Workers' Councils
GA 331a
The Workers' Councils of Württemberg I
Documents relating to the high point of his work in May 1919
May 9, 1919
The Executive Committee of the Greater Stuttgart Workers' Council to the Working Committee of the Association for the Threefold Social Order
Document Main State Archive Stuttgart, E 135a, Bü 212
B. Sch. [Stuttgart], May 9, 1919
To the Working Committee of the Association for the Threefold Social Order Here
Regarding Dr. Steiner
We have forwarded the resolution adopted at the Greater Stuttgart Workers' Council meeting on May 7 to the government as follows:
“The Württemberg government is requested to appoint Dr. Steiner without delay so that he may undertake the threefold social order, which appears to be the only salvation from impending ruin.”
The Executive Committee hereby submits the above for your kind attention.
Executive Committee of the Stuttgart Workers' Council
Chairman: [Rudolf Gehring] Secretary: [sign.] B. [= Emil Barthelmes]
May 10, 1919
Hans Kühn to the Executive Committee of the Greater Stuttgart Workers' Council
Document Main State Archive Stuttgart, E 135a, Bü 212
Hans Kühn Stuttgart, May 10, 1919
Stuttgart Werfmershalde 10
To the Executive Committee of the Workers' Council Stuttgart Stuttgart Residenzschloß
Regarding Dr. Steiner
From your letter of May 9, we understand that you subsequently amended the resolution adopted at the Greater Stuttgart Workers' Council meeting on May 7 and forwarded it to the government.
We would like to point out that the submitted wording was adopted and that you are not entitled to make any subsequent changes. In any case, you will agree with us that a resolution that has been collected from all parts of the country with many thousands of signatures at our office and then submitted to the government must make a different impression than if the resolutions were sent directly to the government from the various locations.
This is merely a statement of fact.
The Association for the Threefold Social Order
On behalf of the Working Committee: [sign.] Kühn
[handwritten note]: The Executive Committee hoped that forwarding it to the government would be more successful than sending it to your address. However, we have already informed the government not to take any action on our resolution and left it to you to accept a resolution with 150 votes out of 320, supported by a large majority.
May 13, 1919 Meeting of the State Committee of Workers' and Farmers' Councils of Württemberg (excerpt from the minutes)
Document Main State Archive Stuttgart, E 135a, Bü 19/20
3.) Miscellaneous
A complaint has been received from the Association for Three-Part Division because the Executive Committee forwarded the resolution adopted by the Workers' Council to the government and not to it. The letter is acknowledged.
May 14, 1919
Meeting of the Greater Stuttgart Workers' Council (excerpt from the minutes)
Document Main State Archive Stuttgart, E 135a, Bü 19
Comrade Römer: He did not have much to say about the Council Congress [2nd Reich Council Congress from April 8 to 14, 1919, in Berlin], but he felt compelled to point out that the U.S.P. should not have participated in the Council Congress either (objection). The current councils serve no purpose, just like the parliaments. It is questionable whether the KPD will appear again at the next workers' council. Steiner's system will not get us out of this either.
May 12, 1919
The attitude of the majority socialists
Schwäbische Tagwacht 39th year, no. 108
Threefold social order
Signatures are currently being collected in companies to bring about the appointment of Dr. Steiner to the Württemberg government. His task is to implement the threefold social order. Such ideas find fertile ground at the present time because everyone is longing for a way out of social misery. Those for whom economic life is not a fantasy but a reality cannot believe that Dr. Steiner and his ideas will fulfill these hopes. It is striking that the propaganda in working-class circles is partly carried out by people who, before the revolution, cared about everything except the labor movement and who, after the revolution, saw their task as leading the working class into the camp of the Spartacists. The attempt with the Action Committee failed because the workers realized that the goal of this movement was not unity but Spartacism. So other means must be found. The same names that were on the appeal of the so-called “Action Committee” at the time can also be found on the “Appeal for Social Threefolding.” They only want to have the workers under their leadership, in the hope that they might still succeed in turning them into a tool for Bolshevism.
This is how things stand, and for this reason signing such an appeal cannot be recommended.
Whether the government appoints Dr. Steiner is a question in itself. No signatures are needed for this. The government has the greatest interest in putting all forces that can really contribute to the reconstruction of our economic life at its service. However, Dr. Steiner would first have to make really practical proposals so that they can be examined for their feasibility. If the government wanted to appoint all those who are convinced today that they can show the right way to eliminate social misery, we would soon have a whole army of appointees in Württemberg. With its limited resources, Württemberg is not suitable as a guinea pig.
For us, socialism, as reflected in our program, remains the basis for bringing about a better economic life. We therefore reject such signatures.
H.