Kurt Eisner

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Monument to Kurt Eisner on the sidewalk where he fell when he was assassinated in Munich.

Kurt Eisner (May 14, 1867 – February 21, 1919) ^[1] was a German and Bavarian politician and journalist. Kurt Eisner, as a German socialist journalist and statesman, organized the Socialist Revolution that achieved the overthrow of the monarchy in Bavaria (in 1918).^[1] He is used as an example of charismatic authority by Max Weber.

[edit] Early activism

Born in Berlin, to Jewish parents, Eisner studied literature and neo-Kantian philosophy with Hermann Cohen at the University of Marburg.^[1] Kurt Eisner studied at Friedrich Wilhelm University, worked as a theater critic, and edited several socialist newspapers. He was critical about Karl Marx's theory of historical materialism, which was a part of the dogmatic thought of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.

In 1892, Eisner published "Friedrich Nietzsche und die Apostel der Zukunft" (Friedrich Nietzsche and the Apostle).^[1] His thought was heavily influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche: Eisner agreed with Nietzsche on the issue of equality, believing that people should have the possibility to rise above the average and be creative, as the only way to bettering society. Nonetheless, other opinions held by Nietzsche made Eisner view him as a monster and a sinister thinker. As a pacifist and a socialist, he was against idealizing strong and irresponsible characters (the Übermensch) encouraged by Nietzsche.

[edit] Prominence

Kurt Eisner was born in Berlin at 10:15 p.m. on May 14, 1867 to Emanuel Eisner and Hedwig Levenstein. His birth was recorded on page 140, Nr. 289 of the Judischen Gemeinde Geburtsregister for 1867.

Kurt Eisner was always an open Republican as well as a Social-Democrat, whereas for tactical reasons German Social-Democracy, particularly in its later stages, rather cold-shouldered anything in the shape of Republican propaganda as being unnecessary and included in general Social-Democratic aims. Consequently he fought actively for political democracy as well as Social-Democracy. He became editor of “Vorwärts” after the death of Wilhelm Liebknecht in 1900, but was subsequently called upon to resign from that position. After his withdrawal from “Vorwärts,” his activities were confined in the main to Bavaria, though he toured other parts of Germany.

He was at Munich when the war broke out. At first he leaned to the view of the Majority on the war. But not for long. He soon took the side of the Minority, and has since been a leading figure among the Independents. His attitude on the war shows how wrong are those who assume that it is the “Revisionists” who supported the German Government and the Radical Marxists who opposed it. Eisner, if anything, favoured the Revisionists rather than the rigid Marxists, yet he increasingly opposed the war policy of the Majority as the war went on, while Marxists like Lensch and Heinrich Cunow have supported the war more vigorously, presumably on the ground that an economic “Deutschland über Alles” was the best possible thing for the world, if the world had only the common sense to realise it.

He joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1917, at the height of World War I, and was convicted of treason in 1918 for his role in inciting a strike of munitions workers.

After his release from prison, he organized the revolution that overthrew the monarchy in Bavaria (see German Revolution). He declared Bavaria to be a free state and republic on November 8, 1918, becoming the first republican premier of Bavaria.

He was defeated in the February 1919 election, and was assassinated in Munich when Anton Graf von Arco auf Valley shot at him on his way to present his resignation to the Bavarian parliament.

His assassination resulted in the establishment of the Bavarian Soviet Republic and parliament and government fleeing Munich.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "Kurt Eisner - Encyclopaedia Britannica" (biography), Encyclopædia Britannica, 2006, Britannica.com webpage: Britannica-KurtEisner.

[edit] References