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from 3 May 1929
Communist Ruhr Press - "Red Echo"
New barricades in Berlin
Ruhr workers
- out to protest against the bloodbath in Berlin !
The Berlin Noske with a huge contingent of armoured cars against Wedding and Neu-Kölln - many seriously injured - protest strikes in the Reich - the organisers of the bloodbath demand strike breaking
Berlin, 3 May (own report)
In the Wedding and Neu-Kölln area, the labour force has once again taken to building barricades. The demonstrators, who gathered in their thousands in Köslinerstraße and the neighbouring area, entrenched themselves. The police then launched an assault on Köslinerstraße.
In Neu-Kölln, the workers erected a large barricade on (?)...anderstrasse. At 11 p.m., several riot squads armed to the teeth advanced against the workers' neighbourhoods. Several armoured trains were deployed. The workers destroyed the street lamps and, in the dark, took huge quantities of building materials from the underground railway construction site and built new barricades.
There were huge labour demonstrations in Wedding late yesterday evening. Several hundred policemen were sent to Wedding on lorries. The police advanced as far as Kösliner, Wiesen and Pankstraße and had to stop at the barricades. All attempts to storm the barricades were in vain.
At 4 o'clock in the morning !
Police stations stormed
The barricade fighters have so far completely occupied their barricades. Even the strongest barricade, the bulwark on Hermannstrasse, is still in the hands of the workers. The police are causing bloodbaths. The workers were forced to make use of the captured firearms. Large stocks of stones were also used in their defence.
The police station in Selchower Straße, on the corner of Schillerpromenade, was stormed by the workers and the workers held captive inside were freed. Here, too, the workers smashed all the street lamps. Entire neighbourhoods of Neu-Kölln are shrouded in darkness. The police are forced to retreat on several occasions.
From time to time, the police light up the workers' neighbourhoods with flares, ensuring that new barricades are erected everywhere by the workers. Everywhere, uprooted trees, wooden fences, lampposts and sewer pipes were brought in to block the streets and prevent the approach of the murderous police gangs.
Especially in the early hours of the morning, with the onset of daylight, the general attack of armoured trains, police patrols, etc. began. The workers cut the telephone and telegraph lines. Large iron pillars lie across many streets. Many roads have been torn up. This morning at 5 o'clock the fire on Lessingstrasse was particularly intense.
Proletarians murdered everywhere
We will avenge them.
In the workers' neighbourhoods the workers are singing the "Internationale". The Schupos fired volleys of bullets into fleeing groups of women and children.
When the protest meeting of Berlin workers ended late last night, the Schupo started shooting furiously. Two people were killed. Several people were also killed at the Köslin barricade.
The death toll in Neu-Kölln was three workers. Another 20 workers are seriously injured. The Schupo made extensive use of their hand grenades everywhere.
SPD and ADGB in favour of strikebreaking
Berlin, 3 May (own report)
The executive of the SPD and the Social Democratic parliamentary group in the Reichstag and the ADGB in Berlin publish a vicious smear campaign against the KPD, full of insults against the workers of Wedding and Neu-Kölln. The organisers of the bloodbath in Berlin call for organised strikebreaking. The Social Democrats and the trade unions also organise strikebreaking in the Ruhr mining industry, which their minister comrade Wissell initiated with the declaration of commitment. Ruhr workers! Parry this stab in the back by preparing the battle front!
Strikes in Berlin and the Reich
Berlin, 3 May (own report).
The workers of the Manoli, Massary and Josetti cigarrette factories, the Leiser shoe factory, the Norddeutsche Kugellagerfabrik, the AEG Oberschöneweide transformer factory, the Lorenz AEG, Löwe, the Hutta concrete factory and a number of other factories in Berlin have gone on strike against Zörgiebel's bloodbath. In Hamburg, the stevedores decided to go on a 24-hour protest strike. The distribution of leaflets was prevented by arrests. In Braunschweig, 300 construction workers went on strike.
The "ROTE FAHNE" is occupied and banned
In the night from Thursday to Friday, the police broke into the editorial and printing rooms of the "Rote Fahne" and occupied the building. The Social Democrat Zörgiebel banned the "Rote Fahne" for three weeks. In his justification, he states, among other things, that the "Rote Fahne" had called for the overthrow of law and order and for armed action against the state authorities.
Reichswehr on alert against Berlin
It is now clear that the Reichswehr was already on standby in the immediate vicinity of Berlin on 1 May. The police headquarters are still considering the idea of deploying Reichswehr forces.
