Shorty after this was published Eisner’s party lost the elections to the Bavarian Parliament. On his way to parliament to announce his resignation, Kurt Eisner was assassinated by a rightist on February 21, 1919.

‘Kurt Eisner, President of the Bavarian Socialist Republic’ by S. Zimand from The Ohio Socialist. No. 49. January 1, 1919.

It is not an accident that the first flames of the revolution in Germany came from Bavaria. The feeling among the masses of the people in Bavaria was very strongly anti-war. According to different press reports repeated mutinies broke during the cause of the war in the Bavarian regiments. Even the Royal Guard regiment refused obedience a few months ago. Anti-war feeling was displayed also by the attitude of the Bavarian press, which in the last months carried on a continual propaganda against the kaiser. It should also be mentioned that the working people of Bavaria resigned in great numbers from the Majority Socialist party, on account of its pro-war policy, and the Independent Socialist Party increased considerably. As far back as October, 1917, the constituency of Hof in northern Bavaria, which country had hitherto been solid for the old party, went over to the Independents. The immediate accomplishment of the revolution must be considered as the work of the leaders of the Independent Socialists. But it cannot be said that it was their work alone. The revolution in Bavaria is the work of the war-tired, hungry people of Bavaria, stimulated by the Independent Socialists.

It is very significant that the first dynasty to fall at the beginning of the revolution was that of Bavaria. The Kingdom of Bavaria was one of the oldest dynasties of Germany, if not of Europe, and it was more deep-rooted in the minds of the people than any other. The fall of the Bavarian dynasty was the beginning of the twilight of the gods, for the Oldsburg, Hohenzollern and Hapsburg dynasties.

It was a monster demonstration at Munich, where 400,000 people were said to have been present, that Kurt Eisner proclaimed the Bavarian republic. On the night of November 8 the representatives of working men, soldiers and peasants gathered in the Assembly Building of Bavaria, organized the Workingmen’s, Soldiers’ and Peasants’ Council and issued the following appeal to the population of Munich and Bavaria:

“The terrible calamity which came to the German people led to this movement of working people and soldiers of Munich. A tentative Council of Working men, Soldiers and Peasants was formed on the night of November 8 in the building of the Bavarian Assembly. A people’s government which has the confidence of the masses shall be established very soon. A constituent national assembly for which all men and women may vote will be called as soon as possible. Bavaria wants to prepare Germany for the League of Nations. The democratic and Social republic of Bavaria has the moral power to get for Germany a peace which will save Germany from the worst catastrophe. The present change was necessary in order to make possible the development of conditions for the self-government of the people without too much destruction, and before the armies of the enemy should overflow our frontiers, or the demobilized German armies bring about chaotic conditions. The Workingmen’s, Soldiers’, and Peasants’ Council will assure strict order. Personal security and the security of property will be completely guaranteed. The soldiers in the cantonments will govern themselves through soldier’s councils and maintain strict discipline. All officials shall remain in their positions. Fundamental social and political reforms will be brought about without delay. The peasants will guarantee the provisioning of the cities with the necessary means of living.”

The appeal finished with cheers for the Bavarian Republic and “Long live peace! Long live the productive work of all workers!”

With reference to the freedom of the press, the following statement issued by the people’s government of Bavaria is of interest.

“According to our repeated statements issued with reference to freedom of the press, we can state again that the press is completely free, and no censorship should be exercised. The telephone and telegraph service will also function without any kind of censorship. The only official press organ of the government of the People’s State of Bavaria is the South German Correspondence Bureau (Sud- deutsche Korrespondenz Bureau). The government of the People’s State of Bavaria; Kurt Eisner.”

Kurt Eisner, who presided at this meeting of the Council, was born in 1867. He became known first for his esthetic critical writings. From 1890 to 1895 he was contributing editor to the Frankfurter Zeitung. On account of one article written against the kaiser he was sentenced to nine months in prison. He left the radical press and become a contributor to Socialist papers. After the death of William Liebknecht, the father of Karl Liebknecht, he became editor-in-chief of the Vorwaerts, the central organ of the Socialist Party in Germany. As editor-in-chief of Vorwaerts, he inclined more to the tendencies of the so-called “Revolutionist” of the Socialist Party. On account of those tendencies he was forced by the Socialist organization of Berlin, which was Marxian, to resign from the paper with five other editors. But in the field of international politics he was always very radical. Witness for that is his book, “Der Sultan des Weltkrieges,” written twelve years ago, which gives a good picture of German diplomacy. The ethical, esthetic Eisner transformed himself in this book into a sharp critic of the Oriental policy of William the Second. Very interesting is his “Das Ende Des Reiches,” which tells the story of the fall of the old German empire. From Berlin Kurt Eisner went to Nuremberg, where he became, in 1907, the editor- in-chief of the Frankische Tagepost. Again he became involved in a controversy and left this paper in 1910. A few years before the war he was active as a freelance writer for various southern Socialist papers.

The war has changed him, just as the war has changed many other German Socialists; but Kurt Eisner changed in the sense that he adopted a very strong anti-war attitude. This was the reason why he published very little during the war. But the less he wrote, the more active he was in the field of anti-war propaganda. He wrote a few pamphlets disclosing German people about the instigators of this war. Very soon he went even farther than the Independent Socialists in their anti-war propaganda, sympathizing more largely with the Liebknecht group. When the majority Socialist leader, Von Vollmar, resigned from the Reichstag on account of ill health, Eisner was put up as a candidate by the Independent Socialists.

The revolution brought Eisner to the foremost position of leadership in the Bavarian republic. The future will show his capacity for that constructive statesmanship so much needed in Germany now.

The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from January, 1917 to November, 1919. It was edited by Alfred Wagenknecht Wagenknecht spent most of 1918 in jail for “violation of the Conscription Act.” The paper grew from a monthly to a semi-monthly and then to a weekly in July, 1918 and eventually a press run of over 20,000. The Ohio Socialist Party’s endorsement of the Left Wing Manifesto led to it suspension at the undemocratic, packed Socialist Party Convention in 1919. As a recognized voice of the Left Wing, the paper carried the odd geographical subheading, “Official Organ of the Socialist Parties of Ohio and Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and New Mexico” by 1919’s start. In November of that year the paper changed to the “labor organ” of the Communist Labor Party and its offices moved to New York City and its name changed to The Toiler, a precursor to the Daily Worker. There the paper was edited by James P. Cannon for a time.

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