bavarikon4UProposals by Erhard Auer and Max Süssheim in the Bavarian Chamber of Deputies, September 1917
On 28 September 1917, MSPD members Erhard Auer (1874-1945) and Max Süßheim (1876-1933) submitted two proposals to the second chamber of the Bavarian State Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, which were to bring about a comprehensive reform of the Bavarian constitution. Since the SPD’s entry into the Bavarian State Parliament in 1893, the party had been working towards constitutional reforms in Bavaria. As early as in 1906, for example, in cooperation with the conservative Centre Party the direct ballot was achieved. Before WWI, the SPD had campaigned for the abolition of the Reichsrätekammer (Chamber of Imperial Councillors).
After the demands for reforms had initially ceased with the outbreak of war, such claims again became louder after three long years of war and with the entry of the USA into the war in April 1917. The Bavarian SPD formulated the main points of the Auer-Süßheim proposals at the party conference in Würzburg in July 1917, calling for a transformation of the constitution into a parliamentary monarchy in addition to the introduction of a one-year state budget and the right to proportional representation for all adult citizens, the abolition of the nobility and the abolition of the privileges of the king and of the religious communities.
The proposals, which originally were only intended to start a reform debate, were rejected by the Zentrumspartei (Centre Party) and by the government without further discussion. Not before October 1918, faced with certain military defeat and after appropriate reforms at imperial level, the king, the government and the Zentrumspartei were ready for reforms. However, it was too late, as shown by the Revolution of 7 November 1918.