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Alfred Henke | |
|---|---|
 Henke in 1910 | |
| Chairman of the Council of People's Representatives of theBremen Soviet Republic | |
| In office 1919 – 4 February 1919 | |
| Preceded by | position established |
| Succeeded by | position abolished |
| Chairman of the Bremen Workers' and Soldiers' Council | |
| In office 7 November 1918 – 1919 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1868-03-01)1 March 1868 |
| Died | 24 February 1946(1946-02-24) (aged 77) |
| Nationality | German |
| Political party | Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany Social Democratic Party of Germany |
Alfred Henke (1 March 1868 – 24 February 1946) was a German politician, serving as a member of a number of national and regional parliaments during the early 20th century who played a major role in the establishment of theBremen Soviet Republic.
Born inAltona inHamburg on 1 March 1868, Henke attended elementary school inBremen. After graduating he joined his father and trained to be a cigar worker. In 1887 he went to Hamburg to work, before doing military service between 1888 and 1891 with the 6th West Prussian Grenadier Regiment. After leaving the army he again worked in the tobacco industry, joining the Tobacco Workers' Union (German:Tabakarbeitergewerkschaft). He served as a delegate during several trade union congresses. From the mid-1890s and on he was a member of theSocial Democratic Party of Germany, acquiring a knowledge ofMarxism through self-study. For some time he was district chairman of the SPD in his birthplace of Altona.
From 1900 he also worked as an editor of the newspaperBremer Bürger-Zeitung [de], which he would continue to do until 1919. Henke, who married twice and had six children, was a member of the SPD's radical left-wing, and took part in many SPD congresses and international conference. In 1913 at a conference inJena he supported the policies ofRosa Luxemburg, who he also worked together with at the newspaper – other co-workers includedFranz Mehring,Karl Radek,Anton Pannekoek, andHenriette Roland Holst.
In 1907 he was elected to theBürgerschaft of Bremen, a post he would keep until 1922. In 1912 he was elected as a SPD deputy in theReichstag, for the Bremen constituency. After being excluded from the SPD over his opposition towar bonds being issued, he joined the short-liveSozialdemokratische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (SAG). Henke was also excluded from theBremer Bürger-Zeitung. When internal fragmentation on the issue of the ongoing First World War split the SPD, Henke became one of the first members of theIndependent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD), and would go on to represent the party politically.
Amid the collapsing war effort, theKiel mutiny broke out in early November 1918. This triggered a wave of uprisings and revolts throughout theGerman Empire, theGerman Revolution of 1918-1919. Bremen, already deeply restive, joined the fray a few days after the sailors mutinied, with aworkers' and soldiers' council forming. It was at first led by an action committee, containing three representatives of the radical left (Hans Brodmerkel, Adolf Dannat, Alfred Stockinger) and four representatives of the USPD (Alfred Henke,Adam Frasunkiewicz, Karl Herold, Emil Summer). The following day on 7 November elections supplanted the committee with a few hundred additional members of the council. Henke became Chairman of the committee.
On November 14, Henke – speaking at the Convention Hall of theBremen Exchange – formally declared the seizure of power by the workers' and soldiers' council, and the dissolution of the Bremen Senate. The next day, speaking from a balcony of theBremen Town Hall, Henke publicly announced this revolutionary situation.
After a few months of unrest and conflict among the city's faction, theBremen Soviet Republic was proclaimed on 10 January 1919. With non-revolutionary leftists excluded from the leadership, new radical ideas were imposed, and the workers' and soldiers' council was replaced by a Council of People's Representatives. Henke became its Chairman, together with Frasunkiewicz and the CommunistsJohann Knief andKarl Jannack, having only reluctantly agreed to support the proclamation of the Soviet Republic after being offered the position.
Concurrently with the proclamation, theSpartacist uprising rose and failed, and soon theWeimar Republic turned its eye on Bremen, where the Independent Social Democrats and theCommunist Party of Germany were quickly turning on each other. When troops loyal to the government launched their march on the Soviet Republic, Henke hurried to Berlin to attempt to negotiate a deal with the authorities to prevent this, but failed. The Bremen Soviet Republic was put down by "Division Gerstenberg" andFreikorps Caspari on 4 February.
After the failure of the revolution, Henke joined theWeimar National Assembly, serving as a deputy of the USPD. From 1919 to 1922 he was employed by theBremer Arbeiter-Zeitung. He opposed a merger of the party with the KPD. On 10 July 1919 he argued before the National Assembly in favour of the establishment of "people's courts". The USPD proposal for democratically elected judges, the introduction of which Henke justified with it being the only way to ensure class justice (German:klassenjustiz), was rejected by the other groups. After the November assassination ofHugo Haase he joined the Independent Socialist Group in the National Assembly, serving as its Chairman together withCurt Geyer.
Rejoining the SPD in 1922, he served as a member of the Reichstag for the Social Democrats 1932. He was also a full-time councillor and mayor ofReinickendorf until 1933. WhenAdolf Hitler and theNazi Party seized power, he was removed from government service in 1933 and forced to retire. He spent the duration ofNazi Germany's existence in Berlin, where the payment of his pension benefits was denied for political reasons.
Henke died on 24 February 1946, not long after the end of the Second World War. His estate is maintained by theFriedrich Ebert Foundation, and includes correspondence with Karl Radek, Franz Mehring, Anton Pannekoek,Philipp Scheidemann,Karl Kautsky,Clara Zetkin, andPaul Frölich, in addition to manuscripts, records, and collections of letters relating to the SPD during the First World War and the German Revolution.
The streetAlfred-Henke-Straße in Bremen has been named for Henke.
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