How Hamburg workers defended themselves against theft of the right to vote

Around 1900 voting rights in Hamburg were anything but democratic. The wealthy determine politics and try to keep the little people out of power. Only citizens with an income of more than 1,200 marks a year, landowners and notables, i.e. citizens with honorary posts such as commercial judges, are allowed to vote. Together they make up four percent of the population.

When the SPD, with Otto Stolten and 13 other members of parliament, moved into the parliament in 1904, the dignitaries saw the "undisturbed further development of the Hamburg state system" threatened. Citizens fear unrest, even overthrow. The Senate is therefore setting up a commission to examine how "an excessive intrusion of social-democratic elements into the citizenship could be prevented." Because if the SPD continues to grow, it can block constitutional changes that require a three-quarters majority.

General strike against "voting rights robbery"

The Senate does not want to allow that under any circumstances and is planning to tighten the right to vote:For some of those eligible to vote, the income limit is to be raised drastically to 2,500 marks. This is intended to prevent "political power being increasingly transferred to the non-proprietary classes", as the Senate puts it.

The SPD does not want to accept this "robbery of electoral rights" and calls for the first political general strike in Germany. On the afternoon of January 17, 1906, around 80,000 workers in the factories, shipyards and construction sites walked out of work and moved to meeting places around the city.

The party wants the rallies to be peaceful. But the enraged farmhands, plasterers, boiler cleaners, stevedores, locksmiths, cigar makers, bricklayers and other workers finally want to see action. Encouraged by the warm weather and beer, which is consumed in large quantities at the meetings, they march towards the evening to the town hall, where the citizens are debating the new electoral law. The party leaders cannot hold them back.

Demonstration in front of the citizens

The police have now cordoned off the entrances to the Rathausmarkt with a large contingent of around 250 officers. Tens of thousands of demonstrators gather between Petrikirche and Jungfernstieg around 6.30 p.m. They sing and listen to speakers. The front groups also irritate the police with insults, repeatedly throwing bottles and stones at them. When the onslaught on the police lines became too strong around 8 p.m., the commanding police major ordered the Rathausstrasse to be cleared. Mounted policemen and officials with drawn sabers drive the workers back.

Street fight in the Ganges District

Under pressure from the police, the center of the unrest shifted to the Gängeviertel between Schopenstehl and Steinstrasse. Workers set up barricades, throwing torn-out tram rails and rubbish bins at the police. Sabers flash in the light of the gas lanterns, people scream, the workers' Marseillaise sounds, an old battle song. When the police suddenly moved off to secure the city hall, which had been left unprotected by their advance, the situation calmed down for a moment. SPD stewards seem to be succeeding in sending many demonstrators home.

But then the second, bloodier phase begins. Rioters throw the lanterns with stones. Shop windows are broken, displays are looted. A jeweler later reported:"As soon as the window was smashed and the iron bars broken off, greedy fingers grabbed the clocks and goldware from the display." In the Brandstwiete, workers kindle bonfires and drive away the fire brigade with bottles and stones. As the riots continue unabated at 11pm, the police march in full force again.

The police are brutal

The officers are exhausted, tired and angry after hours of street fighting. They now strike with extreme brutality, blow up groups on horseback, attack individual passers-by with sabers, break into inns and even drive bystanders into the street with blows. There are numerous injured and even dead. Bleeding men, women and children flee through the streets. Police officers are now raging even against the defenseless, beating off the fingertips of a ten-year-old boy, pulling a young worker to the ground, kicking and insulting him. He later dies from a saber blow that shatters the back of his head. Emergency doctors and pharmacists treat the wounded. The battle is not over until around 1.30 am.

The next morning the city has changed

The police and the conservative press scourged the alleged coup attempts. The SPD, on the other hand, claims that the police incited criminal residents of the gang district to excesses in order to give the authorities a handle against the party. Most workers are locked out by the manufacturers, which means wage losses. There is a ban on assembly, and the pubs in the notorious Ganges district have to close in the afternoon. Then suspects are arrested, mostly men with bandaged arms and heads. However, only around 30 workers, including thieves known to the police, were convicted. One even admits to having stolen 13 earrings, six necklaces and two gold watches from a shop window on Schopenstell.

Democratic elections only after the revolution

Meanwhile, Hamburg merchants like Albert Ballin are calling for donations for the police because they have defended them against "social-democratic machinations." More than 13,000 marks come together within 14 days. And the Senate sees itself encouraged to press ahead with changing the electoral law. At the end of January 1906, the citizens passed the new law with a large majority, which increased political inequality and ensured that the upper classes could keep to themselves for a few more years. It was not until March 1919, after the First World War and the November Revolution, that all men and women in Hamburg were allowed to vote for the city council. Now the SPD wins an absolute majority and the Social Democrat Otto Stolten becomes second mayor of the Hanseatic city.