Pin about the March uprising in Germany in 1921. Marchkampfe means:”March Fight”.
The March Action was a 1921 failed Communist uprising, led by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), the Communist Workers’ Party of Germany (KAPD), and other far-left organisations. It took place in the industrial regions located in Halle, Leuna, Merseburg, and Mansfeld.
The leadership of the KPD hoped for a spontaneous uprising of the workers. Revolutionary actions were to be initiated primarily through propaganda in the party newspaper “Rote Fahne” (Red Flag). The workers initially behaved cautiously. Despite the call from the KPD district leadership for a general strike. Work continued in most companies outside the district of Mansfeld. Only on the following day did the work stoppages in the mining area Mansfeld-Eisleben expand.
With the arrival of the KAPD member Max Hoelz the strike movement escalated into a violent insurrection. Hoelz spoke at various strike assemblies and called on the workers to violently resist the police. The first violent attacks on police officers in Eisleben occurred during 22 March. Hoelz began to equip striking workers and unemployed miners with weapons and organise them into raiding parties, which subjected the area around Mansfeld, Eisleben and Hettstedt to arson, looting, bank robbery and explosives attacks. Trains were derailed and railway lines blown up.
The uprising movement also threatened to spread to the Free State of Saxony, where unsuccessful bombings against justice buildings in Dresden, Leipzig and Freiberg had occurred. Bloody clashes between workers and police also occurred in Hamburg. However, the government troops managed to gain the upper hand and at the end of March the uprisings were finally suppressed. The Leuna works was a particularly strong bastion of influence of KAPD, where half of the 20,000 strong workforce belonged to their associated workplace organisation, the General Workers’ Union of Germany (AAUD). During the revolt they fought with rifles and automatic weapons. They also built their own tank, which they deployed against the police. The authorities only retook the plant with the use of artillery.
Over a hundred people lost their lives in the fighting, and more than 3,000 insurgents were arrested.