[30] "Socialistic" in a non-partisan sense; a republic based on the Socialist party's tenets, but not necessarily conducted exclusively by them. The exclusion of the _bourgeoisie_ was a later idea.
Ebert's first act was to proclaim the republic officially. He did this in an address to a crowd which filled Wilhelmstrasse and Wilhelmplatz in front of the Chancellor's official residence. Hysteric cheering followed the announcement that the German Empire had become history.
The greatest revolution of all times was an accomplished fact before three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, November 9th. The old system, with its tens of thousands of trained and specialized officials; with armies that had successfully fought for years against the combined resources of the rest of the world; with citizens trained from their very infancy to reverence the Kaiser and to obey those in authority; with the moral support of the monarchic Germans, who far outnumbered the republican--this system fell as a rotten tree falls before a gale. The simile lacks in perfection because the tree falls with a crash, whereas the old German governmental system made less noise in its collapse than did the Kingdom of Portugal some years earlier. It simply disappeared. _Fuit Germania_.
Up to this time the Majority Socialists, by stealing the thunder of the Independents and acting with a good deal of resolution, had kept themselves in the center of the stage. The real makers of the revolution, the Independents and Spartacans, had been confined to off-stage work. It was Liebknecht, with his instinct for the theatrical and dramatic, who now came to the front. A vast crowd had gathered around the royal palace. It was made up in part of the "class-conscious proletariat," but in large part also of the merely curious. Liebknecht, accompanied by Adolf Hoffmann[31] and another left wing Socialist, entered the palace and proceeded to a balcony in the second story, where, lacking a red flag, he hung a red bed-blanket over the rail of the balcony and then delivered an impassioned harangue to the crowd below. The real revolution, he declared, had only begun, and attempts at counter-revolution could be met only by the vigilance of an armed proletariat. The working-classes must arm themselves, the _bourgeoisie_ must be disarmed. Hoffmann, who spoke briefly, said that he was enjoying the happiest and proudest moment of his life. While he was still speaking a red flag was hoisted over the palace, to the cheers of the people gathered around the building.