Editing Gustav Bauer (section)

==Political career==
===Imperial Germany and revolutionary period===
In 1912, Bauer was elected to the [[Reichstag (German Empire)|Reichstag]] for the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD) in a constituency of [[Breslau (electoral district)|Breslau]] in the Prussian province of [[Province of Silesia|Silesia]]. In October 1918, he became state secretary (similar to a minister) in the Ministry of Labour in the [[Baden cabinet|cabinet]] of [[Max von Baden]],<ref name="DHM"/> a position he remained in throughout the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|Revolution of 1918/19]]. After Baden resigned on 9 November 1918, Bauer continued to serve under Chancellor [[Friedrich Ebert]] (SPD) and then under the [[Council of the People's Deputies]], also headed by Ebert, which replaced the imperial chancellorship. 

On 12 November the Council issued an appeal "To the German People" that included a number of promises related to labour, notably the introduction of the eight-hour workday and the creation and protection of jobs. In the following weeks, the Council issued decrees regulating the hiring, dismissal and pay of industrial workers, including war invalids and demobilised military personnel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rat der Volksbeauftragten, Aufruf "An das deutsche Volk", 12. November 1918 |trans-title=Council of the People's Duputies, Appeal to the German People, 12 November 1918 |url=https://www.1000dokumente.de/index.html?c=dokument_de&dokument=0238_rev&object=context&st=&l=de |access-date=28 March 2024 |website=100(0) Schlüsseldokumente zur deutschen Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert |language=de}}</ref> In the [[Stinnes–Legien Agreement]] of 15 November, industry agreed to introduce the eight-hour workday, guarantee demobilised workers the right to their pre-war jobs and recognise trade unions as the sole representatives of the workers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Scriba |first=Arnulf |date=10 May 2011 |title=Das Stinnes-Legien-Abkommen |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/industrie-und-wirtschaft/stinnes-legien-abkommen-1918.html |access-date=28 March 2024 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum}}</ref>

===Weimar Republic===
==== Chancellor ====
{{See also|Bauer cabinet#Actions}}  In January 1919, Bauer was [[1919 German federal election|elected]] to the [[Weimar National Assembly]] for [[Magdeburg (electoral district, 1919–1938)|Magdeburg]] in [[Prussian Saxony]].<ref name="Bio">{{cite web |last=Mayer |first=Paul |date=1953 |title=Bauer, Gustav Adolf |url=https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd118507281.html#ndbcontent |access-date=31 October 2013 |website=Deutsche Biographie |publisher= |page=638 [Online-Version]}}</ref> In February, he became minister of labour in [[Scheidemann cabinet|Philipp Scheidemann's cabinet]], Germany's first democratically elected national government. After Scheidemann resigned on 20 June 1919 in protest against the terms of the [[Treaty of Versailles]], both [[Eduard David]] and [[Hermann Müller (politician, born 1876)|Hermann Müller]] of the Social Democrats refused the offer to succeed him as minister president. Bauer accepted the position on 20 June even though he had until then been a vocal critic of the Treaty. Part of his willingness to take on the difficult responsibility of getting the Treaty through the Assembly came from his personal friendship with Friedrich Ebert and part from a sense of duty: "We are not standing here out of the interest of our parties, and even less – believe me – out of ambition. We are standing here out of a feeling of responsibility, in the awareness that it is our damned duty to save what can be saved."<ref>{{cite web |title=Das Kabinett Bauer. Regierungsbildung und Annahme des Versailler Vertrags |trans-title=The Bauer Cabinet. Formation of the Government and Acceptance of the Treaty of Versailles |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/aktenreichskanzlei/1919-1933/0000/bau/bau1p/kap1_1/para2_2.html |accessdate=28 March 2024 |website=Das Bundesarchiv |language=de}}</ref> The National Assembly approved the Treaty 237 to 138 on 23 June, and representatives of Bauer's government signed it on 28 June.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Henßler |first=Patrick |date=4 September 2007 |title=Versailler Vertrag, 1919/20 |trans-title=Treaty of Versailles, 1919/20 |url=https://www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Versailler_Vertrag,_1919/20#Der_Friedensvertrag_von_Versailles |access-date=28 March 2024 |website=Historisches Lexikon Bayerns |language=de}}</ref>

On 31 July, the Assembly passed the proposal for the [[Weimar Constitution]] that it had drawn up and debated. President Ebert signed it on 11 August, and when it came into force on 14 August, Bauer's position took the name "[[Chancellor of Germany#Weimar Republic (1919–1933)|chancellor]]". The National Assembly dissolved itself on 21 May 1920. After the [[1920 German federal election|Reichstag election on 6 June 1920]], the Republic's first Reichstag took its place.<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 January 2019 |title=Vor 100 Jahren: Weimarer Nationalversammlung |trans-title=100 Years Ago: The Weimar National Assembly |url=https://www.bpb.de/kurz-knapp/hintergrund-aktuell/284871/vor-100-jahren-weimarer-nationalversammlung/ |access-date=28 March 2024 |website=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung |language=de}}</ref> 

Some of the most far-reaching changes implemented during Bauer's term of office were the tax reform packages developed by Finance Minister [[Matthias Erzberger]]. The Reich Revenue Law of July 1919 gave the federal government sole authority for levying and administering taxes, unlike under the Empire when the states had control. The result was a considerable strengthening of the Reich's position with respect to the constituent states. Erzberger's measures also attempted to shift the burden of taxes more towards wealthier citizens. They levied "war taxes" on income and wealth, imposed an inheritance tax in July 1919 and a one-time wealth tax in December 1919.<ref name="dhm">{{cite web |last1=Altmann |first1=Gerhard |last2=Scriba |first2=Arnulf |date=13 September 2014 |title=Die Erzbergersche Reichsfinanzreform |trans-title=The Erzberger Finance Reform |url=https://www.dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/die-erzbergersche-reichsfinanzreform.html |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=26 September 2014 |website=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref> 

The Bauer cabinet was also responsible for a number of extensions of social benefits. They included maternity care covering the costs of childbirth and confinement,<ref>{{cite book |author=van der Klein |first=Marian |url={{Google books|77Fj06zjqfMC|page=94|plainurl=yes}} |title=Reciprocity and Redistribution: Work and Welfare Reconsidered |publisher=Plus-Pisa University Press |year=2007 |isbn=9788884924650 |editor-last=Hagemann |editor-first=Gro |location=Pisa, Italy |page=94 |chapter=Risks of Labour: Maternity Insurance and Economic Citizenship in pre-1940 Europe}}</ref> youth welfare,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dickinson |first1=Edward Ross |url={{Google books|yM0y7LOn6x0C|page=150|plainurl=yes}} |title=The Politics of German Child Welfare from the Empire to the Federal Republic |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1996 |isbn=9780674688629 |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=150}}</ref> increased unemployment relief<ref>{{cite book |author=Feldman |first=Gerald D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zH-I31gx7MMC |title=The Great Disorder: Politics, Economics, and Society in the German Inflation, 1914–1924 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1993 |isbn=9780199880195 |location=Oxford, UK |page=232}}</ref> (a form of welfare not to be confused with unemployment insurance, which was not introduced in Germany until 1927)<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Jeanne C. |first=Barber |date=7 November 1934 |title=Unemployment Insurance in Germany |url=https://www.ssa.gov/history/reports/ces/ces1barber.html#:~:text=Committee%20on%20Economic%20Security%20(CES)&text=An%20act%20of%20July%2018,of%20unemployment%20insurance%20in%20Germany. |access-date=28 March 2024 |website=Social Security Administration Reports & Studies}}</ref> and expanded health and old age insurance.<ref>{{Cite EB1922|wstitle=Labour Legislation}}</ref> In addition, the Factory Council Act of February 1920 established [[works councils]] at workplaces with 20 or more employees as a means of improving lines of communication between labour and management.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Fischer |first=Conan |url={{Google books|ZfonC162wuoC|page=206|plainurl=yes}} |title=Wilhelminism and Its Legacies: German Modernities, Imperialism, and the Meanings of Reform, 1890–1930 |publisher=Berghahn Books |year=2003 |isbn=9780857457110 |editor-last=Eley |editor-first=Geoff |location=New York, NY |page=206 |chapter=Continuity and Change in Post-Wilhelmine Germany |editor-last2=Retallack |editor-first2=James}}</ref>

In March 1920, the participants in the [[Kapp Putsch]] attempted to depose the government in Berlin. Bauer, along with other SPD members of the cabinet and President Ebert, signed a call for a general strike against the putsch. After a ''[[Freikorps]]'' unit took control of the government buildings in Berlin and [[Wolfgang Kapp]] set himself up as head of a new government, most of the cabinet left the city for [[Dresden]] and then [[Stuttgart]]. Some ministers, led by Vice-Chancellor [[Eugen Schiffer]], remained in the capital and negotiated with the putschists. The putsch quickly collapsed due to the general strike and the refusal of government employees to do their work, but the Bauer government was forced to resign on 27 March, mostly as a result of the negotiations conducted with Kapp and his fellow conspirators. Bauer was succeeded as chancellor by [[Hermann Müller (politician, born 1876)|Hermann Müller]] of the SPD.<ref name="DHM" />

==== Post-chancellorship ====
Bauer joined the new cabinet as minister of the treasury, a position he held until June 1920; from May to June 1920, he was also minister of transportation. In the [[1920 German federal election|Reichstag elections of June 1920]], he was re-elected to parliament,<ref name="DHM"/> but the new government that [[Constantin Fehrenbach]] ([[Centre Party (Germany)|Centre Party]]) formed on 25 June did not include the SPD, whose share of the vote had dropped from 38% in 1919 to 22%.

Bauer rejoined the government in the cabinet of [[Joseph Wirth]] (Centre Party) in May 1921 as minister of the treasury and vice-chancellor. He held the positions throughout Wirth's term of office (until November 1922). Bauer remained a member of the Reichstag for Magdeburg and retained his seat after leaving the government. 

In November 1924 he became involved in the [[Barmat scandal#Bauer|Barmat scandal]], which involved accusations of corruption, war profiteering, fraud and bribery against the SPD due to its alleged involvement with the merchant Julius Barmat. Bauer was accused of taking commissions from Barmat,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kauders |first=Anthony |title=German Politics and the Jews: Düsseldorf and Nuremberg, 1910–1933. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1996 |isbn=9780198206316 |location=Oxford |pages=414}}</ref> a claim he consistently denied in spite of strong evidence against him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fulda |first=Bernhard |title=Press and Politics in the Weimar Republic |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=9780199547784 |location=Oxford |pages=94–95}}</ref> On 7 February 1925, the SPD parliamentary group forced him to relinquish his seat in the Reichstag. On 14 February he was expelled from the party.<ref name="DHM" />

The expulsion was overturned on 14 May 1926. He returned to the Reichstag, retaining his seat until 1928, at which point he left parliament and retired from public life.<ref name="DHM"/>