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Living Democracy. Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils in the German Revolution of 1918-1919

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Published May 2026

Gaard Kets

Author: Gaard Kets
For a few weeks in November and December 1918, the German working class experimented with council democracy. In Living Democracy, historian and political theorist Gaard Kets examines the ideas, institutions and experiences of council rule that were developed during the German Revolution of 1918–1919. Analyzing the debates of workers and intellectuals in the councils in four major cities, this book provides unique insight into the work floor of the revolution. The fundamental democratic questions that these revolutionaries discussed, regarding the demos and institutions of proletarian democracy, are still relevant for workers, activists and radical democrats today.

Biographical Note

Gaard Kets, Ph.D. (1987), is an Assistant Professor of Political Theory at Radboud University. With a background in both history and political science, his research interests include historical theories, institutions and experiences of radical politics. He has published on the ideas, experiences and afterlives of council politics in the German Revolution of 1918–1919 and the Paris Commune of 1871.

Readership

This book is especially relevant to (postgraduate) students, researchers and other academics involved in social movements, revolution, the history of political thought, and the development of contemporary radical democratic theory.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Chronology

1 Introduction
1.1 The Foretold Revolution
1.2 An Overview of the Political Landscape
1.3 The Second International and the Roots of Council Theory
1.4 Historiography of the German Revolution
1.5 Research Questions
1.6 The Four Case Studies
1.7 Source Material
1.8 Book Outline

2 Understanding Revolutionary Thought
2.1 What Are Revolutions?
2.2 An Ecological Approach to Social Movements
2.3 Scripts and Repertoires
2.4 Agents of Revolutions
2.5 Studying Concepts and Ideologies
2.6 On Intellectuals

3 Berlin: Councils in the Capital
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Pre-History of Revolutionary Berlin
3.3 The Revolution Arrives in Berlin
3.4 The First National Congress of Councils
3.5 Democratisation of the Army
3.6 Socialising the Economy
3.7 Councils versus Parliament?
3.8 Actors and Ecology in the Berlin Councils

4 Munich: From Lively Democracy to the Council Republics
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Pre-Revolutionary Situation
4.3 The Revolution’s Dress Rehearsal
4.4 The ‘Shotgun Wedding’ of a Unified Left: Kurt Eisner’s Free State
4.5 A Tale of Three Drafts
4.6 Inclusive Democratic Politics: Constituting the Demos
4.7 Electing a New Landtag
4.8 Power Vacuum and Council Congress
4.9 Revolutionary Right, Representation and Sovereignty
4.10 Councils or Parliament? – Revisited
4.11 Creating a Council Belt from Rhine to Volga
4.12 Conclusions

5 Bremen: Working-Class Ideas in the Bremen Council Republic
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Historical Context
5.3 The Council and Other Institutions
5.4 Constituting the Demos
5.5 Visions of Post-Revolutionary Society
5.6 Conclusions

6 Hamburg: The Hamburg Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils
6.1 Introduction
6.2 The Workers’ and Soldiers’ Council of Hamburg
6.3 The Revolution in Hamburg
6.4 The Councils and the Old Institutional Order
6.5 Political Parties and Trade Unions
6.6 Membership and Democratic Inclusion
6.7 Democratisation of the Army
6.8 Conclusions

7 Democratic Life and Thought
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Establishing Councils, Actors and Ideas
7.3 Conceptualisation and Contestation of the Councils
7.4 Democratic in- and Exclusion: Speaking Subalterns
7.5 Living Democratic Lives

Literature and Sources
Index