The enabling act that was originally discussed in the first Stresemann cabinet was passed on 13 October. It gave the government the powers to implement by decree the measures it thought necessary to stop the ongoing
hyperinflation. The most significant of the measures was the successful replacement of the all but worthless
Papiermark with the stable
Rentenmark on 15 November 1923. Due to a lack of gold reserves, the new currency was backed by a special forced mortgage placed on all land in Germany used for business or agricultural purposes. The cabinet had to deal with several crucial issues that threatened Germany's integrity. The most pressing was the
occupation of the Ruhr, which was closely connected to the issue of
war reparations and a major cause of the economic collapse and hyperinflation brought on by the policy of passive resistance against the French and Belgian intervention. Stresemann had announced the end of the Ruhr resistance on 26 September, but industrial production did not resume immediately. The second Stresemann cabinet was closely involved in negotiations that resulted in the , a series of treaties signed between November 1923 and September 1924 that ended the ruinous period of work stoppages in heavy industry, which had resulted from passive resistance. Since the payments to the occupying nations did not reflect just a resumption of reparation payments but also included compensation for the occupation costs, they were seen as marking the failure of passive resistance and, ultimately, a capitulation by Germany to French demands. Finally, there were regional challenges to the government's authority from the left in
Thuringia and
Saxony and from the right in
Bavaria. On the left, the Social Democrats under Minister Presidents
Erich Zeigner in Saxony and in Thuringia allied with the
Communist Party (KPD) and made use of the economic crisis and the threat of right-wing counter-revolution in Bavaria (see below) to set up armed militia called the Proletarian Hundreds that soon numbered around 100,000 men. It brought on a confrontation with the government in Berlin, which asked President Ebert to declare martial law and set into motion a process of military action called a
Reichsexekution against the state governments of Saxony and Thuringia. On 23 October, Otto Gessler ordered the
Reichswehr to move into both states. In Thuringia, the militias were disbanded and the communist ministers resigned. In Saxony, however, there was armed resistance, and Zeigner refused to remove the Communist ministers from his cabinet. Stresemann then appointed
Rudolf Heinze Reich commissioner for Saxony. Heinze had the state government deposed and arrested. In
Bavaria – a hotbed of right-wing opposition against the democratic government in Berlin and home to numerous activists including
Erich Ludendorff,
Gustav von Kahr and
Adolf Hitler – Minister President
Eugen von Knilling refused to accept the authority of Stresemann's cabinet and appointed von Kahr as state commissioner, in effect establishing a right-wing dictatorship in Bavaria. It also declared martial law and considered a march on Berlin to depose the government. Local commanders disobeyed orders from
Hans von Seeckt, the Reichswehr's commander in chief. Since von Seeckt refused to use military force against the Bavarian government, there was no repeat of the events in Saxony. On 8/9 November, Hitler launched his
Beer Hall Putsch in Munich, but von Kahr failed to side with him and had the attempted government takeover put down by local troops and police. == Resignation ==