The current paper examines the use of political violence during the Ruhr Uprising of 1920. Its main focus is the reaction of the SPD and the KPD to the uprising and its bloody suppression by the...Show moreThe current paper examines the use of political violence during the Ruhr Uprising of 1920. Its main focus is the reaction of the SPD and the KPD to the uprising and its bloody suppression by the Reichswehr and Freikorps. It also contextualises the Uprising and violence that followed by connecting local events in the Ruhr with national developments, such as the Kapp Putsch and international trends of post-war instability and brutality. The paper through its examination of Vorwärts and Die Rote Fahne argues that both the SPD and KPD changed their understanding of the role of violence in preserving or overthrowing the Weimar Republic, respectively. On the one hand, the KPD, weakened by the failures of 1919 did not push for the spread of revolutionary violence. On the other hand, the SPD shifted ideologically from its 1919 of understanding state-sponsored violence as necessary for preserving the integrity of the State. It now understood violence as a tool for protecting the well-being of Germany’s citizenry. A tool to be used sparingly and with restraint, because it needed popular support to be legitimate. This new understanding of state-sponsored violence was not shared by the men tasked with suppressing the Uprising. The result was another bloody chapter in the life of the young RepublicShow less