Council of the People's Deputies

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The Council of the People's Deputies (German: Rat der Volksbeauftragten) was the name given to the government of the November Revolution in Germany from November 1918 until February 1919. During this period, the main achievements of the Council were the organization of the cease-fire on the 11th of November, 1918, the General Convention from the 16th-20th of December, 1918, and the preparation for the elections for the National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) on January 19, 1919.

The Council was formed on November 9, 1918 after the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II and the declaration of the Republic. A coalition between the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD – Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) and the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD, Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands) made up the council. Until the 29th of December, 1918 there were 3 members from the SPD (Friedrich Ebert, Philipp Scheidemann, Otto Landsberg) and 3 from the USPD (Hugo Haase, Wilhelm Dittmann, Emil Barth).

On the 29th, the USPD pulled out of the Council. The main point of contention was the Ebert-Groener pact, which failed to democratize the control of the army, though there were several other points on which members of the USPD felt they had been ignored. The council was filled out with 2 more SPD members, Gustav Noske and Rudolf Wissell. On February 13, 1919, the Council gave up power to the Government of Scheidemann, which had been elected by the Weimar National Assembly (Weimar Republic).

This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of January 14, 2007.