Revolution 1919

In January 1919 two important figures of the early German communist movement were murdered in Berlin: Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. This was in the middle of an attempt to turn the revolution that had forced the Kaiser to abdicate in November, 1918 into a fully socialist one. This attempt, often called the Spartacist Uprising, was defeated, as were other attempts in other parts of Germany to set up council republics and workers’ democracy.