A revolutionary state of exception: Munich, 1918/1919

Abstract

The article examines the revolution in Munich in 1918/1919 and proposes a threefold model of interpreting it as a prolonged and self-reinforcing state of exception during the period of transition after World War I. At first, at the legal level, the revolutionary forces in Munich by no means abolished the extensive system of exceptional decrees, orders, and laws developed in the course of the war. Quite the contrary, the ad hoc jurisdiction was even intensified through the creation of People’s Courts and the later introduction of martial law. These measures, secondly, were connected to a broader discourse on the exceptionality of the revolutionary situation which was not limited to conservative and reactionary forces but found its advocates in all parts of the political spectrum. Thirdly, at a practical level, the experience of countless and yet inefficient emergency decrees, the impression of disorder, and the lack of trust in the institutions of the post-revolutionary state created the possibility of exceptional self-mobilizations. The article argues that the state of exception’s legal, discursive, and practical dimension cannot be understood separately. Instead, it is the interplay between these three dimensions that creates the specific dynamic of the state of exception.