--- title: 'Die Rote Fahne (Vienna), 26 July 1919: "In zwölfter Stunde!"' url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/rote-fahne-in-zwoelfter-stunde-1919/ description: Front page of the Vienna Communist paper under a photograph headed 'Karl Liebknecht on the bier'. section: Collection --- [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) [![Die Rote Fahne (Vienna), 26 July 1919: "In zwölfter Stunde!"](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/rote-fahne-in-zwoelfter-stunde-1919.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/rote-fahne-in-zwoelfter-stunde-1919.jpg) # Die Rote Fahne (Vienna), 26 July 1919: "In zwölfter Stunde!" Front page of the Vienna Communist paper under a photograph headed 'Karl Liebknecht on the bier'. The lead article 'In zwölfter Stunde!' opens 'The revolution is in danger!', then addresses the Social Democrats and 'Bourgeois' as 'Helfer und Helfershelfer der Reaktion' and calls their protest 'Elende Heuchelei' (wretched hypocrisy), pairing a staged emergency with a single prescribed remedy. ## Text on the object Original (German) · read from the image, not independently checked ``` Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt Euch! DIE ROTE FAHNE Redaktion und Administration: Wien, VIII., Alserstraße 69. Erscheint jeden Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag und Samstag. 2. Jahrgang. Wien, 26. Juli 1919. Nr. 75. Karl Liebknecht auf der Totenbahre. In zwölfter Stunde! Die Revolution ist in Gefahr! Das Proletariat verkauft und verraten! Der imperialistische Kapitalismus, die Reaktion holen zu einem entscheidenden Schlage aus. Deutschösterreich hat Gnade gefunden vor den Augen der Ententegewaltigen. Sie haben uns endlich den schon lang versprochenen Frieden "geschenkt". Das Proletariat weiß nun, warum es die vergangenen Monate so "brav" sein mußte, es weiß, warum die Sozialdemokraten alles daran setzten, den einheimischen Kapitalismus zu schützen, es weiß, wozu die Koalitionspolitik, wozu das Aufgeben des Klassenkampfes, wie es die Sozialdemokraten geübt haben, gut war. Renner hat gesiegt. Wir haben einen glänzenden Frieden erhalten. [...] [middle column] Das Proletariat könnte erklären: Diese Komödie, die ihr Bourgeois und Sozialpatrioten in Paris aufgeführt habt, hat ihren natürlichen Abschluß gefunden. [...] Euer war der Krieg — euer ist der Friede. Wir Proletarier, wir haben keinen Krieg gewollt, ihn nicht geführt, wir haben nicht verhandelt, wir haben auch keinen Frieden zu schließen. Und wir erklären: Diesen Frieden von Paris habt ihr Bourgeois, habt ihr Sozialdemokraten, habt ihr alle, ihr Helfer und Helfershelfer der Reaktion und des Kapitalismus vollauf verdient. Elende Heuchelei von Euch, daß ihr nun Zeter und Mordio ruft! [...] [right column, partly illegible] [...] Die Arbeiterschaft Deutschösterreichs soll Waffen liefern nach Tschechien, sie soll einmarschieren nach Ungarn [...] [illegible] ``` English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader) ``` Proletarians of all countries, unite! THE RED FLAG Editorial and administrative office: Vienna, VIII., Alserstraße 69. Appears every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. 2nd year. Vienna, 26 July 1919. No. 75. Karl Liebknecht on the bier. In the twelfth hour! The revolution is in danger! The proletariat sold and betrayed! Imperialist capitalism, reaction, are swinging for a decisive blow. German-Austria has found mercy in the eyes of the Entente potentates. They have at last 'presented' us with the peace promised long ago. The proletariat now knows why it had to be so 'well-behaved' in the past months, it knows why the Social Democrats did everything to protect domestic capitalism, it knows what the coalition policy, what the abandoning of the class struggle as the Social Democrats practised it, was good for. Renner has won. We have received a brilliant peace. [...] [middle column] The proletariat could declare: This comedy that you Bourgeois and social-patriots staged in Paris has found its natural end. [...] The war was yours — the peace is yours. We proletarians did not want war, did not wage it, did not negotiate, and have no peace to conclude. And we declare: this peace of Paris you Bourgeois, you Social Democrats, you all, you helpers and accomplices of reaction and capitalism, have fully deserved. Wretched hypocrisy of you, that you now cry murder and woe! [...] [right column, partly illegible] [...] The working class of German-Austria is to supply weapons to Czechia, it is to march into Hungary [...] [illegible] ``` Read from a 2x enlargement of the 960 px rendering; the right column and the lower text are degraded by the print and the scan, so only fragments are given and everything else is marked [...] or [illegible]. 'Zeter und Mordio' is an idiom for outcry. Translation is literal, machine-made, and not checked by a fluent reader. [← Vechernee Vremya (Rostov-on-Don), front page, 4 July 1919: 'Belgorod'](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/vechernee-vremya-rostov-belgorod-1919/) [Republic of Korea, Certificate of Indebtedness ($10 bond, no. 462), signed by Syngman Rhee →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/republic-of-korea-indebtedness-certificate-1919/) ## Using the same techniques - [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (Electoral Saxony · 1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking) - [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (Dutch Republic · 1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling). Content note: Engraving of a hanged, bare-breasted Taino woman, burning huts and people being killed by Spanish soldiers. - [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (Dutch Republic · 1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling) - [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [The North Briton, No. XLV, 23 April 1763 (John Wilkes), opening page](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/north-briton-no-45-wilkes-1763/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Apr 23, 1763 · Name-calling) - [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd. - [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer) - [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Kingdom of Great Britain · Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)