The New York Times/1918/11/11/Revolt Spreads Throughout Germany
Revolt Spreads Throughout Germany
Many Cities Won With Little Disorder
Krupp Works Are in the Hands of Revolutionists, and the Red Flag Flies on Cologne Cathedral—Princely Houses Co-operate to Establish the New Order—Republic Promised in Schleswig-Holstein.
LONDON, Nov. 10, (Associated Press.)—According to dispatches from Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and other Continental cities, the revolution in Germany is extending rapidly, but in most places the desired effect is being achieved without violence or serious disorders.
In some States, notably in Anhalt, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Macklenburg-Schwerin, the princely houses are co-operating with the reforming parties in establishing a new order of things.
A Basle dispatch says that Hesse-Darmstadt has declared itself a republic.
Among the incidents of the revolution is the renunciation by the Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar and his family of the right of exemption from taxation. At Lübeck a lawyer was charged with treason because he acted without authority from the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council in liberating prisoners.
Reports received in Geneva describe the revolution as continuing quietly in the twelve principal towns and ports, which are now ruled by the Soviets, consisting of workmen, soldiers, and sailors. The red flag has been hoisted everywhere, even above the Cologne Cathedral.
Up to the present the most serious conflict has taken place in Kiel. The Soldiers' and Workmen's Councils in most of the large cities appear to be devoting their first efforts to organizing the food supplies, foreseeing that any lack of provision in this respect will prove a fruitful source of disorder.
Complaints have already been heard in Berlin that the press censorship is being exercised as arbitrarily by the new as by the old régime.
Among the latest towns to come under the control of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils are Aix-la-Chapelle, Cassel, Nuremberg, Mannheim, Gladbach, and Münster. A general strike has been proclaimed at Nuremberg and Mannheim.
Order has been restored at Hamburg, where the police have been permitted to resume their duties under the direction of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council, and places of public amusement have been reopened.
At Cologne the whole garrison sided with the Workers' Council, whose program included, according to the Cologne Gazette, the abolition of all German dynasties, the annulment of war loans, with special consideration for the subscribers from the poorer classes, the liberation of all political prisoners, and the abolition of saluting.
The military and civil prisoners in Cologne are in the hands of the council, and already all the prisoners have been released. The majority and minority sections of the Socialists have been fused.
Essen, where the great Krupp steel works are situated, is reported to be in the hands of the revolutionaries, says a dispatch from Amsterdam to the Exchange Telegraph Company.
Lieutenant Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, the head of the Krupp Works, and his wife have been been arrested.
This news was brought from Essen by Dutch workmen arriving by special train at Zevenear on Saturday.
An Amsterdam dispatch of Friday's date says that the proclamation issued at Munich in behalf of the Council of Workers, Soldiers, and Peasants, which constituted itself into a Diet, announcing that a republic had been formed in Bavaria, declared that "the Democratic and Socialist Republic of Bavaria has the strength to realize a peace for Germany, preserving that country from the worst."
Popular Assembly for Bavaria.
The proclamation, after promising a Constitutent Assembly to be elected by all adult men and women, says that Bavaria will make Germany ready for a League of Nations. It then continues:
"The present revolution is needed to complete the self-government of the people before enemy armies stream across our country or before troops, after the armistice, bring about chaos.
"The council will insure strict order. Soldiers in barracks will govern themselves by means of Soldiers' Councils. Officers acquiescing in the altered situation will not be hindered in their duties.
"We reckon on the co-operation of the entire population. All officials will remain at their posts.
"Fundamental social and political reforms will immediately be initiated."
A dispatch from Zurich says that the disorder has subsided in Munich, according to the latest reports. The whereabouts of the King is unknown. The casualties in the rioting are few, being confined for the most part of officers who resisted.
The Landtag has been dissolved. Only Socialists and Deputies are permitted to enter the building. Looters are being shot.
A dispatch to the Wolff Bureau from Munich says that order prevails in the Bavarian capital.
"Provisioning of the city," the dispatch adds, "is assured. Trains are running into the city. The administration has been recognized. Former Ministers have turned over their offices to their successors. The attitude of the middle classes has not yet been clearly defined. Efforts are being made to conciliate the peasants without the aid of whom the city is destined to famine.
"Kurt Eisner, chief manager of Vorwärts, is trying to get the peasant chiefs, Heim and Schlitterbauer to join the Ministry. The results of his overtures are not yet known, but the peasant leaders, Uschroeder and Gendefer, have accepted the Vice Presidency and Secretaryship of Parliament, respectively.
"A proclamation has been addressed to the peasants, urging them to support the Government by sending provisions. It promises elections by universal suffrage of both sexes. It says also that the Government is resolute in its intentions to defend the frontier, and that it will keep the army from breaking up, like the Austrian Army, and thus preserve the population from the pillaging from which Tyrol is suffering."
Leipsig, the largest city in Saxony; Stuttgart, the capital of Württemberg, the Cologne and Frankfort have joined the revolution, according to reports from the Danish frontier, telegraphed here by the Copenhagen correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Company.
The Soldiers' Councils at Stuttgart, Cologne, and Frankfort have decided to proclaim a republic.
"A dispatch received in Amsterdam from Karlshure, the capital of Baden, says that Grand Duke Friedrich has issued a proclamation, declaring that the Landtag will be summoned Nov. 15 to change the constitution.
A Soldiers' and Workmen's Council has been established at Dusseldorf and has issued a proclamation that plunderers will be shot, and that no strikes will be permitted. The revolution there has passed without disturbance.
At Stuttgart the new Government has issued a proclamation to the people announcing the formation of a provisional republic. It declares that General Ebbinghausen and his staff have yielded control of the city to the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council, who first object was to summon a constituent national Parliament.
The populations in the South German States are delighted over the abdication of the Kaiser. There has been public rejoicing near the Swiss frontier and also in Alsace-Lorraine.
Schleswig Plans a Republic.
Schleswig-Holstein, the Prussian province which formerly belonged to Denmark, is to be proclaimed an independent republic, says an Exchange Telegraph dispatch from Copenhagen.
It is reported from Amsterdam that the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council in a proclamation to the people of Schleswig-Holstein says:
"A Provisional Provincial Government is being formed, which will cooperate with the existing authorities in establishing a new order. Our aim is a free social people's republic. The main task is to secure peace.
"Questions beyond the limit of the provincial administration still belong to the dominion of the State and Imperial Legislatures. We are willing to co-operate with the present officials so far as they submit to the new course. We are resolved to put down any resistance with the forces at our disposal."
Industrial districts have been established in the various cities under the same general plan.
Grand Duke of Hesse Gives In.
An official dispatch (via Amsterdam) from Darmstadt, capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, announces that the Grand Duke of Hesse has decreed the formation of a Council of State to take over the business of the Government "until a final settlement of the questions arising from the present situation."
A Council of Workmen and Soldiers, says a Copenhagen dispatch, has been established at Chemnitz, Saxony, according to the Wolff News Agency. The council took charge of military and civil affairs. There were no disturbances. The council proclaimed that its aim was a socialistic republic for Germany.
The Rhenish Westphalian Gazette of Essen announces that Eutin, the capital of the Principality of Lübeck, is in the hands of the Soldiers' Council. Many persons, both civilians and military, have been shot.
Sonderburg, on the island of Alsen, Schleswig-Holstein, is in the hands of the revolutionists, and the red flag has been raised on ships there, says a Copenhagen dispatch dated Friday.
A train filled with soldiers has been sent out from Bremen for the purpose of persuading other towns to join the revolution, says a dispatch from the Danish frontier forwarded here by the correspondent at Copenhagen of the Exchange Telegraph Company.
The railway stations in all the industrial districts of Germany from Dortmund to Duisburg have been occupied by Soldiers' Councils, according to a dispatch received in Copenhagen from Essen. There were no disorders.
Copyright, 1918, by The New York Times Company.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
COPENHAGEN, Nov. 8.—A special dispatch to the Berlingske Tidende from the Danish frontier says the Soldiers' Councils are masters everywhere in Schleswig-Holstein. Soldiers, who are told they can go where they want to, are not returning to the trenches. The rebellion has been comparatively quiet, except in Hamburg, where machine guns have been used in the streets.
A delegation of the Soldiers' Council at Kiel is traveling through the country north, disarming officers with the words, "We will not fight any more."
Nobody is now allowed ot pass the Danish frontier. Infantry and dragoons are on guard. A German General this morning tried to pass, but was kept back by German soldiers.