1923 was a year of intensified destitution across Germany, and a number of major disturbances. In Hamburg Schehr took part in the storming the Ottensen police station, which was one of police stations in and around Hamburg attacked on 23 October in the context of that year's October uprising, carefully planned and choreographed by Ernst Thälmann on behalf of the party. In 1924 Schehr became a party "Polleiter" ("loosely, "policy head"") for Altona where he was already, by this time, a municipal councillor. He also regained his skilled work on the docks. The next year he accepted a fulltime job working within the party apparatus, however. It is clear that John Schehr's advancement in the national party over the next few years owed much to the friendship and political patronage of Ernst Thälmann, but he evidently had many friends and admirers among local party activists. A particular friend and political ally was .