The creation of the Communist Party at a congress in Berlin at the beginning of January 1919 had been the result of a coming together of various left-wing groupings, including a large number of defectors from the USPD. The Socialist Republic of Braunschweig was one of several regions in Germany, away from Berlin, where the USPD had remained strong, and the Communists were not yet able to attract significant levels of support from working class voters. On 25 January 1919 August Merges was elected chairman of the Braunschweig region USPD. This may have seemed a significant development, but larger forces were in play. During the first three months of 1919 the revolution continued to develop across Germany. Political differences were increasingly being played out on the streets: approximately three months after his election to the regional USPD party chairmanship, August Merges appears to have switched his own political allegiance to the Communist Party.