Editing Philipp Scheidemann (section)

=== Proclamation of the Republic ===
{{Main|Proclamation of the republic in Germany}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 175-01448, Berlin, Reichskanzlei, Philipp Scheidemann.jpg|thumb|left|Philipp Scheidemann proclaiming the Republic from the Reichstag building, 9 November 1918]] [[File:Ausrufung Republik Scheidemann.jpg|thumb|View from a distance of Scheidemann at the Reichstag window]]
In the face of an impending defeat in the war and the threat of revolutionary developments at home, Scheidemann said on 5 November 1918 that he thought [[Bolshevism]] a greater danger than the external enemy. In this he agreed with the Supreme Army Command. Communist propaganda and historiography later attributed the Reich government's severance of relations with [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]] on that day to Scheidemann and declared him "the author of the anti-Soviet provocation directed against the [[Spartacus League]]".

Unlike the military, Scheidemann had come to the conclusion that a successful fight against the extreme left was possible only if [[Emperor Wilhelm II]] abdicated. Ebert and Scheidemann nevertheless postponed the fundamental question of monarchy or republic for the time being. Scheidemann had formulated the party's course on 6 November: "Now we must put ourselves at the head of the movement or there will be anarchistic conditions in the Reich."{{Sfn|Winkler|1998|p=32}} By use of an ultimatum the MSPD parliamentary group was able, among other things, to push through the parliamentarization of [[Free State of Prussia|Prussia]], Germany's largest state, without being able to stop the outbreak of revolutionary actions in Berlin.{{Sfn|Winkler|1998|pp=26 f., 29 f.}}
On 9 November 1918 Chancellor Max von Baden unilaterally announced the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II and the renunciation of [[Crown Prince Wilhelm]]'s hereditary rights to the throne. Scheidemann handed in his resignation as secretary at 10 a.m. Around noon, Friedrich Ebert arrived at the Reich chancellery and demanded that the authority to govern be handed over to him and the MSPD. Von Baden resigned and in an unconstitutional act designated Ebert his successor as Reich chancellor and minister president of Prussia. When Ebert and Scheidemann went to the Reichstag building for lunch, they sat at separate tables. A huge crowd had gathered outside, and there were calls for a speech. Ebert refused to go out to them, but Scheidemann stood up and hurried to a window facing the crowd.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haffner |first=Sebastian |title=Die deutsche Revolution 1918/19 |publisher=Kindler |year=2002 |isbn=3-463-40423-0 |location=Munich |pages=88–90 |language=de |trans-title=The German Revolution 1918/19}}</ref>  According to Scheidemann's own recollection, someone told him along the way that the Spartacist leader Karl Liebknecht intended to declare Germany a soviet republic. Scheidemann then made a spontaneous speech that closed with the words: <blockquote>"The old and rotten, the monarchy, has collapsed. Long live the new! Long live the German Republic!"<ref name="Speech">{{cite web |title=Bericht über den 9. November 1918 |trans-title=Report on 9 Nov 1919 |url=http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/dokumente/scheidemann/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140712054628/http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/dokumente/scheidemann/index.html |archive-date=12 July 2014 |access-date=2 August 2013 |publisher=Deutsches Historisches Museum |language=de}}</ref></blockquote>When Scheidemann returned to the Reichstag dining room, a furious Ebert confronted him. Ebert pounded the table with his fist and shouted, "You have no right to proclaim the republic! What becomes of Germany, a republic or any other form, that is for a constituent assembly to decide!"{{Sfn|Haffner|2002|p=90}} For Scheidemann, however, it was clear that the legitimization of the new leadership by Max von Baden's declaration alone would not be sufficient. The demonstrating workers and soldiers expected a complete break with the imperial system.

At that point Wilhelm II had not abdicated, although he soon fled to the Netherlands and signed an abdication on 28 November. As of 9 November 1918 Germany was legally still a monarchy,{{Sfn|Haffner|2002|p=92}}{{Sfn|Haffner|2002|p=92}} which meant that Scheidemann's speech had been without legal authority. Later that day, in spite of Scheidemann's announcement, Ebert asked Prince Maximilian to stay on as [[Reichsverweser|imperial regent]], but he refused.{{Sfn|Haffner|2002|p=90}} Both Ebert and Scheidemann still hoped to preserve the existing structure of government under a Chancellor Ebert, to restore calm and to deal with the pressing issue of the armistice with the [[Allies of World War I|Allied powers]]. Yet the revolution seemed likely to force the MSPD to share power with the far left Spartacists and USPD.{{Sfn|Haffner|2002|p=90}} In the afternoon of 9 November, Ebert grudgingly asked the USPD to nominate three ministers for a future government.{{Sfn|Haffner|2002|p=114}}

That evening a group of several hundred followers of the [[Revolutionary Stewards]] – workers' representatives who were independent of the formal unions – occupied the Reichstag and held an impromptu debate. They called for the election of [[German workers' and soldiers' councils 1918–1919|soldiers' and workers' councils]] the next day with an eye to naming a provisional government to be called the [[Council of the People's Deputies]]. {{Sfn|Haffner|2002|pp=100–103}} The MSPD leadership managed to ensure that most of the members elected to the workers' councils came from their ranks and so were able to provide three of the six members of the Council that was set up on 10 November: Ebert, Scheidemann and [[Otto Landsberg]]. Ebert became joint chairman with Hugo Haase (USPD), which provided the other three members (Haase, [[Wilhelm Dittmann]] and [[Emil Barth]]). Scheidemann was on the Council of the People's Deputies for the entire period of its existence, from 10 November 1918 to 13 February 1919.<ref name="DHM" /> He was responsible primarily for financial policy.