Council of the People's Deputies

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 armistice with the Allies on 11 November 1918, the Reichsrätekongress (General Convention) from 16 to 20 December 1918, and the preparation for the elections for the National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) on 19 January 1919. The Council also reformed the system of suffrage and extended the right to vote to German women for the first time.

The Council was formed on 10 November 1918 after the November revolution had swept away the old order. It was established after several thousand revolutionary workers' and soldiers' councils had assembled at Zirkus Busch in Berlin. Their election or appointment had been initiated the day before by the actions of the Revolutionäre Obleute, leaders of the workers who had seized the Reichstag building. This had happened against the will of the leadership of the Social Democrats, led by Friedrich Ebert who had been appointed Chancellor (head of government) on 9 November. Unable to prevent the assembly, Ebert's Social Democrats were able to co-opt the process and ensure that many of the delegates came from among their own supporters. In addition, Ebert managed to convince the more radical Independent Social Democrats to join him in a "unified" socialist government containing three of their members.

Thus 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 29 December 1918 there were three members from the SPD (Friedrich Ebert, Philipp Scheidemann, Otto Landsberg) and three from the USPD (Hugo Haase, Wilhelm Dittmann, Emil Barth). Ebert and Haase were joint chairmen. The members of the Council had no official portfolios, but Ebert was responsible for military and interior affairs. Since they had no parallel civil service, the Council had to rely on the existing bureaucracy. When the last Imperial Chancellor Prince Max of Baden had handed the office of Reichskanzler to Ebert on 9 November, all the Secretaries of State of the Baden cabinet had initially remained in their positions. Although Ebert soon replaced some of them with members of the SPD, some senior civil servants—like Heinrich Scheuch, the Prussian Minister of War or Wilhelm Solf at the Foreign Office—lasted for weeks or months in office, at least nominally.

...
Wikipedia