Erich Mühsam

Erich Mühsam is a revolutionary Anarchist German-Jewish activist, antimilitarist and leader of the provisional German Union from 1919-1920. He lives a comfortable life in Munich, and despite stepping down from the political scene 16 years ago he still has many followers and is considered a hero of the German-Jewish population.

### *Importance*

Provisional chairman of the Union of GermanyFirst chairman of the Union of Germany

Executive leader of the REO

## **Early Life**

The third child born to Siegfried Seligmann Mühsam, a middle-class Jewish pharmacist, Erich Mühsam was born in Berlin on 6 April 1878. Soon after, the family moved to the city of Lübeck.

Mühsam was educated at the Katharineum-Gymnasium in Lübeck, a school known for its authoritarian discipline and corporal punishment, which served as the model for several of the settings in Thomas Mann's novel *Buddenbrooks* (1901). The young student Erich, who was by nature rebellious and resisted the school's regimented programme, was often physically punished. It was in the spirit of this resistance that, in January 1896, Mühsam authored an anonymous submission to the *Lübecker Volksboten*, denouncing one of the school's more unpleasant teachers, which caused a scandal. When his identity became known, Mühsam was expelled from the Katharineum-Gymnasium for sympathising and participating in Socialist activities. He completed his education in Parchim.

From an early age, Mühsam displayed a talent for writing and desired to become a poet — a career aspiration his father sought to beat out of him.-- His juvenilia consisted of animal fables, and he was first published at the age of 16, earning small amounts of money for satirical poems based on local news and political happenings. However, at the insistence of his father, young Erich set out to study pharmacy, a profession which he quickly abandoned to return to his poetic and literary ambitions. Mühsam left Lübeck for Berlin to pursue a literary career.

## **Poet, writer and revolutionary**

Mühsam moved to Berlin in 1900, where he soon became involved in a group called *Neue Gemeinschaft [de]*(New Society) under the direction of Julius and Heinrich Hart which combined socialist philosophy with theology and communal living in the hopes of becoming "a forerunner of a socially united great working commune of humanity." Within this group, Mühsam became acquainted with Gustav Landauer who encouraged his artistic growth and compelled the young Mühsam to develop his own activism based on a combination of communist and anarchist political philosophy that Landauer introduced to him. Desiring more political involvement, in 1904, Mühsam withdrew from *Neue Gemeinschaft* and relocated temporarily to an artists commune in Ascona, Switzerland where vegetarianism was mixed with communism and socialism. It was here that he began writing plays, the first *Die Hochstapler* (*The Con Men*), juxtaposing new modern political theory within traditional dramatic forms, which became a typical trademark of his dramatic work. During these years, Mühsam began contributing to and editing several anarchist journals. These writings made Mühsam the target of constant police surveillance and arrests as he was considered among the most dangerous anarchist agitators in Germany. The press seized the opportunity to portray him as a villain accused of anarchist conspiracies and petty crimes.

The G War would see the international anarchist community starkly divided into pro-war and anti-war positions, some hyper-nationalistically supporting Germany, others desiring that Germany's enemies (the United Kingdom, France, and later the United States of America) would be victorious. Mühsam became extremely nationalistic and militant in his support of Germany in the war, writing in his diaries: *"And I the anarchist, the anti-militarist, the enemy of national slogans, the anti-patriot and implacable critic of the armament furies, I discovered myself somehow possessed by the common intoxication, fired by an irate passion."* His public support of the war was seized upon by the state-controlled press for the purposes of propaganda, and by fellow anarchists who felt betrayed. However, by the end of 1914, Mühsam, pressured by his anarchist acquaintances renounced his support of the war effort.

For the rest of the war, Mühsam opposed the war through increased involvement in many direct action projects, including workers strikes, often collaborating with figures from other leftist political parties. As the strikes became increasingly successful and violent, the Bavarian state government began mass arrests of anti-war agitators.

## **Post-war activity and activism**

After the Great War ended, the Kaiser fled and the Entente-aligned German Republic was proclaimed the country was in ruins, torn apart by economic ruin and a shattered political scene, the people began demanding for more, especially as the working class was forced into overdrive by the Entente. Erich was one of many furious and outraged at the actions of the Entente and he began growing in the public eye by denouncing the Entente and the German Republic as a “puppet of Paris, London and Moscow”. In Bavaria he joined one of many syndicalist organizations bringing aid to a hungry, unemployed and unhoused population. But by around June their efforts were cut short by Berlin’s incursions and the suppression of these groups. Erich was subsequently arrested but the rage generated by his arrest and the suppression of these groups resulted in his release from prison a mere 3 months later due to public pressure. Erich was more than aware that times were tense, and that the public could be driven to a state of revolution but he would need to act quickly.

With his popularity in February of 1918 he organized a secret meeting between the largest trade unions, Anarchist and syndicalist organizations in Munich to discuss what should be done, as the Entente and Germany were ignoring pleas to ease the work load and increase the pay of the people. Mühsam and most unions agreed that a general strike would be needed to make a statement the country couldn’t ignore, and to frurther emphasize their cause they would also call for a boycott of the next Bavarian elections as any far-left political groups were banned at that point. For the next several months everything was being prepared, while Mühsam avoided any confrontations with the police while still rallying the people to the Anarchist cause.

By January 1919 the strike began and it quickly escalated from just about 10,000 people to over 100,000 in a few days. With various events stroking the flames of revolution, confrontations between strikers and police and military forces broke out especially in Munich. On the 21st of February as the strikers organized themselves into proper fighting forces, Mühsam delivered thousands of pamphlets to the wider German population of the city, calling on the people to resist the police and military and to join the revolutionary cause. On the 25th, Munich was overrun by revolutionaries and Eugene Leviné declared the Union of Bavaria as the German Civil War began. As the war progressed and the revolutionaries continually pushed the Republicans back, Mühsam personally created the “Revolutionary Enforcement Organization” for the specific goal of rooting out resistance organizations within occupied territory in mid-February.

In the following months, his effective strategy to root out reactionary movements and groups within various cities and towns made him very popular, and he announced that “Once the revolution is over, I will run for chairman against Leviné”, though this announcement was controversial by radical anarcho-syndicalists. Nevertheless he amassed many loyal followers as the REO grew in numbers in Bavaria. After July 2nd when the German Union was proclaimed the provisional government held elections within the government body as to who should lead the presidency, and on the 5th Erich announced his intent to run for the position. On the 12th, with all the votes counted it was revealed that the majority of representatives and politicians that voted had voted for Mühsam and he shortly after was tapped as provisional chairman. He would provide stability to the various cities under revolutionary occupation and pacify them as he still led the REO.

## **Post-revolution**

After Berlin was overtaken and the Republicans fell into shambles, he on the 19th of August proclaimed that the revolution was over and was won, but also urged people to be cautious in the days to come. 1 month after the end of the war, Mühsam called an emergency meeting in Munich to discuss a transition from a provisional government to a fully functional government as unrest was growing within the Union. During the meeting it was voted on by the TUC that elections would be held to vote for the first chairman of the Union to replace the provisional chairman, but allowed Erich to run for the position once again. Unsurprisingly he ran and won once again and would rule as the first chairman of the Union for the next five years.

## **Chairman of the Union of Germany**

While the position of the chairman had little official power compared to the unicameral TUC, he nonetheless exerted his influence and left a lasting impact on the Union. For the 5 years he was chairman, he brought the Union out of isolation after 2 years despite Germany’s overall poor economy and fragile government. He brought anarcho-syndicalism across the world, aided in the Argentine Civil War, sent representatives and delegates to Indochina in aid of the growing Vietnamese resistance against the French, sent supplies to Haiti and Russia during the Second Haitian Revolution and the Russian Revolution, indirectly started the campaign that would lead to the Russian Civil War, among other things.

## **Step down as chairman**

During the second elections in November of 1925, Mühsam announced he wouldn’t run for a second term, but decided to endorse the revolutionary candidate Rudolf Rocker, which many believe is what lead to the majority of his votes. Regardless, after Rocker ascended as the second chairman and Mühsam stepped down, he moved from Berlin to Munich, where he resides to this day, still a very beloved man.