Ernst Toller Government
On 6 April 1919, a Soviet Republic was formally proclaimed. Initially, it was ruled by USPD members such as Ernst Toller, and anarchists like Gustav Landauer, Silvio Gesell and Erich Mühsam. Toller, a playwright, described the revolution as the "Bavarian Revolution of Love", but he was not a very effective politician, and his government did little to restore order in Munich.
His government members were also not always well-chosen. For instance, the Foreign Affairs Deputy Dr. Franz Lipp(fr) (who had been admitted several times to psychiatric hospitals), declared war on Switzerland over the Swiss refusal to lend 60 locomotives to the Soviet Republic. He also claimed to be well acquainted with Pope Benedict XV and he informed Vladimir Lenin via cable that the ousted former Minister-President Hoffmann had fled to Bamberg and taken the key to the ministry toilet with him.
Read more about this topic: Bavarian Soviet Republic
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“It is a maxim of wise government to treat people not as they should be but as they actually are.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)