Angolan or any other people because they would have seen as "petit burgeoise national chauvinistic movements" just as she did with the poles and the other opressed peoples in the russian empire. Thankfully as I've said Lenin won in the end so decolonization was led by socialism and not hindered by her shitty easily coopted arguments
It’s wild how the same group of men - the Freikorps - who were mentally and physically destroyed by the state and its wars, felt compelled to defend that same state against people who were fighting to save even them.
@@einfachignorieren6156 Class impoverishes the people materially as well as personally, and states are instruments of exclusion designed to benefit the minorities in power rather than anyone else. The nation was nothing more than an attempt to put a friendly face to something that was designed to destroy you.
propaganda is wild fr. The overcoming of reactonary ideas is why the Cultural Revolution was done. dialectical materialism describes ideas and matter to be constantly influencing each other, and capitalism beeing necessary for the transition from feudalism to socialism not only because of the lack of forces of production (which is why Lenin hoped that germanies stronger industrial base would help for the transition, instead of using capitalism temporarily as the Menshevics suggested), but also because of the mindset and the ideological superstructure, which needs to be shaped by the base for a sufficient amount of time to get ready for the next phase, which Mao wanted to skip with the Cultural revolution We need to seize the memes and do more agitprop/present socialism individually as the solution to one’s problems to convince the masses, ig
1:09:22 "To be human is the main thing above all else. And that means to be firm and clear and cheerful, yes cheerful in spite of everything and anything, because weeping is the business of the weak. To be a human being means joyfully to toss your entire life in the giant scales of fate if it must be so, and at the same time to rejoice in the brightness of every day and the beauty of every cloud... The world is so beautiful in all its horror, and would be even more beautiful if there were no weaklings and cowards in it." I hope I never forget these words. "The world is so beautiful in all its horror": what could that possibly mean? And yet who but the most deeply human person could have thought or said such a thing? Rosa is someone about whom I knew virtually nothing until recently, having only heard her referred to as an influential Marxist from the early 20th century. (And I never heard of Karl at all until this video series.) I'm from the US, where socialism, but even more communism and Marxism, were dirty words until very recently, i.e., the past ten years or so, though I guess the seeds of the present revival go back to 2008. It genuinely pains me to realize how long I've gone with blinders on about capitalism and Marxist analysis in general. Yet I considered myself a radical from a young age. But I had always heard only the worst about the Soviet Union, and Marxism was always presented simply as a kind of failed millenarian cult, some oddballs who had predicted a utopia that turned out to be a nightmare. (And of course many still think this way.) I always assumed the only way any reasonable person could advocate for radical change was through legislative change, hopefully more and more radical over time. Like most American liberals today, I regarded the US civil rights movement as the only possible model for social change. I clearly remember an incident, maybe around 2009, where there was a socialist group in Baltimore City, where I lived then, that had put up a table at some public fair. And a young guy started talking to me about socialism -- I was very skeptical and assumed he was just another party member of one of those weird groups with 200 members and a newspaper constantly predicting World Revolution was happening any day now. But I didn't have an answer for his arguments that capitalism must end, so his words planted a seed. In any case I now think more than ever that re-discovering Marxism is probably the single most important thing the left can do today. It's the only thing that even begins to make sense of the world as it is. I'm so grateful to this channel for helping that happen, though I know it's not your main goal. What a wonderful series of videos! Keep up the good work.
One more thing: I don't have an opinion on your making more videos about the German revolution, though if you do I will certainly watch them. But it's up to you. I will say I'd be very interested to see you talk in some depth about the ongoing significance of the German revolution and the thinking of Rosa, Karl, and the others. The parallels between various aspects of the German revolution and current events are quite obvious: liberal alliances with fascism and the ongoing suppression of socialism with extreme violence have become the norm. Plus the description of the problems with the Soviet Union seem incredibly prescient, and provide what strikes me as a very important guideline for understanding the significance of the Soviet experiment to this day. And the fact that those problems were identified by sympathetic communists so early gives us a very useful apologetic tool (if I may use such a term) for responding to those who use the Soviets as a reason for rejecting socialism. Basically: it was known almost from the very start that the Bolsheviks faced an uphill battle; their failures are not even a little bit surprising. The real surprise is that they had any success at all in moving towards an authentic socialist system. But these are just my thoughts, and I'm an ignoramus. It would be fascinating to see you dig into all this with more depth and rigor than I could ever do.
Thank you so much, Jonas. I can't overstate how much your videos have taught me and helped me reflect, and this series specifically has been very iluminating intellectually (I had basically no idea about any of these events) but also deeply emotionally impactful. Amazing editing, congratulations!
The way this was carried out and your comment at how centralized the violence was and only carried out in their assurance of power reminds me of how this has repeatedly played out with counterrevolutions in Latin America
Thank you for all your hard work putting these 3 videos together making a tremendously resource available for those seeking a better understanding of this oft overlooked or obscured pivotal event in the history of the 20th century. More content like this is needed and I hope you continue to with more contributions on your channel in the future. Many thanks! 👍
Would definitely love to see this series continued. I think I have a shed a tear at some point in every single episode so far, but left enthused rather than despondent.
I've got nothing to add except that someone called Ebert the Social Democratic Stalin. I'd say he's more like Social Democratic Obama, but far more ruthless and collaborative with the right. "Uhhhhh let me be clear Germany: if you like your councils, you can keep them"
RIP it's really sad catching a glimpse of what could have been, and then the other horrors we know too well that followed. There might never be a real left that close to power at a pivotal time and place in history again.
Can you imagine the socialist Germany and what and influence it would have been on the western world? Other then the Bolsheviks and Russia and China, the Central European power being Communist and democratic and not totally centralized. I bet though the rest of the west would have still found a way to vilify Germany. Capitalist and imperialist UK and USA etc would find it to be an even greater threat, than fascism for sure.
I finished the series with tears in my eyes, but a even stronger conviction that the only alternative is to be part of the fight for the struggle for socialism
Thank you very much for making this video. It's very well made and packed with information, very much new to me and incredibly useful. I had for instance no knowledge of fascism being so significantly pronounced that early. The photos and footage are brilliant.
Well-done and interesting. I only knew about Rosa Luxemburg through 'Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century' by Greil Marcus, which starts with the Sex Pistols but also looks at this milieu in terms of the Dadaists. Now I know a bit more. Thanks.
People who criticize the Germans for WWII don't know this story. It's heartbreaking. I feel if the workers hadn't been betrayed would WWII have happened? This is so sad.
Man the animalistic nature of the freikorps really makes you wonder if they have any business calling anyone but themselves subhuman. Obviously the bourgeoisie SPD deserves the blame for letting such animals out of their cages, at least they have the ability to decide over morals and ethics, or understand them whatsoever.
Thank you Jonas we all gonna be back to this topic, not cause you made one of your great videos but because the days will become brighter and everything will come to fruition comrade.
Fascinating! Makes you wonder about the mentality in the period of the turn of the century, 19th to 20th, what was happening in in art and graphic style, first motion pictures, physics, etc. A good partner to this video series might be the centennial performance of the Rite of Spring ballet, here on RUclips. It’s pretty wild to think of methodically attempting the overthrow capitalism when you consider a hope of a revolution so deep that money, itself could be eliminated.
1:16:15 - Of course, I would like more videos of German Revolution! I would recommend a collaboration with Daniel from What Is Politics? in some way. You two are very talented creating long but insightful videos.
Thank you so much for this three part emotional rollercoaster. This has definitely helped me and many others to better our analysis of this German Revolution.
Danke, Tchüss! You have change me, as a human and how I view the world. Despite it all! Danke, Rosa Luxembourg und Karl Liebnecht!!!! Danke! We will carry on the program that'll lead us to salvation!!! One hundred years later and we are in a new oppression! Danke!
she was against democracy (knowing her communists would never win a majority in elections) and therefor favored a violent power takeover ... which was not successful and she herself died a violent death in these events. For all who draw the sword will die by the sword
20:37 It really looks like a quote from Lenin btw, here is what Lenin said: "I ask calmly and categorically which is better, to imprison several scores or hundreds of instigators, guilty or innocent, deliberate or unwitting, or lose thousands of Red Army men and workers? The first is better. I don’t care. whether I am accused of committing every mortal sin imaginable and of violating liberties, I plead guilty, but the interests of the workers will be furthered" It can be found in his speech "Plenary Meeting Of The All-Russia Central Coucncil Of Trade Unions" of the April 11, 1919
Even though I am not politically aligned with socialism, I really enjoyed your series on this. High quality research and storytelling. Thank you for a great watch
@@conzmoleman Well let's say both my views and interests are not aligned with communism. They're not diametricly opposed, but after making calculations I came to the conclusion that I will be better off in current system. We can talk about it and yes, you can work for a wage and be better off in capitalism than socialism/communism. It's a very specific situation not applicable for the most people, but in my case it makes sense.
Great video! The unprecedented violence of the counter-revolution, which far surpassed the repression socialists experienced under czarist Russia and imperial Germany, explains why social-democracy was seen as social-fascism in the 1920s and 1930s. This was profoundly mistaken and instrumental in the rise of the Nazi Party, but also undestandable.
It's a good video, but it does one niche mistake a lot of videos do when covering the rough time period, which often slips through the cracks: Leaving the name "Freikorps" untranslated, though it means "volunteer regiment" in English, serves a tradition of mystifying the concept as a uniquely German thing. That is even though volunteer regiments are a thing & do tend to have the same far-right ties everywhere. It's a kind of mysticism that is often intentionally done by our enemies, the nazis, as a way to either glorify their past in Germany as a form of Exceptionalism & sometimes to deny their history of violence outside of Germany.
This comment is the brain rot that made me give up on leftism Arguing over meaningless bullshit actual working class people don't give a shit about. Elitism veiled.
Very poignant to see so much potential flaming out like that. Alas, it was, to a great extent, the maladroitness and ingenuity of the likes of Luxemburg and Liebknecht that squandered this revolutionary juncture. While Rosa extolled some sort of naïve diversity within the movement, the fascists were organizing. Hence Lenin's conciseness of advice. The enemy does not rest. They don't care how jaded or incongruous their ranks may be. They're not waiting for the right time to act, only for their bellic machinery to be aimed at their target. The fascists don't dialogue. They organize. And in the end, if any sort of democracy is to be achieved, decisive action must be made in time to accoutre the revolution against its unwavering enemy.
I wouldn't call Rosa's ideal of diversity in the communist movement naive. It was optimistic, but not naive. The reason such optimism was possible for her was because she believed in the imminence of world revolution, as did most revolutionary Marxists at the time. What we got instead was due to the failure of world revolution.
@@jonasceikaCCK Of course, youre right. I typed that somewhat spitefully while in the throes of pessimism. The failure of the revolution cannot be blamed on any one individual or group. Still, I wonder what could have been done about it. I get this sinking feeling that Bolshevik praxis should have been more of a beacon to Europeans than it seems to have been then, or even now.
The German communists were drawing from the Bolsheviks a lot, and saw them as an inspiration, but their conditions were also a lot more difficult. The bourgeoisie in Germany were a lot stronger and more well-organized than the bourgeoisie in Russia, and they were also a lot sharper and more alert after witnessing the Russian revolution.
@@jonasceikaCCK who wouldnt be opposed, death, starvation, murder, rape Plunder, destruction. Classes are unatural, people, races and nation however are natural, and people will alway be drawn more to it than this communism bullshit.
I do work on a small channel called Text of the Matter. We address many of the same subjects that you do. If you are ever available for an interview, I would love the opportunity. Fantastic work as always.
Dear Jonas, what do you think of "Philasophize this" podcast? Someone recommended it. I wanted to get your view of it because I don't want to waste my time. I respect you and your world view. In fact I consider myself a socialist (originally from Iran) and I am a human rights activist (I know the problems with that term) basically trying to activise people to support BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel) in the US.
I love the wealthy people in the comments, "that's what you get for being a damn commie", as if the alternative life they would have led had any value. Death as a freedom fighter is preferable to a life of misery. The wealthy class would not die for anything but maybe their small children. If you impoverish people, don't be surprised when they clap back. And nobody who challenges power so directly is surprised when that violence would be inflicted upon them. Look at the George Floyd uprisings in the US. After you face enough abuse, you accept that death fighting for your life is preferable to death in service of a master. I love when people try indimidating and threatening communists, as if the class war against their lives wasn't already active before they were even born. I became a communist after several suicide attempts and hospitalizations, and after facing a decade of demonization for being trans. You think I don't know there are people who want me dead? That was true long before I became a commie. F around and find out, that's what we are about. And we may die in that battle, but that is better than doing it to ourselves and you get a chance of winning. By all means, come at me with your threats and your intimidation. It will only motivate me to fight harder. Don't want me to side with the political party that oppressed your entire nation? Maybe create a better world and I wouldn't need an ideological self defense mechanism. I'm sorry communists oppressed your nation, but I'm still a Christian and a Buddhist despite the wrongs committed by people with such beliefs. You can't change what I've experienced and what I hold dear as personal values, morals and ethics, by pointing to a single power struggle that class war waged by people with little to lose against people with a lot to lose. The reoccurring these of history seems to be, meet people's needs or they will absolutely destroy each other trying to get them met. And meeting people's needs as an ideal is fundemntally anti-capitalist. A raw hatred for fighting and violence wasn't how my country gained it's freedom. Communists weren't pacifists, and that's what people don't like, what I didn't like about radical political ideologies. Until I did like it. Until I realized I was enacting violence on myself on behalf of a system that wants me on my knees begging for mercy. I've flipped the script. I won't be needy and I'll be a martyr. So threaten me all you like. Get that angst out of you. I can handle it. It's nothing really.
Very well sourced video, i normally dont find so well sourced english speaking videos on the topic. The only thing id wish for is a bit more details on the freikorps, just painting them with one brush is running the danger of not showing why they there accepted. Not every freikorps was Stahlhelm after all, far from a homegenous group You had once which were way better for freikorps "PR" like the Freikorps lettow Vorbeck, a unit with a signifcant amount of black soliders, them often bringing order to places in chaos in post revolutionary Germany in absence of state power. That was appreicated by the people who were rather apoltical giving them backing in the population. Leftist organisation failed at that, the RFB being a prime example, focusing on propaganda instead of helping the people, often even opposing each other and being busy with bickering with each other. That was the case with many freikorps groups as well, but they were ready to put their differenes aside often (Mayor exception being the Kapp Coup, the movement changed with many moderate voices stepping down in the 1920s) and could keep the acceptance of their cause flourishing. One has to learn from their enemies after all.
This is part 3 of my video series on the German revolution. I was originally planning to make more, but I need to take a break, and decided to end it at 3 for now. I'm sorry to anyone this disappoints. I went through the period of counter-revolution very quickly, and there's a lot more to say about the Bavarian Soviet Republic, the March strikes, etc. and a lot more to cover in general all the way to 1923, from the Ruhr Uprising to the Hamburg Uprising, and from an international perspective, things like the founding of the Communist International. If there's enough interest, I might make videos on these events in the future, or at least talk about them in a livestream.
This is a very depressing video, but the events it covers are extremely important to understand and learn from, and I hope that you will find motivation to keep the legacy and spirit of Rosa and Karl alive, despite it all.
Thank you for watching!
This is the most in-depth well put together documentary about a subject that is barely talked about in our society, that will be watched by thousands if not millions of people who otherwise would never have heard of it.
You didn’t need to make this for us but you did.
As a former right winger, your vids have had more of an impact on me and my politics than anything else on the internet, and I think Many others will have had similar experiences. You take a break. you more than deserve it
Please, at some point, make a video on the Holocaust's effects/mass killings on the Left, not just in Germany, but as the Nazis took their slaughter abroad.
Thanks for publishing this video on the first of may, the internacional day of working class. In my country, Uruguay, it's a very significant day. We gather with family and eat "asado" for the celebration. I will enjoy the video to night. Sorry for the bad managed of english and thanks agen. All over the world there are people convinced in the need of a revolutionary change and thinking and acting for it. ¡Arriba los que luchan!
Fantastic series. Thank you
Yes, please make more videos on these topics, perhaps later discussing the formation of fascism and nazism.
"In the dark times. Will there also be singing? Yes, there will also be singing. About the dark times." Wonderfully somber examination of an underrepresented period which even in Germany is usually kept under the rug. Recent school books here shortened it to a few sentences as a prelude to the destruction of the Weimar Republic. The biting irony!
Brecht. We sing his songs all the time...
Not be simplistic, but sometimes I get the distint feeling that every single problem of my life would not exist (or be greatly reduced) if the SPD had not cowardly betrayed the working class
I feel you
But the psychopaths always win and they are generally not working class
I had this thought a few years ago around the centenary of these events.
Or... you might be worse off if they didn't crush the revolution... or you might not even exist (which might be a good thing)
And they still do it today; it's a shame.
Watching from Africa and age 50 I am immensely grateful for this video. My world history knowledge was full of clutters. There were big gaps and disjointed bits and pieces. So now I know where everything had originated from the terms communism, social democracy, proletariat ,capitalism Bourgeoisie, nobility and aristocracy. It was surprising to see that Germany is the epicentre rather than Russia. Thanks
Fun fact to your last sentence, at the time, almost everyone expected and were convinced that the proletarian world revolution would start and dominate in either Germany or France or both and that Russia and/or England would be the most reactionary and counterrevolutionary nations. People were incredibly surprised when the roles switched with Germany becoming fascist and Russia the Socialist bulwark of the world. The communists were also incredibly depressed that it turned out this way and though we were lucky that the Soviets (and not to forget the Chinese!) saved us from German and Japanese fascism, even the Bolsheviks failed ultimately and regressed back into Capitalism, not too dissimilar compared to the SPD.
This has been one of the best series on youtube. The German revolution is pretty much unknown in my part of America, but its history is so crucial for everyone anywhere in the "developed" world.
I hope we get a russian revolution vid next
yeah, I'm German and I my school hardly mentioned this in history class
Learning about the failures of the German Revolution, and the Syndicalists of Italy, were what finally convinced me to read Lenin. lol. I could no longer pretend a disorganized / decentralized movement could succeed organically against the centralized forces of a counter revolution. I think knowing these histories are important for anyone who leans into left politics. It teaches you, through the practical experience of others, that leaving things up to chance will end poorly. The reactionaries won't have any qualms about using that power to crush you.
We didn't learn a thing about it in our history class and I live in Germany.
Bet it mentioned alot of anti nazi propaganda though right?
Not only you did an outstanding synthesis of the German Revolution, with its contradictions, virtues and fatal errrors, but you concluded it with a very lucid message, one that transcends but also feeds our hope as individuals: as long as there's exploitation, there will be struggle, rebellion, revolution, and people to happily fight for them. Thank you very much for your incredible work, Jonas!
Despite the tragedy of it all, learning about this history is strangely motivating - thank you for the excellent analysis!
From the perspective of communists in our era, even the smallest communist organisations seems motivating because we are so used to extremely lack lustre organisations. So I really feel you on this.
@@plato8427 I'm not a communist/Marxist, but I would identify as a leftist, so I am sympathetic towards the left in these situations. As in the German revolution, the right does does not posses any conscience, they're already alienated from humanity, and will do whatever it takes to oppress the majority, and stay in power. Knowing this, is why I think revolutions in China, Russia, etc, they succeeded because they truly knew what the right was, they knew the cost of failure over there. The elites are not your allies, they don't operate the same as the the rest of us. That's why in these civil wars, it's a kill or be killed mentality, and it's usually adopted if you want a W. So yeah, honestly if Luxemburg and the commies over there succeeded, they'd probably have prevented the rise of fascism in Germany. This is also why monarchies suck, because almost every revolution took place in one, because they're relics of past political systems, and they should've already been abolished, that shit has no place in the modern era. Not even UK should have that shit either. It's a fucking disgusting thing.
The tragedy was the existence of anarchical commies
What's so tragic about Germany being saved from falling into the most vile, bloodthirsty form of government the world has ever known?
@loqutor We'll never know, as the Nazis weren't prevented from taking power
The "Auf auf zum Kampf" outro had me in tears. The revolution is dead, long live the revolution!
It is Hannes Wader. He was a very popular singer during the 1970ies and 80ies. I loved him as a youth. Here you are all the songs:
ruclips.net/video/z5BFZCFw3yk/видео.html
Man I was sobbing, literally had to stop eating, get up, and recollect myself. Never thought this video would be like that, just wanted to have something to watch while eating, expecting the typical video essay experience. None of his previous videos was this emotional
the main issue was that workers had no desire to make a communist revolution, no matter how much the radical newspapers told them. it was never a viable fetus, so no chance of birth.
@@roc7880how do you know that? i'd like to read into this
Poignant, insightful, well organized and a completely gut wrenching and fearless inventory of the heartbreaking failure of this movement. I felt myself visibly sober at the amount of organizing work still left, and I felt rightly emotionally slapped across the face by Rosa's final words. I don't say this lightly to literally anyone, but you're a vitally important resource in class struggle today Jonas and I thank you humbly for your labors comrade
Indeed, this is such resourceful information for the working classes around the world. This three part video was a masterclass.
There is no class struggle.
Holy freaking crap Louis, Lassallean-Menshevik brainrot has reached its highest stage in the form of Friedrich Ebert!
This comment killed me 💀
At least he got punished with gallstones
Complete monster
Always breaks my heart reading about how badly Rosa & Karl underestimated the Social Democrats. More dangerous than a kaiser. They were much too pure.
Their pureness is a testimony of working class, socialist and communist movements.
@@mclovin9165 what "pureness", she was a chauvinistic bigot who was against national self-determination in a world dominated by huge colonial empires. She collided with Lenin on this. Had her position won the socialist camp would not have helped the Vietnamese or the Angolan or any other people because they would have seen as "petit burgeoise national chauvinistic movements" just as she did with the poles and the other opressed peoples in the russian empire. Thankfully as I've said Lenin won in the end so decolonization was led by socialism and not hindered by her shitty easily coopted arguments
screw the commies, social democrats were real saviours from both fascism and communism
@@mclovin9165but a cautionary tale. We cannot win power by being pure. To gain political power we must be disciplined and ruthless.
It’s wild how the same group of men - the Freikorps - who were mentally and physically destroyed by the state and its wars, felt compelled to defend that same state against people who were fighting to save even them.
That's mythology for you
Because nation and people are more importend than classes. True socialism is always nationalistic
@@einfachignorieren6156 Class impoverishes the people materially as well as personally, and states are instruments of exclusion designed to benefit the minorities in power rather than anyone else. The nation was nothing more than an attempt to put a friendly face to something that was designed to destroy you.
@@einfachignorieren6156username checks out
propaganda is wild fr. The overcoming of reactonary ideas is why the Cultural Revolution was done.
dialectical materialism describes ideas and matter to be constantly influencing each other, and capitalism beeing necessary for the transition from feudalism to socialism not only because of the lack of forces of production (which is why Lenin hoped that germanies stronger industrial base would help for the transition, instead of using capitalism temporarily as the Menshevics suggested), but also because of the mindset and the ideological superstructure, which needs to be shaped by the base for a sufficient amount of time to get ready for the next phase, which Mao wanted to skip with the Cultural revolution
We need to seize the memes and do more agitprop/present socialism individually as the solution to one’s problems to convince the masses, ig
1:09:22 "To be human is the main thing above all else. And that means to be firm and clear and cheerful, yes cheerful in spite of everything and anything, because weeping is the business of the weak. To be a human being means joyfully to toss your entire life in the giant scales of fate if it must be so, and at the same time to rejoice in the brightness of every day and the beauty of every cloud... The world is so beautiful in all its horror, and would be even more beautiful if there were no weaklings and cowards in it."
I hope I never forget these words. "The world is so beautiful in all its horror": what could that possibly mean? And yet who but the most deeply human person could have thought or said such a thing? Rosa is someone about whom I knew virtually nothing until recently, having only heard her referred to as an influential Marxist from the early 20th century. (And I never heard of Karl at all until this video series.) I'm from the US, where socialism, but even more communism and Marxism, were dirty words until very recently, i.e., the past ten years or so, though I guess the seeds of the present revival go back to 2008. It genuinely pains me to realize how long I've gone with blinders on about capitalism and Marxist analysis in general. Yet I considered myself a radical from a young age. But I had always heard only the worst about the Soviet Union, and Marxism was always presented simply as a kind of failed millenarian cult, some oddballs who had predicted a utopia that turned out to be a nightmare. (And of course many still think this way.) I always assumed the only way any reasonable person could advocate for radical change was through legislative change, hopefully more and more radical over time. Like most American liberals today, I regarded the US civil rights movement as the only possible model for social change.
I clearly remember an incident, maybe around 2009, where there was a socialist group in Baltimore City, where I lived then, that had put up a table at some public fair. And a young guy started talking to me about socialism -- I was very skeptical and assumed he was just another party member of one of those weird groups with 200 members and a newspaper constantly predicting World Revolution was happening any day now. But I didn't have an answer for his arguments that capitalism must end, so his words planted a seed.
In any case I now think more than ever that re-discovering Marxism is probably the single most important thing the left can do today. It's the only thing that even begins to make sense of the world as it is. I'm so grateful to this channel for helping that happen, though I know it's not your main goal. What a wonderful series of videos! Keep up the good work.
One more thing: I don't have an opinion on your making more videos about the German revolution, though if you do I will certainly watch them. But it's up to you. I will say I'd be very interested to see you talk in some depth about the ongoing significance of the German revolution and the thinking of Rosa, Karl, and the others. The parallels between various aspects of the German revolution and current events are quite obvious: liberal alliances with fascism and the ongoing suppression of socialism with extreme violence have become the norm. Plus the description of the problems with the Soviet Union seem incredibly prescient, and provide what strikes me as a very important guideline for understanding the significance of the Soviet experiment to this day. And the fact that those problems were identified by sympathetic communists so early gives us a very useful apologetic tool (if I may use such a term) for responding to those who use the Soviets as a reason for rejecting socialism. Basically: it was known almost from the very start that the Bolsheviks faced an uphill battle; their failures are not even a little bit surprising. The real surprise is that they had any success at all in moving towards an authentic socialist system. But these are just my thoughts, and I'm an ignoramus. It would be fascinating to see you dig into all this with more depth and rigor than I could ever do.
I am very glad to have watched your 3 part series about the German Revolution, learned much from it and look forward to watching your other videos.
This documentary was so absorbing and inspiring to watch. I am so glad that I stumbled upon it.
Thank you so much, Jonas. I can't overstate how much your videos have taught me and helped me reflect, and this series specifically has been very iluminating intellectually (I had basically no idea about any of these events) but also deeply emotionally impactful. Amazing editing, congratulations!
Fantastic video, this deserves to get at least a million views
The way this was carried out and your comment at how centralized the violence was and only carried out in their assurance of power reminds me of how this has repeatedly played out with counterrevolutions in Latin America
This video deserves to have 100M views, bravo comrade
Thank you so much for this series. I am in tears, but firm, and clear, and cheerful.
Thank you for all your hard work putting these 3 videos together making a tremendously resource available for those seeking a better understanding of this oft overlooked or obscured pivotal event in the history of the 20th century. More content like this is needed and I hope you continue to with more contributions on your channel in the future. Many thanks! 👍
Anybody see Emil Eichhorn, his mustache, and being a “Revolutionary Cop” and immediately think Harrier Du Bois from Disco Elysium?
I did!
You handled this beautifully. Thank you.
Wow, I didn’t expect to cry while watching this 🥺
Gosh, thank you for this series. Throughout, the clarity of your exposition and analysis has been as much refreshing as illuminating.
Thanks so much for uploading this series, it’s been so eye opening and extremely interesting. Probably my three favourite RUclips videos!
This has been an incredible series. All worth the wait. Thank you
How can you be so based yet never get any Ws... this world is truly unfair and unjust.
because god hates commies.
was in tears by the end. truly despite it all, there will be a way forward.
Would definitely love to see this series continued. I think I have a shed a tear at some point in every single episode so far, but left enthused rather than despondent.
Very well made documentary! Thanks a lot for all the work.
I've got nothing to add except that someone called Ebert the Social Democratic Stalin. I'd say he's more like Social Democratic Obama, but far more ruthless and collaborative with the right.
"Uhhhhh let me be clear Germany: if you like your councils, you can keep them"
I definitely want more videos about it. They're very great, despite having multiple seminars about it in Uni, I'll never get enough of the topic.
Tbh one of the most important videos ive ever seen on RUclips
Phenomenal work Jonas. Thank you so much for this series.
I know it'd take a while but I would love to see you do a series like this on the Russian Revolutions.
A hard piece of work you did. Would be difficult for me to summarize all this. Congratulations.
Thank you dearly for the work you've put in to educate us on this subject
Thank you for this series, this was an incredibly interesting and eye-opening deep dive into the topic
Well made and comprehensive video. Thank you
Excellent video, reminds me always to fight in the face of domination.
RIP it's really sad catching a glimpse of what could have been, and then the other horrors we know too well that followed. There might never be a real left that close to power at a pivotal time and place in history again.
Can you imagine the socialist Germany and what and influence it would have been on the western world? Other then the Bolsheviks and Russia and China, the Central European power being Communist and democratic and not totally centralized. I bet though the rest of the west would have still found a way to vilify Germany. Capitalist and imperialist UK and USA etc would find it to be an even greater threat, than fascism for sure.
I finished the series with tears in my eyes, but a even stronger conviction that the only alternative is to be part of the fight for the struggle for socialism
Thank you so much for making this video. I would love to hear more about all of which you spoke at the end of the video at some point.
january 15th 1919 worst day of my life
Thank you very much for making this video. It's very well made and packed with information, very much new to me and incredibly useful. I had for instance no knowledge of fascism being so significantly pronounced that early.
The photos and footage are brilliant.
I like the show, but Gustav Noske passed away in 1946 at his almost 80 and had no career in West Germany.
This video series was just simply amazing! I already know I will rewatch it maaaaany times:)
Beautiful, comprehensive and scientific. Bravo! Thanks!
I was. I am. I shall be!
Well-done and interesting. I only knew about Rosa Luxemburg through 'Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20th Century' by Greil Marcus, which starts with the Sex Pistols but also looks at this milieu in terms of the Dadaists. Now I know a bit more. Thanks.
Yo Jonas this was remarkable. Thanks!
People who criticize the Germans for WWII don't know this story. It's heartbreaking. I feel if the workers hadn't been betrayed would WWII have happened? This is so sad.
Man the animalistic nature of the freikorps really makes you wonder if they have any business calling anyone but themselves subhuman. Obviously the bourgeoisie SPD deserves the blame for letting such animals out of their cages, at least they have the ability to decide over morals and ethics, or understand them whatsoever.
Thank you Jonas we all gonna be back to this topic, not cause you made one of your great videos but because the days will become brighter and everything will come to fruition comrade.
Thank you for such a brilliant essay.
What a fitting way to spend may day
Thank you so much for this
Been hyped for part 3 ❤️ love your videos
Incredible. Thank you so much for this
Thank you.
Amazing documentary series, thank you so much!
Fascinating! Makes you wonder about the mentality in the period of the turn of the century, 19th to 20th, what was happening in in art and graphic style, first motion pictures, physics, etc. A good partner to this video series might be the centennial performance of the Rite of Spring ballet, here on RUclips. It’s pretty wild to think of methodically attempting the overthrow capitalism when you consider a hope of a revolution so deep that money, itself could be eliminated.
This is a really indepth coverage of a period of history that few people know about these days.
1:16:15 - Of course, I would like more videos of German Revolution! I would recommend a collaboration with Daniel from What Is Politics? in some way. You two are very talented creating long but insightful videos.
Wer hat uns verraten?
We must keep the head high, we are sowing the seed so people in the future can eat the fruit :)
Thank you so much for this three part emotional rollercoaster. This has definitely helped me and many others to better our analysis of this German Revolution.
Danke, Tchüss!
You have change me, as a human and how I view the world.
Despite it all!
Danke, Rosa Luxembourg und Karl Liebnecht!!!! Danke! We will carry on the program that'll lead us to salvation!!!
One hundred years later and we are in a new oppression! Danke!
Somehow the demand to remove "Spartacus" from the party name made me chuckle
What a sad fate for Rosa Luxemburg.
she was against democracy (knowing her communists would never win a majority in elections) and therefor favored a violent power takeover ... which was not successful and she herself died a violent death in these events. For all who draw the sword will die by the sword
20:37 It really looks like a quote from Lenin btw, here is what Lenin said:
"I ask calmly and categorically which is better, to imprison several scores or hundreds of instigators, guilty or innocent, deliberate or unwitting, or lose thousands of Red Army men and workers? The first is better. I don’t care. whether I am accused of committing every mortal sin imaginable and of violating liberties, I plead guilty, but the interests of the workers will be furthered"
It can be found in his speech "Plenary Meeting Of The All-Russia Central Coucncil Of Trade Unions" of the April 11, 1919
Though they didn't stop violating every liberty imaginable even when they bacame a world superpower
Can anybody tell me who performs the song at the end just before Jonas thanks his Patreon crew?
It starts at 1:10:56
Thanks in advance 👍
Hannes Wader!
@@jonasceikaCCK - Much appreciated.
Excellent video by the way.
Great video (couldnt think about something interesting to coment)
Thank you for posting
The world today would've been very different had the German revolution succeeded. Never forget what social democracy really is
Solidarity
You really got the brownshirts upset with this one lol. Great video btw, very much enjoying your coverage of historical topics.
Impeccable as always!
Even though I am not politically aligned with socialism, I really enjoyed your series on this. High quality research and storytelling. Thank you for a great watch
Wake up, friend. What are you waiting for? Join the workers of the world.
@@conzmoleman delusional
@@misterpinkandyellow74 what are you even doing here
@@conzmoleman women do not want communism. Never going to happen
@@conzmoleman Well let's say both my views and interests are not aligned with communism. They're not diametricly opposed, but after making calculations I came to the conclusion that I will be better off in current system. We can talk about it and yes, you can work for a wage and be better off in capitalism than socialism/communism. It's a very specific situation not applicable for the most people, but in my case it makes sense.
This video sure got the brown shirts to snarl, lol. The low minded responses are telling.
Great video! The unprecedented violence of the counter-revolution, which far surpassed the repression socialists experienced under czarist Russia and imperial Germany, explains why social-democracy was seen as social-fascism in the 1920s and 1930s. This was profoundly mistaken and instrumental in the rise of the Nazi Party, but also undestandable.
I hope you make videos on the Russian and Chinese revolutions next.
It's a good video, but it does one niche mistake a lot of videos do when covering the rough time period, which often slips through the cracks: Leaving the name "Freikorps" untranslated, though it means "volunteer regiment" in English, serves a tradition of mystifying the concept as a uniquely German thing. That is even though volunteer regiments are a thing & do tend to have the same far-right ties everywhere. It's a kind of mysticism that is often intentionally done by our enemies, the nazis, as a way to either glorify their past in Germany as a form of Exceptionalism & sometimes to deny their history of violence outside of Germany.
This comment is the brain rot that made me give up on leftism
Arguing over meaningless bullshit actual working class people don't give a shit about. Elitism veiled.
Very poignant to see so much potential flaming out like that. Alas, it was, to a great extent, the maladroitness and ingenuity of the likes of Luxemburg and Liebknecht that squandered this revolutionary juncture.
While Rosa extolled some sort of naïve diversity within the movement, the fascists were organizing. Hence Lenin's conciseness of advice.
The enemy does not rest. They don't care how jaded or incongruous their ranks may be. They're not waiting for the right time to act, only for their bellic machinery to be aimed at their target.
The fascists don't dialogue. They organize.
And in the end, if any sort of democracy is to be achieved, decisive action must be made in time to accoutre the revolution against its unwavering enemy.
I wouldn't call Rosa's ideal of diversity in the communist movement naive. It was optimistic, but not naive. The reason such optimism was possible for her was because she believed in the imminence of world revolution, as did most revolutionary Marxists at the time. What we got instead was due to the failure of world revolution.
@@jonasceikaCCK
Of course, youre right. I typed that somewhat spitefully while in the throes of pessimism. The failure of the revolution cannot be blamed on any one individual or group.
Still, I wonder what could have been done about it. I get this sinking feeling that Bolshevik praxis should have been more of a beacon to Europeans than it seems to have been then, or even now.
The German communists were drawing from the Bolsheviks a lot, and saw them as an inspiration, but their conditions were also a lot more difficult. The bourgeoisie in Germany were a lot stronger and more well-organized than the bourgeoisie in Russia, and they were also a lot sharper and more alert after witnessing the Russian revolution.
@@jonasceikaCCK who wouldnt be opposed, death, starvation, murder, rape Plunder, destruction.
Classes are unatural, people, races and nation however are natural, and people will alway be drawn more to it than this communism bullshit.
Excellent video.
I do work on a small channel called Text of the Matter. We address many of the same subjects that you do. If you are ever available for an interview, I would love the opportunity.
Fantastic work as always.
Excellent, thank you.
Dear Jonas, what do you think of "Philasophize this" podcast? Someone recommended it. I wanted to get your view of it because I don't want to waste my time. I respect you and your world view. In fact I consider myself a socialist (originally from Iran) and I am a human rights activist (I know the problems with that term) basically trying to activise people to support BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions against Israel) in the US.
33:50 Fort Nite!
Whats that song at the end
Auf Auf zum Kampf from Hannes Wader
the bloodstained history…
I love the wealthy people in the comments, "that's what you get for being a damn commie", as if the alternative life they would have led had any value. Death as a freedom fighter is preferable to a life of misery. The wealthy class would not die for anything but maybe their small children. If you impoverish people, don't be surprised when they clap back. And nobody who challenges power so directly is surprised when that violence would be inflicted upon them. Look at the George Floyd uprisings in the US. After you face enough abuse, you accept that death fighting for your life is preferable to death in service of a master.
I love when people try indimidating and threatening communists, as if the class war against their lives wasn't already active before they were even born. I became a communist after several suicide attempts and hospitalizations, and after facing a decade of demonization for being trans. You think I don't know there are people who want me dead? That was true long before I became a commie. F around and find out, that's what we are about. And we may die in that battle, but that is better than doing it to ourselves and you get a chance of winning.
By all means, come at me with your threats and your intimidation. It will only motivate me to fight harder. Don't want me to side with the political party that oppressed your entire nation? Maybe create a better world and I wouldn't need an ideological self defense mechanism. I'm sorry communists oppressed your nation, but I'm still a Christian and a Buddhist despite the wrongs committed by people with such beliefs. You can't change what I've experienced and what I hold dear as personal values, morals and ethics, by pointing to a single power struggle that class war waged by people with little to lose against people with a lot to lose. The reoccurring these of history seems to be, meet people's needs or they will absolutely destroy each other trying to get them met. And meeting people's needs as an ideal is fundemntally anti-capitalist.
A raw hatred for fighting and violence wasn't how my country gained it's freedom. Communists weren't pacifists, and that's what people don't like, what I didn't like about radical political ideologies. Until I did like it. Until I realized I was enacting violence on myself on behalf of a system that wants me on my knees begging for mercy. I've flipped the script. I won't be needy and I'll be a martyr.
So threaten me all you like. Get that angst out of you. I can handle it. It's nothing really.
Commies lost the cold war lmao.
@@ffff7164 no thanks to you!
My guy, almoust every wealthy person is Marxist now
Well therefore:
"Wer hat uns verraten? Die Sozialdemokraten"
Does anyone know what Hitler was doing during this time period?
Getting redpilled on the jq
He helped destroy the Bavarian soviet republic
may i know the name of the typeface you used in the titles for the chapters in this video?
27:30 Pretty much most modern nations.
Geguzes Pirmosios proga!
Very well sourced video, i normally dont find so well sourced english speaking videos on the topic.
The only thing id wish for is a bit more details on the freikorps, just painting them with one brush is running the danger of not showing why they there accepted. Not every freikorps was Stahlhelm after all, far from a homegenous group
You had once which were way better for freikorps "PR" like the Freikorps lettow Vorbeck, a unit with a signifcant amount of black soliders, them often bringing order to places in chaos in post revolutionary Germany in absence of state power.
That was appreicated by the people who were rather apoltical giving them backing in the population. Leftist organisation failed at that, the RFB being a prime example, focusing on propaganda instead of helping the people, often even opposing each other and being busy with bickering with each other. That was the case with many freikorps groups as well, but they were ready to put their differenes aside often (Mayor exception being the Kapp Coup, the movement changed with many moderate voices stepping down in the 1920s) and could keep the acceptance of their cause flourishing.
One has to learn from their enemies after all.
thanks babe