On October 23, 1923, the KPD (German Communist Party) launched an uprising in Hamburg, Germany. The KPD's “German October,” with corpses blocking the streets, was nothing more than a bloody farce.

    On October 23, 1923, the KPD (German Communist Party) launched an uprising in Hamburg, Germany. The KPD's “German October,” with corpses blocking the streets, was nothing more than a bloody farce. In Hamburg, an armed uprising by the Communist Party, known as the “Hamburg Uprising,” occurred from October 23 to October 29, 1923. This was carried out by the KPD under Soviet instructions, an attempt to spread the Soviet Revolution to Germany. 

    Amid worsening economic crisis and unemployment, at dawn on October 23, Communist Party members launched a surprise attack and seized a suburban guard post. They declared a “Soviet” in Schifbeck, attempting to block the security police.

     The plan anticipated a Ludendorff-style mass mobilization, but communication failures left them isolated and unsupported, leading to failure. The plan envisioned mass mobilization and the occupation of city halls, but workers demanded only bread and fat, refusing to support the revolution. Isolated by communication errors, the Social Democratic Party government banned and suppressed the KPD's party newspaper, allegedly deliberately inciting the rebellion.

    Shipyard stoppages, port strikes, and starvation fueled the coup. Workers demanded only bread and jobs, refusing to support revolution. After three days of gunfire, it failed. Casualties: ~100 dead (21 insurgents, 17 police, 61 bystanders), over 200 wounded, 1,400 arrested.

    The KPD communists' uprising lost its fanatical illusion. It cooled the revolutionary fervor of the masses. It concluded that the true social revolution lay in the liberation of workers from the state, criticizing the Weimar Republic's collapse of the empire and the SPD and KPD's stance of defending the state. The KPD prioritized imperial unity, refrained from targeting the wealthy, and neglected the starvation of workers.