This article examines the protest movements of dock workers in Bremen, especially at the AG Weser shipyard, during the First World War and the revolution of 1918/19. It emphasises the dock workers’ changing working and living conditions as one fundamental reason for their rebellion, but also hints at the politicial traditions involved. Wildcat strikes against the wage system had already occurred before the war, in 1910 and 1913. The protests during the period of war and revolution built on this experience. The political approach of the radical left and of the majority of dock workers was also embedded in the social movements of the time; witness the hunger protests of 1915/16 and, finally, the revolution, when the power relations at work were reversed – albeit only for a few weeks.