Rat der Volksbeauftragten
Only a few days after the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II had been announced during the German Revolution of 1918–19, Preuß, in an article published on 14 November 1918, called on the middle-classes to "accept facts" and cooperate in creating the republic. On 15 November, the head of the revolutionary government, Friedrich Ebert of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) appointed Preuß as "Staatssekretär des Innern". At the time, the revolutionary Council of the People's Deputies ("Rat der Volksbeauftragten") co-existed with the old Imperial bureaucracy. Although the Council served as the cabinet and took the important decisions, it lacked an administrative apparatus and thus made use of the existing structures. Under the old Imperial constitution, the "Staatssekretäre" had been the heads of the various "Ämter", not true ministers but more senior civil servants working for the "Reichskanzler" (chancellor). Preuß' role thus could be described as head of the "Ministry of the Interior". The Council of the People's Deputies tasked him with preparing a draft for a new republican constitution. In November, Preuß also was a founding member of the new DDP.