The Ammunition Worker´s Strike, January 1918

During WWI, the end of January 1918 saw the first politically motivated general strikes in the German Reich. This development was prompted by the stalled peace negotiations with revolutionary Russia in Brest Litovsk, during which the annexation goals of the German authorities had been blatantly revealed. By 2 January 1918, hundreds of thousands of ammunition workers had stopped working in Austria-Hungary. From 27 January, up to one million people also went on strike in the armament factories of the major German cities.

The general strikes were organised by the USPD and by the Spartakusbund, for example in Berlin. There, the Independent Social Democrat Adolph Hoffmann (1858-1930), among others, campaigned for the strikes. The photo shows Hoffmann speaking during the strike in January 1918.

In many places, the Majority Social Democrats (MSPD) also supported the strikers. While in Nuremberg and in other Bavarian cities, work in the armament factories would be resumed by 30 January, in Munich the ammunition workers only started to strike on 31 January. As the District President of Upper Bavaria, Dr. Gustav von Kahr (1862-1934), explained in the report of 4 February 1918 shown here, approximately 4,000 employees from ten companies participated. Kurt Eisner (1867-1919), in particular, had called for work to be stopped. When Eisner and other leading USPD representatives in Bavaria were arrested on the evening of 1 February 1918, MSPD and the unions quickly managed to convince workers to end the strikes. Due to the close contacts between MSPD and the authorities, there were no clashes as had occurred in other German cities.

Despite the prompt end of the January strike in Munich, Eisner perceived it as a success. Finally, it became apparent that in principle there was potential for mobilising the workforce.

To the digitised copy of the photograpy by Adolph Hoffmann

To the digitised copy of the Report of the District President of Upper Bavaria, Gustav von Kahr