Living Democracy: Workers' and Soldiers' Councils in the German Revolution of 1918-1919

For a few weeks in November and December 1918, the German working class experimented with council democracy. In Living Democracy, historian and political theorist Gaard Kets examines the ideas, institutions and experiences of council rule that were developed during the German Revolution of 1918-1919. Analyzing the debates of workers and intellectuals in the councils in four major cities, this book provides unique insight into the work floor of the revolution. The fundamental democratic questions that these revolutionaries discussed, regarding the demos and institutions of proletarian democracy, are still relevant for workers, activists and radical democrats today.