In the second volume of November 1918, Döblin turns his critical gaze upon the key political protagonists of the immediate post-war period: the reactionary Armed Forces High Command, the Spartakusbund led by Karl Liebknecht, and above all the council of people’s representatives under the leadership of Friedrich Ebert. From Döblin’s perspective, the Social Democrat Ebert is the great traitor to the revolution, as he agrees to work with the old elites. Essentially, however, it is the Germans themselves who gamble all their hopes on a new beginning.
