Hasan reacts to a historical documentary analysis of Germany’s history with Social Democracy and the manner in which it rose and fell!
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Hasan Piker is Political Commentator turned Twitch Streamer (#13) known for his Turkish heritage and leftist takes, often speaking on topics like Socialism, Communism, Capitalism, and Marxism (and occasionally 9/11). He loves reacting to political news, and occasionally goes on IRL adventures with his friends. He likes to react to popular media content with his audience as well, such as Jubilee, JCS (Jim Can’t Swim), Joe Rogan, Andrew Tate, Ben Shapiro, Steven Crowder, True Crime, trending Twitter posts or TikToks, and other creative videos.
it’s called Funtime and Funtime should not be allowed their Funtime should have been reading like these guys are doing but like reading more Theory and being a socialist implies that you cannot have fun fun time is Bourgeois decadence you must always be angry I’m saying it I remember a few years back you told the European Shadows to keep an eye out on how their countries will slowly become like the US say in regards to their shift right in politics Yes except those European Chatters are probably no longer with us because they also shifted right especially after the uh the the incredibly militant attitude that people had once Russia unjustifiably invaded Ukraine I suspect that many of those Centrist center right or maybe liberal German Chatters and maybe liberal European Chatters became so invested in the NATO conversation that they could not recognize that their their perspective was slowly but surely shifting this of course is not New Sweden has been doing this for quite a while uh many other European nations have been uh shifting uh rightward for quite a while and unfortunately plenty of uh plenty of those European EU Chatters probably left and now uh unironically unironically talk about how like uh my kind of politics is genuinely way scarier than like the the uh Nazi sentiment expressed by whatever version of like far-right radicalism that occurs on uh in their own in their own countries spy Chief has told the BBC that the far-right alternative for Deutschland party poses a risk to the roots of democracy the afd regularly rejects accusations of extremism but the BBC has found clear links between significant party figures and extremists or even former Neo-Nazi networks by investigating just one event held in the East German city of cotus our Berlin correspondent Jessica Parker has this report in Germany’s East the far right alternative for Deutschland is popular even aiming for power and Jean Pascal Hol is a regional parliamentary candidate the afd is proactive on social media but also on the ground and it feeds this idea they want to promote that they are of the people and taking on the establishment but as the BBC has found Jean Pascal holes held links with several groups now classed by domestic intelligence as extremist networks accused of anti-migrant anti-muslim ideology [Applause] all these organizations focus on one subject the theme of our times it is the population replacement going on in Germany and in Europe to voice that and to fight that politically is not extremist you don’t think the great replacement theory is extremist I mean it’s a a far right conspiracy theory no the great replacement is happening I can see that in my own City I do not say it is organized from up high I say it’s happening it was at this office back in March that Jean Pascal H helped organize an event the speaker was an MP called matius HCK who once described himself as the friendly face of national socialism also known as Nazism Matias helrick insists the years old leaked messages were satire his talk here in compus was on remigration a code word say many for Mass deportations IM in this video he talks about REM migrating Millions to preserve the land of the Germans in the audience in cotus that night was Benedict Kaiser another influential figure he works for an afd MP but over a decade ago Mr Kaiser was pictured at neonnazi demos we’ve approached him for comment became more and more right-wing extremism this spy Chief claims that extremism within the afd poses a risk to democracy when I’m speaking about a German Oak a big strong old tree it can take a blizzard it can take a storm but once you have an enemy that goes for the roots and that’s exactly what’s happening right now going for the roots of our democracy it’s very dangerous because it’s um it it goes to the vital parts of our democracy what is it about the 20s and 30s of centuries that fascism just loves to go full mask off I mean it’s a cycle right it takes 100 years uh for for uh this level of this level of resentment to build up once again the afd says it’s being smeared by a biased establishment and as the country builds towards Regional and EU elections this isn’t a fringe movement but one trying to go mainstream Jessica Parker BBC News in Brandenburg let’s speak to assistant professor of political science at Boise State un where are Roaring 20s bro what do you think the Roaring 20s meant for the average working class person it it’s look around dude the Roaring 20s in the way that uh in the way that it’s like uh mentioned in the Great Gatsby and and the like was roaring for the elites as it is currently you know just wasn’t wasn’t exactly great for uh the average person University Julia van dusy Julia welcome to you you’ve written about the rise of the afd in Germany haven’t you how yeah mega yacht sales are looking better than ever you know what I mean shit’s popping entire Industries specifically dedicated to serving the the wealthiest individuals in society meanwhile the average person can’t purchase a house has no no meaningful way of of creating per shelter for themselves far reaching are its links with the far right would you say so the German government has been investigating the afd for quite a while because it is known that many of its members do have links to the far right so there it is far reaching now the far right yeah we’re literally doing space tourism and [ __ ] like think about that likely through populism on Tik Tok etra young people are faster prone to become far right afds in second place for young people no I don’t think it’s populism from Tik Tok I think it’s economic instability and volatility I I am never going to look at like One Singular social media platform no these are far larger issues there are far larger system systematic problems that are creating the exact same uh creating the exact same results it’s austerity it is uh it’s austerity it’s it’s the the horrifying material conditions a lack of future prospects for the younger generation that’s breaking their minds and because of neoliberalism’s power specifically uh eviscerating neoliberalism’s Power specifically gutting and eviscerating any kind of left this opposition there isn’t even like a genuine communist counter uh nor even a trade unionist one or even a socialist one uh as as it existed in at least like um in at least the earlier stages in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution where there was one um volar zansky said why is the upper class supporting this then well it’s uh it’s one should ask that same question about what the upper class was doing supporting it in the 20s both in the United States of America and in Germany Capital owners absolutely funded and facilitated fascism fascist plots were uh were were occurring both in America and also in Germany as well as you know and the reason for that was because fascism is seen as a way to instill order it’s a way to reinforce the exact same it’s a way to reinforce the the hierarchies by uh by very violent means in general capitalism decays inevitably due to the weight of its own contradictions and then when in that decay there’s a lot of volatility a lot of instability then there’s also even the pesky alternatives to set instability people that uh want to evolve from capitalism to something that is a little bit more just uh and uh Capital owners obviously benefit from the uh existing hierarchies so what do they do well they side with the fascists they they fund the fascists because what do fascist do they’re not real socialists they’re not genuinely interested in class struggle they’re interested in stopping class struggle yes yesterday a video went viral with upper class kids chanted xenophobic SLS I know that’s how we started this conversation the afd rather political party is gaining in popularity isn’t it in Germany what would you put that down to so the afd originally formed as a response to the Eurozone crisis there are a lot of Germans who do not support the EU and they don’t support Germany’s role in the EU and so now there’s a party that represents their interests uh they’re more popular in East Germany amongst older people who had been socialized under a completely different political system they lived under communism and an authoritarian regime so politically they’re a little bit different than West German so it’s not surprising that the afd is a little bit more popular there what do you think it means for the future democracy of Germany or would that be alarmist to even go there what a phenomenally stupid liberal analysis of the situation I wonder why East Germany would be more susceptible to right-wing populism like this oh I’m sure it’s because they grew up under communism no perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the material development of East Germany was stunted deliberately in comparison to West Germany that was beefed up by both the Marshall Plan and uh American Investment that’s it the reasons as the the reasons as to why there is more reactionary sentiment in East Germany is because East Germany was left behind this is also false they’re most popular among the population that grew up in the aftermath of the reunification born around 85 95 that currently I don’t think the afd is going anywhere however I don’t think they’re big so capitalism brought wealth and communism brought poverty yes that’s what I’m saying enough currently to ever form a government in Germany they’re still quite small um and the other parties the mainstream parties are unlikely to form a government with them so in the short term term they can make a lot of noise they have a platform in Parliament but I don’t think they’re going to have a lot of influence over policymaking okay Professor Julie van dusy thank you very much only reason all of schs was on on the was on the cover of Dar spel with the cot we must finally start to deport in a big fashion I wonder how saying that [ __ ] became more mainstream yep the West will do liberal shock therapy to former communist areas and then blame communism when that shock therapy plays his course yes it’s funny that thing that apparently the girl we saw in the video showed a story where she wrote best DJ insult from Palestine and instead of the Palestine flag she posted a flag of Kuwait she was literally like look at my foreign friend the guy was just a DJ yeah you should react to best demarks video on wart Germany I have I’m pretty sure I have in your opinion do you think fascism will rise and Prevail without resistance since there’s no USSR anymore do you think for example China would be a nation willing to rescue the West I don’t know I think China is very self-interested you know hold on one second I have to also look at something here I guess the USSR was also self-interested though in many ways hold up waiting to get in y’all are live also join I’m waiting for my team to get in on Rust there’s a best D part two called The Gin organization that you didn’t watch let’s see left this U right took how many fascist regimes outside H from the USSR let’s see uh how Nazism survived Germany we watched how Nazism survived Germany organiz gin um we did not we didn’t watch that part but there was also another thing that I kind of wanted to see the Betrayal of the German Revolution part one part two and part three um this CES this this talks extensively in detail I suspect about about the whole like liberals betraying KPD siding with the fascists and the rise of Nazi Germany the Betrayal of the Revolution was what I was talking [Music] about is the Russ Ser Republic no [Music] after World War I Germany was on the brink of a successful proletarian Revolution for many people this period is known merely as representing a change from the German German monarchy to the Yar Republic in fact most people are not even aware that there was a revolution at all there are videos on the internet about this topic but there is little deeper analysis of the political forces that were crucial in not only determining the future of Germany but the future of Europe and arguably the future of the whole world Chris Harmon says that without understanding this period one can have but an incomplete understanding of the rise of Adolf Hitler and the massacre of World War II it is in these years that the swastika entered the political stage as a symbol of reaction anti-communism and counterrevolution it is quite reasonable to hypothesize that if the at the time world’s second most powerful industrial nation had turned socialist the rising workers movement all over Europe could have had a powerful Ally to bring about socialism in their own countries adding to the massive revolutionary flame that had been ignited in Russia Russia was a relatively backward country in terms of Industrial Development the Bolshevik revolutionaries were hoping and even expecting the victory in Germany as a result of a chain reaction which would benefit them as it wouldn’t leave them isolated on the international stage their leader Vladimir Lenin declared only months after the successful October revolution in 1917 that quote without the revolution in Germany we are doomed since the communist movement fundamentally hinges on the unity of the international working class it would have been of what could have been Chatters massive benefit to have an industrially developed socialist Ally to support the construction of socialism in Russia to be fair we don’t know we don’t know what Europe would look like there could have been a battle line drawn where uh internal pressures might have escalated against FDR maybe the business plot succeeds in that circumstance maybe FDR never maybe the the New Deal never occurs and America is the the the continuation uh led by the American Bund movement uh maybe America is the continuation of fascist autocracy and and they try to fight the and plunder the rest of the world and the United States becomes the Germany of World War II so there’s also that aspect of it as well America turned fascist no I mean America was aligned against the fascists in World War II but as I say uh all the time as I like reiterating all the time things could have been very different for America and likewise it was the great October Revolution that massively accelerated and supported the establishment of councils all over Hungary Austria or Germany quote we shall achieve Victory only together with all the workers of other countries of the whole world Lenin stated later in April 1918 defeated revolutions are quickly forgotten yet from the perspective of the working class this revolution should not be brushed aside there is not only lots of lessons to be drawn from this period but it is immensely inspiring to have history reaffirmed that workers power in Europe is possible despite the sheer strength of the capitalist class there are way more Germans who hate Nazis than Nazis please acknowledge that brother I’m talking about and this video is detailing something that you are I think uh unable to understand perhaps as a German person yourself we’re talking about German liberalism and how it made way for the Nazi movement how it actually developed momentum for the Nazi movement this entire video is directly about all of those people who ostensibly now hate the Nazis because the exact same the exact same attitude is is growing the exact same sentiment is growing in Germany at this moment we’re looking at history in order not to repeat its mistakes but you are it seems unable to understand that and are literally saying no no no we will repeat those mistakes actually and you will shut the up about it as we are in the process of repeating said mistakes in Germany CL it is this explosive potential of revolutionary inspiration that is among the reasons the history of the German Revolution is twisted or straight up denied quote a German Revolution after World War I a West German undergraduate in my German history survey indicated she had never heard of such a thing and until the 1960s the same was probably true of most western academics said Robert wheeler in the late ’70s Winston Churchill derided it by claiming it was part of a Jewish conspiracy of course other liberal commentators state that it was in this period that democracy won against dictatorship another reason this revolution is not mentioned very often is that it is a period of great shame for these supposedly Progressive liberal forces since it showed how they had zero concerns about collaborating with the most reactionary and bloodthirsty elements of society in crushing the movements that endanger the capitalist system in Germany the party mainly responsible for that cooperation the SPD has been one of the main ruling forces in the German government ever since now claiming the chancellor position with Olaf Schultz since 2021 the story of the German Revolution is the story of how that party evolved from the at the time most developed Marxist organization to an open representative of capitalism a supporter of imperialist war and a defender of class Society it is thus key in understanding today’s left and the nominally left Social Democratic parties since what had become concrete during this revolution isn’t just important for grasping the politics of Germany but in understanding the revising of marxist principles and their subordination to the bourjois as an international Trend this video will Encompass the buildup to the revolution without which it is impossible to grasp the underlying political forces that led to it and that ultimately betrayed it in fact the Betrayal had begun long before the start of the Revolution it’s the story of the definite split between social Dem democracy and communism which would forever shape the Socialist movement in the next part that I’ll release within the next few days we’ll talk about the events of the German Revolution and how that split manifested the content of this part is especially topical since it enlightens the struggles within the so-called left about the correct Marxist position during imperialist aggression considering the current war in Ukraine and the danger of escalation into a new world war everyone interested in ending capitalism in Marxism or socialism must learn about this period this video will be mainly based on these works they have all their particular biases I don’t agree with so I have tried to synthesize all of those different perspectives while adding a bit of my own analysis the German state is a fairly recent formation for multiple centuries Germany referred to a group of various German speaking states in Central Europe they were often very divided and subject to the influence of far greater Empires most people in these states didn’t identify as Germans but as prussians bavarians or Saxons unlike in France or in other European States Germany had not managed to overthrow the monarchy in 1848 inspired by the Revolutions in France and elsewhere the masses in the German states attempted to do the same one of their goals was to achieve Unity by the end of 1849 however the revolts were crushed the German bourjois failed to unite the various German states not just because it was weaker than Francis but under the threat of a strong proletarian movement it preferred to Ally itself with the monarchic forces it’s not the last time we would see this alliance against the working class in Germany the structures of the monarchy persevered but they adapted themselves to serve the needs of the quickly growing business class eventually in 1871 Unity this is why this is why uh like this is like the first iteration of uh the welfare state and the development of the welfare state in an effort to continue I guess um under a monarchy under a monarch monarchical structure there was um there were like social benefits that basically uh gave life uh a a extension to the continuation of the same the same exact structures that uh Abus the working class in an effort to retain the wealth in the hands of the few was a chief at the end of the Franco Prussian War which had also sparked the creation of the Paris commune the first worker State bourjois historians often praised the prowess of oton bismar for achieving unity and for being the founder of the modern welfare state but the unification into the German State manifested as a result of various complex developments Unity served the needs of the rising bourjois and especially of the ruling classes in Prussia who now dominated the newly formed Federation this is why one analysis I mean I wouldn’t even say one analysis but like a a direct analysis of like welfare capitalism is uh from a Marxist perspective is that welfare capitalism is a nefarious way in which you marginally improve workingclass conditions in an effort to not starve them to a degree that they rise up and and Destroy uh the the capitalist mode of production and there is truth to that matter uh the the I mean it’s it’s without without welfare reforms uh the the idea is that capitalism is crushed uh under the weight of its own contradictions Russia containing more than half of the population and most of natural resources and the establishment of a welfare state wasn’t simply out of a concern for the working class prussia’s King was now also the German Emperor which was vilhelm I first of Prussia from the Imperial House of Hanson the other states had their own Kings or grand Dukes each state had their own version of governance with venberg even adopting universal suffrage the Imperial government was responsible for policy regarding the whole country such as the Navy Commerce and Foreign Relations the emperor delegated those matters to the Imperial Chancellor which was OT ofan bismar the chancellor title is still in use in Germany for the head of government today this unified German State Now quickly transformed itself into the second greatest industrial power in the world even overtaking Great Britain and thus creating a large working class within a short period of time concessions were made to the petty bis and some minor ones to the working class both as a byproduct and political convenience of the rising German capitalism but the state continued to be ruled by the Prussian landowning aristocracy the so-called junkers of which oton bismar was the most prominent these ruling classes weren’t subject to the RTO the Empire’s parliament chosen by male suffrage and with little to no actual power and which ultimately answered to the emperor most of the liberal middle classes had been W over by the monarchist national Liberal Party bismar had used the interests of the bisi to advance German industry and the interests of the upper middle classes to consolidate the new Bourgeois hierarchy those concessions were not irrelevant within the first 10 years life expectancy Rose by over 10 years and 12-hour working days became 10hour days bone you can also you can also look at like uh somewhat you you can find similarities within another I mean I’m not talking about bismar here but like obviously fascists uh in America Capital owning fascist in America like Henry Ford also recognize the many benefits uh and the improvements some productivity that he would see out of his workers when he streamlines some of these processes in uh in his own factories as well so the the irony of course is that like uh the consistent rent seeking and consistent profit maxing attitude that our Capital owners have now actually leads to uh less productive uh results down the line so even now if we were to have more benefits in the direction of a true social democracy in the United States of America we could actually legitimately uh we could actually legitimately improve productivity but uh it’s it’s not even a thing that people consider nowadays because of short-term thinking bismar established the first welfare state in modern industrial society the main goal was to gain workingclass support by directing it away from the rapidly growing socialist opposition social democracy today refers to something entirely different than what it used to in the 19th century people of the Revolutionary left used to call themselves social Democrats such as Rosa Luxemburg and car of Germany or Vladimir Lenin the Bolsheviks were part of the Russian Social Democratic labor party which was firmly based on the theories of marks and denel the biggest Social Democratic party at the time was the Social Democratic party of Germany or the SPD Lenin up until the beginning of the 20th century praised the SPD as the most advanced Social Democratic organization saying that German social democracy quote had always upheld the Revolutionary standpoint in Marxism the change in the meaning of social democracy roughly went like this first it meant Marxism then it meant socialism but through desperate for [ __ ] voice desperate desperate for [ __ ] voice Lenin social democracy in Germany is really cool I love Rosa form not Revolution and today it means capitalism with stronger social safety nets or the so-called Nordic model what they have in Sweden for instance in order to understand how this shift in definition happened it is essential to learn about the history of the SPD and the German revolution in the period before the German unification German social democracy was split into two currents there were the lallans who followed the teachings of the more reformist Ferdinand lassal and the so-called aakers who claimed to uphold the teachings of marks and angal the two most prominent eisers were AUST beel and wiel liip they were the leaders of the Social Democratic Workers Party of Germany the sdap founded in 1869 in the German Town isak hence the label aakers the two groups were very divided when and leip refused to vote for war credits for the war against France in 1870 the lallans suggested they should be jailed for their opposition to the war however a few years later after the unification had happened members of the two groups urged the unification of German social democracy in 1875 in the German City go the two factions managed to come together by adopting the go program the party platform of the SPD at the time marks and angles were heavy influences on the party leadership they had become the most influential intellectual leaders of the socialist movement wiel lepn for instance had developed a strong friendship with Marx and collaborated with him throughout his life Marx and Angels weren’t big fans of the gota program however Marx wrote the critique of the go program and sent it to the leadership of the sdap the program was criticized for its concessions to the lelan current such as reformist deviations from revolutionary Marxist theory or the faulty analysis of German Society among other things the document is now part of the Marxist Classics it discusses the importance of proletarian internationalism or the dictatorship of the proletariat there are still many attempts to separate those two concepts from Marxist theory today although not entirely United in ideology and overall tactics the party grew very quickly a mere 2 years later the party boasted close to half a million votes which was over 9% of the total the SPD became involved in nearly all aspects of society it established countless trade unions cooperatives Youth and women’s organizations or newspapers the SPD was by far the biggest workingclass organization worldwide Lenin said about the German working class that for almost half a century it was quote the model of socialist Organization for the whole world German social democracy became a way of life being involved not just during labor struggles and elections but in people’s leisure time they established and became affiliated with chess clubs as swimming Association the free sailing Union cyclist magazines music see it fell apart because of their U this is a Bourgeois moral failing right here it’s called Funtime and Funtime should not be allowed their fun time should have been reading like these guys are doing but like reading more communist literature Theory sailing uh it seems Seems like a Bourgeois interest to me being a communist and being a socialist implies that you cannot have fun okay fun is not allowed fun time is Bourgeois decadence you must always be angry you must always be seeking to improve the material conditions of the working class uplift uh the working class if you are having fun that means you are not fighting the Revolutionary fight you are actually a counterrevolutionary and singing groups libraries and even a free people’s theater to spread class Consciousness and critiquing the status quo through drama Lenin wrote enthusiastically about these organizations these Leisure Time organizations were important for another reason in 1878 oton bismar managed to Institute laws restricting the rapid development of the workers movement hence more indirect and clandestine forms of organization and propaganda became important within the first year of enacting these so-called anti-socialist laws the Imperial German government outlawed about 250 associations as well as close to 200 periodicals and over 300 non-periodical newspapers or magazines this Crackdown did not significantly slow down the Socialist movement however through a kind of Barbara triand effect it even led to an increased membership long-term and raised class Consciousness by making it apparent that the state viewed the Socialist movement as a threat so many party activists reacted to State persecution by embracing Marxist revolutionary principles in the 1880s the party had reaffirmed that it was revolutionary it is a legit tactic to use treats to distract people though but I get what you mean dude dude treats are great that’s the whole reason for why you want some kind of change to the current existing organization of the economy so you can have treats and free time that’s the whole point that’s my that that is literally why I care about these sorts of things because I want everyone to have the amenities and the fun and the free time and so did Marx really this is why the idea that like socialism is actually u a deeply collectivist ideology that has no basis in like individual freedoms is a inherently reactionary bastardization of of why people want socialism to happen the entire point is so that people can have fun people can have treats people can have luxuries people can have uh whatever they wish to have with no Illusions in parliamentary methods however although repression failed to destroy social democracy it did lead a great part of the party toward a more moderate Direction and opportunism since the Lost didn’t Outlaw participating in the Electoral theater while hurting the most radical and visible activists August Babel wrote in a letter to lepn that a position in the r quote satisfies their ambition and their vanity with great self-complacency they look upon themselves as among the chosen of the nation and find immense pleasure in the Parliamentary comedy they take it very seriously this had a great effect on the party membership revolutionary theory was only marginally connected with most of what the party actually did another Factor adding to the complacency of many social Democrats was the success and the yeah but prioritizing fun is unhelpful that’s how liberalism happens you have to be joking you cannot be serious right now I don’t believe that you’re being serious I’m going to assume that you’re joking relative stability of emerging German capitalism and minor concessions to the working class although behind many of these achievements was the workingclass struggle not parliamentary activity guys stop stop saying rust all this stuff okay I’m going to get into rust when my team is ready okay none of them are ready right now what do you want me to do do it on my own no I’m waiting for my team what was crucial was I’m going to eat we’re going to watch this and then I’m going to play Rust that capitalism had entered a new stage at the turn of the century its highest and last stage according to Lenin imperialism in addition to the profits appropriated in their own countries the Monopoly capitalists now increasingly appropriated so-called super profits from the colonies and semic colonies capitalists in the imperialist countries could now use those extra profits to quote bribe on quote the working classes in their own States leading to higher wages for a section of the working class which came to be called the labor aristocracy for instance well-paid managers Bankers or Engineers though still part of the working class many of these people see themselves as Superior in Social Status weakening class solidarity it is this social stratum Lenin says that became the basis of various Social Democratic parties in Europe he wrote quote this stratom of workers turned Bourgeois or the labor aristocracy who are quite Philistine in their mode of life in the size of their earnings and in their entire Outlook is the principal prop of the second International and in our days the principal social prop of the bourjois for they are the real agents of the bourjois in the working-class movement the labor lieutenants of the C capitalist class real vehicles of reformism and chauvinism in the civil war between the proletariat and the bourjois they inevitably and in no small numbers take the side of the Bourgeois this was also reflected in the composition of party leadership that became increasingly dominated by so-called high-skilled professionals or small business owners this and the relative peace in Europe nourished complacency would you characterize the HVAC business owners of Labor aristocracy no HVAC business owners would be firmly Petty Bourgeois small business owners are in the petty Bourgeois Camp they are capital owners their earnings are obviously marginal in comparison to big business but uh ultimately they themselves still hire labor they are a part sometimes they literally work uh as well in many instances they work as well but they are petite tiny small uh business owners but um their their their revenue growth and and their wealth relies on uh their well still relies on hiring other workers so ultimately they are still very much aligned in class interest with uh larger business owners labor Aristocrats on the other hand would be the professional managerial class doctors Engineers lawyers and the like and the belief that maybe incrementalism was the way forward however we need to keep in mind that higher wages under capitalism does not mean lower exploitation shorter working hours used usually go along with higher intensity of work under capitalism the progress in productivity meant that wages could be improved in absolute terms but in relative terms exploitation increased this means that while wages increased a little bit they didn’t keep up with the increased productivity which overwhelmingly benefited the income of capitalists as one economic historian explains the quote relative income of the workers in 1914 was only about onethird of what it was in 1860 the rich had become enormously richer and the national wealth of Germany had grown but the workers share in this wealth had declined rapidly the relative deterioration of the workers had proceeded at a speed probably unsurpassed in any country in Europe but it takes political Consciousness to understand this the great majority could obviously be fooled by the dominant narrative just like today many radicals who came back to Germany from their fleeing from the anti-socialist laws had lost their revolutionary fervor and one of them your average deference attorney that does like family law or criminal law for people do not make that much just throwing that out there the aart okay one thing to remember is that like angles is directly a factory owner okay it doesn’t change the dynamic and his advocacy in any meaningful capacity it you can literally be uh in certain instances a capital owner and still be very foundationally important uh in uh in expressing revolutionary sentiment just like the labor aristocracy does not necessarily mean that you are going to if you’re lawyer or a doctor or whatever doesn’t mean that you are going to ultimately align with the interests of the capital owning class okay it doesn’t it doesn’t work that way at all a lot of people immediately think like oh what the this is call out it’s not as black and white was Edward berstein cashio was the owner of a sugar farm yes beel Castro unironically used the military just like everywhere else to sees uh whatever the the land allotment was that went beyond what the uh what the what the government at the time decided I forget what the exact number is was like a certain number of acreage once you went beyond it that meant that it would be expropriated Castro himself literally sent his own uh sent uh the the the military to his own family’s uh sugar farm he expropriated land from his own family in 1891 the SPD adopted the airport program in the German City Airport it was formulated by August Babel and two gentleman named Carl kowsky and the aforementioned Edward benstein after Marx’s death in 1883 was now the chief Authority on Marxism criticized this program for its non-marxist opportunist view on the state he wrote quote the political demands of the draft have one great fault it lacks precisely what should have been said what was missing was the necessity of the dictatorship of the proletariat and a few other Marxist components in order to understand engel’s criticism and the development of social democracy in general it is important to learn about Edward benstein he was born in 1850 and had been in close connection to Marks and angles he became a central figure in the SPD but he gained prominence by becoming known as the first major revisionist revisionism simply put means revising Marxist principles it usually means to update them toward a liberal direction for instance making concessions to the capitalist class or collaborating with it turning it from something revolutionary to something less combative the relative stability of capitalism led benstein to believe that maybe the contradictions of capitalism wouldn’t sharpen as Marx had analyzed he also questioned the philosophical underpinnings of Marxism dialectical materialism he posted that socialism was not the dialectical solution of these contradictions but it is a result of the free choice of people that is independent from their economic and social situation it is more of a moral option instead of a social necessity so to to speak his conclusion was that rather than aiming for revolution the working class should be focused on reforms it should sink itself into the Bourgeois and incrementally change the system from within his approach is most prominently reflected in his quote the ultimate aim of socialism is nothing but the movement is everything he was heavily criticized most prominently by Rosa Luxenberg the leading figure of the left line who wrote the pamphlet reform or revolution in it he says that the Dilemma between reform and revolution is meaningless because reforms should in the service of Revolution her arguments were convincing by 1903 the debate appeared settled in the Dron Congress I I 100% agree with Rosa Luxenberg all all matter of Reform should be in the Revolutionary direction that ultimately ultimately reforms are not a are not an end but a means to a more just end in which the majority of the party formally rejected benin’s revisionism another prominent SPD this still does not mean that you do not part participate in an unjust system I think people misunderstand a lot of this where they personally this is the difference between a lot of people who come in here and they’re like Hassan when will you give up on Bourgeois democracy blah blah blah like electoralism no thank you or people that cast theide the likes of Bernie Sanders or people that constantly [ __ ] on any and every left-wing Democrat hyperfocusing on them instead of the broader picture instead of those who are truly working actively to harm the working class okay it’s silly for me in particular I don’t personally understand it because for me I look at the immediate material conditions I look at where class awareness is in this country in the United States of America I recognize America’s placement on the planet as a hegemonic superpower that uh hegemonic superpower that that is working actively to continue unequal exchange from the global South to continue uh destroying any continue fermenting uh reactionary sentiment everywhere and anywhere it can having its tentacles in every aspect of um in every aspect of of uh Global development the idea that you can just like magically accelerate um and and not succumb magically accelerate and not succumb to a fascist movement is silly as literal socio demem talk laau well I don’t have an issue with social Democrats in America especially as as long as they are not leaning in the direction of liberalism a a foundational Social Democratic principle would be literally offering some kind of Universal Health Care for all members of American society unconditionally we don’t even have that in America okay the notion that you would just like immediately jump multiple steps and be like Revolution now is idiotic it doesn’t work that way the member who criticized benstein was KL kowsky he was born in 1854 and after the passing of angles in 1895 now he was regarded as one of the if not the most prestigious Marxist theoretician he was called by many people the pope of Marxism until the outbreak of World War I Vladimir Lenin despite many differences regarded cowsky as the final Authority on Marxism but for kowsky revolution became something that had shifted to an indefinite future Kowski was part of the Party Center which meant that he was against Bernstein’s revisionism but also against the tactics of the left such as when Luxembourg argued to push for Mass strikes against the state after the strike wave of the early 20th century it was the pope of Marxism who criticized her and it was this party center being in seemingly equal distance from the right revisionism and the Revolutionary left that played a key role in conceding more and more to the right under the guise of not in Lennon literally acknowledged her analysis on reform and liberal democracies in Europe people don’t get this people just act as if she means electoralism is the end all be all it’s not she emphasizes revolutionary Marxist party should be participants in Bourgeois electoral process to instill revolutionary principles endangering party Unity however for those not fully aware of inner party struggles German social democracy still seemed to be committed to socialist revolution in the meantime the day-to-day practice of the SPD was fully committed to non-revolutionary activities the defeat in the general elections of 1907 convinced the leaders that it was the extreme left and their revolutionary phraseology that was responsible for their loss and support as charge reminiscent of today’s liberal parties one of the core issues of that campaign was the German colonization of Southwest Africa a large part of the party leadership came quite close to the politics of the growing pr- monarchist parties with some even using Marxist terminology to justify National Defense and even colonialism also reminds us of many supposed marxists today the right line came to increasingly dominate these Social Democratic organizations especially when it came to the responsibilities in fields such as Finance the newspapers Trade union leadership and the running of election campaigns this was reflected in the composition of party membership which came to be increasingly dominated by Proprietors of small businesses in 1907 less than 15% of the membership was composed of those who fell under the label workers in 1911 about 50% of the members were represented by only 27% of delegates there was an increasing discrepancy between the leaders and the lead with the petty Bourgeois section disproportionately being part of the leadership this rightward shift culminated when Friedrich aert leader of this right line became party secretary in 1906 at the age of 36 and after the passing of AUST Babel became the chairman of the party in 1913 aert was known as an efficient organizer intensely practical and cold he would soon proved to be the chief Ally of the bourjois history mainly remembers two names of the communist movement in this time in Germany those are Rosa lenberg and Carl liip courageous Fighters for the working class who were to be murdered in the same January 19 in 1919 but in truth those two merely represented a whole revolutionary current rapidly growing in Germany little by little separating itself from the SPD Born Into the party in 1871 as the son of wiel lipn one of the party’s Founders K lipn was to become known to many as the personification of German bolshevism the lawyer was imprisoned for 18 months under the charge of high treason in 1907 after publishing his popular pamphlet militarism and anti-militarism which made him the Boogyman of the German nationalists and a hero of the Socialist struggle the SPD leadership looked at yes I’m going to do Russ today I’m going to do Russ today I’m going to do Rust today it’s literally pinned it is also in my title what is wrong with everyone please this is why I tell you all the time like just simply putting this stuff everywhere Plastering it everywhere it doesn’t change the reality that people still unironically would just come in here and be like when are you going to do are you going to do Rust today I don’t really understand I don’t really understand when are you going to play Rust okay are leap with condescension they saw him as a loud child who cannot be controlled people described leap as passionate impulsive and courageous known as a great speaker and agitator rather than a distinguished theoretician or organizer he was soon to meet a situation big enough to match his powers Clara zetkin was another leading figure a close friend of Rosa Luxembourg she led the Socialist women’s organization and was the editor of its paper the Gite equality France meing was another prominent figure he had been more moderate but eventually broke from kowsky in 1910 and Drew closer to Luxembourg he was one of the older left Wingers and was known for his clear-headed analysis meing zetkin lip Luxembourg and others would later form the Spartacus League named after the famous leader of the slaver Revolt in the Roman Republic the Spartacus League was not the only formation of the left another group mainly based in the city of Breman was referred to as the left radicals and would later form the international Communists of Germany or short the ikd among this group of people were Johan KN the leading figure worker turned journalist Paul fr and an intellectual from hurg called lenberg they were critical of the spartacists for not fully breaking with the social Democrats and forming a fully independent organization of revolutionaries the international communist of Germany and the Spartacus league would later merge into the Communist Party of Germany another group of people who were to play a great role in the German Revolution were the Revolutionary shop Stewarts although not organized wholly as an autonomous group it referred to a group of militant organizers from the powerful Berlin medal Workers Union which were soon to lead powerful strikes in Germany their leader Richard Miller said that their goal was to establish in Germany a council Republic in the Russian style however none of these men caused so much respect and sometimes outright fear as a woman from polish origin Rosa Luxenberg was born in Poland which was under the Russian Empire and became a German citizen in 1897 like lening and other socialists she immigrated to Switzerland in 1888 as Switzerland was a popular refuge for socialist activists at the time there she met Leo yogis who was to become one of her closest allies as a close partner in the spus League together they founded the social democracy of the kingdom of Poland and Lithuania and played a great part in Poland during the Russian Revolution of 1905 which got them several months in prison however she’s mostly known for the role she played in German social democracy in 1910 the most famous Social Democratic papers forv and the noite refused to publish her articles arguing for a mass strike France meing and other left-wingers increasingly became subject of party censorship as well Kowski who was the founder and editor of din noite was chiefly respons responsible for this already in 1895 angles was angry at kowsky and Bin for editing his introduction to an edition of the class struggles in France written by Marx in 1850 they had edited it in a way that made it seem like he was a proponent of a peaceful path to socialism from 1910 Maring Luxembourg and Anton PUK an influential Dutch Marxist in Germany finally broke with kowsky completely at the time repudiating kowsky was not an easy thing to do even Lenin who would later drag kowsky in his writings as a renegade and opportunist didn’t think it was a good idea at the time calling luber’s accusations against kowsky an exaggeration amidst heaing imperialist pressures Luxenberg was again prosecuted in 1913 after making an anti-militarist statement in a speech she was known as an effective pist uror and a teacher Lenin later called her an eagle although a great critic of the revisionist line she still clung to being part of the Social Democratic organizations many marxists would criticize her for not putting enough emphasis on Independent leadership clinging on being part of a mass party even if that party leadership has an incorrect political line Rosa luxemborg was a great organizer and revolutionary however there was according to Pierre bre a great prize to pay for her refusal and failure to organize into a cohesive independent left Force before the outbreak of World War I in 1914 the first global war and a war which would change the Socialist movement [Music] forever more often than not the story of World War I begins with the murder of arch du Ferdinand the heir to the throne of Austria Hungary by Serbian teenager gabo prip after which Austria Hungary declares war on Serbia and then suddenly drags all the superpowers into a global war of course the real causes behind the war go much deeper among the most important ones was the increasing success of German capitalism which caused trouble for its Rivals while weaker in terms of Industry Britain and France had vast Empires which came into conflict with Germany’s expansionist interests they sought to protect their territories by allying with zaris Russia against Germany who was allies with the decaying Turkish Empire and Austria Hungary these competing block caused increasing friction in southeast Europe Africa the middle let’s not get into that too much you know what I mean let’s not let’s not I mean that’s neither here nor there you know what I mean it’s just uh it’s uh it happens you know it happens matter of time before this tensions would explode into a worldwide war for Lenin the first world war and its politics cannot be understood without grasping the underlying economic essence of imperialism in one of the prefaces of Lenin seminal imperialism the highest stage of capitalism Lenin writes quote The War of 1914 to8 was imperialist that is an annexationist predatory war of plunder on the part of both sides it was a war for the division of the world for the partition and repatriation of colonies and speres of influence of Finance Capital Etc proof of what was the true social or rather the true class character of the war is naturally to be found not in the Diplomatic history of the war but in an analysis of the objective position of the ruling classes in all the belligerent countries and this summary proves that imperialist Wars are absolutely inevitable under such an economic system as long as private property and the means of production exists the tens of millions of dead and maimed left by the war a war to decide whether the British or German group of financial plunderers is to receive the most booty the seeming stability of capitalism so much praised and emphasized by the revisionists turned into bloody class conflict and the most deadly War Humanity had seen within days the general mood in Germany at the outbreak of the war is typically portrayed with joy enthusiasm and lust for adventure women sprawling flowers over the marching soldiers while partly true more recent research has further revealed that this picture is a myth and does not quite represent the whole sentiment of the early days in Berlin alone there were 50,000 proar demonstrators against 100 to 200,000 anti-war protesters which are often not mentioned in fact even before the outbreak of the war huge masses even among the more conservative ones went to the streets to protest against the looming War why do you love glazing the Ottomans so much as on aren’t you meant to be Ang P because I love the Ottoman Empire because under the Ottoman Empire no one would see a three-minute abbre because everyone would be subscribed to the top of the hour supposed Mass support for the war is among the reasons social Democrats then and today try to justify the SPD voting for The Kaiser’s War credits on the 25th of July 1914 the party issued an anti-war statement which read the class conscious German proletariat raises a flaming protest against the machinations of the warmongers not a drop of any German solders blood must be sacrificed to the power hunger of the Austrian ruling cck to the imperialist profiteer and mere 10 days later on August the 4th the party declared it would be voting for the government’s War credits it proclaimed for our people and its peaceful development much if not everything is at stake in the event of the victory of Russian despotism just good thing Germany does not have that same militaristic smoke in the aftermath of World War II against Russian despotism again and for the record at the time of course uh we’re talking pre-revolution so obviously uh not exactly the Russia that you know as the USSR and uh the current state of Russian Affairs also does not reflect any kind of um any kind of socialist sentiment much to consider much to consider about how history repeats itself but sometimes I guess not the good parts our task is to ward off this danger to safeguard the civilization and Independence of our own country we do not leave the Fatherland in the Lurch in the hour of danger after the majority of the party had voted for the war it adopted the policy of B Freedom’s politique Castle peace politics in English a social truce which means that for the time being for the sake of the Fatherland the party and the Affiliated Unions would not criticize the government or call for strikes this term is still in use today in German speaking countries to refer to class collaborationism of Social Democratic parties or other nominally left organizations it was not until months later against the pressure of theti higher ruling class and the public opinion it dominated edday climate when any opposition to the war would earn you accusations of treason and allegiance to zaris Russia when Carl Li defied party discipline and proclaimed in public his opposition to the war by voting as the only Social Democrat in the r talk against the war credits on December 2nd he spoke quote I am voting against the war credits bill today for the following reasons this war which none of the peoples involved desired was not started for the benefit of the German or of any other people it is an imperialist War a war for capitalist domination of the world markets and for the political domination of the important countries in the interests of industrial and financial capitalism the slogan against zaris is being used just as the French and British slogan against militarism to mobilize the noble sentiments the Revolutionary traditions and the hopes of the people for the national hatred of other peoples this show of Courage would make leap one of the symbols of the anti-war movement he gave the anti-war voices a plat classic uh it seems like you want Russian barbarism to take root in the entirety of uh beautiful Europe which is uh so much better than than that sort of disgusting orc likee Behavior wow you want to ceasefire dude uh it’s called it’s appeasement literally form around which war opponents could rally and feel supported by at least some Force within politics other prominent members of the Revolutionary left voiced their opposition to the war such as Luxembourg Clarkin and France meing several SPD members were purged from their positions after showing opposition to the war Luxembourg soon landed in prison Le was conscripted to the war despite being older than 40 and then later landed in prison as well the general mood changed soon however soldiers came back with stories about the war’s Horrors enthusiasm for the War Began to Wayne anti-war protests increased rapidly the SPD could have easily made use of this energy to take a critical stand against the war which was dragging on and on all pretense about self-defense became empty and laughable by now it was clear to most that the German Empire was aiming at expanding its power at the start of the war State and military leaders of the belligerent Powers estimated the war would be over within months the first German Chief of Staff schen said that a long war was inconceivable as the armies got bugged down in the trenches it wasn’t only the soldiers that had to suffer and die for their imperialists the whole economy needed to be milked to run the war machine living standards were hit immediately food supply crashed due to people from agriculture being conscripted or because of the blockade the caloric value of the weekly diet fell to half of what a person needed on average to survive people worked within a war economy with mass production ramping up bringing suffering workers closer together so while the war crushed many Links of organized labor in a way it created conditions for more explosive organization on May 1st Kip addressed the MayDay rally by shouting down with the war down with the government before being taken into custody and receiving a 4-year sentence Landing again in prison the 1 million strong SPD was the dominant power contesting the Prussian state for legitimacy it was the time to mobilize the masses against the state but to the Revolutionary left it was clear that German social democracy had abandoned Marxism long ago Lenin called the actions of the SPD a sheer betrayal of socialism it’s not that the party could have prevented the war by adopting other positions it was their abandoning of the class stand to be on the side of the working class in the face of imperialist war the workers parties did not oppose the government criminal conduct but called upon the working class to identify its position with that of the imperialist governments the leaders of the international committed an act of treachery against socialism by voting for war credits by reiterating the chauvinist slogans of the bourjois of their own countries by justifying and defending the war by joining the Bourgeois governments of the belligerent countries and so on and so forth the responsibility for thus disgracing socialism Falls primarily on the German social Democrats who were the strongest and most influential party in the second International the second inter International was an organization of various socialist parties around the world before the outbreak of the world war in 1912 after tensions were increasing everywhere leading already to the balcan wars or the Italo Turkish War the second International agreed on a declaration in the Swiss city of Basil basing itself on two famous paragraphs of the earlier starter they’re looking at this entirely wrong thinking about a potential future where socialism won in Germany when in fact they should have implemented they should have implemented socialism immediately in Turkey in the Ottoman Empire and instead of having a Bourgeois uh liberal uh postcolonial State the Turkish Republic they could have had a socialist State and then turkey wouldn’t be a part of NATO the world would be the the Socialist ottoman Republic would have completely dismantled the Bourgeois capitalist interest resolution which were mostly the work of Rosa Luxenberg and Vladimir Lenin it stated quote if war is declared the working classes in the countri is affected as well as their parliamentary repres Representatives have the duty to mobilize their forces to prevent hostilities from breaking out with the support of the coordinating activity of the international Bureau by applying those means which will seem the most effective to them means which evidently will vary according to the more or less aggravated turn which the class struggle may take and in relation to the general political situation if in spite of their efforts War should break out their duty is to struggle actively for a speedy end to the fighting and to make every effort to use the economic and political crisis which the war causes to Rouse the people and in this way to speed up the abolition of the rule of the capitalist class the breaking of most European socialist parties with this resolution had a far-reaching historical significance according to Lenin quote why didn’t the tur socialism timeline happen um one Bourgeois Revolution two NATO American involvement turkey’s geopolitical position created it a phenomenal opportunity for it to be uh a a you know a direct military base against uh the USSR that’s where the Cuban crisis started as well we had our own version of gladio happening in turkey at the time where America went in took like some of the worst most hyper nationalist the ultra nationalist fascist in turkey and beef them up offer them support they spent every waking moment killing commies in turkey and destroying any kind of um any kind of left sentiment this collapse has been mainly caused by the actual prevalence in it of petty bua opportunism the bua nature and the danger of which have long been indicated by the finest representatives of the Revolutionary proletariat of all countries this opportunism was evident before the outbreak of the war through the emphasis on the legalist reformist and parliamentary approach and class collaboration the backing of the imperialist efforts was only the crowning of the trend towards resignation and compromise with the capitalists yeah the term deep state was invented in Turkey like literally it is a term that originates from uh Turkish terminology system quote opportunism was engendered in in the course of decades by these special features in the period of the development of capitalism when the comparatively peaceful and cultured life of a Strom of privileged workmen were rified them gave them Crumbs from the table of their National capitalists and isolated them from the suffering misery and revolutionary temper of the impoverished and rined masses the imperialist war is the direct continuation and culmination of the State of Affairs because this is a war for the Privileges of the great Power Nations for the repartition of colonies and domination over other nations Lenin said that this world war was the beginning of a new Epoch in which the aim of the working class was to struggle for power quote the conversion of the present imperialist War into a civil war is the only correct proletarian slogan one that follows from the experience of the Paris commune and outlined in the Basel resolution it has been dictated by all the conditions of an imperialist war between highly developed bua countries one must be blind not to see bua and Petty bua influence on the proletariat as the main and fundamental cause of the International’s disgrace and collapse in 1914 Lenin was accused you have a lot of influence over the Western left do you plan on facilitating another communist International or do you see another approach yeah you’re right man I’m going to do another International dude take off the horse blinders I’m literally a twitch streamer okay that is the most nutty thing I’ve ever heard oh my God that’s awesome of causing the Schism in the Socialist movement but from Lennon’s point of view it was not him and the other bolik trying to split the left by defending Marxism and rejecting liberalism it was the opportunists who reject Marxism and defend liberalism this is a common narrative that is still deployed against revolutionaries that they are dogmatists or that they are not pragmatic by Clinging On to principles well if you look at the SPD today or other examples of revisionism which are fully immersed in the imperialist system you see that marxists might have very good reasons to struggle for the correct political positions there was another narrative that was put forward to defeat and even co-opt the Marxist standpoint as the proletarian International and the class struggle perspective grew the ruling classes of Germany sought to combat it with the probably most effective Bourgeois counternarrative nationalism the goal was to reconcile the work in class with the German Reich to dilute class struggle by putting all members of a nation in the same team prominent Apostles such as a re and that [ __ ] work real good Stucker sought to to this day integrate the idea of the proletariat as part of the national Community friedr nman a racist pastor and liberal politician who later co-founded the German democratic party sought to combine non-marxist socialism with nationalism and liberalism proposing social reform as a means to prevent class struggle and of course we know who later picked up the idea of national socialism and how nationalism served to dilute the class struggle perspective then as well but this will be the topic of another video that is coming soon this is why magga communism is a laughable Concept in general like any kind of nasb sentiment any kind of like National bolshevism any kind of sentiment that like brings nationalism into the equ equation immediately destroys any revolutionary aspect in the direction of socialism you just can’t do that that’s not a real thing okay it’s not it is inherently reactionary it’s inherently counterproductive it is inherently oxymoronic it’s just you it’s it’s uh not dialectical it’s not materialist it’s not well I wouldn’t say it’s not dialectical I guess it’s it’s not materialist at all the the concept of the concept of of a nation state and uh and nationalism as an extension of that concept is inherently is inherently not materialist it’s completely spiritual it’s ideological you just made it up you’re like oh yeah me and all my neighbors like we all um this the people living in this plot of land that we deci we designed as a state are all um you know they we’re all United on our own values on our own principles on our shared principles is yet another way to mystify U class struggle in America we don’t really do that much because I fear that we have better mechanisms of control but anyway let’s continue in fact already at this point anti-Semitism as well served as a means to direct the anger of the petty bourjois away from Big Capital who was crushing it to a supposed Jewish Elite in control of working-class organizations AUST Babel called this tendency the socialism of fools but you can argue that the SPD was part of this nationalistic socialist Trend as well as they linked the well-being of the German working class to the success of German imperialism not to the success of the international proletariat against the international Bourgeois you can see how at the time the word socialism was quite popular so various movements used it opportunistically to draw in working class support unfortunately this reactionary Trend that claims socialism is still a phenomenon today as the war dragged on it became more and more obvious to everyone what the Revolutionary left had already said at the beginning that this war does not serve the people in any way in December 1916 20 sdp deputies voted along with leap against further War credits lipn was painted as a purist an adventurist and idealist at the outbreak of the war now his stance was adopted by a larger and larger section of the SPD eventually 40% of the Socialist deputies opposed the war however as the fors pointed out those who posted the war represented more voters than the deputies who were proar thus actually representing the majority in January 1917 the SPD under aert expelled those who voted against the war and these people went on to form the independent so Social Democratic party una SPD in German or USD the old SPD was now referred to as the majority SPD or mspd the uspd was a mixed group of different Trends United by their anti-war position among them were Edward benstein and Carl kowsky who now opposed the war as well they had supported it in the beginning and members of the spartacist group such as Luxemburg and lipn who for the time being refused to split from this party as mentioned before there would soon ensue a world historic event that would massively boost and Inspire the anti-war movement and accelerate the end of the imperialist slaughter one of the chief revolutionary theorists who opposed workingclass support for the war and upheld the fight for socialism as the correct Marxist position went on to actually implement the Marxist ideas that the Revolutionary left had argued for this whole time Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks had seized power in sent Petersburg in November or in October according to the old style of the calendar every German was soon to learn that the people from country the German State represented as the quote Enemy Number One unquote has been overthrown despite State censorship the increasingly suffering and radicalizing working class had seen that Revolution and an end to the war was possible the German Minister for the interior spoke of quote the intoxicating effect of the Russian Revolution Social Democrat member of the RTO hug Gaza warned the government quote does the chancellor want the German masses to end up speaking Russian spartacist Fritz Hecker said the German proletariat must draw the lessons of the Russian Revolution and take their own Des in hand this sentiment was reflected by the German working class and the German State tried as hard as they could to diffuse the explosive potential the October Evolution had brought with it the argument of National Defense made by the SPD sounded even emptier after the victory of the Bolsheviks they could no longer claimed that Russian tyranny presented a danger the leadership of the uspd praised the revolution quote the working class has taken which is infinitely scarier in the eyes of the in the eyes of the the Capital owners this presented an infinitely scarier alternative because zarus Russia can be dealt with you can use it as a perfect enemy but all of a sudden all of a sudden a better a better solution is possible holy [ __ ] you don’t want the peasants to to learn about that you don’t want the peasants to look at uh a country that can lead by example it’s terrifying political power in Russia this is an event of world significance never has the working class faced such an important task as this two days later in the same newspaper it said quote we German Workers are with all our hearts with our Russian comrades and struggle in these days they are also fighting for our cause they are the Vanguard of humanity the Vanguard of Peace in truth however the uspd was split on the new Soviet government most prominently it was berstein and kowsky that derided the revolution kowsky who by now wasn’t exactly close friends with Lenin concluded that the revolution would end in chaos and it is supposedly against Democratic principles Lenin prominently countered K’s critique in proletarian Revolution and the Renegade ksky quot the question of the dictatorship of the proletariat is a question of the relation of the proletarian state to the Bourgeois state of proletarian democracy to Bourgeois democracy one would think that this is as plain as a pike staff but kowsky like a school master who has become as dry as dust from quoting the same old textbooks on History persistently turns his back on the 20th century and his face to the 18th century and for the h 100th time in a number of paragraphs in an incredibly tedious fashion choose the old cud over the relation of Bourgeois democracy to absolutism and medievalism he wrote that his analysis is quote such an awful theoretical model such a complete renunciation of Marxism that kowsky it must be confessed has far excelled berstein Lenin is criticizing kow’s misunderstanding of the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat which emphasizes the class character of the state when compared to the liberal concept of democracy which conceals it it refers to workers so the majority being in power in contrast to the dictatorship of the bisi the minority what we have now the bovik saw the Russian Revolution merely as the first stage of a worldwide Revolution the Soviet government used every means possible to spread it in all count remember guys America’s so foundationally busted that the majority here unironically complain about the tyranny of majority the tyranny of majority is a principle that Americans genuinely think is bad without even a shred of examination we s simultaneously claim we love democracy and say we hate tyranny of majority brother the tyranny of majority is democracy capitalism or a capital liberal democracy is a dictatorship of the Bourgeois Capital owners dictate what happens a dictatorship of the proletarian on the other hand would be a democracy a real democracy they even used the German Russian peace negotiations at bre Lov on the 26th of November as a platform to spread the Revolutionary message and in particular to address the German Workers and soldiers Carn wrote from his prison cell quote thanks to the Russian delegates breast has become a revolutionary Tribune it has denounced the central European powers the lies and the hypocrisy of Germany with the help of many social Democrats sympathizers of the October Revolution would spread thousands of leaflets in Germany to agitate for the revolution the German military leaders exploited the Russian rush for peace and negotiated a peace settlement heavily in favor of the German Reich the agitation for strikes and Revolution by the bolik delegation Was Heard and on January 14th a major strike broke out in Budapest and soon all over Austria and Hungary it was estimated that a quarter million workers were on strike in Vienna alone and thus began what historian France borano at the time called without exaggeration quote the greatest revolutionary movement of properly proletarian origin which the modern world has when liberals now look back at um the the German Marxist movement at the time and the Trade union movement at the time in general and say the commes went too far and that’s why a lot of people were scared and aligned with the fascists this is what they’re talking about they are talking about they’re talking about revolutionary sentiment being expressed revolutionary action being engaged with and how this created firm and committed opposition from the capital owners who saw fascism as a vehicle for stability or rather the maintenance of the pre-existing hierarchies scene the spart League put out leaflets saying quote the viese workers elected councils on the Russian model unquote and proclaiming a general strike about half a million workers went on strike all over Germany for several what is the correct response to that I disagree with the premise of the Tyranny majority but I don’t know how to refute it what do you mean it’s just called democracy do you like democracy Americans think they like the tical Democracy the question is if there’s no tyranny of majority you know what you have a tyranny of minority which is what we currently have a tyranny of minority is not a democracy at all but instead something different an oligarchy days soldiers began to understand they didn’t give their lives to defend Germany while the officers sat idle sending them to their useless deaths Sailors in Northern Germany got organized and undertook various protest actions the movement eventually failed under the violence of the military might and its leaders were executed the others received multiple years of hard labor each the sailors had learned an important lesson that you can’t take on the state’s military machine with non-political peaceful protests the main problem with the strikes was that there was no revolutionary organization guiding it towards revolutionary aims Leo yoges wrote they quote did not know what to do with the Revolutionary energy most crucially there was no independent revolutionary party to undermine the confusion intentionally caused by the right-wing social Democrats to diffuse the anger of the masses nobody could at that point openly declared their opposition to the strike movement without losing credibility among the masses so the liberal opportunists do what they can do best they Co-op the movement and try to suffocate it from within the uspd was definitely not that revolutionary even like black lives matter which wasn’t necessarily revolutionary nor was it socialist was susceptible to the similar co-optation which occurred under the Trump Administration organization it was led mostly by centrists who tried to distance themselves from the spartacist slogan the enemy as at home peace through socialist Revolution they advised against Mutiny or other seditious acts The prominent SPD leaders declared their superficial support for the strike and managed to gain leading position in the action committees of the strike against lots of opposition with one goal as Fred abber later explained quote I joined the strike leadership with a clear intention of bringing the strike to a speedy end to prevent damage to the country his party colleague Schneiderman and future chancellor of Germany said quote if we had not joined the strike committee Law and Order would not now exist here the state knew very well who their enemy was and who wasn’t for instance following a meeting that was banned by the state left socialist wilhem d got a four-year prison sentence while aert and Co were left untouched aert said in a speech in that meeting quote it is the duty of workers to back up their brothers and fathers at the front and to manufacture the best arms Victory is the dearest goal of all Germans the social Democrats did their absolute best to deradicalize the strike movement they sought to mediate with the government maintaining that the strikers had merely economic demands not political ones which of course wasn’t true the strike was eventually smashed yogas summed it up as follows quote because they could not imagine the strike wave as more than a simple protest movement the committee under the influence of the RTO deputies tried to enter into negotiations with the government instead of refusing all negotiations and directing the energy of the masses only a few weeks after the German High command had been talking about Victory it became clear to them that they were sure to lose after a failed offensive on the Western Front in the summer of 1918 they now acknowledged after seeing the massive strikes and protests that the whole country was about to collapse the only way to ensure stability was to negotiate for peace immediately and to liberalize the government in order to prevent a to total breakdown the leadership of the Prussian military suggested to the Kaiser that there was no choice but to bring the SPD into the government Secretary of State hin famously said quote it is necessary to prevent an upheaval From Below by a revolution from above the mspd was of course in full agreement with demanding the emperor’s resignation they wanted to gain the initiative over the revolutionaries whose support was rapidly growing no I didn’t say anything disparaging about Linux I love Lin but the emperor refused and settled in the headquarters of the German Army and Spa in Belgium the Kaiser’s liberal leaning cousin Prince Max von Baden was chosen as the chancellor and concessions to the German Workers were determined Philip sneidman of the SPD was among the politicians who were now led into the government and conduct the so-called October reforms to liberalize the government and negotiate a peace deal with US President woodro Wilson all with one goal to preserve the monarchy part of this maneuver was to be able to shift blame for the loss of the war on the social Democrats in order to save any legitimacy that was left for the monarchy fried Hebert was of course totally okay okay with this his Ascension to state power was too close to refuse it in a meeting of party leadership he warned quote if we don’t come to some understanding with the bgea parties and the government then we will have to let events take their own course then we will be resorting to revolutionary tactics a similar development would take place that that experienced in Russia part of the concessions to the working class was the releasing of carnit from prison but all those Maneuvers were not enough to calm the anger of the masses and to defeat the Spectre of Revolution the high command was frustrated in their efforts for an immediate peace the French imperialists were determined to grabb as much territory as possible just as the Germans did with the Soviet Union a year earlier in a desperate attempt to defend as many Holdings as possible the Germans sent out troops to fight lost battles but the sailors understood that the leadership was to send them to unnecessary and certain death one sailor told his father quote we all felt this would be our last voyage and so we instinctively refused to follow orders and they did and were immediately arrested thousands of sailors joined by the port’s workers went out to protest at the arrests in ke nine were killed after clashes with government loyalists but the movement had learned from their past mistakes and refused to protest peacefully so they fired at the patrols and managed to force them to retreat and thus began the German Revolution thank you for watching part one in the next part we’ll talk about and analyze the events of the German Revolution including how social Democrats crushed it with the help of Proto fascist forces and we’re going to cover the murder of Rosa Luxenberg and carft and we’re going to try to draw import important lessons from this revolution for future organizing so make sure to subscribe to not miss part two and I’ll see you soon I’ll Fe great video I can’t wait to watch the second part of it um I do I almost want to watch just like the the the foundation of like German paramilitaries because um it’s very important I mean this establishes the basis of like how there is a reactionary heel turn from social Democrats that inevitably sick their sights on what they consider to be uh much more uh threatening to the the comfortable positions that they’ve created for themselves the reason why the reason why I always stress this like whenever people come in here and Chirp about like um the conditions that made way for Nazi Germany’s rise it is objectively ahistorical when people claim like when people see the KPD and and the German socialist movement and put the blame on them liberals who choose to put the blame on um liberals who choose to put the blame on the German socialist movement are ironically doing the same like they’re they’re revisiting the same kind of fascist capitulations that literally happened back then so in a way they are saying like no as a liberal I’m going to turn into a Nazi soon like you better shut this down it’s so funny how a modern version of this sentiment is very much expressed and we do laugh about it regularly the whole like oh the left got too woke for me so I changed my entire world view you know what I mean um the left got too woke for me which is why I no longer believe in like climate change i’ actually personally think that like um you know I I decided I’m a Nazi now [Music] [Music]
36 Comments
Hey everyone, if you enjoyed this you should go to Bes D. Marx's channel to see all his other vids too: https://www.youtube.com/@BesDMarx
He really does a great job creating these! I hope you enjoy 🙂
suckkdem
Does anyone know what the outro music is?
Dislike, no Rust
Not again 😂😂😂
Hasan: “Russia was provoked.”
Also Hasan: “Russia was completely unjustified.”
the thumbnail is so stupid lol (good job)
Hassan what makes you a socialist?seeing as you’re literally a multimillionaire.you earn an estimated 1.5 million by sitting in you’re ivory tower (or your mother’s basement) taking $5 and $10 donations from your supporters.Youre very much a Capitalist.
Wer hat uns verraten?
As a European chatter, not only did I stay and watch Hasan regularly, but I shifted so left that I watch Hakim to learn theory and explore the Marxist analysis of our history and society 😀
(of course, I'm also reading theory myself, and not just relying on others – that would be irresponsible of me)
Proud of Germany!
The BBC finding a way to somehow blame communism for fascism, IN GERMANY, is truly remarkable.
Absolute banger
God damn, the 19th and the first half of the 20th century were awful, but they also had so much hope and promise. Even in the kissinger era, de-colonization and non-aligned movements gave people something to aspire.
Then history ended, and there was only anomie. Even the fascism, for all the violence and death, is lame and weak. We're left supporting small AES victories and very critically supporting dictators so they collapse the empire and allow anything else. Anything at all.
17:37
For anybody further interested in the inter war period in Germany, I highly suggest the "The Fight for the Republic" series on the "The Iron Dice" podcast by Dan Arrows.
For some reason "anarkiddies"
these angsty stinky teenshave a better and more cohesive analysis and understanding of the historical rises of fascism and the material reasons behind these rises, or the reason why such a reactionary sentiment was left in ex-east germany (the same as every ex-ussr country) after the fall of soviet union, or why the capitalist class would beef up such extremists to take power. It's almost as if there is another hierarchical power structure besides class division, that upholds inequality, oppression and injustice. And this hierarchical power structurelet's call it "The State"can not be a mean to our end i.e. participating in and then taking "The State" cannot lead to a stateless society, in the same way that accumulating capital and participating in capitalism can not lead to a classless society.The betrayal that MLs feel from Liberals is a drop on the ocean compared to the betrayal AnComs feel from MLs.
Sucks that I'm late in posting this but 3 arrows has an incredible series on the German revolution
It's better to be right wing than a Left wing socialist. Because Hitler was a left wing socialist and he hated Jewish people.
The replacement IS happening. There is more than enough facts that supports it. AfD isnt facist nor far right wing. It literally stepped up to the older CDU ways. CDU went quite leftwing thanks to merkel. Why people vote for AfD ? hm, maybe way overproportionate crimes done from specific groups ? Maybe because you dont see any germans in citys ? You cant even go swimming anymore without setting yourself in huge danger. The AfD wants to get rid of illegal and criminal "refugees". THis whole framing is quite annoying. The current ruling party, which btw is hated by the mayority is trying to get rid of any opposition. The AfD literally wants to enforce existing rules which gets ignored for nearly a decade now by the ruling clownsverein.
They call them threat to democracy, while there they only one who demands direct referendums by the people for major political decisions.
Wer kann mir eine gute Quelle von linken Nachrichtenanalysen in DE (ich kenne TAZ, aber auch gern YouTube Kanäle & Co) empfehlen? Danke und viele Grüße aus Köln ✊
afd be like: we are not nazis, we are just very cozy with them
For the last 10 years "social democracy" in germany hasn't even meant the nordic model anymore. It is just nationalist ordoliberalism at this point.
I dont understand why people get mad over right wing parties its what people want .
What about the Video from Sylt of All the rich germans singing "foreigners out, germany for the germans",?
Every time someone says why no german stood up to hitler, i think, why do you think facism took over in 33 not 23, who do you think were the people who were the first in the concentrationcamps?
1:06:05 he's right! Nationalism is NOT dialectic! It's metaphysical!
…We're going to have to stop Germany again, are we?
Love how quick, and hard, the German gov is on taking down anti-genocide peace protestors and how much leeway they give the right wing (hate group) fascists…
Well, some of us – even I, Norwegian at 58 – have been radicalised to the left since 2001/2009. Another way of seeing this dynamic, my social values & ethics are pretty much what they were before neoliberalism took hold here in the mid 80’s.
That makes me a funny kind of “conservative”, although I’m a “Hegelian” at root. My model of understanding is dynamic and reveals what changes over time. Individualism is scary, and the forces and outcomes are common across the OECD. Way above governments, and systemically naturalised outside of democratic influence.
Stiglitz was right back in the 90’s, an asymmetry of knowledge. And, he himself is fairly “radical” now, towards societal and communal values.
Keep up your important work – we’re in this together, across arbitrary borders. Because competition kills!
Interesting stuff here Hassan . I did my thesis on this topic . Totally changed my perspective of workers , life and whst was never discussed in school . Communists aren’t monsters they are here for equality for all.
As a german social democrat i don't wonder about why some people voting right parites. There are muslim demonstrations on the street demanding the "caliphate" in germany. I went there to see it myself. They have more children and on the other hand germans have a very low fertility rate. Its just a matter of time they say. And if you look at the numbers its not crazy to think this way. And then there is the problem of sexual assaults and unwillingness to integrate. They don't even have to integrate anymore in some parts of the cities. They have their own community. Barbers, groceries, doctors. Mix all of that with the fact that west germany doesn't give a shit about east germany und there you have it. It is as simple as that. There are problems that need fixing and we the left should recognize these problems. Its not so easy as some lefties say. If you criticize foreigners you are automatically a nazi. Thats stupid as f***. That doesn't solve a problem.
Good video but insane that hasan still tries to defend his statements and lies surrounding the war in ukraine. pretty sad. Also we should stop defending literal terror states like the former east germany. they were neither socialist nor communist.
I as a german who would consider myself a leftist/marxist, i have noticed a conservative shift even in my age group mid to late twenties, which i find terrifying.
I am glad to see that many in my bubble, art and design, still share many of my beliefs, however, many seem to grow more and more desensitized to the horrid news from around the world.
Many of my friends refuse to talk about the genocide in gaza, look at me sceptically when i criticise israel.