Seven years have passed since the publication of the original German version of the present work. The 100th anniversary of the German Revolution fell within this period. One may regret that public attention to historical events is strongly focused on such anniversaries, yet it is truly remarkable what a wealth of commemorative events, exhibitions, academic conferences and of course publications we have witnessed in this particular case.

Due to my professional commitments – which are now situated completely outside the academic world – it was unfortunately not possible for me to incorporate the latest developments in this field of research into the present translation. This may be forgivable insofar as the council movement played only a rather subordinate role in the debates around the anniversary. The focus of the anniversary was more on the bourgeois interpretation of the revolution as the birth of German democracy than on the councils and the alternative path they pointed towards – democracy not in the sense of a radical socialist council democracy, but in the sense of a parliamentary social-reformist variant. This was mainly the case with the official ceremonies outside the academic sphere. In historical research, on the other hand, numerous aspects have been newly explored or examined in greater depth. For this reason, I would like to refer briefly and without any claim to completeness to some more recent publications, especially such that are available in English.¹

Studies of the role of women in the post-war period in general, but especially in the councils, are important and necessary, as is the question of newly introduced women’s suffrage.² Mark Jones has authored a widely acclaimed volume on the role of the violent conflicts in 1918–19.³ There have been numerous regional studies focusing on the provinces that have previously received less attention than well-known centres such as Kiel or Berlin.⁴ We should also mention new overall accounts of the revolution. Two works by Joachim Käppner and Wolfgang Niess respectively follow rather conventional interpretative patterns, while the one by Klaus Gietinger is informed by a more critical, left-wing perspective.⁵ An edited volume that covers the actual time-frame of the revolution more comprehensively and its thematic breadth more extensively than usual is very worthwhile.⁶ Two further studies deal more specifically with councils and council theories. Ralf Hoffrogge’s important biography of the Berlin council activist Richard Müller has been available in English since a translation was published as part of Brill’s Historical Materialism series.⁷ James Muldoon has authored a very well-conceived account of the theoretical foundations of the German council movement in English.⁸ Lastly, allow me to mention a volume that I have edited together with three colleagues: Eine zweite Revolution? Das Frühjahr 1919 in Deutschland und Europa (‘A Second Revolution? The Spring of 1919 in Germany and Europe’) considers the revolutionary events of 1919 from a superregional and international perspective.⁹

The present volume could not have been published without the dedicated support of others, and it is a special concern of mine to express my sincere gratitude to them. This applies first and foremost to Maciej Zurowski, whose translation is linguistically precise, stylistically accomplished and informed by an excellent understanding of the historical background. Loren Balhorn deserves credit for his stamina and excellent ideas that helped to make this project a reality. I am very grateful for the financial support from the Toledo Translation Fund and the Goethe Institute. I would also like to thank the editors of the Historical Materialism Book Series for editing the text and, of course, for kindly including this work in the series. Mention must also go to the following historians that I hold in high regard: Arnd Bauerkämper (Friedrich Meinecke Institute, Free University of Berlin), Peter Brandt (Dimitris Tsatsos Institute for European Constitutional Studies, Fernuniversität Hagen), Geoff Eley (Karl Pohrt Distinguished University Professor of Contemporary History, University of Michigan), Ian Grimmer (Honors College, University of Vermont), and Klaus Weinhauer (Bielefeld Graduate School in History and Sociology, University of Bielefeld). Their support made this translation possible. To cite all the other contributors here would probably go beyond the scope of this volume. I would, however, like to mention two remarkable historians from whom I received support, but who will not live to see the completion of this volume: William A. Pelz (Director, Institute of Working Class History) and especially my doctoral supervisor Wolfgang Wippermann (Friedrich Meinecke Institute, Free University of Berlin).

Axel Weipert

Berlin, autumn 2022