Ebert and Scheidemann then went to the Reichstag building for lunch and sat at separate tables. A huge crowd assembled outside, and there were calls for a speech. Ebert refused to speak to the crowd, but Scheidemann stood up and rushed to a window facing it. According to Scheidemann's own recollection, someone told him along the way that the Spartacist (communist) leader Karl Liebknecht intended to declare Germany a Soviet Republic. Scheidemann then made a spontaneous speech that closed with these words: