Ralf Hoffrogge, Dr. phil. (2013), University of Potsdam, has published monographs and articles on German labour history, including Sozialismus und Arbeiterbewegung in Deutschland - Von den Anfängen bis 1914 (Schmetterling Verlag, 2011). He has just finished a biographical study on the German-Jewish Communist Werner Scholem: Werner Scholem – eine politische Biographie (1895-1940) (Universitätsverlag Konstanz, 2014).

List of IllustrationsList of AbbreviationsSisyphus of the Revolution: A Preface, Wolfgang WippermannAuthor's Preface1 Introduction: A Forgotten RevolutionaryThe Politics of Historical InterpretationThe Makers of the German Revolution2 Background, Youth, and Early Union Activities: 1880-1913From Farm to FactoryMüller's (Very) Private LifeFighting Taylorism with its Own WeaponsBureaucracy in the Service of Agitation3 Opposition to the Burgfrieden: 1914-1918'The Great Betrayal'From Discipline to OppositionEarly Ambiguities and their Price4 The Revolutionary Shop Stewards and Political Mass Strikes: 1916-1918The Stewards' First Political Strike: Protesting Liebknecht's ArrestRepression and the New OppositionMüller's Arrest and the April StrikeMarking Time under RepressionPreparing for the January Strike: Rising Discontent and the Bolshevik ExampleThe January 1918 Strike: Council Power EmergesThe Politics of the Action Committee and the End of the January StrikeBarth and Däumig lead in Müller's AbsenceMüller's Return5 The German Revolution in Berlin, 1918The Stewards and the Spartacists: A Tale of Two StylesArming the RevolutionOutbreakCouncil PowerThe State of the Revolution6 Chairman of the Berlin Executive Council: 1918-1919Conflict, Caution and Counter-revolutionLoss of National Power7 Richard Müller and the Council Movement: 1918-1919The Council Movement in War and RevolutionThe First Council Congress and the Triumph of ParliamentarianismThe Blocked Path to SocialismBerlin's January UprisingPolitical Murder, Demoralisation, and the End of the Revolutionary Shop StewardsTheorising Council SocialismThe March Strikes of 1919After the Tumult8 From Council Movement to Works Councils: 1919-1920Council Ideal and Works Council RealityLeading the Left Opposition in the DMVDefeat at Nuremberg, Compromise in StuttgartThe Works Councils Act, Armed Conflict and Party SplitDMV Political Divisions and the Works Council CentreThe first Works Council Congress 1920The State of the Revolution in 19209 From Council Socialism to Party Communism and Beyond: 1920-1924The Leninist Model and the USPD SplitThe Communist Union CentreThe Red International of Labour UnionsCrisis in the Communist Party and the March Action of 1921Post-March Crises and `Made in Moscow¿ ResolutionThe Revelation AffairMüller, the unwanted Communist10 Richard Müller as Historian of the German Revolution: 1923-1925Müller's Historiographical ApproachMüller as Publisher11 Footnotes and Suppression - Richard Müller's Impact on HistoriographyThe Millstones of Social Democracy and Marxism-LeninismMüller in East GermanyMüller in West Germany12 Break with Politics, Withdrawal into Private Life: 1925-1943The DIV, the 'Construction Issue' and Union FragmentationMüller as LandlordDrifting back to Social Democracy?Returning to Obscurity13 Conclusion: The Darkness of HistoryBibliography1. Printed Sources2. LiteratureAbout the AuthorIndex

An authoritative and engaging political biography of one of the most important, yet largely unknown, leaders of the German revolution.