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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of And the Kaiser abdicates, by S. Miles Bouton
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: And the Kaiser abdicates
+       The German Revolution November 1918-August 1919
+
+Author: S. Miles Bouton
+
+Release Date: April 29, 2012 [EBook #39563]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND THE KAISER ABDICATES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Odessa Paige Turner, Ernest Schaal, and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+(This book was produced from scanned images of public
+domain material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       And the Kaiser Abdicates.
+
+
+
+
+                 PUBLISHED BY THE YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
+                              IN MEMORY OF
+                   LIEUTENANT EARL TRUMBULL WILLIAMS
+                  301ST UNITED STATES FIELD ARTILLERY
+                   OF THE CLASS OF 1910 YALE COLLEGE
+
+                         WHO DIED MAY 7TH 1918
+
+
+
+
+                             AND THE KAISER
+                               ABDICATES
+
+                         THE GERMAN REVOLUTION
+                       NOVEMBER 1918--AUGUST 1919
+
+                           BY S. MILES BOUTON
+
+                  WITH THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GERMAN
+                       COMMONWEALTH TRANSLATED BY
+                       WILLIAM BENNETT MUNRO AND
+                         ARTHUR NORMAN HOLCOMBE
+
+
+                             [Illustration]
+
+                            REVISED EDITION
+
+
+                               NEW HAVEN
+                         YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
+          LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD : OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
+                               MDCCCCXXI
+
+
+
+
+                        COPYRIGHT 1920, 1921 BY
+                         YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS
+
+                    _First published October, 1920._
+              _Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged,_
+                           _September, 1921._
+
+
+
+
+                                 TO THE
+                      HONORABLE IRA NELSON MORRIS
+                      AMERICAN MINISTER TO SWEDEN
+
+                  THE MAN, THE DIPLOMAT, AND THE LOYAL
+                  FRIEND, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY
+                      DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+                               Contents.
+
+
+Chapter I. The Governmental Structure of Germany.                 17
+
+    Revolutions--Not unknown in Germany--Prussia and the
+    Hohenzollerns--Frederick the Great--Germany under foreign
+    domination--The Battle of the brotherhood of man--Lassalle's
+    national Socialists join the _Internationale_--Germany's
+    political backwardness--The war of 1870-71--Erection of the
+    German Empire--Why the Reichstag failed to become a real
+    parliament--The Emperor's powers as Kaiser and as King of
+    Prussia.
+
+Chapter II. The German Conception of the State.                   31
+
+    Individualism repressed for efficiency's sake--Authority the
+    keynote--The _Beamter_ and his special privileges--Prussian
+    ideals of duty--Education--The Officer corps as supporters of
+    the throne--Militarism--Dreams of a _Welt-Imperium_--The fatal
+    cancer of Socialism.
+
+Chapter III. Internationalism and _Vaterlandslose Gesellen_.      45
+
+    The menace of internationalism--Marx and Engels--Socialist
+    teachings of the brotherhood of man--Lassalle's national
+    Socialists join the _Internationale_ of Marx, Engels and
+    Liebknecht--Socialism becomes a political factor--Bismarck's
+    special laws fail--He tries State Socialism--Kaiser Wilhelm
+    denounces the Socialists--Labor-union movement a child of
+    Socialism--German "particularism"--Socialism weakens feelings of
+    patriotism and undermines the church.
+
+Chapter IV. Germany under the "Hunger-Blockade."                  61
+
+    Germany's inability to feed and clothe her inhabitants--The war
+    reduces production--Germany's imports in 1913--Food
+    conservation--The "turnip-winter"--Everybody goes
+    hungry--Terrible increase of mortality--Discontent engendered
+    and increased by suffering--Illegitimate trade in the
+    necessaries of life--Rations at the front become insufficient.
+
+Chapter V. Internationalism at Work.                              75
+
+    General enthusiasm at the war's outbreak--Socialists support the
+    government--Liebknecht denounces the war--Otto Rühle, Franz
+    Mehring, Clara Zetkin and Rosa Luxemburg--The "Spartacus
+    Letters"--Extreme Socialists begin to follow Liebknecht--The
+    first open break in the party--The seceders attack the
+    war--Liebknecht sent to prison--The Russian Revolution as a
+    factor--The political strikes of January, 1918--The army
+    disaffected--Shortage of trained officers.
+
+Chapter VI. Propaganda and Morale.                                89
+
+    Submarine losses shake sailors' morale--Independent Socialists'
+    propaganda--Admiral von Cappelle admits serious mutiny at
+    Wilhelmshafen--Haase, Dittmann and Vogtherr denounced--Lenine
+    passes through Germany--Russian Bolshevist propaganda in
+    Germany--Treaty of Brest-Litovsk throws down the
+    bars--Activities of the Bolshevist Ambassador Joffe--Haase, Cohn
+    and other Independent Socialists work with him--Joffe expelled
+    from Germany--Allied propaganda helps weaken German morale at
+    home and on the fronts--Atrocity stories.
+
+Chapter VII. Germany Requests an Armistice.                      107
+
+    Chancellor Michaelis resigns and is succeeded by Count
+    Hertling--Empire honeycombed with sedition--Count Lichnowsky's
+    memoirs--Another Chancellor crisis--Socialists consent to enter
+    a coalition government--Bulgaria surrenders--Hertling admits
+    desperateness of situation--The German front begins to
+    disintegrate--Prince Max of Baden becomes Chancellor, with the
+    Socialist Philip Scheidemann as a cabinet member--Max requests
+    an armistice--Lansing's reply.
+
+Chapter VIII. The Last Days of Imperial Germany.                 121
+
+    Reforms come too late--The Independent Socialists attack the
+    government--Liebknecht released from prison and defies the
+    authorities--The Kaiser makes sweeping surrenders of
+    powers--Austria-Hungary's defection--Revolution in
+    Vienna--Socialists demand the Kaiser's abdication--The new
+    cabinet promises parliamentary reforms.
+
+Chapter IX. A Revolt Which Became a Revolution.                  133
+
+    Mutiny at Kiel--Troops fire on mutinous sailors--Demands of the
+    mutineers granted--Noske arrives--The red flag replaces the
+    imperial standard--Prince Henry's flight--Independent Socialists
+    and Spartacans seize their opportunity--Soviets erected
+    throughout Northwestern Germany--Official cowardice at
+    Swinemünde--Noske becomes Governor of Kiel.
+
+Chapter X. The Revolution Reaches Berlin.                        147
+
+    Lansing announces that the allied governments accept Wilson's
+    fourteen points with one reservation--Max appeals to the
+    people--Hamburg revolutionaries reach Berlin--Government troops
+    brought to the capital--Independent Socialists meet in the
+    Reichstag building--The revolution spreads--Majority Socialists
+    join hands with the revolutionaries--Supposedly loyal troops
+    mutiny--Revolution.
+
+Chapter XI. The Kaiser Abdicates.                                159
+
+    Ebert becomes Premier for a day--The German Republic
+    proclaimed--Liebknecht at the royal palace--Officers hunted down
+    in the streets--The rape of the _bourgeois_ newspapers by
+    revolutionaries--The first shooting--Ebert issues a proclamation
+    and an appeal--A red Sunday--Revolutionary meeting at the Circus
+    Busch--A six-man cabinet formed--The _Vollzugsrat_--Far-reaching
+    reforms are decreed.
+
+Chapter XII. "The German Socialistic Republic."                  177
+
+    The end of the dynasties--The Kaiser flees--Central Soviet
+    displays moderate tendencies--Wholesale jail-releases--The
+    police disarmed--_Die neue Freiheit_--A Red Guard is planned,
+    but meets opposition from the soldiers--Liebknecht organizes the
+    deserters--Armistice terms a blow to the cabinet--The blockade
+    is extended.
+
+Chapter XIII. "The New Freedom."                                 195
+
+    Germany's armed forces collapse--Some effects of "the new
+    freedom"--The Reichstag is declared dissolved--The cabinet's
+    helplessness--Opposition to a national assembly--Radicals
+    dominate the _Vollzugsrat_--Charges are made against it--The Red
+    Soldiers' League--The first bloodshed under the new régime.
+
+Chapter XIV. The Majority Socialists in Control.                 209
+
+    Front soldiers return--The central congress of Germany's
+    Soviets--Radicals in an insignificant minority--A new
+    _Vollzugsrat_ of Majority Socialists appointed--The People's
+    Marine Division revolts--Independent Socialists leave the
+    cabinet--The Spartacus League organized--The national
+    government's authority flouted--Aggressions by Czechs and
+    Poles--An epidemic of strikes.
+
+Chapter XV. Liebknecht Tries to Overthrow the Government; Is
+    Arrested and Killed.                                         225
+
+    The first Bolshevist uprising--Prominent Berlin newspapers
+    seized by the Spartacans--The Independent Socialists'
+    double-dealing--Capture of the _Vorwärts_ plant--Ledebour,
+    Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg arrested--Liebknecht and Luxemburg
+    killed--The Bolsheviki turn their attention to coast cities.
+
+Chapter XVI. The National Assembly.                              237
+
+    Germany's political parties reorganize--Theodor
+    Wolff--Composition of the National Assembly--Convenes at
+    Weimar--Spartacans stage various uprisings--Friedrich Ebert
+    elected provisional president of the German Republic--Germany's
+    desperate financial situation--The difference between theory and
+    practice.
+
+Chapter XVII. The Spartacans Rise Again.                         251
+
+    Germany still hungering--Promised supplies of food delayed--Gas
+    and coal shortage--Strikes add to people's sufferings--The
+    Spartacans plan another uprising--Severe fighting in Berlin--The
+    radical newspaper _Die rote Fahne_ suppressed--Independent
+    Socialists go over to the Spartacans--Independent Socialist and
+    Spartacan Platforms contrasted.
+
+Chapter XVIII. Red or White Internationalism: Which?             265
+
+    Radicalism encouraged by Bolshevism's success in Hungary.
+
+Chapter XIX. The Weimar Constitution.                            273
+
+    History of the new constitution--An advancedly democratic
+    institution--Important change in constitution on third
+    reading--The imperial constitution ceases to exist--Two "main
+    divisions"--Construction of the state--Preambles of old and new
+    constitutions compared--Fundamental and sweeping
+    changes--Radical curtailment of states' rights--The
+    President--The Reichstag, importance assigned to it--The
+    Reichsrat--Legislative procedure--Referendum and
+    initiative--Amendments--"Fundamental rights and fundamental
+    duties of the Germans"--Articles on social and economic
+    life--Socialist influence becomes unmistakable--Sweeping
+    socialization made possible--Workmen's council is "anchored" in
+    the constitution.
+
+The Constitution of the German Commonwealth.                     294
+
+    Translation by WILLIAM BENNETT MUNRO and ARTHUR NORMAN HOLCOMBE.
+    Reprinted by permission of the World Peace Foundation.
+
+
+
+
+                               Foreword.
+
+
+The developments leading up to the German Revolution of November, 1918,
+and the events marking the course of the revolution itself are still but
+imperfectly known or understood in America. For nearly two years
+preceding the overthrow of the monarchy, Americans, like the people of
+all other countries opposing Germany, were dependent for their direct
+information upon the reports of neutral correspondents, and a stringent
+censorship prevented these from reporting anything of value regarding
+the conditions that were throughout this period gradually making the
+German Empire ripe for its fall. To a great extent, indeed, not only
+these foreign journalists, but the great mass of the Germans themselves,
+had little knowledge of the manner in which the Empire was being
+undermined.
+
+During the crucial days of the revolution, up to the complete overthrow
+of the central government at Berlin, a sharpened censorship prevented
+any valuable direct news from being sent out, and the progress of events
+was told to the outside world mainly by travelers, excited soldiers on
+the Danish frontier and two or three-day-old German newspapers whose
+editors were themselves not only handicapped by the censorship, but also
+ignorant of much that had happened and unable to present a clear picture
+of events as a whole. When the bars were finally thrown down to enemy
+correspondents, the exigencies of daily newspaper work required them to
+devote their undivided attention to the events that were then occurring.
+Hence the developments preceding and attending the revolution could not
+receive that careful consideration and portrayal which is necessary if
+they are to be properly understood.
+
+An attempt is made in this book to make clear the factors and events
+that made the revolution possible, and to give a broad outline of its
+second phase, from the middle of November, 1918, to the ratification by
+Germany of the Peace of Versailles. A preliminary description of
+Germany's governmental structure, although it may contain nothing new to
+readers who know Germany well, could not be omitted. It is requisite for
+a comprehension of the strength of the forces and events that finally
+overthrew the Kaiser.
+
+Much of the history told deals with matters of which the author has
+personal knowledge. He had been for several years before the war
+resident in Berlin as an Associated Press correspondent. He was in
+Vienna when the Dual Monarchy declared war on Serbia, and in Berlin
+during mobilization and the declarations of war on Russia and France. He
+was with the German armies on all fronts during the first two years of
+the war as correspondent, and was in Berlin two weeks before America
+severed diplomatic relations with Germany. The author spent the summer
+of 1917 in Russia, and watched the progress of affairs in Germany from
+Stockholm and Copenhagen during the winter of 1917-18. He spent the
+three months preceding the German Revolution in Copenhagen, in daily
+touch with many proved sources of information, and was the first enemy
+correspondent to enter Germany after the armistice, going to Berlin on
+November 18, 1918. He attended the opening sessions of the National
+Assembly at Weimar in February, 1919, and remained in Germany until the
+end of March, witnessing both the first and second attempts of the
+Spartacans to overthrow the Ebert-Haase government.
+
+The author's aim in writing this book has been to give a truthful and
+adequate picture of the matters treated, without any "tendency"
+whatever. It is not pretended that the book exhausts the subject. Many
+matters which might be of interest, but which would hinder the
+straightforward narration of essentials, have been omitted, but it is
+believed that nothing essential to a comprehension of the world's
+greatest political event has been left out.
+
+A word in conclusion regarding terminology.
+
+_Proletariat_ does not mean, as is popularly supposed in America, merely
+the lowest grade of manual laborers. It includes all persons whose work
+is "exploited" by others, i. e., who depend for their existence upon
+wages or salaries. Thus actors, journalists, clerks, stenographers,
+etc., are reckoned as proletarians.
+
+The _bourgeoisie_ includes all persons who live from the income of
+investments or from businesses or properties (including real estate)
+owned by them. In practice, however, owners of small one-man or
+one-family businesses, although belonging to what the French term the
+_petite bourgeoisie_, are regarded as proletarians. The nobility,
+formerly a class by itself, is now _de facto_ included under the name
+_bourgeoisie_, despite the contradiction of terms thus involved.
+
+No effort has been made toward consistency in the spelling of German
+names. Where the German form might not be generally understood, the
+English form has been used. In the main, however, the German forms have
+been retained.
+
+Socialism and Social-Democracy, Socialist and Social-Democrat, have been
+used interchangeably throughout. There is no difference of meaning
+between the words.
+
+                                                     S. MILES BOUTON
+
+Asheville, New York,
+  November 1, 1919.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I.
+
+                 The Governmental Structure of Germany.
+
+
+The peoples of this generation--at least, those of highly civilized and
+cultured communities--had little or no familiarity with revolutions and
+the history of revolutions before March, 1917, when Tsar Nicholas II was
+overthrown. There was and still is something about the very word
+"revolution" which is repugnant to all who love ordered and orderly
+government. It conjures up pictures of rude violence, of murder, pillage
+and wanton destruction. It violates the sentiments of those that respect
+the law, for it is by its very nature a negation of the force of
+existing laws. It breaks with traditions and is an overcoming of
+inertia; and inertia rules powerfully the majority of all peoples.
+
+The average American is comparatively little versed in the history of
+other countries. He knows that the United States of America came into
+existence by a revolution, but "revolutionary" is for him in this
+connection merely an adjective of time used to locate and describe a war
+fought between two powers toward the end of the eighteenth century. He
+does not realize, or realizes but dimly, the essential kinship of all
+revolutions. Nor does he realize that most of the governments existing
+today came into being as the result of revolutions, some of them
+bloodless, it is true, but all at bottom a revolt against existing laws
+and governmental forms. The extortion of the Magna Charta from King John
+in 1215 was not the less a revolution because it was the bloodless work
+of the English barons. It took two bloody revolutions to establish
+France as a republic. All the Balkan states are the products of
+revolution. A man need not be old to remember the overthrow of the
+monarchy in Brazil; the revolution in Portugal was but yesterday as
+historians count time. Only the great wisdom and humanitarianism of the
+aged King Oscar II prevented fighting and bloodshed between Sweden and
+Norway when Norway announced her intention of breaking away from the
+dual kingdom. The list could be extended indefinitely.
+
+The failure to recall or realize these things was one of the factors
+responsible for the universal surprise and amazement when the
+Hohenzollerns were overthrown. The other factor was the general--and
+justified--impression that the government of Germany was one of the
+strongest, most ably administered and most homogeneous governments of
+the world. And yet Germany, too, or what subsequently became the nucleus
+of Germany, had known revolution. It was but seventy years since the
+King of Prussia had been forced to stand bareheaded in the presence of
+the bodies of the "March patriots," who had given their lives in a
+revolt which resulted in a new constitution and far-reaching concessions
+to the people.
+
+Even to those who did recall and realize these things, however, the
+German revolution came as a shock. The closest observers, men who knew
+Germany intimately, doubted to the very last the possibility of
+successful revolution there. And yet, viewed in the light of subsequent
+happenings, it will be seen how natural, even unavoidable, the
+revolution was. It came as the inevitable result of conditions created
+by the war and the blockade. It will be the purpose of this book to make
+clear the inevitableness of the _débâcle_, and to explain the events
+that followed it.
+
+For a better understanding of the whole subject a brief explanation of
+the structure of Germany's governmental system is in place. This will
+serve the double purpose of showing the strength of the system which the
+revolution was able to overturn and of dispelling a too general
+ignorance regarding it.
+
+The general condemnation of Prussia, the Prussians and the Hohenzollerns
+must not be permitted to obscure their merits and deserts. For more than
+five hundred years without a break in the male line this dynasty handed
+down its inherited rights and produced an array of great administrators
+who, within three centuries, raised Prussia to the rank of a first-rate
+power.
+
+The kingdom that subsequently became the nucleus for the German Empire
+lost fully half its territory by the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, when,
+following the reverses in the Napoleonic wars, Germany was formally
+dissolved and the Confederation of the Rhine was formed by Napoleon. The
+standing army was limited to 42,000 men, and trade with Great Britain
+was prohibited. The Confederation obeyed the letter of the military
+terms, but evaded its spirit by successively training levies of 42,000
+men, and within six years enough trained troops were available to make a
+revolt against Napoleonic slavery possible. The French were routed and
+cut to pieces at the Battle of the Nations near Leipsic in 1813, and
+Prussian Germany was again launched on the road to greatness.
+
+A certain democratic awakening came on the heels of the people's
+liberation from foreign domination. It manifested itself particularly in
+the universities. The movement became so threatening that a conference
+of ministers of the various states was convoked in 1819 to consider
+counter-measures. The result was an order disbanding the political
+unions of the universities, placing the universities under police
+supervision and imposing a censorship upon their activities.
+
+The movement was checked, but not stopped. In 1847 ominous signs of a
+popular revolution moved King Frederick William IV of Prussia to summon
+the Diet to consider governmental reforms. The chief demand presented by
+this Diet was for a popular representation in the government. The King
+refused to grant this. A striking commentary upon the political
+backwardness of Germany is furnished by the fact that one of the demands
+made by a popular convention held in Mannheim in the following year was
+for trial by jury, a right granted in England more than six hundred
+years earlier by the Magna Charta. Other demands were for the freedom of
+the press and popular representation in the government.
+
+The revolution of 1848 in Prussia, while it failed to produce all that
+had been hoped for by those responsible for it, nevertheless resulted in
+what were for those times far-reaching reforms. A diet was convoked at
+Frankfort-on-the-Main. It adopted a constitution establishing some
+decided democratic reforms and knit the fabric of the German
+confederation more closely together.
+
+The structure of the Confederation was already very substantial, despite
+much state particularism and internal friction. An important event in
+the direction of a united Germany had been the establishment in 1833 of
+the _Zollverein_ or Customs Union. The existence of scores of small
+states,[1] each with its own tariffs, currency and posts, had long
+hindered economic development. There is a well-known anecdote regarding
+a traveler who, believing himself near the end of his day's journey,
+after having passed a dozen customs-frontiers, found his way barred by
+the customs-officials of another tiny principality. Angered at the
+unexpected delay, he refused to submit to another examination of his
+effects and another exaction of customs-duties.
+
+[1] There were more than three hundred territorial sovereignties
+    in Germany when the new constitution of the union was adopted
+    at the Congress of Vienna in 1815.--There were principalities
+    of less than one square mile in extent. The particularism
+    engendered by this state of affairs has always been one of
+    the greatest handicaps with which federal government in
+    Germany has had to contend.
+
+"You aren't a country," he said. "You're just a spot. I'll go around
+you." And this he did, without being seriously delayed in reaching his
+destination.
+
+The growing power of Germany aroused the fear of the French, who
+realized what the union of the vital, energetic and industrious German
+races would mean. Years of tension culminated in the war of 1870-71. The
+result is known. Unprepared for the conflict, the French were crushed,
+just as Austria had been crushed four years earlier.
+
+The last external obstacle in the way of German unity and strength had
+thus strangely been removed. On January 18, 1871, while the victorious
+German armies still stood at the gates of Paris, King William I was
+proclaimed German Emperor as Kaiser Wilhelm I.
+
+The designation as "German Emperor" should be noted, because it is
+significant of the manner of union of the German Empire. The aged
+monarch was insistent that the title should be "Emperor of Germany." To
+this the sovereigns of the other German states objected, as carrying the
+implication of their own subjection. Between "German Emperor" or
+"Emperor in Germany" and "Emperor of Germany," they pointed out, there
+was a wide difference. "German Emperor" implied merely that the holder
+of that title was _primus inter pares_, merely the first among equals,
+the presiding officer of an aggregation of sovereigns of equal rank who
+had conferred this dignity upon him, just as a diet, by electing one of
+its number chairman, confers upon him no superiority of rank, but merely
+designates him to conduct their deliberations. These sovereigns'
+jealousy of their own prerogatives had at first led them to consider
+vesting the imperial honors alternately with the Prussian and Bavarian
+King, but this idea was abandoned as impracticable. At the urgent
+representations of Bismarck the aged King consented, with tears in his
+eyes, it is said, to accept the designation of German Emperor.
+
+The German Empire as thus formed consisted of twenty-five states and the
+_Reichsland_ of Alsace-Lorraine, which was administered by a viceroy
+appointed by the King of Prussia. The empire was a federated union of
+states much on the pattern of the United States of America, but the
+federative character was not completely carried out because of the
+particularism of certain states. The Bavarians, whose customs of life,
+easy-going ways, and even dialects are more akin to those of the German
+Austrians than of the Prussians,[2] exacted far-reaching concessions as
+the price of their entrance into the empire. They retained their own
+domestic tariff-imposts, their own army establishment, currency,
+railways, posts, telegraphs and other things. Certain other states also
+reserved a number of rights which ought, for the formation of a perfect
+federative union, to have been conferred upon the central authority. On
+the whole, however, these reservations proved less of a handicap than
+might have been expected.
+
+[2] The Bavarians have from early days disliked the Prussians
+    heartily. _Saupreuss'_ (sow-Prussian) and other even less
+    elegant epithets were in common use against the natives of
+    the dominant state. It must in fairness be admitted that this
+    dislike was the natural feeling of the less efficient
+    Bavarian against the efficient and energetic Prussian.
+
+The Imperial German Constitution adopted at this time was in many ways a
+remarkable document. It cleverly combined democratic and absolutist
+features. The democratic features were worked out with a wonderful
+psychological instinct. In the hands of almost any people except the
+Germans or Slavs the democratic side of this instrument would have
+eventually become the predominant one. That it did not is a tribute to
+the astuteness of Bismarck and of the men who, under his influence,
+drafted the constitution.
+
+The German Parliament or _Reichsrat_ was composed of two houses, the
+_Bundesrat_, or Federal Council, and the _Reichstag_, or Imperial Diet.
+The Federal Council was designed as the anchor of absolutism. It was
+composed of fifty-eight members, of whom seventeen came from Prussia,
+six from Bavaria, and four each from Saxony and Württemberg. The larger
+of the other states had two or three each, and seventeen states had but
+one each. In 1911 three members were granted to Alsace-Lorraine by a
+constitution given at that time to the _Reichsland_. The members of the
+Federal Council were the direct representatives of their respective
+sovereigns, by whom they were designated, and not of the people of the
+respective states. Naturally they took their instructions from their
+sovereigns. Nearly all legislative measures except bills for raising
+revenue had to originate in the Federal Council, and its concurrence
+with the Reichstag was requisite for the enactment of laws. A further
+absolutist feature of the constitution was the provision that fourteen
+votes could block an amendment to the constitution. In other words,
+Prussia with her seventeen members could prevent any change not desired
+by her governing class.
+
+The Reichstag, the second chamber of the parliament, was a truly
+democratic institution. Let us say rather that it could have become a
+democratic institution. Why it did not do so will be discussed later. It
+consisted of 397 members, who were elected by the most unlimited
+suffrage prevailing at that time in all Europe. It is but recently,
+indeed within the last five years, that as universal and free a suffrage
+has been adopted by other European countries, and there are still many
+which impose limitations unknown to the German Constitution. Every male
+subject who had attained the age of twenty-five years and who had not
+lost his civil rights through the commission of crime, or who was not a
+delinquent taxpayer or in receipt of aid from the state or his community
+as a pauper, was entitled to vote. The vote was secret and direct, and
+the members of the Reichstag were responsible only to their constituents
+and not subject to instructions from any governmental body or person.
+They were elected for a term of three years,[3] but their mandates could
+be terminated at any time by the Kaiser, to whom was reserved the right
+to dissolve the Reichstag. If he dissolved it, however, he was compelled
+to order another election within a definitely stated period.
+
+[3] This was later altered to five years.
+
+One very real power was vested in the Reichstag. It had full control of
+the empire's purse strings. Bills for raising revenue and all measures
+making appropriations had to originate in this chamber, and its assent
+was required to their enactment. The reason for its failure to exercise
+this control resolutely must be sought in the history of the German
+people, in their inertia where active participation in governmental
+matters is concerned, and in those psychological characteristics which
+Bismarck so well comprehended and upon which he so confidently counted.
+
+No people on earth had had a more terrible or continuous struggle for
+existence than the various tribes that later amalgamated to form the
+nucleus for the German Empire. Their history is a record of almost
+continuous warfare, going back to the days of Julius Cæsar. In the first
+years of the Christian era the Germans under Arminius (Hermann) crushed
+the Romans of Varus's legions in the Teutoburg Forest, and the land was
+racked by war up to most modern times. Most of its able-bodied men were
+exterminated during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).[4] This almost
+constant preoccupation in war had a twofold result: it intensified the
+struggle for existence of the common man and kept him from devoting
+either his thoughts or energies to problems of government, and it
+strengthened the powers of a comparatively small ruling-class, who alone
+possessed any culture and education and whose efforts were naturally
+directed to keeping their serfs in the subjection of ignorance. These
+conditions prevailed until well into the last century.
+
+[4] The population of Germany dropped from twenty to less than
+    seven millions during this war.
+
+The conditions can best be appreciated by a comparison with the
+conditions existing in England at the same time. England, too, had had
+her wars, but her soil was but rarely ravaged by foreign invaders, and
+never to the extent in which Germany repeatedly suffered. Parliamentary
+government of a sort had existed more than three centuries in England
+before it reached Germany. A milder climate than that of North Germany
+made the struggle for the bare necessaries of life less strenuous, and
+gave opportunity to a greater proportion of the people to consider other
+things than the mere securing of enough to eat and drink. They began to
+think politically centuries before political affairs ceased to rest
+entirely in the hands of the nobility of Germany.
+
+The Germans of the lower and middle classes--in other words, the vast
+majority of the whole people--were thus both without political training
+and without even the inclination to think independently along political
+lines. Some advance had, it is true, been made along these lines since
+the Napoleonic wars, but the events of 1871 nevertheless found the great
+mass of the people without political tutelage or experience. People even
+more politically inclined would have found themselves handicapped by
+this lack of training, and the German--particularly the Southern
+German--is not politically inclined. This will be discussed more fully
+in the chapters dealing with the course of events following the
+revolution of 1918. It will be sufficient to point out here the German's
+inclination to abstract reasoning, to philosophizing and to a certain
+mysticism; his love of music and fine arts generally, his undeniable
+devotion to the grosser creature-comforts, eating and drinking, and his
+tendency not to worry greatly about governmental or other impersonal
+affairs provided he be kept well fed and amused. It is, in brief, the
+spirit to which the Roman emperors catered with the _panem et
+circenses_, and which manifests itself strikingly in the German
+character. The result of all this was a marked inertia which
+characterized German political life up to recent years. Even when a
+limited political awakening came it was chiefly the work of German-Jews,
+not of Germans of the old stock.
+
+These, then, were the conditions that prevented the democratic features
+of the Imperial Constitution from acquiring that prominence and
+importance which they would have acquired among a different people. The
+Kaiser could dissolve the Reichstag at will. Why, then, bother oneself
+about opposing the things desired by the Kaiser and his brother princes?
+It merely meant going to the trouble of a new election, and if that
+Reichstag should prove recalcitrant also, it could in its turn be
+dissolved. Apparently it never occurred to the mass of the Germans that
+the Kaiser could not go on indefinitely dissolving a representative body
+which insisted upon carrying out the people's will. The Reichstag, being
+on the whole neither much wiser nor more determined than the people that
+elected it, accepted this view of the situation. Occasionally it showed
+a bit of spirit, notably when it adopted a vote of censure against the
+government in the matter of the Zabern affair in 1913. On the whole,
+however, it accepted meekly the rôle that caused it to be termed, and
+justly, a "debating club." And this was precisely the rôle that had been
+planned for it by the drafters of the constitution.
+
+In justice to the Reichstag, however, one thing should be pointed out.
+When the German Empire was formed the country was still predominantly an
+agricultural land. The election districts were on the whole justly
+erected, and no one section of the country had a markedly
+disproportionate number of representatives. It was not long, however,
+before the flight to the cities began in Germany as in other countries,
+and at the beginning of the present century the greater part of
+Germany's population lived in the cities. The result was speedily seen
+in the constitution of the Reichstag, since no redistricting was ever
+made since the original districting of 1871. Greater Berlin, with a
+population around four million, elected but six representatives to the
+Reichstag. In other words, there were some 660,000 inhabitants for every
+delegate. The agricultural districts, however, and especially those of
+Northern Germany--East Elbia, as it is termed--continued to elect the
+same number of representatives as at the beginning to represent a
+population which had increased but little or not at all. There were
+districts in East and West Prussia, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Pomerania
+and Posen where fewer than ten thousand voters were able to send a
+representative to the Reichstag.
+
+The result was the natural one. Throughout the world conservatism has
+its headquarters on the farms. The farmers cling longest to the old
+order of things, they free themselves the most slowly from tradition,
+they are least susceptible to sociological and socialistic ideas and, in
+so far as they own their own land, they are among the strongest
+supporters of vested property-rights. In no other country was this more
+the case than in Germany, and especially in the districts mentioned,
+where large estates predominate and whence have come for two hundred
+years the most energetic, faithful and blindly loyal servants of their
+sovereign. The cities, on the other hand, and particularly the larger
+cities are the strongholds of new ideas. They are in particular the
+breeding-places of Socialism and Communism. Five of the six Reichstag
+members elected from Greater Berlin in 1912 were Social-Democrats, and
+the sixth was a Progressive with advanced democratic ideas.
+
+With the shifting population and the consequent distortion of the
+election districts, a tremendous advantage accrued to the rural
+communities; in other words, the forces opposed to democratic reforms
+and in favor of maintaining and even increasing the powers of the King
+and Emperor steadily increased proportionately their representation in
+the Reichstag at the expense of the friends of democracy. At the
+Reichstag election of 1912 the Socialists cast roundly thirty-five per
+cent of the total popular vote. Handicapped by the unjust districting,
+however, they were able to elect only 110 delegates, whereas their
+proportion of the total vote entitled them to 139. The Progressives,
+most of whose strength also lay in the cities, likewise received fewer
+members than their total vote entitled them to have. Under a fair
+districting these two parties would together have had nearly a clear
+majority of the Reichstag. There is reason to believe that the whole
+course of history of the last years would have been altered had Germany
+honestly reformed her Reichstag election districts ten years ago. On
+such small things does the fate of nations often rest.
+
+The Kaiser, as the president of the empire, was authorized to "represent
+the empire internationally." He named the diplomatic representatives to
+foreign courts and countries and to the Vatican. He was empowered to
+make treaties, and to declare defensive warfare provided the enemy had
+actually invaded German territory. He could not declare an offensive war
+without the consent of the Federal Council, nor a defensive war unless
+the invasion mentioned had taken place. He was commander-in-chief of the
+navy, and of the Prussian army and the armies of the other federal
+states except of Saxony and Bavaria, which maintained their own military
+establishments. He appointed--in theory--all federal officials and
+officers of the army and navy. On the whole, however, his powers as
+German Emperor were strictly limited and hardly went beyond the powers
+of the ruler of any constitutional monarchy.
+
+It was as King of Prussia, however, that he really exercised the
+greatest power, and thus vicariously strengthened his powers in the
+empire at large. The parliamentary system of Prussia was archaic and
+designed to make impossible any really democratic government or a too
+severe limitation upon the powers of the King. It was, like the Imperial
+Parliament, made up of two chambers, a House of Lords and a Diet. The
+upper chamber, the House of Lords, was composed of men appointed by the
+King, either for a fixed term or for life. It goes without saying that
+all these men were strong supporters of the monarchic system and
+outspoken enemies of democracy. No legislation could be enacted against
+their will. The composition of the Diet, moreover, was such that the
+House of Lords had until very recent years little to fear in the way of
+democratic legislation. It was elected by the so-called three-class
+system, under which a wealthy man frequently had greater voting power
+than his five hundred employees together. The ballot moreover was
+indirect, the delegates being elected by a complicated system of
+electors. In addition to all this, the ballot was open, not secret. This
+placed a powerful weapon in the hands of the employing classes generally
+and of the great estate-owners particularly. The polling-places in rural
+districts were generally located on land belonging to one of these
+estates, and the election officials were either the estate-owners
+themselves or men dependent on them. In these circumstances it took a
+brave man to vote otherwise than his employer desired, and there was no
+way of concealing for whom or what party he had voted. Bismarck himself,
+reactionary and conservative as he was, once termed the Prussian
+three-class voting-system "the most iniquitous of all franchise
+systems."
+
+Around this a fight had waged for several years before the revolution.
+The Kaiser, as King of Prussia, flatly promised, in his address from the
+throne in 1908, that the system should be reformed. It is a matter of
+simple justice to record that he made the promise in good faith and
+tried to see that it was kept. His efforts along this line were thwarted
+by a small clique of men who were determined "to protect the King
+against himself," and who, lacking even the modicum of political
+prescience possessed by the Kaiser-King, failed to see that if they did
+not make a concession willingly they would eventually be forced to make
+a concession of much greater extent. From year to year measures to
+reform the three-class system were introduced, only to be killed by the
+House of Lords. Under the stress of the closing days of the war such a
+measure was perfected and would have become a law had not the revolution
+intervened. But it came too late, just as did scores of other reforms
+undertaken in the eleventh hour.
+
+And thus, while the Kaiser's power as German Emperor was sharply
+limited, he enjoyed powers as King of Prussia which in some degree
+approached absolutism. The dominance of Prussia in the empire, while it
+could not transfer these powers to the Emperor _de jure_, did
+unquestionably effect to some degree a _de facto_ transfer, which, while
+it did not in the long run have a very actual or injurious internal
+effect, nevertheless played a no inconsiderable part in the outside
+world and was responsible for a general feeling that Germany was in
+effect an absolute monarchy. German apologists have maintained that
+Wilhelm II had less actual power as German Emperor than that possessed
+by the President of the United States. This statement is undoubtedly
+true, but with an important limitation and qualification. The
+President's great powers are transitory and cannot--or in practice do
+not--extend more than eight years at the most. His exercise of those
+powers is governed and restrained during the first four years by his
+desire to be re-elected; during the second four years he must also use
+his powers in such a way that a democratic people will not revenge
+itself at the next election upon the President's party. But the Kaiser
+and King was subject to no such limitation. He ruled for life, and a
+dissatisfied people could not take the succession away from the
+Hohenzollerns except by revolution. And nobody expected or talked of
+revolution. The only real control over abuses of power rested with a
+Reichstag which, as has already been explained, was too faithful a
+reflex of a non-political and inert constituency to make this control of
+more than mild academic interest.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER II.
+
+                  The German Conception of the State.
+
+
+We have seen how the whole manner of life and the traditions of the
+Germans were obstacles to their political development. Mention has also
+been made of their peculiar tendency toward abstract philosophic habits
+of thought, which are not only inexplicable by the manner of the
+people's long-continued struggle for existence, but seem indeed to
+prevail in defiance of it.
+
+In addition to this powerful factor there existed another set of factors
+which worked with wonderful effectiveness toward the same end--the
+crippling of independent and practical political thinking. This was the
+conception of the state held by the ruling-classes of Germany and their
+manner of imposing this conception upon the people. It may briefly be
+put thus: the people existed for the sake of the state, not the state
+for the sake of the people. The state was the central and great idea;
+whatever weakened its authority or power was of evil. It could grant
+free play to individualism only in those things that could not affect
+the state directly, such as music and the fine arts, and to abstract
+philosophy and literature--particularly the drama--as long as they
+avoided dangerous political topics. Its keynote was authority and the
+subjection of the individual to the welfare of the state.
+
+The tendency of this system to make for efficiency so far as the actual
+brute power of a state is concerned cannot be denied in the light of the
+events of the World War. We have seen how in America itself, the
+stronghold of political and religious liberty, individualism was sternly
+repressed and even slight offenses against the authority of the state
+were punished by prison sentences of a barbarous severity unknown in any
+civilized country of Europe. We have seen the churches, reinterpreting
+the principles of the New Testament, and the schools, rewriting history
+to supposed good ends, both enlisted in this repression of individualism
+for the sake of increasing the efficiency of the state at a time when
+the highest efficiency was required.
+
+But the distinction between such conditions here and the pre-war
+conditions in Germany is that they obtained, although in milder form, in
+Germany in peace times as well. And the Anglo-Saxon conception of the
+state is as of a thing existing for the sake of the people and with no
+possible interests that cannot be served by the democratic and
+individualistic development of its people. Between this conception and
+the conception held by Germany's rulers there is a wide and
+irreconcilable difference.
+
+Apart, however, from any consideration of the merits of the German
+system, it must be admitted that the world has never seen another such
+intelligent application of principles of statecraft to the end sought to
+be attained. That the system eventually collapsed was not due to its
+internal faults, but to abnormal and unforeseeable events. The extent of
+its collapse, however, was directly due to the structure of the system
+itself.
+
+It has already been pointed out that authority was the keynote of the
+German system. This authority, embodied in school and church, began to
+mold the plastic mind of the German child as early as the age of six.
+"The Emperor is the father of his country and loves his children like a
+father; we owe him the obedience due to a father," taught the school.
+"Submit yourselves unto authority," said the church, using Paul's words
+to serve the ends of the state. The child came from school and church to
+his military service and found authority enthroned there. He had to obey
+the orders of every _Vorgesetzter_ (superior in authority) from field
+marshal down to corporal. He found that, in the absence of officers or
+non-commissioned officers, he must submit himself to the authority of
+the _Stubenältester_, the senior soldier in the same room with him.
+Insubordination was punished rigorously.
+
+Precept, example and punishment were but a part of a system calculated
+to make discipline and submission to authority advisable and profitable.
+The penalties prescribed by the German penal and military codes for
+infractions of the laws were far less severe than the penalties
+prescribed in the code of any American state, but conviction was
+followed by a consequence of great moment in Germany: the man who was
+_vorbestraft_, that is, who had been punished for any transgression,
+found himself automatically excluded from any opportunity to become a
+_Beamter_, or government official.
+
+The system of punishment had always as its chief purpose the laying of
+emphasis upon duty, and this was often arrived at in an indirect way.
+For example, the soldier who failed to keep his valuables in the locker
+provided for him in his barracks and who lost them by theft, was
+punished for his own negligence.
+
+No other country in the world employed so large a proportion of its
+total population in the administration of government, and in no other
+country was the system so cleverly calculated to make government office
+attractive to the average man. The salaries were not larger than those
+earned by men of the same class in non-official employments, but
+employment under the government offered in addition both material and
+moral advantages. The chief material advantage was the right to retire
+after a specified number of years of service on liberal pension. The
+moral advantages rested in the dignity of government service and in the
+special protection afforded government servants. A carefully graded
+scale of titles made its appeal to personal vanity. This has frequently
+been described as particularly German, but it was, in the last analysis,
+merely human. There are comparatively few men in any country, not
+excluding America, who are totally indifferent to titles, and there is
+at least one state whose fondness for them has become a stock subject
+for all American humorists. What was, however, particularly German was
+the astuteness with which the ruling-classes of Germany had turned this
+human weakness to account as an asset of government, and also the extent
+to which it had been developed, especially downward. Mr. Smith, who
+cleans the streets of an American city, would not be especially
+gratified to be addressed as Mr. Street-Cleaner, but his German
+colleague felt a glow of pride at hearing the address "Herr
+Street-Cleaner Schmidt," and this feeling was a very real asset to his
+government. It was the same at the other end of the scale. The
+government councillor was the more faithful and energetic in his
+devotion to the government's work because he knew that by faithfulness
+and energy he would eventually become a "privy government councillor"
+and the next step would be to "real privy government councillor, with
+the predicate 'Your Excellency'." And since wives bore the titles of
+their husbands, the appeal was doubly strong.
+
+The _Beamter_ enjoyed furthermore special protection under the law.
+To call an ordinary person "idiot," for example, was a _Beleidigung_
+or insult, but the same term applied to a _Beamter_ became
+_Beamtenbeleidigung_, or "insult to an official," and involved a
+much sharper punishment, and this punishment increased with the
+dignity of the person insulted until the person of the Kaiser was
+reached, an insult to whom was _Majestätsbeleidigung_, an insult to
+majesty, or _lèse majesté_, as the French term it. Prosecutions for
+_Majestätsbeleidigung_ were not frequent, but the law was
+occasionally invoked. One of the last prosecutions for this offense
+occurred in 1913, when a man who had demonstratively turned a
+picture of the Kaiser toward the wall in the presence of a large
+gathering was sent to jail for four months.
+
+Personal vanity was further exploited by a system of orders, decorations
+and civil-service medals. This system originated from an ancient custom
+which, with increasing travel, had become onerous. Royalty was
+everywhere expected to tip servants only with gold, and since the
+smallest gold coin was the equivalent of the American $2.50-piece, this
+constituted a severe financial tax on the poorer ruler of small
+principalities, who traveled much. One of these petty rulers conceived
+the bright idea of creating a system of bronze orders or medallions and
+substituting these inexpensive decorations for tips. The event justified
+his expectations; they were esteemed more highly than cash tips by
+people whose vanity was flattered at receiving a "decoration" from
+royalty. Eventually all states and the Empire adopted them. On fête days
+railway station-masters could be recognized on the streets by their
+numerous decorations. The railway-engineer, the mail-carrier, the
+janitor in a government office--all these men knew that so many years of
+loyal service meant recognition in the form of some sort of decoration
+for the coat-lapel, and these, in the stratum of society in which they
+moved, were just as highly regarded as was the Red Eagle or Hohenzollern
+House Order in higher classes of society. There is no room whatever for
+doubt that these things, whose actual cost was negligible, played a
+large part in securing faithful and devoted service to the government
+and compensated largely--and especially in the case of higher
+officials--for somewhat niggardly salaries. A prominent English
+statesman, visiting Berlin some years before the war, expressed to the
+writer his regret that England had not built up a similar system, which,
+in his opinion, was a powerful factor in securing a cheap and good
+administration of public affairs. Like the system of titles, it took
+advantage of a weakness not merely German, but human. Instances of the
+refusal of foreign orders and decorations by Americans are rare.
+
+All these things, then, were factors of almost inestimable value in
+building up a strong governmental machine. At bottom, however, the
+whole structure rested upon another factor which should receive
+ungrudging admiration and recognition, regardless of one's attitude
+toward Germany or its governing classes. This was the strong sense of
+duty inculcated in every German, man or woman, from lowest to highest.
+Self-denial, a Spartan simplicity, faithfulness in the discharge of
+one's obligations--these were the characteristics that set their seal
+upon the average German. In some of the larger cities, and notably in
+Berlin, the Spartan ideals of life had been somewhat abandoned in the
+years preceding the war, but elsewhere they persisted, and nowhere to a
+greater extent than among the ruling-classes of Prussia, the so-called
+_Junker_. Former Ambassador Gerard has paid a deserved tribute to this
+class,[5] and the universal condemnation visited upon them by democratic
+peoples cannot justify a refusal to give them their due.
+
+[5] "There is no leisure class among the Junkers. They are all
+    workers, patriotic, honest and devoted to the Emperor and the
+    Fatherland. If it is possible that government by one class is
+    to be suffered, then the Prussian Junkers have proved
+    themselves more fit for rule than any class in history. Their
+    virtues are Spartan, their minds narrow but incorruptible,
+    and their bravery and patriotism undoubted. One can but
+    admire them and their stern, virtues." James W. Gerard, _My
+    Four Years in Germany_, p. 123.
+
+This uncompromising devotion to duty had its roots in old Prussian
+history. Frederick William I, father of Frederick the Great, threatened
+his son with death if he were found derelict in what the stern old man
+regarded as the duty of a future ruler.
+
+The whole rule of Frederick the Great was marked by a rigid sense of
+duty. He termed himself "the first servant of the state," and no servant
+worked harder or allowed himself less leisure or fewer bodily comforts.
+It was this monarch who, told of a brave act of sacrifice by one of his
+officers, refused to consider it as anything calling for special
+recognition. _Er hat nur seine verdammte Pflicht und Schuldigkeit getan_
+(he did only his accursed duty), said the King. This saying became the
+formula that characterized the attitude of the Prussian-German _Beamten_
+in their relations to the state. Whatever was (or was represented as)
+their "accursed duty" must be done, regardless of personal
+considerations or rewards.
+
+In the catalogue of virtues enumerated we have one important group of
+prerequisites to efficient government. There remain two things:
+intelligence and education. The first can be dismissed briefly. The
+average of intelligence in all civilized countries is probably much the
+same. There would not be much difference in native capacity and ability
+between the best thousand of a million Germans or of a million men of
+any other race. In respect of education and training, however, German
+officials as a whole were at least the equal of any body of government
+servants anywhere in the world and the superior of most. In the first
+place, educational qualifications were definitely laid down for every
+category of officials. Nor were these qualifications determined, as in
+the American civil-service, by an examination. The candidate must have
+attended school and taken the prescribed course for a term of years,
+varying with the importance of the government career to which he
+aspired.
+
+This insured the possession of adequate educational qualifications of
+civil servants, and there was another thing of first importance in the
+building up of a strong and efficient civil-service. The "spoils system"
+in connection with public office was absolutely unknown in Germany. The
+idea that appointments to the government's service should depend upon
+the political faith of the appointee was one that never occurred to any
+German. If it had occurred to him it would have been immediately
+dismissed as inconsistent with the best administration of the
+government's affairs, as, indeed, it is. The only partisan
+qualification, or rather limitation, upon eligibility to public office
+was that members of the Social-Democratic party were ineligible, and
+that government employees might not become members of that party. From
+the standpoint of the ruling-classes this was natural. It was more; it
+was requisite. For the German Socialists were the avowed and
+uncompromising enemies of the existing government; they were advocates
+of a republic; they were the outspoken enemies of all authority except
+the authority of their own class, for which they assumed to be the only
+legitimate spokesmen, and they were, like Socialists the world over,
+internationalists first and patriots second. No government could be
+expected to help its bitterest opponents to power by giving places of
+honor and profit to their representatives.
+
+The tenure of government officials, except, of course, that of
+ministers, was for life. Promotion was by merit, not by influence. The
+result was an efficiency which is generally admitted. The municipal
+administration of German cities in particular became the model for the
+world. The system withstood the practical test; it worked. The Chief
+Burgomaster of Greater Berlin is a man whose whole life-training has
+been devoted to the administration of cities. Beginning in a subordinate
+position in a small city, he became eventually its burgomaster (mayor),
+then mayor of a larger city, and so on until he was called to take
+charge of the administration of the empire's largest city. His career is
+typical of the German pre-revolutionary methods of choosing public
+servants, and the same principle was applied in every department of the
+government's service.
+
+From the purposely brief sketch of German officialdom's characteristics
+and efficiency which has been presented it will be apparent that such a
+system was a powerful weapon in the hands of any ruling-class. Its
+efficiency might reasonably be expected to crush any revolution in the
+bud, and the loyalty of the men composing it might equally be expected
+to maintain to the last their allegiance to the classes that represented
+authority, with its supreme fount in the person of the ruler himself.
+That these expectations were not fulfilled would seem to testify to the
+inherent and irresistible strength of the revolution that upset it. We
+shall see later, however, that it was a different class of men with whom
+the revolution had to cope. Against the spirit of German officialdom of
+ante-bellum days revolution would have raised its head in vain.
+
+The authority of the German state had another and even more powerful
+weapon than the _Beamtentum_. This was the military establishment and
+the officer-corps. Upon this in the first instance the throne of the
+Hohenzollerns was supported.
+
+Enlightened democracy discovered centuries ago that a large standing
+army may easily become the tool of absolutism and the enemy of free
+institutions. This discovery found expression in England in the
+consistent refusal of Parliament to create an army in permanence. The
+laws establishing the English army had to be renewed periodically, so
+that it was possible at any time for the representatives of the people
+to draw the teeth of the military force if an attempt should be made to
+use that force for tyrannical ends. But the Germans, as has already been
+explained, lacked democratic training and perceptions. Germany was
+moreover in a uniquely dangerous position. No other great power had such
+an unfavorable geographical situation. On the west was France, and there
+were thousands of Germans who had been told by their fathers the story
+of the Napoleonic slavery. On the east was Russia, stronghold of
+absolutism, with inexhaustible natural resources and a population more
+than twice Germany's. Great Britain commanded the seas, and Germany had
+to import or starve.
+
+It cannot fairly be doubted that, placed in a similar situation, the
+most pacific nation would have armed itself to the teeth. But--and this
+is all-important--it is difficult to imagine that such other nation
+would have become militaristic.
+
+The stock answer of German apologists to the accusations regarding
+"militarism" as exemplified in Prussia-Germany has been the assertion
+that France spent more money _per capita_ on her military establishment
+than did Germany. This statement is true, but those making it overlooked
+the real nature of the charge against them. They did not realize that
+militarism, as the world saw it in their country, was not concrete, but
+abstract; it was, in brief, a state of mind. It could have existed
+equally well if the army had been but a quarter as large, and it did not
+exist in France, which, in proportion to her population, had a larger
+army than Germany. It exalted the profession of arms above all else; it
+divided the people into two classes, military and civilians. Its spirit
+was illustrated strikingly by the fact that when Wilhelm II ascended the
+throne, his first act was to issue a proclamation to the army, but it
+was not until three days later that his proclamation to the people was
+issued. Militarism gave the youngest lieutenant at court precedence over
+venerable high civilian officials.
+
+The spirit of militarism permeated even to the remotest corners of daily
+activity in all walks of life. The gatekeeper at a railway crossing must
+stand at attention, with his red flag held in a prescribed manner, while
+the train is passing. A Berlin mail-carrier was punished for saluting a
+superior with his left hand, instead of with the right. A street-car
+conductor was fined for driving his car between two wagons of a military
+transport. This was in peace times, and the transport was conveying hay.
+That the passengers in the car would otherwise have had to lose much
+time was of no consequence; nothing could be permitted to interfere with
+anything hallowed by connection with the military establishment. When
+Herr von Bethmann Hollweg was appointed Imperial Chancellor it was
+necessary to give him military rank, since he had never held it. He was
+created a general, for it could not be suffered that a mere civilian
+should occupy the highest post in the empire next to the Kaiser. The
+Kaiser rarely showed himself in public in civilian attire.
+
+It was but natural that the members of the officer-corps held an exalted
+opinion of their own worth and dignity. Militarism is everywhere tarred
+with the same stick, and army officers, if freed from effective civil
+control, exhibit in all lands the same tendency to arbitrariness and to
+a scorn and contempt for mere civilians. Such release from control is
+seen in other lands, however, only in time of war, whereas it was a
+permanently existing state of affairs in Germany. It worked more
+powerfully there than would have been the case anywhere else, for all
+the country's traditions and history were of a nature to exalt military
+service. Ravaged by war for centuries, Germany's greatness had been
+built up by the genius of her army leaders and the bravery and loyalty
+of her soldiers. Hundreds of folksongs and poems known to every German
+child glorified war and its heroes. The youthful Theodor Körner, writing
+his _Gebet vor der Schlacht_ (Prayer before the Battle) by the light of
+the bivouac-fires a few hours before the battle in which he was killed,
+makes a picture that must appeal even to persons who abhor war. How much
+greater, then, must its appeal have been to a military folk!
+
+The German officer was encouraged to consider himself of better clay
+than the ordinary civilian. His "honor" was more delicate than the honor
+of women. It was no infrequent occurrence for an officer, willing to
+right by marriage a woman whom he had wronged, to be refused permission
+either because she did not have a dowry corresponding to his rank, or
+because she was of a lower social class. Duelling among officers was
+encouraged, and to step on an officer's foot, or even to stare too
+fixedly at him _(fixieren)_ was an insult calling for a duel. An
+officer's credit was good everywhere. His word was as readily accepted
+as a civilian's bond, and honesty requires that it be said that his
+trust was rarely misplaced. His exaggerated ideas of honor led
+frequently to an arrogant conduct toward civilians, and occasionally to
+assaults upon offenders, which in a few instances took the form of a
+summary sabering of the unfortunate victim.[6]
+
+[6] Some travelers and a certain class of correspondents have
+    unduly exaggerated the conditions referred to. They have
+    pictured murders of this sort as of frequent occurrence, and,
+    if they could be believed, German officers made it a custom
+    to require women in the street cars to surrender their seats
+    to them. In many years' residence in Germany the author
+    learned of but two cases of the murder of civilians by
+    officers, and he never saw a display of rudeness toward a
+    woman. The German officer almost invariably responded in kind
+    to courtesy, but he did expect and require deference from
+    civilians.
+
+The crassest of the outward, non-political manifestations of militarism
+in recent years was the Zabern affair. A young lieutenant had sabered a
+crippled shoemaker for a real or fancied offense against military rules.
+The townspeople made a demonstration against the officer, and the
+colonel commanding the regiment stationed at Zabern locked a number of
+the civilians in the cellar of the barracks and kept them there all
+night. This was too much even for a docile German Reichstag, and an
+excited debate was followed by the passing of a vote of censure on a
+government which, through the mouths of its Chancellor and War Minister,
+had justified the colonel's actions. The colonel and the lieutenant were
+convicted upon trial and adequate sentences were imposed upon them, but
+the convictions were significantly set aside upon appeal and both
+escaped punishment. It was in connection with this affair that the
+German Crown Prince earned the censure of the soberer German elements by
+sending an encouraging telegram to the arbitrary colonel.
+
+Militarism, in the aspects discussed, was a purely internal affair and
+concerned only the German people themselves. But there was another
+aspect, and it was this that made it a menace to the peace of the world
+and to true democracy.
+
+The very possession of an admirable weapon is a constant temptation to
+use it. This temptation becomes stronger in proportion as it springs
+with inclination. The Germans of the last fifty years were not a
+bellicose people. They had suffered too greatly from wars within the
+recollection of millions of men and women still living. On the other
+hand, they were familiar with war and the thought of it did not invoke
+the same repugnant fears and apprehensions as among less sorely tested
+peoples. The mothers of every generation except the youngest knew what
+it meant to see husbands, sons and brothers don the King's coat and
+march away behind blaring bands; they knew the anxiety of waiting for
+news after the battle, and the grief that comes with the announcement of
+a loved one's death, and they considered it dimly, if they philosophized
+about it at all, as one of the things that must be and against which it
+were unavailing to contend. But the officers as a whole were bellicose.
+The reasons are multifold. It is inherent in the profession that
+officers generally are inclined to desire war, if for no other reason,
+than because it means opportunities for advancement and high honors.
+Beyond this, the German officer's training and traditions taught him
+that war was in itself a glorious thing.
+
+In trying to understand the influences that dominated the government of
+Germany in its relations to foreign countries it must be clearly
+realized and remembered that the real rulers of Germany came from the
+caste that had for nearly two centuries furnished the majority of the
+members of the officer-corps. The Emperor-King, assuming to rule by the
+grace of God, in reality ruled by the grace of the old nobility and
+landed gentry of Prussia, from whose ranks he sprang. This had been
+aptly expressed eighty years earlier by the poet Chamisso, in whose
+_Nachtwächterlied_ appear the lines:
+
+            _Und der König absolut,_
+            _Wenn er unseren Willen tut!_
+
+(Let the King be absolute so long as he does our will.) It was
+inevitable that the views of this class should determine the views of
+government, and the only remarkable thing about the situation was that
+some of the men who, by the indirect mandate of this caste, were
+responsible for the conduct of the government, were less bellicose and
+more pacific than their mandate-givers. There were some men who,
+infected with the virus of militarism, dreamed of the _Welt-Imperium_,
+the eventual domination of the world by Germany, to be attained by
+peaceful methods if possible, but under the threatening shadow of the
+empire's mighty military machine, which could be used if necessary. Yet
+even in their own caste they formed a minority.
+
+Such, in brief outline, was Germany--an empire built on the bayonets of
+the world's greatest and most efficient army and administered by tens of
+thousands of loyal and efficient civil servants. How was it possible
+that it could be overthrown?
+
+In the last analysis it was not overthrown; it was destroyed from within
+by a cancer that had been eating at its vitals for eighty years. And the
+seeds of this cancer, by the strange irony of fate, were sown in Germany
+and cultivated by Germans.
+
+The cancer was Socialism, or Social-Democracy, as it is termed in
+Germany.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER III.
+
+              Internationalism and Vaterlandslose Gesellen.
+
+
+The concluding statement in the previous chapter must by no means be
+taken as a general arraignment of Socialism, and it requires careful
+explanation. Indiscriminately to attack Socialism in all its economic
+aspects testifies rather to mental hardihood than to an understanding of
+these aspects. A school of political thought which has so powerfully
+affected the polity of all civilized nations in the last fifty years and
+has put its impress upon the statutes of those countries cannot be
+lightly dismissed nor condemned without qualification.
+
+Citizens of the recently allied countries will be likely also to see
+merit in Socialism because of the very fact that, in one of its aspects,
+it played a large part in overthrowing an enemy government. Let this be
+clearly set down and understood at the very beginning: the aspects of
+Socialism that made the German governmental system ripe for fall were
+and are inimical not only to the governmental systems of all states, but
+to the very idea of the state itself.
+
+More: The men responsible for the _débâcle_ in Germany--and in
+Russia--regard the United States as the chief stronghold of capitalism
+and of the privilege of plutocracy, and the upsetting of this country's
+government would be hailed by them with as great rejoicing as were their
+victories on the continent.
+
+The aspect of Socialism that makes it a menace to current theories of
+government is "internationalism"--its doctrine that the scriptural
+teaching that all men are brothers must become of general application,
+and the negation of patriotism and the elimination of state boundaries
+which that doctrine logically and necessarily implies. And this doctrine
+was "made in Germany."
+
+The basic idea of Socialism goes back to the eighteenth century, but its
+name was first formulated and applied by the Englishman Robert Owen in
+1835. Essentially this school of political thought maintains that land
+and capital generally--the "instruments of production"--should become
+the property of the state or society. "The alpha and omega of Socialism
+is the transformation of private competing aggregations of capital into
+a united collective capital."[7] Ethically Socialism is merely New
+Testament Christianity, but, as will be seen later, it is in effect
+outspokenly material, irreligious and even actively anti-religious.
+
+[7] _Die Quintessenz des Sozialismus_, by Schäffle.
+
+Socialism received its first clear and intelligent formulation at the
+hands of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, both Germans, although Marx was
+of Jewish descent. In 1847 these two men reorganized under the name
+"Communist League" a society of Socialists already in existence in
+London. The "Manifesto of the Communist League" issued by these two men
+in 1848 was the first real proclamation of a Socialism with outspoken
+revolutionary and international aims. It demanded that the
+laboring-classes should, after seizure of political might, "by despotic
+interference with the property rights and methods of production of the
+_bourgeoisie_, little by little take from them all capital and
+centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state, i.
+e., in the hands of the proletariat organized as the ruling-class." Marx
+and Engels recommended therefore the expropriation of real estate, the
+confiscation of the property of all emigrants and the centralization in
+the hands of the state of all means of credit (banks) and
+transportation.
+
+The dominant idea of the Socialism of this period was that set forth by
+Marx in his book, _Das Kapital_, which became the textbook of the
+movement. It was, in brief, that all wealth is produced by labor, and
+that the surplus above the amount necessary for the bare existence of
+the laborers is appropriated by the capitalists. Marx's admirers have
+often endeavored to show that the communism advocated by him in these
+first years was not the violent communism that has eventuated in the
+last years in Bolshevism and kindred movements under other names. The
+question is of only academic interest, in view of the fact that Marx
+himself later realized that existing institutions could not so easily be
+overturned as he had hoped and believed in 1848. Engels had also come to
+a realization of the same fact, and in 1872, when the two men prepared a
+new edition of the Manifesto of twenty-four years earlier, they admitted
+frankly:
+
+        "The practical application of these principles will always and
+        everywhere depend upon historically existing conditions, and we
+        therefore lay no especial stress upon the revolutionary measures
+        proposed. In the face of the tremendous development of industry
+        and of the organization of the laboring-classes accompanying
+        this development, as well as in view of practical experience,
+        this program is already in part antiquated. The Commune (of 1871
+        in Paris) has supplied the proof that the laboring-class cannot
+        simply take possession of the machinery of state and set it in
+        motion for its own purposes."
+
+This awakening, however, came, as has been pointed out, nearly a quarter
+of a century after the founding of a Socialist kindergarten which openly
+taught revolution. In its first years this kindergarten concerned itself
+only with national (German) matters, and was only indirectly a menace to
+other countries by its tendency to awaken a spirit of unrest among the
+laboring-classes and to set an example which might prove contagious. In
+1864, however, the _Internationale_ was founded with the coöperation of
+Marx and Engels, and Socialism became a movement which directly
+concerned all the states of the world.
+
+This development of Socialism was logical and natural, for its creed was
+essentially and in its origins international. It had originated in
+England in the days of the inhuman exploitation of labor, and especially
+child-labor, by conscienceless and greedy capitalists. It had been tried
+out in France. Prominent among its advocates were many Russians, notably
+Michael Bakunin, who later became an anarchist. Perhaps the majority of
+its advocates on the continent were Jews or of Jewish descent, for no
+other race has ever been so truly international and so little bound by
+state lines. The _Internationale_ had been in the air for years before
+it was actually organized; that organization was delayed for sixteen
+years by no means indicates that the idea was new in 1864.
+
+The basic idea of the _Internationale_ has already been referred to. It
+accepted as a working-creed the biblical doctrine that God "hath made of
+one blood all nations of men," but it disregarded the further
+declaration in the same verse of the Scriptures that He "hath determined
+the bounds of their habitation." The Socialist creed teaches the
+brotherhood of man and the equality of all men irrespective of race,
+color or belief. The inescapable corollary of this creed is that
+patriotism, understood as unreasoning devotion to the real or supposed
+interests of the state, cannot be encouraged or even suffered. And this
+standpoint necessarily involves further the eventual obliteration of the
+state itself, for any state's chief reason for existence in a
+non-altruistic world is the securing of special privileges, benefits,
+advantages and protection for its own citizens, without consideration
+for the inhabitants of other states. If this exercise of its power be
+prohibited, the state's reason for existence is greatly diminished.
+Indeed, it can have virtually only a social mission left, and a social
+mission pure and simple cannot inspire a high degree of patriotism.
+
+Many non-Socialist thinkers have perceived the antithesis between the
+doctrine of the universal brotherhood of man and the particularism of
+national patriotism. Björnstjerne Björnson wrote: "Patriotism is a stage
+of transition." This doctrine may come as a shock to the average reader,
+yet it is undoubtedly a prophetic and accurate statement of what will
+some day be generally accepted. Thoughtfully considered, the idea will
+be found less shocking than it at first appears. Neither Björnson nor
+any other non-Socialist contemplates the abandonment of patriotism and
+state lines except by natural development. The world, in other words, is
+in a transitional stage, and when this transition shall have been
+completed it will find a world where the egoism of national patriotism
+has made way for the altruism of internationalism. And this will have
+been accomplished without violent revolutionary changes, but merely by a
+natural and peaceful evolutionary development.
+
+Against such a development, if it come in the manner described and
+anticipated, nobody can properly protest. But the Socialists of the
+international school--and this is what makes international Socialism a
+menace to all governments and gradually but surely undermined the German
+state--will not wait upon the slow processes of transition. Upon peoples
+for whom the flags of their respective countries are still emblems of
+interests transcending any conceivable interests of peoples outside
+their own state boundaries, emblems of an idea which must be
+unquestioningly and unthinkingly accepted and against which no dictates
+of the brotherhood of other men or the welfare of other human beings
+have any claim to consideration, the Socialists would impose over night
+their idea of a world without artificial state lines, and would
+substitute the red flag for those emblems which the majority of all
+mankind still reverence and adore. It requires no profound thinking to
+realize that such a change must be preceded by a long period of
+preparation if anarchy of production and distribution is to be avoided.
+To impose the rule of an international proletariat under the present
+social conditions means chaos. The world has seen this exemplified in
+Russia, and yet Russia, where the social structure was comparatively
+simple and industry neither complex nor widely developed, was the
+country where, if anywhere today, such an experiment might have
+succeeded.
+
+Socialist leaders, including even the internationalists, have perceived
+this. The murdered Jaurès saw it clearly. But in the very nature of
+things, the vast majority of the adherents of these doctrines are not
+profound thinkers. Socialism naturally recruits itself from the lower
+classes, and it is no disparagement to these to say that they are the
+least educated. Even in states where the higher institutions of learning
+are free--and there are very few such places--the ability of the poor
+man's son to attend them is limited by the necessity resting upon him to
+make his own living or to contribute to the support of his family. The
+tenets of national Socialism naturally appeal to the young man, who
+feels that he and his fellows are being exploited by those who own the
+"instruments of production," and who sees himself barred from the
+educational advantages which wealth gives. From the acceptance of the
+economic tenets of national Socialism to advocacy of internationalism is
+but a small step, easy to take for one who, in joining the Socialist
+party, finds himself the associate of men who address him as "comrade"
+and who look forward to a day when all men, white, black or yellow,
+shall also be comrades under one flag and enlisted in one cause--the
+cause of common humanity. These men realize no more than himself the
+fact that existing social conditions are the result of historical
+development and that they cannot be violently and artificially altered
+without destroying the delicate balance of the whole machine. And since
+this is the state of mind of the majority of the "comrades," even the
+wisest leaders can apply the brakes only with great moderation, for the
+leader who lags too far behind the majority of his party ceases to be a
+leader and finds his place taken by less intelligent or less scrupulous
+men.
+
+Ferdinand Lassalle, the brilliant but erratic young man who organized
+the first Socialist party in Germany, was a national Socialist. His
+party grew slowly at first, and in 1864, when he died, it had but
+4,600 members. In 1863 Marx aided by August Bebel and Wilhelm
+Liebknecht,[8] formed the rival Confederation of German Unions upon an
+internationalistic basis. This organization joined the _Internationale_
+at its congress in Nuremburg in 1868. The parties of Marx and Lassalle
+maintained their separate identities until 1875, when they effected a
+fusion at a congress in Gotha. The Marx adherents numbered at that time
+about 9,000 men and the Lassalle adherents some 15,000, but the latter
+had already virtually accepted the doctrines of international Socialism
+and the _Internationale_, and the German Socialists had until the
+breaking out of the World War maintained their place as the apostles and
+leaders of internationalism.
+
+[8] Called "the elder Liebknecht" to distinguish him from his son
+    Karl Liebknecht, who was killed while under arrest in Berlin
+    in the winter of 1919.
+
+Socialism first showed itself as a political factor in Germany in 1867,
+when five Socialists were elected to the North German Diet. Two
+_Genossen_[9] were sent to the first Reichstag in 1871, with a popular
+vote of 120,000, and six years later nearly a half million red votes
+were polled and twelve Socialists took their seats in the Reichstag. The
+voting-strength of the party in Berlin alone increased from 6,700 in
+1871 to 57,500 in 1877, or almost ninefold.
+
+[9] _Genosse_, comrade, is the term by which all German-speaking
+    Socialists address each other.
+
+A propaganda of tremendous extent and extreme ability was carried on. No
+_bourgeois_ German politician except Bismarck ever had such a keen
+appreciation of the power of the printed word as did those responsible
+for Socialism's missionary work. Daily newspapers, weekly periodicals
+and monthly magazines were established, and German Socialism was soon in
+possession of the most extensive and best conducted Socialist press in
+the world. The result was two-fold: the press contributed mightily to
+the spreading of its party's doctrines and at the same time furnished a
+school in which were educated the majority of the party leaders.
+Probably three quarters of the men who afterward became prominent in the
+party owed their rise and, to a great extent, their general education to
+their service on the editorial staffs of their party's press. By
+intelligent reports and special Articles on news of interest to all
+members of the _Internationale_, whether German, French, English, or of
+what nationality they might be, this press made itself indispensable to
+the leaders of that movement all over the world, and contributed greatly
+to influencing the ideas of the Socialists of other lands.
+
+Bismarck's clear political vision saw the menace in a movement which
+openly aimed at the establishment of a German republic and at the
+eventual overthrow of all _bourgeois_ governments and the elimination of
+local patriotism and state lines. In 1878 he secured from the Reichstag
+the enactment of the famous _Ausnahmegesetze_ or special laws, directed
+against the Socialists. They forbade Socialist publications and
+literature in general, prohibited the holding of Socialist meetings or
+the making of speeches by adherents of the party. Even the circulation
+of Socialist literature was prohibited. The _Ausnahmegesetze_ legalized
+as an imperial measure the treatment that had already been meted out to
+Socialists in various states of the Empire. Following the Gotha congress
+in 1875, fifty-one delegates to the congress were sent to prison.
+Wilhelm Liebknecht received a sentence of three years and eight months
+and Bebel of two years and eleven months. In Saxony, from 1870 to 1875,
+fifty Socialists underwent prison sentences aggregating more than forty
+years.
+
+But Socialism throve on oppression. In politics, as in religion, the
+blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. It would be praising any
+statesman of the '80's too highly to say that he had learned that ideas
+cannot be combated with brute force, for the rulers of the world have
+not yet learned it. But Bismarck did perceive that, to give any promise
+of success, opposition to Socialism must be based upon constructive
+statesmanship. To many of the party's demands no objection could be made
+by intelligent society. And so, in the address from the throne in 1881,
+an extended program of state socialism was presented. With the enactment
+of this program into law Germany took the first important step ahead
+along the road of state Socialism, and all her legislation for the next
+thirty years was profoundly influenced by socialistic thought, in part
+because of a recognition of the wisdom of some of Socialism's tenets, in
+part because of a desire to draw the party's teeth by depriving it of
+campaign material.
+
+More than a decade earlier the Catholic Church in Germany had recognized
+the threatening danger and sought to counteract it by the organization
+of Catholic labor unions. It succeeded much better in its purpose than
+did the government, which is not to be wondered at, since the temporal
+affairs of the church have always been administered more intelligently
+than have the state affairs of any of the world's governments. For many
+years Socialism made comparatively small gains in Roman Catholic
+districts. A similar effort by the Lutheran (State) Church in 1878
+accomplished little, and Bismarck's state Socialism also accomplished
+little to stop the spread of Socialist doctrines.
+
+Kaiser Wilhelm II early realized the menace to the state of these
+enemies of patriotism and of all _bourgeois_ states. In a much quoted
+speech he termed the Socialists _vaterlandslose Gesellen_ (fellows
+without a Fatherland). The designation stung all German Socialists, who,
+ready as they were in theory to disavow all attachment to any state, did
+not relish this kind of public denunciation by their monarch. The word
+_Gesellen_, too, when used in this sense has an unpleasant connotation.
+
+The Socialists, whose political tenets necessarily made them opponents
+of royalty and monarchism everywhere, were particularly embittered
+against a Kaiser whose contempt for them was so openly expressed. Their
+press, which consistently referred to him baldly as "Wilhelm II" sailed
+as closely into the wind of _lèse majesté_ as possible, and sometimes
+too closely. Leading Socialist papers had their special _Sitzredacteur_,
+or "sitting-editor," whose sole function consisted in "sitting out" jail
+sentences for insulting the Kaiser or other persons in authority. Police
+officials, taking their keynote from the Kaiser, prosecuted and
+persecuted Socialists relentlessly and unintelligently. Funeral
+processions were stopped to permit policemen to remove red streamers and
+ribbons from bouquets on the coffins, and graves were similarly
+desecrated if the friends or mourners had ventured to bind their floral
+offerings with the red of revolutionary Socialism. The laws authorizing
+police supervision of all public meetings were relentlessly enforced
+against Socialists, and their gatherings were dissolved by the
+police-official present at the least suggestion of criticism of the
+authorities. There was no practical remedy against this abuse of power.
+An appeal to the courts was possible, but a decision in June that a
+meeting in the preceding January had been illegally dissolved did not
+greatly help matters. Socialist meetings could not be held in halls
+belonging to a government or municipality, and the Socialists often or
+perhaps generally found it impossible to secure meeting-places in
+districts where the Conservatives or National Liberals were in control.
+Federal, state and municipal employees were forbidden to subscribe for
+Socialist publications, or to belong to that party.
+
+The extent of these persecutions is indicated by a report made to the
+Socialist congress at Halle in 1890, shortly after the _Ausnahmegesetze_
+had expired by limitation, after a vain attempt had been made to get the
+Reichstag to reenact them. In the twelve years that the law had been in
+operation, 155 journals and 1,200 books and pamphlets had been
+prohibited; 900 members of the party had been banished from Germany
+without trial; 1,500 had been arrested on various charges and 300 of
+these punished for violations of the law.
+
+The _Ausnahmegesetze_ failed of their purpose just as completely as did
+the Six Acts[10] of 1820 in England. Even in 1878, the very year these
+laws were enacted, the Socialists polled more votes than ever before. In
+1890 their total popular vote in the Empire was 1,427,000, which was
+larger than the vote cast for any other single party. They should have
+had eighty members in that year's Reichstag, but the shift in population
+and consequent disproportionateness of the election districts kept the
+number of Socialist deputies down to thirty-seven. At the Reichstag
+election of 1893 their popular vote was 1,800,000, with forty-four
+deputies.
+
+[10] These acts were passed by Parliament after the Manchester
+    Riots of 1819: to prevent seditious meetings for a discussion
+    of subjects connected with church or state; to subject cheap
+    periodical pamphlets on political subjects to a duty; to give
+    magistrates the power of entering houses, for the purpose of
+    seizing arms believed to be collected for unlawful purposes.
+
+It may be seriously questioned whether Bismarck's unfortunate
+legislation did not actually operate to increase the Socialists'
+strength. Certain it is that it intensified the feeling of bitterness
+against the government, by men whose very creed compelled them to regard
+as their natural enemy even the most beneficent _bourgeois_ government,
+and who saw themselves stamped as Pariahs. This feeling found expression
+at the party's congress in 1880 at Wyden, when a sentence of the program
+declaring that the party's aim should be furthered "by every lawful
+means" was changed to read, "by every means." It must in fairness be
+recorded, however, that the revolutionary threat of this change appeared
+to have no effect on the subsequent attitude of the party leaders or
+their followers. The record of German Socialism is remarkably free from
+violence and sabotage, and the revolution of 1918 was, as we shall see,
+the work of men of a different stamp from the elder Liebknecht and the
+sturdy and honest Bebel.
+
+Two great factors in the growth of Socialism in Germany remain to be
+described. These were, first, the peculiar tendency of the Teutonic
+mind, already mentioned, to abstract philosophical thought, without
+regard to practicalities, and, second, the accident that the labor-union
+movement in Germany was a child of party-Socialism.
+
+Socialism, in the last analysis, is nearer to New Testament Christianity
+than is any other politico-economic creed, and the professions and
+habits of thought of nearly all men in enlightened countries are
+determined or at least powerfully influenced by the precepts of Christ,
+no matter how far their practices may depart from these precepts. Few
+even of those most strongly opposed to Socialism oppose it on ethical
+grounds. Their opposition is based on the conviction that it is
+unworkable and impracticable; that it fails to take into consideration
+the real mainsprings of human action and conduct as society is today
+constituted. In an ideally altruistic society, they admit, it would be
+feasible, but, again, such a society would have no need of it. In other
+words, the fundamental objection is the objection of the practical man.
+Whether his objection is insuperable it is no part of the purpose of the
+writer to discuss. What it is desired to make plain is that Socialism
+appeals strongly to the dreamer, the closet-philosopher who concerns
+himself with abstract ethical questions without regard to their
+practicality or practicability as applied to the economic life of an
+imperfect society. And there are more men of this type in Germany than
+in any other country.
+
+Loosely and inefficiently organized labor unions had existed in Germany
+before the birth of the Socialist movement, but they existed
+independently of each other and played but a limited rôle. The first
+labor organization of national scope came on May 23, 1863, at Leipsic,
+when Lassalle was instrumental in founding _Der allgemeine deutsche
+Arbeiterverein_ (National German Workmen's Union). Organized labor, thus
+definitely committed to Socialism, remained Socialist. To become a
+member of a labor union in Germany--or generally anywhere on the
+continent--means becoming an enrolled member of the Socialist party at
+the same time. The only non-Socialist labor organizations in Germany
+were the Catholic Hirsch-Duncker unions, organized at the instance of
+the Roman Catholic Church to prevent the spread of Socialism. These were
+boycotted by all Socialists, who termed them the "yellow unions," and
+regarded them as union workmen in America regard non-union workers. It
+goes without saying that a political party which automatically enrolls
+in its membership all workmen who join a labor union cannot help
+becoming powerful.
+
+That international Socialism is inimical to nationalism and patriotism
+has already been pointed out, but a word remains to be said on this
+subject with reference to specific German conditions. We have already
+seen how the Germany of the beginning of the nineteenth century was a
+loose aggregation of more than three hundred dynasties, most of which
+were petty principalities. The heritage of that time was a narrowly
+limited state patriotism which the Germans termed _Particularismus_, or
+particularism. Let the American reader assume that the State of Texas
+had originally consisted of three hundred separate states, each with its
+own government, and with customs and dialects varying greatly in the
+north and south. Assume further that, after seventy years filled with
+warfare and political strife, these states had been re-formed into
+twenty-six states, with the ruler of the most powerful at the head of
+the new federation, and that several of the twenty-six states had
+reserved control over their posts, telegraphs, railways and customs as
+the price for joining the federation. Even then he will have but a hazy
+picture of the handicaps with which the Imperial German Government had
+to contend.
+
+Particularism was to the last the curse and weakness of the German
+Empire. The Prussian regarded himself first as a Prussian and only in
+second place as a German. The Bavarian was more deeply thrilled by the
+white-and-blue banner of his state than by the black-white-red of the
+Empire. The republican Hamburger thanked the Providence that did not
+require him to live across the Elbe in the city of Altona, which was
+Prussian, and the inhabitants of the former kingdoms, duchies and
+principalities of Western Germany that became a part of Prussia during
+the decades preceding the formation of the Empire regularly referred to
+themselves as _Muss-Preussen_, that is, "must-Prussians," or Prussians
+by compulsion.
+
+The attempt to stretch this narrowly localized patriotism to make it
+cover the whole Empire could not but result in a seriously diluted
+product, which offered a favorable culture-medium for the bacillus of
+internationalism. And in any event, to apply the standards of
+abstract ethical reasoning to patriotism is fatal. The result may be
+to leave a residue of traditional and racial attachment to one's
+state, but that is not sufficient, in the present stage of human
+society, for the maintenance of a strong government. Patriotism of
+the my-country-right-or-wrong type must, like revealed religion, be
+accepted on faith. German patriotism was never of this extreme type,
+and in attacking it the Socialists made greater headway than would
+have been the case in most countries.
+
+The Socialists had thus seriously weakened the state at two vital
+points. By their continuous advocacy of a republic and their obstructive
+tactics they had impaired to a considerable extent the authority of the
+state, and autocratic government rests upon authority. By their
+internationalist teachings they had shaken the foundations of
+patriotism. And there is still another count against them.
+
+Opponents of Socialism accuse its advocates of being enemies of the
+Christian religion and the church. Socialists declare in reply that
+Socialism, being a purely economic school of thought, does not concern
+itself with religious matters in any manner. They point out further that
+the programs of Socialist parties in all lands expressly declare
+religion to be a private matter and one about which the party does not
+concern itself. This is only part of the truth. It is true that
+Socialism officially regards religion as a private matter, but German
+Socialism--and the Socialism of other lands as well--is in practice the
+bitter enemy of the organized church. There is an abundance of evidence
+to prove this assertion, but the following quotations will suffice.
+
+August Bebel, one of the founders of German Socialism, said:
+
+    "We aim in the domain of politics at Republicanism, in the
+    domain of economics at Socialism, and in the domain of what is
+    today called religion at Atheism."[11]
+
+[11] Quoted by W. H. Dawson in _German Socialism and Ferdinand
+    Lassalle_, ch. 15.
+
+_Vorwärts_, central organ of German Socialism, wrote on July 1, 1892:
+
+    "We would fight churches and preachers even if the preachers and
+    curates were the most conscientious of men."
+
+_Vorwärts_ contrived also to add insult to the statement by using the
+word _Pfaffen_ for preachers, a word having a contemptuous implication
+in this sense throughout Northern Germany.
+
+Karl Kautsky, for years one of the intellectual leaders of the Socialist
+movement in Germany and one of its ablest and most representative
+publicists, said:[12]
+
+    "The one-sided battle against the congregations, as it is being
+    carried on today in France, is merely a pruning of the boughs of
+    the tree, which then merely flourishes all the more strongly.
+    The ax must be laid to the roots."
+
+[12] Die neue Zeit, 1903, vol. i, p. 506.
+
+_Genosse_ Dr. Erdmann, writing after the war had begun, said:
+
+    "We have no occasion to conceal the fact that Social-Democracy
+    is hostile to the church--whether Catholic or Evangelical--and
+    that we present our demands with special decision because we
+    know that we shall thus break the power of the church."[13]
+
+[13] Sozialistische Monatshefte, 1915, vol. i, p. 516.
+
+_Vorwärts_ headlined an Article in January, 1918: "All religious systems
+are enemies of women." (The Socialists nevertheless had the effrontery
+during the campaign preceding the election of delegates to the National
+Assembly at Weimar in January to put out a placard saying: "Women,
+protect your religion! Vote for the Social-Democratic party of
+Germany!").
+
+The initial activities of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils in
+Hamburg and Brunswick following the revolution were correctly described
+in a speech made in the National Assembly on March 11, 1919, by Deputy
+Mumm. He said:
+
+    "The revolutionary government in Hamburg has retained the
+    bordells and abolished religious instruction. In Brunswick the
+    school children of the capital, 1,500 in number, were assembled
+    in the Cathedral by the people's commissioners for an
+    anti-Christian Christmas celebration."
+
+At the same session, Deputy Hellmann, a member of the Majority (parent)
+Socialist party, said in a speech in answer to Mumm:
+
+    "The church, like all social institutions, is subject to
+    constant change, and will eventually disappear."
+
+Quotations like the preceding could be multiplied indefinitely, as could
+also acts consistent with these anti-religious views. The first Minister
+of Cults (_Kultusminister_) appointed by the revolutionary government in
+Prussia was Adolf Hoffmann, a professed atheist, although this ministry
+has charge of the affairs of the church.
+
+The Socialist literature and press in all countries abound in
+anti-religious utterances. To quote one is to give a sample of all. The
+_Social-Demokraten_ of Stockholm, official organ of the Swedish
+Socialists and reckoned among the sanest, ablest and most conservative
+of all Social-Democratic press organs, forgets, too, that religion is a
+private matter. It reports a sermon by Archbishop Söderblom, wherein the
+speaker declared that the church must have enough expansive force to
+conquer the masses who are now coming to power in various lands, and
+adds this characteristic comment:
+
+    "The Archbishop is a brave man who is not afraid to install a
+    motor in the venerable but antiquated skiff from the Lake of
+    Genesareth. If only the boat will hold him up!"
+
+This attitude of Socialism is comprehensible and logical, for no student
+of world history can deny that an established church has been in all
+ages and still is one of the strongest bulwarks of an autocratic state.
+From the very dawn of organized government, centuries before the
+Christian era, the priesthood, where it did not actually govern, has
+powerfully upheld the arm of civil authority and property rights. Even
+in democratic England it teaches the child to "be content in the station
+whereto it has pleased God to call me," and is thus a factor in
+upholding the class distinctions against which Socialism's whole
+campaign is directed. In opposing the church as an institution
+Social-Democracy is thus merely true to its cardinal tenets. If the
+power of the church be destroyed or materially weakened, a serious blow
+is dealt to the government which that church supported. People who, at
+the command of the church, have been unquestioningly rendering unto
+Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, begin to ask themselves: "But what
+things are Cæsar's?" And when the people begin seriously to consider
+this question, autocracy is doomed.
+
+The effect of the Socialist campaign against the church began to make
+itself felt a decade or more before the war began. Withdrawals from the
+church became so frequent that the government was seriously concerned.
+The number of those who termed themselves _Dissident_ (dissenter) or
+_religionslos_ (without any religion) increased rapidly. Clergymen
+preached the doctrines of Christ to empty benches; _religionslose
+Genossen_ preached the doctrines of class warfare and disloyalty to
+state to Socialist audiences that filled their meeting-places.
+
+Thus the cancer ate its way into the vitals of the Empire.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IV.
+
+                  Germany under the "Hunger-Blockade."
+
+
+The men whose duty it was to take every measure to increase Germany's
+preparedness for war and her ability to carry on an extended conflict
+had long realized that the Empire had one very vulnerable point. This
+was her inability to feed and clothe her inhabitants and her consequent
+dependence on imports of foodstuffs and raw materials.
+
+Germany in the days of her greatness occupied so large a place in the
+sun that one is prone to forget that this mighty empire was erected on
+an area much less than that of the State of Texas. Texas, with 262,290
+square miles, was 53,666 square miles greater than the whole German
+Empire. And Germany's population was two-thirds that of the entire
+United States! Germany was, moreover, comparatively poor in natural
+resources. The March (Province) Brandenburg, in which Berlin is
+situated, is little more than a sandheap, and there are other sections
+whose soil is poor and infertile. Nor was it, like America, virgin soil;
+on the contrary, it had been cultivated for centuries.
+
+Driven by stern necessity, the Germans became the most intelligent and
+successful farmers of the world. Their average yields of all crops per
+acre exceeded those of any other country, and were from one and a half
+to two times as large as the average yield in the United States. The
+German farmer raised two and one half times more potatoes per acre than
+the average for the United States. He was aided by an adequate supply of
+cheap farm labor and by unlimited supplies of potash at low prices,
+since Germany, among her few important natural resources, possessed a
+virtual monopoly of the world's potash supply.
+
+Try as they would, however, the German farmers could not feed and clothe
+more than about forty of Germany's nearly seventy millions. Even this
+was a tremendous accomplishment, which can be the better appreciated if
+one attempts to picture the State of Texas feeding and clothing four of
+every ten inhabitants of the United States. Strenuous efforts were made
+by the German Government to increase this proportion. Moorlands were
+reclaimed and extensive projects for such reclamation were being
+prepared when the war came. The odds were too great, however, and the
+steady shift of population toward the cities made it increasingly
+difficult to cultivate all the available land and likewise increased the
+amount of food required, since there is an inevitable wastage in
+transportation. What this shift of population amounted to is indicated
+by the fact that whereas the aggregate population of the rural districts
+in 1871 was 63.9 per cent of the total population, it was but 40 per
+cent in 1910. During the same period the percentage of the total
+population living in cities of 100,000 population or over had increased
+from 4.8 to 21.3.
+
+In the most favorable circumstances about three-sevenths of the food
+needed by Germany must be imported. The government had realized that a
+war on two fronts would involve a partial blockade, but neither the
+German Government nor any other government did or could foresee that a
+war would come which would completely encircle Germany in effect and
+make an absolute blockade possible. Even if this had been realized it
+would have made no essential difference, for it must always have
+remained impossible for Germany to become self-supporting.
+
+Another factor increased the difficulties of provisioning the people.
+The war, by taking hundreds of able-bodied men and the best horses from
+the farms, made it from the beginning impossible to farm as intensively
+as under normal conditions, and resulted even in the second summer of
+the war in a greatly reduced acreage of important crops. Livestock,
+depleted greatly by slaughtering and by lack of fodder, no longer
+produced as much manure as formerly, and one of the main secrets of the
+intelligent farming-methods of the Germans was the lavish use of
+fertilizer. And thus, at a time when even the maximum production would
+have been insufficient, a production far below the normal average was
+being secured.
+
+Germany's dependence on importations is shown by the import statistics
+for 1913. The figures are in millions of marks.
+
+        Cereals                  1037.
+        Eggs                      188.2
+        Fruits                    148.8
+        Fish                      135.9
+        Wheaten products          130.3
+        Animal fats               118.9
+        Butter                    118.7
+        Rice                      103.9
+        Southern fruits           101.2
+        Meats                      81.4
+        Live animals              291.6
+        Coffee                    219.7
+        Cacao                      67.1
+
+It will be observed that the importations of cereals (bread-stuffs and
+maize) alone amounted to roughly $260,000,000, without the further item
+of "wheaten products" for $32,500,000.
+
+Fodder for animals was also imported in large quantities. The figures
+for cereals include large amounts of Indian corn, and oilcakes were also
+imported in the same year to the value of more than $29,600,000.
+
+Germany was no more able to clothe and shoe her inhabitants than she was
+to feed them. Further imports for 1913 were (in millions of marks):
+
+        Cotton                    664.1
+        Wool                      511.7
+        Hides and skins           672.4
+        Cotton yarn               116.2
+        Flax and hemp             114.4
+        Woolen yarn               108.
+
+Imports of chemicals and drugs exceeded $105,000,000; of copper,
+$86,000,000; of rubber and gutta-percha, $36,500,000; of leaf-tobacco,
+$43,500,000; of jute, $23,500,000; of petroleum, $17,400,000.
+
+Of foodstuffs, Germany exported only sugar and vegetable oils in any
+considerable quantities. The primarily industrial character of the
+country was evidenced by her exportations of manufactures, which
+amounted in 1913 to a total of $1,598,950,000, and even to make these
+exportations possible she had imported raw materials aggregating more
+than $1,250,000,000.
+
+The war came, and Germany was speedily thrown on her own resources. In
+the first months various neutrals, including the United States,
+succeeded in sending some foodstuffs and raw materials into the
+beleaguered land, but the blockade rapidly tightened until only the
+Scandinavian countries, Holland, and Switzerland could not be reached
+directly by it. Sweden, with a production insufficient for her own
+needs, soon found it necessary to stop all exports to Germany except of
+certain so-called "compensation articles," consisting chiefly of paper
+pulp and iron ore. A continuance of these exports was necessary, since
+Germany required payment in wares for articles which Sweden needed and
+could not secure elsewhere. The same was true of the other neutral
+countries mentioned. Denmark continued to the last to export foodstuffs
+to Germany, but she exported the same quantity of these wares to
+England. All the exports of foodstuffs and raw materials from all the
+neutrals during the war were but a drop in the bucket compared with the
+vast needs of a people of seventy millions waging war, and they played a
+negligible part in its course.
+
+Although the German Government was confident that the war would last but
+a few months, its first food-conservation order followed on the heels of
+the mobilization. The government took over all supplies of breadstuffs
+and established a weekly ration of four metric pounds per person (about
+seventy ounces). Other similar measures followed fast. Meat was
+rationed, the weekly allowance varying from six to nine ounces in
+different parts of the Empire.[14] The Germans were not great
+meat-eaters, except in the cities. The average peasant ate meat on
+Sundays, and only occasionally in the middle of the week, and the ration
+fixed would have been adequate but for one thing. This was the
+disappearance of fats, particularly lard, from the market. The Germans
+consumed great quantities of fats, which took the place of meat to a
+large extent. They now found themselves limited to two ounces of butter,
+lard, and margarine together per week. Pork, bacon, and ham were
+unobtainable, and the other meats which made up the weekly ration were
+lean and stringy, for there were no longer American oilcakes and maize
+for the cattle, and the government had forbidden the use of potatoes,
+rye or wheat as fodder. There had been some twenty-four million swine in
+Germany at the outbreak of the war. There were but four million left at
+the end. Cattle were butchered indiscriminately because there was no
+fodder, and the survivors, undernourished, gave less and poorer meat per
+unit than normally.
+
+[14] This allowance had dropped to less than five ounces in
+    Prussia in the last months of the war.
+
+How great a part milk pays in the feeding of any people is not generally
+realized. In the United States recent estimates are that milk in its
+various forms makes up no less than nineteen per cent of the entire food
+consumed. The percentage was doubtless much greater in Germany, where,
+as in all European countries, much more cheese is eaten per capita than
+in America. What the German farmer calls _Kraftfutter_, such
+concentrated fodder as oilcakes, maize-meal, etc., had to be imported,
+since none of these things were produced in Germany. The annual average
+of such importations in the years just preceding the war reached more
+than five million metric tons, and these importations were virtually all
+cut off before the end of 1917.
+
+The result was that the supply of milk fell off by nearly one half. Only
+very young children, invalids, women in childbed and the aged were
+permitted to have any milk at all, and that only in insufficient
+quantities and of low grade. The city of Chemnitz boasted of the fact
+that it had been able at all times to supply a quarter of a liter (less
+than half a pint!) daily to every child under eight. That this should be
+considered worth boasting about indicates dimly what the conditions must
+have been elsewhere.
+
+The value of eggs as protein-furnishing food is well known, but even
+here Germany was dependent upon other countries--chiefly Russia--for
+two-fifths of her entire consumption. Available imports dropped to a
+tenth of the pre-war figures, and the domestic production fell off
+greatly, the hens having been killed for food and also because of lack
+of fodder.
+
+Restriction followed upon restriction, and every change was for the
+worse. The _Kriegsbrot_ (war bread) was directed to be made with twenty
+per cent of potatoes or potato flour and rye. Barley flour was later
+added. Wheat and rye are ordinarily milled out around 70 to 75 per cent,
+but were now milled to 94 per cent. The bread-ration was reduced. The
+sugar-ration was set at 1-3/4 pounds monthly. American housewives
+thought themselves severely restricted when sugar was sold in pound
+packages and they could buy as much heavy molasses, corn syrups and
+maple syrup as they desired, but the 1-3/4-pound allowance of the German
+housewife represented the sum total of all sweets available per month.
+
+By the autumn of 1916 conditions had become all but desperate. It is
+difficult for one who has not experienced it personally to realize what
+it means to subsist without rice, cereals such as macaroni, oatmeal, or
+butter, lard or oil (for two ounces of these articles are little better
+than none); to be limited to one egg each three weeks, or to five pounds
+of potatoes weekly; to have no milk for kitchen use, and even no spices;
+to steep basswood blossoms as a substitute for tea and use dandelion
+roots or roasted acorns as coffee for which there is neither milk nor
+sugar, and only a limited supply of saccharine. Germany had been a
+country of many and cheap varieties of cheese, and these took the place
+of meat to a great extent. Cheese disappeared entirely in August, 1916,
+and could not again be had.
+
+In common with most European peoples, the Germans had eaten great
+quantities of fish, both fresh and salted or smoked. The bulk of the
+salted and smoked fish had come from Scandinavia and England, and the
+blockade cut off this supply. The North Sea was in the war-zone, and the
+German fishermen could not venture out to the good fishing-grounds. The
+German fishermen of the Baltic had, like their North Seacoast brethren,
+been called to the colors in great numbers. Their nets could not be
+repaired or renewed because there was no linen available. Fresh fish
+disappeared from view, and supplies of preserved fish diminished so
+greatly that it was possible to secure a small portion only every third
+or fourth week. Even this trifling ration could not always be
+maintained.
+
+No German will ever forget the terrible _Kohlrübenwinter_ (turnip
+winter) of 1916-17. It took its name from the fact that potatoes were
+for many weeks unobtainable, and the only substitute that could be had
+was coarse fodder-turnips. The lack of potatoes and other vegetables
+increased the consumption of bread, and even in the case of the
+better-situated families the ration was insufficient. The writer has
+seen his own children come into the house from their play, hungry and
+asking for a slice of bread, and go back to their games with a piece of
+turnip because there was no bread to give them. The situation of hard
+manual laborers was naturally even worse.
+
+The turnip-winter was one of unusual severity, and it was marked by a
+serious shortage of fuel. Thus the sufferings from the cold were added
+to the pangs of hunger. There was furthermore already an insufficiency
+of warm clothing.Articles of wear were strictly rationed, and the
+children of the poorer classes were inadequately clad.
+
+The minimum number of calories necessary for the nourishment of the
+average individual is, according to dietetic authorities, 3,000, and
+even this falls some 300 short of a full ration. Yet as early as
+December, 1916, the caloric value of the complete rations of the German
+was 1,344, and, if the indigestibility and monotony of the fare be taken
+into account, even less. To be continuously hungry, to rise from the
+table hungry, to go to bed hungry, was the universal experience of all
+but the very well-to-do. Not only was the food grossly insufficient in
+quantity and of poor quality, but the deadly monotony of the daily fare
+also contributed to break down the strength and, eventually, the very
+morale of the people. No fats being available, it was impossible to fry
+anything. From day to day the Germans sat down to boiled potatoes,
+boiled turnips and boiled cabbage, with an occasional piece of stringy
+boiled beef or mutton, and with the coarse and indigestible
+_Kriegsbrot_, in which fodder-turnips had by this time been substituted
+for potatoes. The quantity of even such food was limited.
+
+A little fruit would have varied this diet and been of great dietetic
+value, but there was no fruit. _Wo bleibt das Obst_ (what has become of
+the fruit?) cried the people, voicing unconsciously the demands of their
+bodies. The government, which had imported $62,500,000 worth of fruit in
+1913, could do nothing. The comparatively few apples raised in Germany
+were mixed with pumpkins and carrots to make what was by courtesy called
+marmalade, and most of this went to the front, which also secured most
+of the smaller fruits. A two-pound can of preserved vegetables or fruits
+was sold to each family--not person--at Christmas time. This had to
+suffice for the year.
+
+A delegation of women called on the mayor of Schöneberg, one of the
+municipalities of Greater Berlin, and declared that they and their
+families were hungry and must have more to eat.
+
+"You will not be permitted to starve, but you must hunger," said the
+mayor.[15]
+
+[15] The mayor's statement contains in German a play on words:
+    _Ihr sollt nicht verhungern, aber hungern müsst Ihr_.
+
+The other privations attendant upon hunger also played a great part in
+breaking down the spirit of the people. In order to secure even the
+official food-pittance, it was necessary to stand in queues for hours at
+a time. The trifling allowance of soap consisted of a substitute made
+largely of saponaceous clay. Starch was unobtainable, and there is a
+deep significance in the saying, "to take the starch out of one." The
+enormous consumption of tobacco at the front caused a serious shortage
+at home, and this added another straw to the burdens of the male part of
+the population. The shortage of cereals brought in its wake a dilution
+of the once famous German beer until it was little but colored and
+charged water, without any nourishment whatever.
+
+The physical effects of undernutrition and malnutrition made themselves
+felt in a manner which brought them home to every man. Working-capacity
+dropped to half the normal, or even less. Mortality increased by leaps
+and bounds, particularly among the children and the aged. The death rate
+of children from 1 to 5 years of age increased 50 per cent; that of
+children from 5 to 15 by 55 per cent. In 1917 alone this increased death
+rate among children from 1 to 15 years meant an excess of deaths over
+the normal of more than 50,000 in the whole Empire. In the year 1913,
+40,374 deaths from tuberculosis were reported in German municipalities
+of 15,000 inhabitants or more. The same municipalities reported 41,800
+deaths from tuberculosis in the first six months of 1918, an increase of
+more than 100 per cent. In Berlin alone the death rate for all causes
+jumped from 13.48 per thousand for the first eight months of 1913 to
+20.05 for the first eight months of 1918.
+
+According to a report laid before the United Medical Societies in Berlin
+on December 18, 1918, the "hunger blockade" was responsible for 763,000
+deaths in the Empire. These figures are doubtless largely based on
+speculation and probably too high, but one need not be a physician to
+know that years of malnutrition and undernutrition, especially in the
+case of children and the aged, mean a greatly increased death rate and
+particularly a great increase of tuberculosis. In addition to the excess
+deaths alleged by the German authorities to be directly due to the
+blockade, there were nearly 150,000 deaths from Spanish influenza in
+1918. These have not been reckoned among the 763,000, but it must be
+assumed that many would have withstood the attack had they not been
+weakened by the privations of the four war-years.
+
+The enthusiasm that had carried the people through the beginnings of
+their privations cooled gradually. No moral sentiments, even the most
+exalted, can prevail against hunger. Starving men will fight or steal to
+get a crust of bread, just as a drowning man clutches at a straw. There
+have been men in history whose patriotism or devotion to an idea has
+withstood the test of torture and starvation, but that these are the
+exception is shown by the fact that history has seen fit to record their
+deeds. The average man is not made of such stern stuff. _Mens sana in
+corpore sano_ means plainly that there can be no healthy mind without a
+healthy body. Hungry men and women who see their children die for want
+of food naturally feel a bitter resentment which must find an object.
+They begin to ask themselves whether, after all, these sacrifices have
+been necessary, and to what end they have served.
+
+The first answer to the question, What has compelled these sacrifices
+was, of course, for everybody, The war. But who is responsible for The
+War? Germany's enemies, answered a part of the people.
+
+But there were two categories of Germans whose answer was another. On
+the one side were a few independent thinkers who had decided that
+Germany herself bore at least a large share of the responsibility; on
+the other side were those who had been taught by their leaders that all
+wars are the work of the capitalistic classes, and that existing
+governments everywhere are obstacles to the coming of a true universal
+brotherhood of man. These doctrines had been forgotten by even the
+Socialist leaders in the enthusiasm of the opening days of the struggle,
+but they had merely lain dormant, and now, as a result of sufferings and
+revolutionary propaganda by radical Socialists, they awakened. And in
+awakening they spread to a class which had heretofore been comparatively
+free from their contagion.
+
+Socialism, and more especially that radical Socialism which finds its
+expression in Bolshevism, Communism and similar emanations, is
+especially the product of discontent, and discontent is engendered by
+suffering. The whole German people had suffered terribly, but two
+categories of one mighty class had undergone the greatest hardships.
+These were the _Unterbeamten_ and the _Mittelbeamten_, the government
+employees of the lowest and the middle classes. This was the common
+experience of all belligerent countries except the United States, which
+never even remotely realized anything of what the hardships of war mean.
+Wages of the laboring classes generally kept pace with the increasing
+prices of the necessaries of life, and in many instances outstripped
+them. But the government, whose necessities were thus exploited by the
+makers of ammunition, the owners of small machine-shops and the hundreds
+of other categories of workers whose product was required for the
+conduct of the war, could not--or at least did not--grant corresponding
+increases of salary to its civil servants. The result was a curious
+social shift, particularly observable in the restaurants and resorts of
+the better class, whose clientele, even in the second year of the war,
+had come to be made up chiefly of men and women whose bearing and dress
+showed them to be manual workers. The slender remuneration of the
+_Beamten_ had fallen so far behind the cost of living that they could
+neither frequent these resorts nor yet secure more than a bare minimum
+of necessaries. The result was that thousands of these loyal men and
+women, rendered desperate by their sufferings, began in their turn to
+ponder the doctrines which they had heard, but rejected in more
+prosperous times. Thus was the ground further prepared for the coming of
+the revolution.
+
+There was yet another factor which played a great part in increasing the
+discontent of the masses. Not even the genius of the German Government
+for organization could assure an equitable distribution of available
+foodstuffs. Except where the supply could be seized or controlled at the
+source, as in the case of breadstuffs and one or two other products, the
+rationing system broke down. The result of the government's inability to
+get control of necessaries of life was the so-called _Schleichhandel_,
+literally "sneak trade," the illegitimate dealing in rationed wares.
+Heavy penalties were imposed for this trade, applicable alike to buyer
+and seller, and many prosecutions were conducted, but to no avail. The
+extent of the practice is indicated by a remark made by the
+police-president of a large German city, who declared that if every
+person who had violated the law regarding illegitimate trade in
+foodstuffs were to be arrested, the whole German people would find
+itself in jail.
+
+It has often been declared that money would buy anything in Germany
+throughout the war. This statement is exaggerated, but it is a fact that
+the well-to-do could at all times secure most of the necessaries and
+some of the luxuries of life. But the prices were naturally so high as
+to be out of the reach of the great mass of the people. Butter cost as
+much as $8 a pound in this illegitimate trade, meat about the same, eggs
+40 to 50 cents apiece, and other articles in proportion. The poorer
+people--and this, in any country, means the great majority--could not
+pay these prices. Themselves forced to go hungry and see their children
+hunger while the wealthy _bourgeoisie_ had a comparative abundance, they
+were further embittered against war and against all governments
+responsible for war, including their own.
+
+The German soldiers at the front had fared well by German standards. In
+the third year of the war the writer saw at the front vast stores of
+ham, bacon, beans, peas, lentils and other wares that had not been
+available to the civil population since the war began. Soldiers home on
+furlough complained of being continuously hungry and returned to the
+lines gladly because of the adequate rations there.
+
+With the coming of the fourth year, however, conditions began to grow
+bad even at the front, and the winter of 1917-18 brought a marked
+decrease of rations, both in quantity and quality. Cavalrymen and
+soldiers belonging to munition or work columns ate the potatoes issued
+for their horses. They ground in their coffee-mills their horses' scant
+rations of barley and made pancakes. A high military official who took
+part in the drive for the English Channel that started in March, 1918,
+assured the writer that the chief reason for the failure to reach the
+objective was that the German soldiers stopped to eat the provisions
+found in the enemy camps, and could not be made to resume the advance
+until they had satisfied their hunger and assured themselves that none
+of the captured stores had been overlooked. Ludendorff, hearing of this,
+is said to have declared: "Then it's all over." This, while probably
+untrue, would have been a justified and prophetic summing-up of the
+situation.
+
+Not only were the soldiers hungry by this time, but they were
+insufficiently clad. Their boots were without soles, and they had
+neither socks nor the _Fusslappen_ (bandages) which most of them
+preferred to wear instead of socks. A shirt issued from the military
+stores in the summer of 1918 to a German soldier-friend of the writer
+was a woman's ribbed shirt, cut low in the neck and gathered with a
+ribbon.
+
+The military reverses of this summer thus found a soldiery hungry and
+ill-clad, dispirited by complaints from their home-folk of increasing
+privations, and, as we shall see in the following chapter, subjected to
+a revolutionary propaganda of enormous extent by radical German
+Socialists and by the enemy.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER V.
+
+                       Internationalism at Work.
+
+
+No people ever entered upon a war with more enthusiasm or a firmer
+conviction of the justice of their cause than did the Germans. Beset for
+generations on all sides by potential enemies, they had lived under the
+constant threat of impending war, and the events of the first days of
+August, 1914, were hailed as that "end of terror" (_ein Ende mit
+Schrecken_) which, according to an old proverb, was preferable to
+"terror without end" (_Schrecken ohne Ende_). The teachings of
+internationalism were forgotten for the moment even by the Socialists.
+The veteran August Bebel, one of the founders of German Socialism, had
+never been able entirely to overcome an inborn feeling of nationalism,
+and had said in one famous speech in the Reichstag that it was
+conceivable that a situation could arise where even he would shoulder
+_die alte Büchse_ (the old musket) and go to the front to defend the
+Fatherland.
+
+Such a situation seemed even to the extremest internationalists to have
+arisen. At the memorable meeting in the White Hall of the royal palace
+in Berlin on August 4, 1914, the Socialist members of the Reichstag were
+present and joined the members of the _bourgeois_ parties in swearing to
+support the Fatherland. The Kaiser retracted his reference to
+_vaterlandslose Gesellen_. "I no longer know any parties," he said. "I
+know only Germans." Hugo Haase, one of the Socialist leaders and one of
+the small group of men whose efforts later brought about the German
+revolution and the downfall of the empire and dynasty, was carried away
+like his colleagues by the enthusiasm of the moment. He promised in
+advance the support of his party to the empire's war measures, and when,
+a few hours later, the first war-appropriation measure, carrying five
+billion marks, was laid before the deputies, the Socialists voted for it
+without a dissenting voice, and later joined for the first time in their
+history in the _Kaiserhoch_, the expression of loyalty to monarch and
+country with which sessions of the Reichstag were always closed.
+
+Nothing could testify more strongly to the universal belief that Germany
+was called upon to fight a defensive and just war. For not only had the
+Socialist teachings, as we have seen, denounced all warfare as in the
+interests of capital alone, but their party in the Reichstag included
+one man whose anti-war convictions had already resulted in his being
+punished for their expression. This was Dr. Karl Liebknecht, who had
+been tried at the Supreme Court in Leipsic in 1907 on a charge of high
+treason for publishing an anti-military pamphlet, convicted of a lesser
+degree of treason and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment. Haase
+himself had bitterly attacked militarism and war in a speech in the
+Reichstag in April, 1913, in opposition to the government's military
+bills, and only his parliamentary immunity protected him from sharing
+Liebknecht's fate. One of the strongest defenders of the war in Bavaria
+was Kurt Eisner, already an intellectual Bolshevist and Communist, who
+had been compelled earlier to leave the editorial staff of the
+_Vorwärts_ because of his far-going radicalism and dreamy
+impracticality.
+
+All these men were subsequently bitterly attacked by Socialists of
+enemy lands for their surrender of principles. The feeling that
+dictated these attacks is comprehensible, but adherents of the
+my-country-right-or-wrong brand of patriotism are precluded from making
+such attacks. It cannot be permitted to any one to blow hot and cold at
+the same time. He may not say: "I shall defend my country right or
+wrong, but you may defend yours only if it is right." To state the
+proposition thus baldly is to destroy it. Unquestioning patriotism is
+applicable everywhere or nowhere, and its supporters cannot logically
+condemn its manifestation by the German Socialists in the opening months
+of the World War.
+
+The first defection in the ranks of the Socialists came in the second
+war session of the Reichstag in December, 1914, when Liebknecht, alone
+among all the members of the house, refused to vote for the government's
+war-credit of five billion marks. Amid scenes of indignant excitement he
+tried to denounce the war as imperialistic and capitalistic, but was not
+permitted to finish his remarks.
+
+There has been observable throughout the allied countries and
+particularly in America a distinct tendency to regard Liebknecht as a
+hero and a man of great ability and moral courage. But he was neither
+the one nor the other. He was a man of great energy which was
+exclusively devoted to destroying, and without any constructive ability
+whatever, and what was regarded as moral courage in him was rather the
+indifferent recklessness of fanaticism combined with great egotism and
+personal vanity. Liebknecht's career was in a great degree determined by
+his feeling that he was destined to carry on the work and fulfil the
+mission of his father, Wilhelm Liebknecht, the friend of Marx, Bebel and
+Engels, and one of the founders of the Socialist party in Germany. But
+he lacked his father's mental ability, commonsense and balance, and the
+result was that he became the _enfant terrible_ of his party at an age
+when the designation applied almost literally.
+
+Educated as a lawyer, the younger Liebknecht devoted himself almost
+exclusively to politics and to writing on political subjects. Last
+elected to the Reichstag from the Potsdam district in 1912, he
+distinguished himself in April, 1913, by a speech in which he charged
+the Krupp directors with corrupting officials and military officers. He
+also named the Kaiser and Crown Prince in his speech. The result was an
+investigation and trial of the army officers involved. In making these
+charges Liebknecht performed a patriotic service, but even here his
+personal vanity asserted itself. Before making the speech he sent word
+to the newspapers that he would have something interesting to say, and
+requested a full attendance of reporters. He delayed his speech after
+the announced time because the press-gallery was not yet full.
+
+A consistent enemy of war, he attacked the international armament
+industry in a speech in the Reichstag on May 10, 1914. In the following
+month he charged the Prussian authorities with trafficking in titles.
+But in all the record of his public activities--and he was forty-three
+years old when the war broke out--one will search in vain for any
+constructive work or for any evidence of statesmanlike qualities.
+
+Liebknecht visited America in 1910. When he returned to Germany he
+attacked America in both speeches and writings as the most imperialistic
+and capitalistic of all countries. He declared that in no European
+country would the police dare handle citizens as they did in America,
+and asserted that the American Constitution is "not worth the paper it
+is written upon." In Berlin on December 17, 1918, he said to the writer:
+
+    "The war has proved that your constitution is no better today
+    than it was when I expressed my opinion of it nine years ago.
+    Your people have been helpless in the face of it and were drawn
+    into war just like the other belligerents. The National Assembly
+    (Weimar) now planned will bequeath to us a charter equally as
+    worthless. The workingmen are opposed to the perpetuation of
+    private ownership."
+
+In the face of this, it must be assumed that American glorification of
+Liebknecht rests upon ignorance of the man and of what principles he
+supported.
+
+For a few months after the beginning of the war Liebknecht stood almost
+alone in his opposition. As late as September, 1914, we see Haase
+heading a mission of Socialists to Italy to induce her to be faithful to
+her pledges under the Triple Alliance and to come into the war on
+Germany's side, or, failing that, at least to remain neutral. Haase, who
+was a middle-aged Königsberg (East Prussia) lawyer, had for some years
+been one of the prominent leaders of the Social-Democratic party and was
+at this time one of the chairmen of the party's executive committee. He
+was later to play one of the chief rôles in bringing about the
+revolution, but even in December, 1914, he was still a defender of the
+war, although already insistent that it must not end in annexations or
+the oppression of other peoples. It was not until a whole year had
+passed that he finally definitely threw in his lot with those seeking to
+weaken the government at home and eventually destroy it.
+
+The real undermining work, however, had begun earlier. Several men and
+at least two women were responsible for it at this stage. The men
+included Liebknecht, Otto Rühle, a former school teacher from Pirna
+(Saxony), and now a member of the Reichstag, and Franz Mehring. Rühle, a
+personal friend of Liebknecht, broke with his party at the end of 1914
+and devoted himself to underground propaganda with an openly
+revolutionary aim, chiefly among the sailors of the High Seas fleet.
+Mehring was a venerable Socialist author of the common idealistic,
+non-practical variety, with extreme communistic and international views,
+and enjoyed great respect in his party and even among non-Socialist
+economists. The two women referred to were Clara Zetkin, a radical
+suffragette of familiar type, and Rosa Luxemburg.
+
+The Luxemburg woman was, like so many others directly concerned in the
+German revolution, of Jewish blood. By birth in Russian Poland a Russian
+subject, she secured German citizenship in 1870 by marrying a _Genosse_,
+a certain Dr. Lübeck, at Dresden. She left him on the same day. Frau
+Luxemburg had been trained in the school of Russian Socialism of the
+type that produced Lenin and Trotzky. She was a woman of unusual
+ability--perhaps the brainiest member of the revolutionary group in
+Germany, male or female--and possessed marked oratorical talent and
+great personal magnetism. Like all internationalists and especially the
+Jewish internationalists, she regarded war against capitalistic and
+imperialistic governments, that is to say, against all _bourgeois_
+governments, as a holy war. Speaking Russian, Polish and German equally
+well and inflamed by what she considered a holy mission, she was a
+source of danger to any government whose hospitality she was enjoying.
+She became early an intimate of Liebknecht and the little group of
+radicals that gathered around him, and her contribution to the overthrow
+of the German Empire can hardly be overestimated.
+
+The first of the anti-war propaganda articles whose surreptitious
+circulation later became so common were the so-called "Spartacus
+Letters," which began appearing in the summer of 1915. There had been
+formed during the revolution of 1848 a democratic organization calling
+itself the "Spartacus Union." The name came from that Roman gladiator
+who led a slave uprising in the last century of the pre-Christian era.
+This name was adopted by the authors of these letters to characterize
+the movement as a revolt of slaves against imperialism. The authorship
+of the letters was clearly composite and is not definitely known, but
+they were popularly ascribed to Liebknecht. His style marks some of
+them, but others point to Frau Luxemburg, and it is probable that at
+least these two and possibly other persons collaborated in them. They
+opposed the war, which they termed an imperialistic war of aggression,
+and summoned their readers to employ all possible obstructive tactics
+against it. Revolution was not mentioned in so many words, but the
+tendency was naturally revolutionary.
+
+Despite all efforts of the authorities, these letters and other anti-war
+literature continued to circulate secretly. In November, 1915,
+Liebknecht, Frau Luxemburg, Mehring and Frau Zetkin gave out a
+manifesto, which was published in Switzerland, in which they declared
+that their views regarding the war differed from those of the rest of
+the Socialists, but could not be expressed in Germany under martial law.
+The manifesto was so worded that prosecution thereon could hardly have
+been sustained. The Swiss newspapers circulated freely in Germany, and
+the manifesto was not without its effect. The Socialist party saw itself
+compelled on February 2, 1915, to expel Liebknecht from the party. This
+step, although doubtless unavoidable, proved to be the first move toward
+the eventual split in the party. There were already many Socialists who,
+although out of sympathy with the attitude of their party, had
+nevertheless hesitated to break with it. Many of these, including most
+of Liebknecht's personal followers, soon followed him voluntarily, and
+the allegiance of thousands of others to the old party was seriously
+weakened.
+
+Outwardly, however, what was eventually to become a revolutionary
+movement made no headway during the spring and summer of 1915. The
+shortage of food, although making itself felt, had not yet brought
+general suffering. The German armies had won many brilliant victories
+and suffered no marked reverse. Mackensen's invasion of Galicia in May
+and June revived the spirits of the whole nation, in which, as among all
+other belligerent nations, a certain war-weariness had already begun to
+manifest itself.
+
+The open break in the Socialist party first became apparent at the
+session of the Reichstag on December 21, 1915. The government had asked
+for a further war-credit of ten billion marks. Haase had a week earlier
+drawn up a manifesto against the war, but the newspapers had been
+forbidden to print it. At this Reichstag session he employed his
+parliamentary prerogatives to get this manifesto before the people in
+the form of a speech attacking the war as one of aggression, and
+announced that he would vote against the credit asked. Fourteen other
+members of his party voted with him. The German people's solid war-front
+had been broken.
+
+The motives of most of those who thus began the revolt against the
+government and who were later responsible for the revolution are easy to
+determine. Many were honest fanatics, and some of these, chief among
+them Liebknecht, carried their fanaticism to a degree calling for the
+serious consideration of alienists. Others again were moved by purely
+selfish considerations, and some of them had criminal records. Haase
+presented and still presents a riddle even for those who know him well.
+Judged by his speeches alone, he appears in the light of an honest
+internationalist, striving to further the welfare of his own and all
+other peoples. Judged by his conduct, and particularly his conduct in
+the months following the revolution, he appears in the light of a
+political desperado whose acts are dictated by narrow personal
+considerations. He was particularly fitted for leadership of the
+government's opponents by the absence from his makeup of the blind
+fanaticism that characterized the majority of these, and by an utter
+unscrupulousness in his methods. He was free also from that fear of
+inconsistency which has been called the vice of small minds.
+
+The questions growing out of the manner of conducting the submarine
+warfare became acute in the first months of 1916. The government was
+determined to prevent any open debate on this subject in the Reichstag,
+and the deputies of all parties bowed to the government's will. Haase
+and his little group of malcontents, however, refused to submit. They
+carried their opposition to the authority of their own party to such an
+extent that a party caucus decided upon their exclusion. The caucus vote
+was followed on the same day--March 24, 1916--by the formal secession
+from the party of Haase and seventeen other members, who constituted
+themselves as a separate party under the designation of "Socialist
+Working Society" (_Arbeitsgemeinschaft_). The seceders included, among
+others, Georg Ledebour, Wilhelm Dittmann, Dr. Oskar Cohn, Emil Barth,
+Ernst Däumig and Eduard Bernstein. Liebknecht, who had been excluded
+from the party a year earlier, allied himself to the new group. All its
+members were internationalists.
+
+The formation of the new party furnished a rallying point for all
+radical Socialists and also for the discontented generally, and the
+numbers of these were increasing daily. Under the protection of their
+parliamentary immunity these members were able to carry on a more
+outspoken and effective agitation against the war. Haase, Ledebour and
+other members of the group issued a manifesto in June, 1916, wherein it
+was declared that the people were starving and that the only replies
+made by the government to their protests took the form of a severe
+application of martial law. "The blockade should have been foreseen,"
+said the manifesto. "It is not the blockade that is a crime; the war is
+a crime. The consolation that the harvest will be good is a deliberate
+deception. All the food in the occupied territories has been
+requisitioned, and people are dying of starvation in Poland and Serbia."
+The manifesto concluded with an appeal to the men and women of the
+laboring-classes to raise their voices against the continuance of the
+war.
+
+The underground propaganda against the war and the government assumed
+greater proportions, and encouraged the revolutionaries in the
+Reichstag. Grown bold, Haase announced that a pacifist meeting would be
+held in Berlin on August 30. It was prohibited by the police. Sporadic
+strikes began. Rühle had staged the first avowedly political strike at
+Leipsic on May Day. It failed, but set an example which was followed in
+other parts of the empire.
+
+Liebknecht, who had been mustered into the army and was hence subject to
+military regulations, was arrested on May Day in Berlin for carrying on
+an anti-war and anti-government agitation among the workingmen. On trial
+he was sentenced to thirty months' imprisonment and to dishonorable
+dismissal from the army. This was the signal for widespread strikes of
+protest in various cities. There was serious rioting in Berlin on July
+1st, and grave disorders also occurred at Stuttgart, Leipsic and other
+cities. Liebknecht appealed from the conviction and the appellate court
+raised the sentence to four years and one month, with loss of civil
+rights for six years. This caused a recrudescence of July's
+demonstrations, for a sentence of this severity was most unusual in
+Germany. Liebknecht's personal followers and party friends swore
+vengeance, and many others who had theretofore kept themselves apart
+from a movement with which they secretly sympathized were rendered more
+susceptible to radical anti-war propaganda.
+
+The autumn of 1916 brought the government's so-called
+_Hilfsdienstgesetz_, or Auxiliary Service Law, intended to apply
+military rules of enrollment and discipline to the carrying out of
+necessary work at home, such as wood-cutting, railway-building, etc.
+This law produced widespread dissatisfaction, and Haase, by attacking it
+in the Reichstag, increased his popularity and poured more oil upon the
+flames of discontent. In March, 1917, he declared openly in the
+Reichstag that Germany could not win the war and that peace must be made
+at once.
+
+The Russian revolution of this month was a factor whose influence and
+consequences in Germany can hardly be exaggerated. Not even the wildest
+dreamer had dared to believe that a revolution could be successfully
+carried through in war-time while the government had millions of loyal
+troops at its disposal. That it not only did succeed, but that many of
+the Tsar's formerly most loyal officers, as, for example, Brussiloff,
+immediately joined the revolutionaries, exerted a powerful effect. And
+thus, while Germans loyal to their government hailed the revolution as
+the downfall of a powerful enemy, the masses, starving through this
+terrible _Kohlrübenwinter_, cold, miserable, dispirited by the bloody
+sacrifices from which few families had been exempt, infected
+unconsciously by the doctrines of international Socialism and skillfully
+propagandized by radical agitators, began to wonder whether, after all,
+their salvation did not lie along the route taken by the Russians.
+
+The radical Socialists who had left the old party in 1916 organized as
+the Independent Socialist Party of Germany at a convention held in Gotha
+in April, 1917. Eighteen men had left the party a year earlier, but one
+hundred and forty-eight delegates, including fifteen Reichstag deputies,
+attended the convention. Haase and Ledebour were chosen chairmen of the
+executive committee, and a plan of opposition to the further conduct of
+the war was worked out. Party newspaper organs were established, and
+some existing Socialist publications espoused the cause of the new
+party. Revolution could naturally be no part of their open policy, and
+there may have been many members of the party who did not realize what
+the logical and inevitable consequences of their actions were. The
+leaders, however, were by this time definitely and deliberately working
+for the overthrow of the government, although it may be doubted whether
+even they realized what would be the extent of the _débâcle_ when it
+should come.
+
+Reference has already been made to strikes in various parts of the
+empire. These had been, up to 1918, chiefly due to dissatisfaction
+over material things--hunger (the strong undercurrent of all
+dissatisfaction), inadequate clothing, low wages, long hours, etc. They
+were encouraged and often manipulated by radical Socialists who
+perceived their importance as a weapon against the government, and were
+to that extent political, but the first great strike with revolution as
+its definite aim was staged in Berlin and Essen at the end of January,
+1918. The strength of the Independent Socialists and of the more radical
+adherents of Liebknecht, Ledebour, Rosa Luxemburg and others of the same
+stamp, while it had increased but slowly in the rural districts and the
+small towns, had by this time reached great proportions in the capital
+and generally in the industrial sections of Westphalia. Two great
+munition plants in Berlin employing nearly a hundred thousand workers
+were almost solidly Independent Socialist in profession and Bolshevist
+in fact. The infection had reached the great plants in and around Essen
+in almost equal degree. A great part of these malcontents was made up of
+youths who, in their early teens when the war broke out, had for more
+than three years been released from parental restraint owing to the
+absence of their soldier-fathers and who had at the same time been
+earning wages that were a temptation to lead a disordered life. They
+were fertile ground for the seeds of propaganda whose sowing the
+authorities were unable to stop, or even materially to check. Even
+Liebknecht, from his cell, had been able to get revolutionary
+communications sent out to his followers.
+
+The January strike assumed large proportions, and so confident were the
+Berlin strikers of the strength of their position that they addressed an
+"ultimatum" to the government. This ultimatum demanded a speedy peace
+without annexations or indemnities; the participation of workingmen's
+delegates of all countries in the peace negotiations; reorganization of
+the food-rationing system; abolishing of the state of siege, and freedom
+of assembly and of the press; the release of all political prisoners;
+the democratization of state institutions, and equal suffrage for women.
+The strikers appointed a workmen's council to direct their campaign, and
+this council chose an "action commission," of which Haase was a member.
+
+The authorities, in part unable and in part unwilling to make the
+concessions demanded, took determined steps to put down the strike.
+Their chief weapon was one that had been used repeatedly, and, as events
+proved, too often and too freely. This weapon was the so-called
+_Strafversetzungen_, or punitive transfers into the front-army. The
+great part of the strikers were men subject to military duty who had
+been especially reclaimed and kept at work in indispensable industries
+at home. They were, however, subject to military law and discipline, and
+the imminent threat of being sent to the front in case of
+insubordination had prevented many strikes that would otherwise have
+come, and the carrying into effect of this threat had broken many
+revolts in factories. Thousands of these men, who had been drawing high
+wages and receiving extra allowances of food, were promptly sent into
+the trenches.
+
+Every such _Strafversetzung_ was worse than a lost battle in its effect.
+The victims became missionaries of revolution, filled with a burning
+hatred for the government that had pulled them from their comfortable
+beds and safe occupations and thrown them into the hail of death and the
+hardships of the front. They carried the gospel of discontent, rebellion
+and internationalism among men who had theretofore been as sedulously
+guarded against such propaganda as possible. The morale of the soldiery
+was for a time restored by the successes following the offensive of
+March, 1918, and it never broke entirely, even during the terrible days
+of the long retreat before the victorious Allied armies, but it was
+badly shaken, and the wild looting that followed the armistice was
+chiefly due to the fellows of baser sort who were at the front because
+they had been sent thither for punishment.
+
+Yet another factor played an important part in increasing discontent at
+the front. One can say, without fear of intelligent contradiction, that
+no other country ever possessed as highly trained and efficient officers
+as Germany at the outbreak of the war. There were martinets among them,
+and the discipline was at best strict, but the first article of their
+creed was to look after the welfare of the men committed to their
+charge. Drawn from the best families and with generations of
+officer-ancestors behind them, they were inspired by both family and
+class pride which forbade them to spare themselves in the service of the
+Fatherland. The mortality in the officer-corps was enormous. About forty
+per cent of the original officers of career were killed, and a majority
+of the rest incapacitated. The result was a shortage of trained men
+which made itself severely felt in the last year of the war. Youths of
+eighteen and nineteen, fresh from the schools and hastily trained, were
+made lieutenants and placed in command of men old enough to be their
+fathers. The wine of authority mounted to boyish heads. Scores of
+elderly German soldiers have declared to the writer independently of
+each other that the overbearing manners, arbitrary orders and arrogance
+of these youths aroused the resentment of even the most loyal men and
+increased inestimably the discontent already prevailing at the front.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VI.
+
+                         Propaganda and Morale.
+
+
+Even before the anti-war and revolutionary propaganda had attained great
+proportions there were indications that all was not well in one branch
+of the empire's armed forces. Rumblings of discontent began to come from
+the navy early in the second year of the war, and in the summer of 1916
+there was a serious outbreak of rioting at Kiel. Its gravity was not at
+first realized, because Kiel, even in peace times, had been a turbulent
+and riotous city. But a few months later the rioting broke out again,
+and in the early summer of 1917 there came a menacing strike of sailors
+and shipyard and dock laborers at Wilhelmshaven. This was mainly a
+wage-movement, coupled with a demand for more food, but it had political
+consequences of a serious nature.
+
+The first displays of mutinous spirit among the men of the fleet were
+not so much due to revolutionary and radical Socialist propaganda as to
+a spontaneous internal dissatisfaction with the conditions of the
+service itself. No continuously extensive use of the submarines had been
+made up to the middle of the winter of 1916. There had been spurts of
+activity with this weapon, but no sustained effort. By March, 1916,
+however, many U-boats were being sent out. At first they were manned by
+volunteers, and there had been a surplus of volunteers, for the men of
+the submarine crews received special food, more pay, liberal furloughs
+and the Iron Cross after the third trip. Within a year, however,
+conditions changed decidedly. The percentage of U-boats lost is not yet
+known, but the men of the fleet reckoned that a submarine rarely
+survived its tenth trip. The Admiralty naturally published no accounts
+of boats that failed to come back, and this added a new terror to this
+branch of the service.
+
+Volunteers were no longer to be had. The result was that drafts were
+resorted to, at the first from the men of the High Seas fleet, and later
+from the land forces. Such a draft came to be considered as equivalent
+to a death-sentence.[16] Disaffection increased in the fleet. The
+Independent Socialists were prompt to discover and take advantage of
+these conditions. The sailors were plied with propaganda, oral and
+written. The character of this propaganda was not generally known until
+October 9, 1917, when the Minister of Marine, Admiral von Capelle,
+speaking in the Reichstag, informed the astonished nation that a serious
+mutiny had occurred in the fleet two months earlier, and that it had
+been necessary to execute some of the ringleaders and imprison a number
+of others.
+
+[16]  The heavy losses among army aviators had brought about a
+    similar state of affairs at this time in the army. Volunteers
+    for the fighting planes ceased offering themselves, and a
+    resort to forced service became necessary.
+
+Von Capelle's disclosures came as answer to an interpellation by the
+Independent Socialist deputies regarding pan-German propaganda at the
+front and the prohibition of the circulation of twenty-three Socialist
+newspapers among the men of the ships. The Independent Wilhelm Dittmann
+made a long speech supporting the interpellation, and voiced a bitter
+complaint over the fact that pan-German agitation was permitted at the
+front and among the fleet, while the Independent Socialist propaganda
+was forbidden. Dr. Michaelis, the Imperial Chancellor, made a brief
+response, in which he announced that Admiral von Capelle would answer
+the Independents. "I will merely say one thing," he said, "and that is
+that Deputy Dittmann is the last man in the world who has a right to
+talk about agitation in the army and navy."
+
+Michaelis referred then to a complaint by Dittmann that he (Michaelis)
+had not been true to his promise, made upon assuming office, to treat
+all parties alike. "Dittmann has forgotten to add the qualification
+which I made at that time," said the Chancellor. "I said all parties
+that do not threaten the existence of the empire or follow aims
+dangerous to the state. The party of the Independent Social-Democrats
+stands on the other side of that line so far as I am concerned."
+
+This was the first open declaration by the government of war on the
+party of Haase, Dittmann, et al. The Majority Socialists--as the members
+of the old or parent organization were now termed--joined in the tumult
+raised by their seceding brethren. When the storm had laid itself,
+Admiral von Capelle made his sensational disclosures. He said:
+
+    "It is unfortunately a fact that the Russian revolution has
+    turned the heads of a few persons on board our fleet and caused
+    them to entertain matured revolutionary ideas. The mad plan of
+    these few men was to secure accomplices on all ships and to
+    subvert the whole fleet, all members of the crews, to open
+    mutiny, in order, by force if necessary, to paralyze the fleet
+    and compel peace.
+
+    "It is a fact that these men have entered into relations with
+    the Independent Socialist Party. It has been formally
+    established by the evidence that the ringleader presented his
+    plans to Deputies Dittmann, Haase and Vogtherr in the
+    caucus-room of the Independent Socialists here in the Reichstag
+    building, and that it received the approval of these men.
+
+    "It is true that these deputies pointed out the extreme danger
+    of the proposed action and warned the conspirators to observe
+    the greatest caution, but they promised their whole-hearted
+    support through the furnishing of agitation material designed to
+    incite the fleet to mutiny."
+
+Von Capelle's speech was interrupted at this point by cries of
+indignation from the parties of the right and center, and by abusive
+remarks directed against the speaker from the Socialists of both
+factions. When the presiding-officer had succeeded in restoring a
+semblance of order, the Admiral continued:
+
+    "In view of this situation it was my first duty to prevent with
+    all possible means at my disposal the circulation of the
+    incitatory literature among the fleet.
+
+    "I do not care at this time to go into details concerning the
+    further happenings in the fleet. Some few men who had forgotten
+    honor and duty committed grave crimes and have undergone the
+    punishment which they deserved. I will only add here that the
+    rumors in circulation, which have naturally come also to my
+    ears, are exaggerated beyond all measure. The preparedness of
+    the fleet for battle has not been brought in question for a
+    single moment, and it shall and will not be."
+
+The three deputies named by von Capelle defended themselves in speeches
+which, judged even on their merits and without reference to the
+personalities and records of the men making them, did not ring quite
+true or carry complete conviction. In the light of the previous and
+subsequent conduct of the trio and of the occurrences of November, 1918,
+their shifty and evasive character is apparent. We have already learned
+something of Haase's activities, and the other two were among his ablest
+and most energetic lieutenants. Dittmann, virtually a Communist and
+pronounced internationalist, was later arrested for pro-revolutionary
+activities. Erwin Vogtherr, the third member of the group, had from the
+very beginning been one of the most perniciously active of all
+revolutionary propagandists and agitators. He had been for some time the
+editor of _Der Atheist_ (The Atheist), and was of that uncompromising
+type of atheists who consider it necessary to keep their hats on in
+church to show their disbelief in a Creator.
+
+Haase, in his reply to the charges against him, admitted that the
+mutineers' ringleader had had a conference with him, Dittmann and
+Vogtherr. But this, he declared, was nothing out of the ordinary, since
+it was both his custom and his duty to receive the men who came to him
+from both army and navy to complain of conditions. The sailor referred
+to by Admiral von Capelle had visited him during the summer and
+complained bitterly about the conditions which he and his colleagues
+were compelled to endure. Haase continued:
+
+    "He declared further that the sailors, and especially those of
+    lengthy service, felt keenly the lack of mental stimulus, that
+    great numbers of them had subscribed to Independent Socialist
+    publications, were reading them zealously and receiving stimulus
+    from them. It was their intention to educate themselves further
+    and to devote themselves to political discussions in meetings on
+    land. To this end they desired to have literature. Although, as
+    has been shown in the last days, political discussions have been
+    carried on under full steam, even officially, I called this
+    sailor's attention to the fact that what was in itself
+    permissible, might, under the peculiar conditions under which we
+    lived, become dangerous, and I warned him to be cautious. This
+    much is correct."
+
+Haase denied that the sailor had submitted any revolutionary plan to him
+or his colleagues, and challenged Admiral von Capelle to produce his
+evidence.
+
+It is difficult for one who, like the writer, has a thorough
+acquaintance with the Independent Socialist publications, to take
+seriously the statement that they were desired merely for "mental
+stimulus" by sailors who wished to "educate themselves further." The
+plain tendency of all these publications, disguised as cleverly as it
+might be in an attempt to escape confiscation of the issue or
+prosecution for treason, was revolutionary. A certain degree of
+venomousness, scurrility and abuse of _bourgeois_ opponents has always
+characterized all but a few Socialist publications in all lands, and the
+Independent Socialist press far outdid the organs of the old party in
+this respect. It preached internationalism and flouted patriotism; it
+ridiculed all existing authority; it glorified the Russian revolution in
+a manner calculated to induce imitation by its readers, and, following
+the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in November, 1917, it published
+regularly the reports of the _Isvestia_ and other Bolshevik organs, with
+laudatory editorial comment. The man who "educated himself further" by a
+reading of the Independent Socialist publications was educating himself
+for revolution and for nothing else.
+
+Vogtherr set up a straw man in his reply and demolished it to the
+complete satisfaction of himself and his brother Socialists, including,
+strangely enough, also the Majority Socialists, who, despite the fact
+that the Independent Socialist press had classified them with
+_bourgeoisie_ and attacked them even more bitterly, on this occasion
+exhibited solidarity of feeling with their more radical colleagues.
+Vogtherr declared that von Capelle had charged the Independents with
+having worked out a plan for revolution in the fleet. This alleged
+charge he denied. He spoke with a certain pathos of the oppressed
+sailors who recognized in the Independents their real friends and
+naturally came to them instead of going to deputies in whom they had no
+confidence. He, too, demanded that the Minister of Marine produce his
+proof. Vogtherr, like Haase before him, devoted a part of his speech to
+a general attack on von Capelle and Michaelis, plainly the attempt of a
+practical politician to confuse the issue.
+
+Dittmann spoke briefly along the lines followed by Haase and Vogtherr.
+He had, he said, carefully warned his sailor-visitors to keep within
+safe bounds. He refused to permit either Admiral von Capelle or
+Chancellor Michaelis to restrict his rights as Reichstag deputy to
+receive visitors and hear their complaints. Dittmann cleverly enlisted
+further the sympathy of the Majority Socialists by pointing out that
+several of their publications had also come under the ban of the
+Admiralty.
+
+Von Capelle responded to the challenge of the trio to produce his
+evidence. He read the following testimony, given at the court-martial by
+one of the lieutenants of the mutineers' ringleader, a man named Sachse.
+This witness testified:
+
+    "I, too, made a personal visit to Deputy Dittmann in the
+    Reichstag after Reichpietsch (the ringleader) had visited him. I
+    introduced myself by saying that I came from Reichpietsch and
+    that I came in the same matter. Dittmann indicated that he knew
+    what I meant. He was glad to see me and said: 'We must go ahead
+    in the same way, but we must use great caution.'
+
+    "Regarding his conference with the members of the party
+    Reichpietsch told me the following: He had not been with
+    Dittmann alone, but there had been a kind of a party conference,
+    participated in by Dittmann, Vogtherr and Haase. Reichpietsch
+    communicated to them the plan and the results thus far attained
+    by the organization, which, according to his declaration, was
+    very enthusiastic about the matter.
+
+    "After discussion of the details of the organization, the
+    deputies told Reichpietsch that this was a prohibited and
+    punishable undertaking and a very daring one, and he must be
+    very careful. So far as they were concerned, they would support
+    his agitation in every manner, and especially through pamphlets
+    and other literature."
+
+Admiral von Capelle further read from the testimony of the ringleader,
+Reichpietsch, who, after reading Sachse's testimony, had said under
+oath:
+
+    "Insofar as this testimony concerns me it is correct. That is to
+    say, what I told Sachse was a true report of what had happened
+    in Berlin."
+
+Friedrich (Fritz) Ebert, the Majority Socialist leader who later became
+the first president of the German Republic, defended the Independent
+Socialists and declared that the government had offered no evidence to
+substantiate its accusations against Haase, Dittmann and Vogtherr.
+Deputy Naumann of the Progressive party also defended them indirectly,
+and both he and Deputy Trimborn of the Center (Clerical party) protested
+against any effort to place a Reichstag party outside the pale.
+
+In view of the revolutionary activities of the Independent Socialists
+even before that date and of the occurrences of the succeeding year,
+which culminated in the overthrow of the government, this attitude of
+supposedly loyal and patriotic parties of the Reichstag appears at first
+sight astonishing and almost inexplicable. There were, however, two
+reasons (in the case of the Majority Socialists three reasons) for it.
+Neither the _bourgeois_ parties nor the Majority Socialists had any
+conception of the extent of the revolutionary propaganda being carried
+on by the Independents and their more radical accomplices. As we shall
+see later, even the old party Socialists were completely taken by
+surprise when the actual revolution came, and revolution was almost an
+accomplished fact in Berlin, six days after it had begun in Kiel, before
+they awakened to what was happening. Hence the accusations against their
+colleagues of another party appeared to the three parties of the
+anti-annexationist wing of the Reichstag as a blow directed against all
+opponents of the pan-German program of the parties of the Right.
+
+The second reason was psychological and to be found in the atmosphere of
+the day's session. It had started, as already reported, with the
+discussion of an interpellation regarding pan-German propaganda at the
+front and in the fleet. The anti-Chauvinist majority of the Reichstag
+had earlier found its way together in a _bloc_ composed of the
+Progressives, Clericals and Majority Socialists, and had adopted, on
+July 19, 1917, a resolution, in the main the work of Mathias Erzberger
+of the Clericals, calling for a peace without annexations or
+indemnities, and reserving the right of self-determination to all
+nations. Equally with the Independent Socialists, this _bloc_ had been
+stirred to indignation by the shameless manner in which the high civil
+and military authorities not only permitted the advocates of an
+imperialistic and annexationist peace to carry on their propaganda among
+the soldiers and sailors, but even encouraged and actively assisted in
+that work. Not only all Socialist publications, but even many
+_bourgeois_ papers of the stamp of the Berlin _Tageblatt_ were
+absolutely forbidden by the commanders of many troop units, and the
+soldiers were compelled to listen to speeches by members of the
+pan-German _Vaterlandspartei_ (Fatherland Party) and similar
+organizations. Ignorant of the extent and nature of the Independent
+Socialists' efforts to undermine authority, the _bloc_ parties saw in
+Admiral von Capelle's charges only another manifestation of the spirit
+against which their own fight was directed. That, in these
+circumstances, they should defend the Independents was but natural.
+
+The third reason affecting the course of the Majority Socialists has
+already been referred to in passing. This was the feeling of party
+solidarity, which still existed despite the fact that the Independents
+had had their own party organization for some six months. Most of the
+prominent men in both Socialist parties had worked together in a common
+cause for many years, and while, in the heat of purely partisan
+conflicts this was sometimes forgotten for the moment, it nevertheless
+united the two factions when, as now, the attack came from the extreme
+Right.
+
+Complete details of the mutiny of this summer have never been given out.
+According to the best reports available, it started on the battleship
+_Westfalen_ at Wilhelmshaven and included altogether four vessels, one
+of which was the _Nürnberg_. The captain of the _Nürnberg_ is said to
+have been thrown overboard. Rumor and enemy report made the most of the
+affair and undoubtedly exaggerated it greatly, but there can be no doubt
+that it was serious and that the morale of the fleet was greatly
+affected by it. Some of the ring-leaders--how many it is not known--were
+executed, and a considerable number were imprisoned for long terms. The
+extent and severity of the sentences added fuel to the discontent
+already prevailing throughout the fleet. The men's fighting spirit sank
+as their revolutionary spirit rose. Von Capelle's boast that the fleet's
+preparedness for battle "shall and will not be brought in question for a
+moment" was a vain boast. The fleet was already rotten at the core.
+
+Ironic fate had led the men who directed the affairs of the German
+Empire to forge one of the weapons with which it was later to be
+destroyed. On April 9, 1917, Nicholas Lenine, with thirty-two fanatical
+followers, had been brought from Switzerland through Germany in a sealed
+car and sent into Russia to sow the seeds of Bolshevism. How the plan
+succeeded is only too well known. November brought the overthrow of the
+Kerensky government. Released from the necessity of the intensive
+pre-revolutionary propaganda at home, the Bolsheviki turned their
+attention to imperialistic Germany. Their missionaries, liberally
+equipped with corruption funds, entered Germany by secret routes and
+worked with Germans in sympathy with their cause, notably Liebknecht.
+Foremost among their propagandists was a man who called himself Radek.
+His real name was Sobelsohn, a Jew from Austrian Galicia. Expelled from
+his labor union before the war for robbing a _Genosse_, he had settled
+in Bremen and was even then the guiding spirit in the most radical and
+rabid circles. After the Russian Bolshevik revolution he quickly took up
+the severed threads of his former connections. He was intimate with all
+the Independent Socialist leaders already named, and with many others. A
+man of acknowledged organizing and propagandizing ability, he
+contributed markedly to making Germany ripe for revolution.
+
+All the gates were thrown down to Bolshevism following the treaty of
+Brest-Litovsk, when Joffe, the Bolshevik Ambassador, was permitted to
+come to Berlin and establish himself in the palace of the former
+Imperial Russian Embassy in _Unter den Linden_. He brought a staff of
+men and women whose sole duty it was to carry on Bolshevist propaganda
+against the government to which he was accredited. Leading Independent
+Socialists were frequent visitors at the embassy, and Haase, at an
+elaborate banquet held there in May, 1918, responded to the toast, "The
+Red International."
+
+Closest to Joffe of all Germans was Dr. Oskar Cohn, one of the founders
+of the Independent Socialist Party. Cohn, who is a Berlin lawyer,
+possesses that curious combination of characteristics so often
+encountered in extreme Socialism. In his private life of undoubted
+probity, he rejoiced at an opportunity to accept and distribute money
+given by a foreign government to overthrow the government of his own
+Fatherland. Mild-mannered and an opponent of force, he made the cause of
+Liebknecht's murderous Spartacans his own. Scholarly and of deep
+learning, he associated freely with the dregs of the population, with
+thieves and murderers, in furtherance of the cause of the international
+proletariat. He became the legal adviser of Joffe and one of the main
+distributors of the Bolsheviki's corruption fund.
+
+The political police were at all times cognizant of the revolutionary
+propaganda that was being carried on, but they were greatly hampered in
+their work by a limitation which had been imposed in 1917 upon the
+so-called _Schutzhaft_, literally "protective arrest." This had been
+freely used against suspected persons from the beginning of the war, and
+hundreds had sat in jail for weeks in what was equivalent to a sentence
+of imprisonment, without having had an opportunity to hear what the
+charge against them was. The abuse of this right became so glaring that
+it was provided in 1917 that arrested persons could not be detained
+without a definite crime being charged against them. The police made a
+long report on Joffe's activities in June, 1918, and the authorities,
+with some hesitation, placed the matter before the "Ambassador." He lied
+bravely, declaring that he cherished no plans against the integrity of
+the German Empire and that his large staff existed solely to carry on
+the legitimate business of the embassy.
+
+The authorities, unconvinced, maintained a watch on the activities of
+the Russians. They were particularly suspicious of the unusual number of
+diplomatic couriers passing between Berlin and Petrograd. Their number
+was said to reach nearly four hundred. The press began to voice these
+suspicions. Joffe, with a fine show of indignation, declared that it
+"was beneath his dignity" to take any notice of them. The tenuity of
+Herr Joffe's dignity and the value of his word became apparent on
+November 5, 1918, in the revolution week, when a box in the luggage of a
+courier arriving from Russia was--"accidentally," as the official report
+put it--broken open at the railway station. Its contents proved to be
+Bolshevik propaganda literature inciting the Germans to institute a
+reign of terror against the _bourgeoisie_, to murder the oppressors of
+the proletariat and to overthrow the government. One of these appeals
+came from the Spartacan _Internationale_ and contained a carefully
+worked-out program for instituting a reign of terror.
+
+Even the _Vorwärts_, which had been reluctant to credit the charges
+against _Genosse_ Joffe, was now compelled to admit that he had lied and
+misused his diplomatic privileges. Joffe, still denying his guilt, was
+escorted from the embassy in the middle of the following night by an
+armed guard and placed aboard a special train for Moscow, with the whole
+staff of the embassy and of the Rosta Telegraph Agency, ostensibly a
+news agency, but really an institution for carrying on Bolshevik
+propaganda. Once safe in Russia, Joffe admitted his activities in
+Germany and gloried in them. In a wireless message sent on December 8,
+1918, he said the Bolshevik literature had been circulated "through the
+good offices of the Independent Socialists." He declared further that a
+much greater number of weapons than had been alleged had been handed
+over to the Independent Barth, together with "several hundred thousand
+roubles." He added:
+
+    "I claim for myself the honor of having devoted all my powers to
+    the success of the German revolution through my activities,
+    which were carried on in agreement with the Independent
+    Socialist ministers Haase and Barth and with others."
+
+Following the publication of this wireless message, Cohn also issued an
+explanation of his activities in connection with Joffe. He said:
+
+    "Is any particular explanation or justification needed to make
+    it clear that I gladly accepted the funds which the Russian
+    comrades sent me by the hand of Comrade Joffe for the purposes
+    of the German revolution? Comrade Joffe gave me the money in the
+    night of November 5th. This had nothing to do with the money
+    which he had previously given me for the purchase of weapons. I
+    used the money for the purpose intended, namely, the spreading
+    of the revolutionary idea, and regret only that circumstances
+    made it impossible for me to use all of it in this manner."
+
+Bolshevik centers had been organized all over Germany when the
+revolution came. On the same day Joffe was expelled, the police in
+Düsseldorf closed a Bolshevik nest which was ostensibly conducted as a
+news agency. It was but one of scores of similar centers of revolution.
+
+The revolutionary propaganda being carried on inside the empire was
+powerfully aided and supplemented by the activities of Germany's enemies
+along the same lines. No detailed report of the extent of this branch of
+warfare is yet available, but it was, in the words of one of Germany's
+leading generals in a talk with the writer, "devilishly clever and
+effective." From the air, through secret channels, through traitors at
+home, the German soldier or sailor was worked upon. He was told truths
+about the forces against him that had been suppressed by the German
+censors. The folly of longer trying to oppose the whole world was
+pointed out, and every possible weakness in the German character was
+cunningly exploited. The good effect of this propaganda cannot be
+doubted.
+
+Testimony regarding the part played by enemy propaganda in bringing
+about the final collapse of Germany has been given by one of the men
+best qualified to know the facts. In an article in _Everybody's
+Magazine_ for February, 1919, George Creel, chairman of the American
+Committee on Public Information, gives full credit to the work of the
+American soldiers, but declares that, in the last analysis, Germany was
+defeated by publicity. The military collapse of Germany was due to "a
+disintegration of morale both on the firing line and among the civilian
+population." It was the telling of the truth to the Germans by their
+enemies that finally caused the _débâcle_ at a time when the German Army
+"was well equipped with supplies and ammunitions, and behind it still
+stretched line after line almost impregnable by reason of natural
+strength and military science."[17]
+
+[17] German assertions that their armies were never defeated in a
+    military sense regularly arouse and will long continue to
+    arouse anger and scornful indignation among their enemies,
+    yet here we have official testimony to support their
+    contentions. It is no detraction from the valor and military
+    successes of the Allies to assert again that if the German
+    troops had not been weakened physically by starvation and
+    morally by enemy propaganda, they could have carried on the
+    war for many months more.
+
+The propaganda literature was prepared by historians, journalists and
+advertising specialists, and even some psychologists were enlisted to
+help in its writing. Germany's borders, however, were so carefully
+guarded that it was difficult to get the matter into the country. Mr.
+Creel relates interestingly how this was done. Aëroplanes were employed
+to some extent, but these were so badly needed for fighting purposes
+that not enough could be obtained for distribution of propaganda
+literature.
+
+"The French introduced a rifle-grenade that carried pamphlets about six
+hundred feet in a favoring wind, and a seventy-five millimeter shell
+that carried four or five miles. The British developed a six-inch gun
+that carried ten or twelve miles and scattered several thousand leaflets
+from each shell. The Italians used rockets for close work on the front,
+each rocket carrying forty or fifty leaflets. The obvious smash at
+German morale was through America's aim and swift war-progress, and for
+this reason the Allies used the President's speeches and our military
+facts freely and sometimes exclusively.
+
+"To reach further behind the lines, all fronts used paper balloons
+filled with coal-gas. They would remain in the air a minimum of twenty
+hours, so as to make a trip of six hundred miles in a thirty-mile wind.
+On a Belgian fête-day such balloons carried four hundred thousand
+greetings into Belgium, and some flew clear across Belgium. Fabric
+balloons, carrying seventeen or eighteen pounds of leaflets, were also
+employed, but with all the balloons the uncertainty of the wind made the
+work haphazard.
+
+"The attempt was made to fly kites over the trenches and drop leaflets
+from traveling containers that were run up the kite-wire, but this
+method could be used only on fronts where aëroplanes were not active,
+because the wires were a menace to the planes. The paper used in the
+leaflets was chemically treated so that they would not spoil if they lay
+out in the rain.
+
+"An American invention that gave promise of supplanting all others was a
+balloon that carried a tin container holding about ten thousand
+pamphlets. A clock attachment governed the climb of the balloon, it had
+a sailing range of from six to eight hundred miles, and the mechanism
+could be set in such a manner as to have the pamphlets dropped in a
+bunch or one at a time at regular intervals, the whole business blowing
+up conclusively with the descent of the last printed 'bullet'."
+
+Similar methods were used against Austria-Hungary, writes Mr. Creel, and
+did much to shatter their feelings of allegiance to Germany. A proof of
+the effectiveness of the propaganda came when an order from the German
+General Staff was found, "establishing death as a penalty for all those
+seen picking up our matter or found with it in their possession.
+Austria-Hungary had earlier given orders to shoot or imprison all
+soldiers or citizens guilty of the abominable crime of reading 'printed
+lies' against the government."
+
+Indirectly, too, the Germans were subjected to Allied propaganda
+throughout the war. In one matter the German Government's attitude was
+more democratic and ethically defensible than the attitude of its
+enemies. It is discouraging to the abstract moralist to find that this
+worked out to the detriment of those adopting the more admirable course.
+Of all belligerent countries, Germany was the only one that permitted
+the free circulation and sale within its borders of the enemy press.
+Leading French and English editors were able with much difficulty to
+secure copies of some German papers, and occasionally the large press
+associations and some of the leading newspapers in America were
+permitted to see a few ancient copies, but nowhere could they be had by
+the private citizen, nor even read with safety in public places by those
+entitled to have them. There was never a time in Berlin, from the first
+declaration of war to the armistice, when the leading American, French,
+English, Italian and Russian papers could not be bought openly at a
+dozen newsstands or hotels, and the same was true generally throughout
+Germany.
+
+The well-disciplined Germans at first rejected as lies all reports in
+these papers differing from the official German versions of the same
+happenings. Many kept this attitude to the last, but even these began
+after a while, in common with the less sturdy believers, to be morally
+shaken by the cumulative evidence of the worldwide unpopularity of the
+Germans and to be dismayed by the tone of the enemy toward everything
+that they had heretofore held holy. The average German stoically endured
+for a long time to be called "Hun," but, in homely phrase, it got on his
+nerves after a while. The wild atrocity stories also played their part.
+All intelligent readers of history know that tremendous exaggerations of
+such reports have always accompanied all wars. Before the present war
+the Associated Press, the world's greatest newsgathering agency, barred
+war-atrocity stories from its reports because experience had
+demonstrated that these were often--perhaps generally--untrue and almost
+always exaggerated. When the enemy press converted the German army's
+_Kadaververwertungs-Anstalt_ (Carcass Utilization Factory) into a Corpse
+Utilization Factory (_Leichenverwertungs-Anstalt_) and declared that
+bodies of fallen German soldiers were being rendered out for the fat,
+the Germans were at first indignant and angry. This feeling changed to
+one of consternation and eventual depression when they learned from the
+enemy newspapers that the story was universally believed. In the course
+of the long war, the constant repetition of atrocity reports, both true
+and false, had a cumulative depressive effect which seriously shook the
+morale of all but the sturdiest of the people and was one of the factors
+inducing the general feeling of hopelessness that made the final
+_débâcle_ so complete. That everybody knew some of the reports to be
+true was an aggravation of their effect. A great part, perhaps, indeed,
+the greater part of all Germans condemned bitterly the Belgian
+deportations, just as the best minds of the nation condemned the new
+_Schrecklichkeit_ of the U-boat warfare, but they were helpless so long
+as their government was under the iron thumb of the military caste, and
+their helplessness increased their despair when they saw the opinion of
+the world embittered against their nation.
+
+There is plenty of German testimony to show how effective this enemy
+propaganda was. Siegfried Heckscher, Reichstag member and chief of the
+publicity department of the Hamburg-America Line, writing at the end of
+September, pointed out the need of a German propaganda ministry to
+counteract the attacks being made on Germany by the propaganda work
+under the direction of Lord Northcliffe.
+
+"The German practice of silence in the face of all the pronouncements of
+enemy statesmen cannot be borne any longer," said Herr Heckscher.
+"Anybody who watches the effect of the Northcliffe propaganda in foreign
+countries and in Germany can have only one opinion--that this silence is
+equivalent to a failure of German statesmanship.
+
+"With masterly skill every single speech of the English leaders is
+adapted not only to its effect in England, but also to its influence on
+public opinion among the neutrals and also, and especially, in Germany.
+* * * * Hundreds of thousands of Germans, reading a pronouncement by the
+President of the United States, ask themselves bitterly what the German
+Government will say. Thus there is formed a cloud of discontent and dark
+doubt, which, thanks to this Northcliffe propaganda, spreads itself more
+and more over the German people. * * * *
+
+"We try to protect our country from enemy espionage and from the work of
+agents and scoundrels, but with open eyes we leave it defenseless while
+a stream of poisonous speeches is poured over its people.
+
+"It will not, of course, do for enemy pronouncements of importance to be
+withheld from our people, but it is as necessary for our people as their
+daily bread that the Anglo-Franco-American influence should be met by
+the German view, and that the justice and greatness of the German cause
+and of the German idea should be brought into the clear, full light of
+day. Nor is defense sufficient. We must also aggressively champion our
+cause in the forum of the civilized world.
+
+"I repeat what I have said for years, that Reuter and the English news
+propaganda are mightier than the English fleet and more dangerous than
+the English army."
+
+The _Kölnische Volkszeitung_ echoed the demand for a propaganda
+ministry. It wrote:
+
+    "As our good name has been stolen from us and made despicable
+    throughout the world, one of our peace demands must be that our
+    enemies publicly and officially confess that they have
+    circulated nothing but lies and slanders. * * * The greatest
+    need of the moment is a campaign of enlightenment, organized by
+    all the competent authorities, to hammer into German heads that,
+    if further sacrifices and efforts are required of us, it is not
+    the caprice of a few dozen people in Germany nor German
+    obstinacy, but the enemy's impulse to destroy, that imposes them
+    on people at home and at the front."
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER VII.
+
+                     Germany Requests an Armistice.
+
+
+Dr. Michaelis, unequal to his task, laid down the Imperial
+Chancellorship. His successor was Count Hertling, Minister-President of
+Bavaria. The decision to appoint this man Imperial Chancellor may have
+been influenced largely by a desire to strengthen the bonds between
+Prussia and the next largest German state. It is possible also that
+Hertling's intimate relations with the Papal Court were taken into
+consideration, but the choice was a striking commentary on the dearth of
+good chancellorship material in Germany. Count Hertling's age alone
+unfitted him to bear the terrible burdens of this post, for he was well
+along in the seventies, and not strong physically. He had distinguished
+himself as an educator and as a writer on certain topics, especially
+Roman Catholic Church history, and had a record of honorable and
+faithful service as a member of the Bavarian Government. In his rôle as
+statesman he had exhibited perhaps a little more than average ability,
+but never those qualities which the responsible head of a great state
+should possess.
+
+A monarchist by birth and conviction, Count Hertling was particularly
+unfitted for the chancellorship at a time when the nation-wide demand
+for democratic reforms of government was increasing in strength every
+moment. In assuming his post he declared that he was fully cognizant of
+the strength and justice of the demand for an increased share of
+participation by the people in the government, and he pledged himself to
+use his best efforts to see that this demand was met. There is no reason
+to doubt the honesty of his intentions, but it was too much to expect
+that an aged Conservative of the old school should so easily shake off
+old notions or even realize adequately what the great mass of the people
+meant when they cried out for a change of system. Probably no man could
+have carried out the task confronting the Chancellor; that Count
+Hertling would fail was inevitable.
+
+The empire was honeycombed with sedition when the military reverses of
+the summer began. These reverses, disastrous enough in themselves, were
+greatly magnified by faint-hearted or malicious rumor. The military
+commander in the Marches (Brandenburg) issued a decree on September 9th
+providing for a year's imprisonment or a fine of 1,500 marks for persons
+spreading false rumors. The decree applied not only to rumors of
+defeats, but also to reports exaggerating the enemy's strength, casting
+doubts on the ability of the German armies to withstand the attack or
+bringing in question the soundness of the empire's economic situation.
+
+Reports of serious dissensions in Austria-Hungary came at the same time
+to add to the general depression. The Vienna _Arbeiterzeitung_ said:
+
+    "In questions regarding food we are compelled to negotiate with
+    Hungary as if we were negotiating with a foreign power. The
+    harvest is the best since the war began, but the Hungarians are
+    ruthlessly starving the Austrians, although there is plenty for
+    us all."
+
+The Austro-Hungarian Government saw the trend of events. Premier Baron
+Burian told Berlin that the Dual Monarchy could not keep up the struggle
+much longer. The people, he said, were starving, and disloyalty and
+treachery on the part of subject non-German races in Hungary, Bohemia
+and the Slav population had attained alarming proportions.
+
+"If the rulers do not make peace the people will make it over their
+heads," said the Premier, "and that will be the end of rulers."
+
+He appealed to Germany to join with Austria-Hungary in making an offer
+of peace. Berlin counseled against such a step. The German Government
+had long lost any illusions it might have cherished in respect to
+Austria-Hungary's value as an ally, and it was fully informed of the
+desperateness of the situation there. Despite this it realized that such
+a step as Vienna proposed would be taken by the enemy as a confession of
+weakness, and it clung desperately to the hope that the situation on the
+west front might still be saved.
+
+Burian, however, cherished no illusions. Austria asked for peace, but
+made it clear that she did not mean a separate peace. The German people
+saw in Vienna's action the shadow of coming events, and their
+despondency was increased.
+
+Prince Lichnowsky, Germany's Ambassador at the Court of St. James at the
+out-break of the war, had earlier confided to a few personal friends
+copies of his memoirs regarding the events leading up to the war.
+Captain von Beerfelde of the German General Staff, into whose hands a
+copy came, had a number of copies made and circulated them generally.
+The memoirs were a frank disclosure of Germany's great share of the
+guilt for the war. The authorities tried to stop their circulation, but
+they were read by hundreds of thousands, and did much to destroy general
+confidence in the justice of Germany's cause.
+
+Count Hertling, trying blunderingly to redeem his democratic promises,
+made a tactlessly naïve speech in the Prussian House of Lords in favor
+of the government's franchise-reform measures. These bills, although
+representing a decided improvement of the existing system, had been
+bitterly criticized by all liberal elements because they did not go far
+enough, but had finally been reluctantly accepted as the best that could
+be hoped for in the circumstances. A majority existed for them in the
+Prussian Diet, but the Junkers and noble industrialists of the House of
+Lords would hear of no surrender of their ancient rights and privileges.
+The Chancellor in his speech warned the Lords that they could avoid the
+necessity of making still more far-reaching concessions later by
+adopting the government's measures as they stood. To reject them, he
+declared, would be seriously to imperil the crown and dynasty. He closed
+with an appeal to his hearers to remember the services rendered to the
+Fatherland by men of all political creeds, including the Socialists.
+
+Count Hertling's speech displeased everybody. The Conservative press
+assailed him bitterly. The _Deutsche Tageszeitung_, chief organ of the
+Junkers, called him "the gravedigger of the Prussian monarchy." The
+_Kreuzzeitung_ charged him with minimizing the crown's deserts and
+exaggerating the services of the Socialists. The liberal _bourgeois_ and
+the Socialist press said in effect: "And so this is our new democratic
+Chancellor who advises the House of Lords to block an honest democratic
+reform of Prussia's iniquitous franchise system." The _Germania_, chief
+organ of the Clericals, Hertling's own party, damned the speech with
+faint praise.
+
+Talk of a "chancellor crisis" was soon heard, and by the middle of
+September there was little doubt that Hertling's days were numbered.
+Nothing else can so adequately indicate the reversal of conditions in
+Germany as the fact that one of the men named oftenest even in
+_bourgeois_ circles as a likely successor to Count Hertling was Philip
+Scheidemann, a leader of the Majority Socialists. The _vaterlandslose
+Gesellen_ were coming into their own.
+
+The crisis became acute on September 20th. The government unofficially
+sounded the Majority Socialists as to their willingness to participate
+in a coalition government. The question was discussed on September 22d,
+at a joint conference of the Socialist Reichstag deputies and the
+members of the party's executive committee. Although one of the cardinal
+tenets of Socialism had always forbidden participation in any but a
+purely Socialist government, the final vote was nearly four to one in
+favor of abandoning this tenet in view of the extraordinary situation
+confronting the empire. With eighty votes against twenty-two the
+conference decided to send representatives into a coalition government
+under the following conditions:
+
+    1. The government shall unqualifiedly accept the declaration of
+    the Reichstag of July 19, 1917,[18] and declare its willingness
+    to enter a League of Nations whose fundamental principles shall
+    be the peaceful adjustment of all conflicts and universal
+    disarmament.
+
+    [18] _Vide_ chapter vi.
+
+    2. The government shall make an absolutely unambiguous
+    declaration of its willingness to rehabilitate
+    (_wiederherstellen_) Belgium and reach an understanding
+    regarding compensation to that land, and also to rehabilitate
+    Serbia and Montenegro.
+
+    3. The peace treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest shall not
+    be permitted to stand in the way of a general treaty of peace;
+    civil government shall be immediately established in all
+    occupied territories; occupied territories shall be evacuated
+    when peace is concluded; democratic representative assemblies
+    shall be established at once.
+
+    4. Autonomy shall be granted to Alsace-Lorraine; general, equal,
+    secret and direct right of franchise shall be granted in all
+    German federal states; the Prussian Diet shall be dissolved if
+    the deliberations of the House of Lords do not immediately
+    result in the adoption of the franchise-reform bills.
+
+    5. There shall be uniformity in the imperial government, and
+    irresponsible unofficial auxiliary governments
+    (_Nebenregierungen_) are to be eliminated; representatives of
+    the government shall be chosen from the majority of the
+    Reichstag or shall be persons who adhere to the policies of this
+    majority; political announcements by the crown or by military
+    authorities shall be communicated to the Imperial Chancellor
+    before they are promulgated.
+
+    6. Immediate rescission of all decrees limiting the right of
+    assembly or the freedom of the press; the censorship shall be
+    employed only in purely military matters (questions of tactics
+    and strategy, movements of troops, fabrication of munitions of
+    war, etc.); a political control shall be instituted for all
+    measures resorted to under the authority of the state of siege;
+    all military institutions that serve to exert political
+    influence shall be abolished.
+
+On the whole this was a program which appealed to the vast majority of
+the German people. The Conservatives and one wing of the National
+Liberals would have none of it, but the conviction that nothing but a
+change of system would save Germany had been making rapid headway in the
+last few weeks. Even many of those opposed in principle to democratic
+government began to recognize that nothing else could unite the people.
+An article in the _Vorwärts_ by Scheidemann and another in the
+International Correspondence, an ably conducted news agency, pointing
+out the vital necessity of making any sacrifices that would save the
+country, were widely reprinted and made a strong appeal.
+
+Chancellor Count Hertling, addressing the Reichstag on September 24th,
+made a speech which, read between the lines, was a veiled admission of
+the desperateness of the situation and the increasingly discouraged
+condition of the people. He admitted frankly that the German armies had
+met serious reverses on the west front. But Germany, he declared, had
+met and triumphed over more serious situations. Russia and Roumania had
+been eliminated from the list of enemies, and he was confident that the
+people would not lose heart because of temporary setbacks and that the
+soldiers would continue to show their old spirit. Austria's peace
+_demarche_ had been taken in the face of serious doubts on the part of
+the German Government regarding its advisability, but Germany, now as
+always, was ready to conclude a just peace.
+
+General von Wrisberg, said the Chancellor, reported that the English
+successes against the Marne position and between the Ancre and the Aisne
+had been due to fog and the extensive employment of tanks.
+Counter-measures had been taken and there was no reason for uneasiness.
+The Germans had lost many prisoners and guns, but the enemy's losses had
+been frightful.
+
+"The American armies need not frighten us," said Count Hertling. "We
+shall take care of them."[19]
+
+[19] The German Government deceived its own people grossly in the
+    matter of the American forces in France. Hans Delbrück,
+    editor of the _Preussische Jahrbücher_, published on December
+    10, 1918, a statement that the government had forbidden him
+    to publish Secretary Baker's figures of the American
+    strength, as republished in the London _Times_. In response
+    to his protest, the Supreme Army Command declared that
+    Baker's figures were "purely American bluff, calculated and
+    intended to mislead the German people." But the government
+    not only concealed the truth; it lied about the number of
+    Americans in France and even compelled the press to lie. A
+    confidential communication issued to the press in the middle
+    of May, 1918, declared that "the number of American combatant
+    troops in France is about ten divisions, of which only four
+    are at the front. The total of all troops, both at the front
+    and behind the lines, does not exceed 150,000 to 200,000.
+    Press notices concerning these matters should state that
+    America has not been able to fulfil its expectations in the
+    way of sending troops, and that the earlier estimates of the
+    German General Staff as to what America could accomplish have
+    proved to be true. The actual figures given above should in
+    no case be mentioned." At this time there were nearly one
+    million Americans in France, and it is inconceivable that the
+    German Supreme Army Command did not know it.
+
+
+Captain von Brüninghaus of the Admiralty reported that the U-boats were
+sinking much more tonnage than was being built, and that the losses of
+submarines were much smaller than those reported by the enemy.
+
+The tone of the aged Chancellor's speech was such that his words carried
+no conviction. The war-weary, discouraged people could not but see in
+them an admission that all was lost.
+
+And then came a blow that was felt by everybody. Bulgaria surrendered.
+The first breach had been made in the alliance of the Central Powers;
+the collapse had begun and its significance was plain to the humblest
+German. Bulgaria's defection came as no surprise to the government,
+which had known for nearly a week that such an event was at least
+probable. On September 23d, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria had summoned a
+grand council to consider the situation. The result was that a formal
+demand was made on Berlin and Vienna for immediate assistance. Germany
+and Austria recognized the urgency of the situation, but they were
+unable to meet Bulgaria's demands. Both governments promised help in the
+near future and besought King Ferdinand to keep up the struggle for a
+short time.
+
+The King realized the emptiness of these promises. There was, moreover,
+a powerful personal dynastic interest at stake. Revolution of the
+reddest type already threatened his crown. Workmen and soldiers were
+organizing soviets in Sofia on the familiar Bolshevik plan, and riotous
+demonstrations had been held in front of the royal palace. Help from
+Berlin and Vienna was obviously out of the question. Ferdinand turned to
+the Entente.
+
+The negotiations were brief. Bulgaria surrendered unconditionally. Her
+railways and all other means of transportation were handed over to the
+Allies to be used for military or any other purposes. All strategic
+points in the kingdom were likewise given into the control of Germany's
+enemies, and Bulgaria undertook to withdraw immediately all her troops
+from Greece and Serbia and disarm them.
+
+As an ally Bulgaria had long ceased to play a decisive part in Germany's
+military operations, but her surrender, apart from its moral effect, was
+nevertheless disastrous for Germany. General Mackensen's army suddenly
+found itself in a hostile land, with its route of retreat threatened.
+Thousands of German locomotives and cars, badly needed at home, stood on
+tracks now handed over to the control of Germany's enemies.
+
+Worst of all, completed enemy occupation of Bulgaria meant the isolation
+of Germany from another ally, for the only route to Constantinople ran
+through Bulgaria. The days of the Balkan Express, whose initial trip had
+been acclaimed as the inauguration of what would some day become the
+Berlin-to-Bagdad line, were numbered. Turkey, isolated, would no longer
+be able to carry on the war, and reports were already current that
+Turkey would follow Bulgaria's example. British troops were but a few
+miles from Damascus, and Bonar Law, reporting in a speech at Guildhall
+the surrender of Bulgaria, added:
+
+    "There is also something in connection with Turkey which I
+    cannot say, but which we can all think."
+
+Uneasy rumors that Austria was also about to follow the lead of Bulgaria
+spread through Germany.
+
+The Kaiser, wiser than his reactionary advisers, issued on the last day
+of September a proclamation, in which he declared it to be his will that
+"the German people shall henceforth more effectively coöperate in
+deciding the destinies of the Fatherland."
+
+But the destinies of the Fatherland had already been decided by other
+than political forces. The iron wall in the West that had for more than
+four years withstood the shocks of the armies of a great part of the
+civilized world was disintegrating or bending back. In the North the
+Belgians, fighting on open ground, were encircling Roulers, lying on the
+railway connecting Lille with the German submarine bases in Zeebrugge
+and Ostende, and another junction on this important route, Menin, was
+menaced by the British. Unless the enemy could be stopped here, all the
+railways in the important triangle of Lille, Ghent, and Bruges must soon
+be lost, and their loss meant the end of the U-boats as an important
+factor in the war.
+
+To the north and west of Cambrai the British, only a mile from the
+center of the city, were forcing their way forward relentlessly, and the
+French were closing in from the south on the doomed city, which was in
+flames. British and American troops were advancing steadily on St.
+Quentin and the French were approaching from the south. The American
+forces between the Argonnes and the Meuse were moving ahead, but slowly,
+for the Germans had weakened their lines elsewhere in order to
+concentrate heavy forces against the men from across the sea.
+
+Count Hertling confessed political shipwreck by resigning the
+chancellorship. With him went Vice Chancellor von Payer and Foreign
+Minister von Hintze. The Kaiser asked Prince Max (Maximilian), heir to
+the throne of the Grand Duchy of Baden, to accept the post. He complied.
+
+The choice of Prince Max was plainly a concession to and an
+acknowledgement of the fact that Germany had become overwhelmingly
+democratic, and it was at the same time a virtual confession that the
+military situation was desperate and that peace must soon be sought.
+Baden had always been one of the most democratic of the German federal
+states, and the Prince was, despite his rank, a decidedly democratic
+man. In the first years of the war he had distinguished himself as a
+humane enemy, and had well earned the tribute paid to him by Ambassador
+James W. Gerard in the Ambassador's book, _My Four Years in Germany_.
+This tribute was paid in connection with a proposal to place Prince Max
+at the head of a central organization for prisoners of war in Germany.
+The appointment, said Gerard, would have redounded to the benefit of
+Germany and the prisoners.
+
+Prince Max had for some years been recognized as the leader of the
+Delbrück group of moderates, and his name had been considered for the
+chancellorship when Dr. Michaelis resigned. That he was not then
+appointed was due chiefly to his own reluctance, based upon dynastic
+reasons. He had never been in sympathy with _Schrecklichkeit_ in any of
+its manifestations, and was known to be out of sympathy with the ruling
+caste in Prussia. Early in 1918 he had made public a semi-official
+interview outlining his ideas as to what Germany's peace terms should
+be. These were in general in accordance with the resolution of the
+majority _bloc_ of the Reichstag of July 19, 1917, and condemned all
+annexations of foreign territory and all punitive indemnities. He
+declared also that the interests of Europe and America would be best
+served by a peace which should not disrupt the Anglo-Saxon-Teutonic
+peoples, since Germany must be maintained as a bulwark against the
+spread of Bolshevism to the nations westward. The conclusion seems
+justified that the government believed that Prince Max, uncompromised
+and with known democratic leanings, could secure a more favorable peace
+for Germany than any other man who could be named.
+
+And the government knew that peace must be had. It had heard so on
+October 2, the day before Prince Max's appointment, from the lips of a
+man who brought a message from Hindenburg and Ludendorff. What had long
+been feared had become a reality--an armistice must be requested. The
+bearer of these calamitous tidings was Major von Busche. Word had been
+sent that he was coming, and the leaders of the various Reichstag
+parties assembled to hear his message. Nominally the message came from
+Hindenburg, as commander-in-chief, but really it was Ludendorff speaking
+through Hindenburg and his emissary.
+
+The message was brief; Hindenburg, said Major von Busche, had become
+convinced that a request for an armistice must be made. The General
+Field Marshal had declared, however, that if the request should be
+refused, or if dishonoring conditions should be imposed, the fight must
+and could go on. He had no intention of throwing his rifle into the
+ditch. If necessary, Germany could continue fighting in enemy territory
+for months. Von Busche did not admit in so many words that all hope of
+an eventual victory had been lost, but that was the effect of his
+message.
+
+The men who heard from the highest military authorities in this blunt
+manner that the situation was even worse than they had feared were
+dumfounded. If Hindenburg and Ludendorff had given up, there was nothing
+to be said. It was decided to ask for an armistice.
+
+Prince Max was inclined to refuse to become Imperial Chancellor if it
+meant that his first act must be a confession of the impossibility of
+carrying on the war longer--for that, he perceived clearly, would be the
+natural and logical deduction from a request for an armistice. He
+particularly disapproved of making the request as the first act of his
+chancellorship. This, he pointed out, would give a needless appearance
+of desperate haste and increase the depressing effect of the action,
+which would in any event be serious enough.
+
+Prince Max's attitude at this crisis was explained by him in an article
+in the _Preussische Jahrbücher_ following the armistice. He wrote then:
+
+    "My peace policy was gravely hampered by the request for an
+    armistice, which was presented to me completely formulated when
+    I reached Berlin. I opposed it on practical political grounds.
+    It seemed to me to be a great mistake to permit the new
+    government's first step toward peace to be followed by such a
+    surprising confession of German weakness. Neither our own people
+    nor the enemy countries estimated our military situation to be
+    such that a desperate step of this kind was necessary. I made a
+    counter-proposal. The government should as its first act draw up
+    a detailed program of its war-aims, and this program should
+    demonstrate to the whole world our agreement with Wilson's
+    principles and our honest willingness to make heavy national
+    sacrifices for these principles.
+
+    "The military authorities replied that it was impossible to
+    await the result of such a declaration. The situation at the
+    front required that a request for an armistice be made within
+    twenty-four hours. If I refused to make it, the old government
+    would make it. I thereupon decided to form a new government and
+    to support the unavoidable request for an armistice with the
+    authority of a cabinet of uncompromised men. A week later the
+    military authorities informed me that they had erred in their
+    estimate of the situation at the front on October 1st."
+
+Dr. Solf, formerly head of the German Colonial Office, became Foreign
+Minister, and Philip Scheidemann, the Socialist leader, and Deputy
+Groeber, a Clerical leader, also entered the new ministry. It was the
+first German ministry to contain a Social-Democrat, and the first which
+could be said to have strong democratic leanings. Opinion in Washington,
+according to a cablegram reaching Copenhagen early on October 4th, was
+that the makeup of the cabinet was regarded in America "as a desperate
+attempt of German militarists to hoodwink the Entente and the German
+people into the belief that Germany is being democratized." This opinion
+was inspired more by the passions of war than by clear thinking. Germany
+was being democratized. That the democratic concessions attempted by
+various state rulers were inspired by fear is true, but their motives
+are of no importance. It is fruits that count, and the time had come
+when the German people could not longer be hoodwinked themselves by the
+militarists, nor be used as tools in hoodwinking anybody else. That
+time, however, had come too late.
+
+On October 6th, Prince Max, addressing the Reichstag, announced that a
+request for an armistice had been made. This request, which was
+addressed to President Wilson, said:
+
+    "The German Government requests the President of the United
+    States to take in hand the restoring of peace, to acquaint all
+    the belligerent states with this request, and to invite them to
+    send plenipotentiaries for the purpose of opening negotiations.
+
+    "It accepts the program set forth by the President of the United
+    States in his message to Congress on January 8th, and in his
+    later pronouncements, particularly his speech of September 27th,
+    as a basis for peace negotiations.
+
+    "With a view to avoiding further bloodshed, the German
+    Government requests the immediate conclusion of an armistice on
+    land and water and in the air."
+
+Secretary of State Lansing sent the following reply on October 8th:
+
+    "Before replying to the request of the Imperial[20] German
+    Government, and in order that that reply shall be as candid and
+    straightforward as the momentous interests involved require, the
+    President of the United States deems it necessary to assure
+    himself of the exact meaning of the note of the Imperial
+    Chancellor. Does the Imperial Chancellor mean that the Imperial
+    German Government accepts the terms laid down by the President
+    in his address to the Congress of the United States on the 8th
+    of January last and in subsequent addresses, and that its object
+    in entering into discussions would be only to agree upon the
+    practical details of their application?
+
+    [20] It will be noticed that Prince Max did not use the
+        designation "Imperial" in connection with the government.
+        The omission was undoubtedly deliberate and intended to
+        emphasize the democratic nature of the new cabinet.
+
+    "The President feels bound to say with regard to the suggestion
+    of an armistice that he would not feel at liberty to propose a
+    cessation of arms to the governments with which the Government
+    of the United States is associated against the Central Powers so
+    long as the armies of those powers are upon their soil. The good
+    faith of any discussion would manifestly depend upon the consent
+    of the Central Powers immediately to withdraw their forces
+    everywhere from invaded territory. The President also feels that
+    he is justified in asking whether the Imperial Chancellor is
+    speaking merely for the constituted authorities of the Empire
+    who have so far conducted the war. He deems the answer to these
+    questions vital from every point of view."
+
+Foreign Secretary Solf replied four days later with a note accepting
+President Wilson's peace terms as laid down in the "fourteen points" and
+the supplementary five points later enunciated. He declared that the
+German Government was prepared to evacuate occupied territory, and
+suggested the appointment of a mixed commission to arrange the details.
+He asserted that the Chancellor, in making his request, was supported by
+the vast majority of the Reichstag and spoke in the name of the German
+Government and the German people.
+
+The effect of the request for an armistice was, so far as the enemy
+countries were concerned, precisely what Prince Max had foreseen: it was
+everywhere taken as an admission of the hopelessness of the German
+cause. But its first effect within the Empire was not unfavorable.
+Indeed, there is reason to declare that it was favorable. The mass of
+the people reposed much confidence in the new cabinet, and the prospect
+of an early peace buoyed up both the civil population and the soldiers.
+The front, still being forced slowly back, nevertheless held on to every
+available position with grim tenacity and in the face of heavy losses.
+On October 8th, they repulsed a determined assault at the center of
+their long front and even counter-attacked in quite the old style.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER VIII.
+
+                   The Last Days of Imperial Germany.
+
+
+Prince Max, although inspired by the best intentions and filled with
+modern and liberal ideas, failed to realize that what was needed was not
+a change of men, but a change of methods. Radical, fearless and
+immediate action was necessary, but the government did not perceive that
+every passing day lessened its chances and possibilities. It relied upon
+the slow progress of ordinary business routine. It accomplished much, it
+is true, but it accomplished it too slowly and too late.
+
+Too late the Conservatives in the Prussian Diet abandoned their
+opposition to a reform of the franchise system. On October 10th, they
+adopted this resolution:
+
+    "In the hour of the Fatherland's greatest distress and with a
+    realization that we must be equipped for hard battles for the
+    integrity of the Fatherland's soil, the Conservative Party in
+    the Diet considers it its duty to lay aside all internal
+    conflicts. It is also ready to make heavy sacrifices for the
+    ends in view. It believes now, as ever, that a far-reaching
+    radicalization of the Prussian Constitution will not further the
+    welfare of the Prussian people. It is nevertheless prepared to
+    abandon its opposition to the introduction of equal franchise in
+    Prussia in accordance with the latest decisions of its friends
+    in the House of Lords in order to assure the formation of a
+    harmonious front against the outside world."
+
+This resolution removed the last obstacle to a real reform of the
+Prussian franchise.
+
+Too late the Federal Council adopted radical amendments to the Imperial
+Constitution. On October 13th and 16th, it accepted measures repealing
+Article 21, paragraph 2, which provided that Reichstag members should
+forfeit their seats if they accepted salaried state or imperial offices,
+and providing that cabinet members should no longer be required to be
+members of the Federal Council, but should at all times have the right
+to demand a hearing before the Reichstag. It also amended Article 2 to
+read: "The consent of the Federal Council and the Reichstag is required
+for a declaration of war in the Empire's name, except in a case where
+imperial territory has already been invaded or its coasts attacked."
+Section 3 of the same article was amended to read: "Treaties of peace
+and treaties with foreign states which deal with affairs coming under
+the competence of the Imperial law-giving bodies require the consent of
+the Federal Council and the Reichstag."
+
+Too late the rulers of different states promised democratic reforms. The
+crown council of Saxony on October 10th summoned the Landtag (Diet) for
+October 26th, and directed the minister of the interior to draft a
+measure "which shall substitute for the franchise now obtaining for the
+Landtag's second chamber a franchise based on a broader foundation."
+Saxony then had a four-class system. The crown council also considered
+requesting the Socialists to join the government.
+
+The King of Bavaria caused it to be announced that the crown had decided
+to introduce reforms enabling Bavaria's popularly elected
+representatives to participate directly in governing the kingdom.
+Minister Dandl was directed to form a new ministry with some Socialist
+members. It was announced also that a proportional franchise system was
+to be introduced and the upper chamber reformed along progressive lines.
+
+The government of Baden announced that steps would be taken to abolish
+the three-class franchise and to introduce the proportional system. In
+Württemberg measures were prepared providing that the kingdom's
+representatives in the Federal Council should take their instructions
+direct from the people's elected representatives, instead of from the
+government. A democratization of the first chamber was also promised.
+
+The Grand Duke of Oldenburg, in the address from the throne at the
+opening of the Landtag, declared that reforms were contemplated giving
+the people increased power to decide all important questions of state.
+The Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar accepted the resignation of his whole
+ministry and announced that a new ministry would be formed from among
+the members of the Diet. The Diet at Darmstadt unanimously adopted
+measures providing for a parliamentary form of government in Hesse.
+
+But while these concessions were being made at home, _Schrecklichkeit_
+continued to rule unhampered on the sea. The _Leinster_, a passenger
+boat plying between Kingston and Holyhead, was torpedoed by a submarine,
+and 480 of her 687 passengers were lost. The wave of indignation in
+enemy countries following this act was reflected at home in an uneasy
+feeling that the new Chancellor could as little curb militarism as could
+his predecessors. Ludendorff, too, had regained his lost nerve. He told
+Prince Max that the military situation was better than he had believed
+when he recommended that an armistice be requested. Minister of War
+General Scheuch had promised to send six hundred thousand new troops to
+the front.
+
+The Chancellor's position was also rendered more difficult at this time
+by an agitation for a _levée en masse_ begun by some fire-eating Germans
+of the old school. The possibility of a military dictatorship was
+discussed, and an appeal was made to "the spirit of 1813." The natural
+result was to increase the prevailing hostility to everybody in
+authority, whether he had been connected with the former governments or
+not.
+
+The Independent Socialists and their Spartacan brethren grew bolder. Dr.
+Oskar Cohn, who had made a speech in the Reichstag four months earlier,
+denouncing the war as "a Hohenzollern family affair," now openly
+declared in the same assembly that the Kaiser must go.
+
+"The question can no longer be evaded," he said. "Shall it be war with
+the Hohenzollerns or peace without the Hohenzollerns? World-revolution
+will follow on world-imperialism and world-militarism, and we shall
+overcome them. We extend our hands to our friends beyond the frontiers
+in this struggle."
+
+Liebknecht, released from prison on October 20th by a general amnesty,
+celebrated his release by attacking the Kaiser and the government that
+released him. On October 27th, he addressed a half dozen Independent
+Socialist meetings, and called for a revolution of the proletariat and
+the overthrow of the capitalists and _bourgeoisie_ of all lands. He
+closed each speech with cries of "Down with the Hohenzollerns!" and
+"Long live the Socialist Republic!" Nothing could more clearly
+demonstrate the helplessness of the government than the fact that
+Liebknecht was neither compelled to stop talking nor arrested. There
+were outbreaks of rioting in Berlin on the same day, but they were
+largely due to the unwise and provocatory measures of the police, who to
+the last preserved a steadfast loyalty to the government and to that
+grim sense of duty that had marked the Prussian _Beamter_ in former
+days.
+
+The Reichstag passed on last reading the measures sent from the Federal
+Council to put into effect the Kaiser's recommendations of September
+30th. Their most important provision was one placing the military
+command under control of the civil government, which had been demanded
+by the Majority Socialists as one of their conditions for participation
+in the government. The Kaiser sent to the Imperial Chancellor on October
+28th the following decree:
+
+    "I send your Grand Ducal Highness in the enclosure the measures
+    for the alteration of the Imperial Constitution and of the laws
+    concerning the representative powers of the Chancellor, of March
+    17, 1878, for immediate promulgation. It is my wish, in
+    connection with this step, which is so full of meaning for the
+    German people, to give expression to the feelings that move me.
+    Prepared by a number of acts of the government, a new order of
+    things now becomes effective, transferring fundamental rights
+    from the person of the Kaiser to the people. Thus there is
+    closed a period which will endure in honor in the eyes of future
+    generations.
+
+    "Despite all struggles between inherited powers and forces
+    striving to raise themselves, this period discloses itself
+    unforgettably in the wonderful accomplishments of the war. In
+    the fearful storms of the four years of the war, however, old
+    formulae have been shattered, not to leave ruins, but rather to
+    give way to new forms of life. In view of the accomplishments of
+    this period, the German people can demand that no right shall be
+    withheld from them which insures a free and happy future. The
+    measures proposed by the allied governments[21] and now accepted
+    by the Reichstag owe their existence to this conviction.
+
+    [21] Here meaning merely the German federal states.
+
+    "I accept these decisions of the people's representatives,
+    together with my exalted allies, in the firm desire to
+    coöperate, as far as lies in my power, in rendering them
+    effective, and in the conviction that I shall thus serve the
+    interests of the German people.
+
+    "The post of Kaiser means service of the people (_Das Kaiseramt
+    ist Dienst am Volke_).
+
+    "May the new order release all good forces which our people need
+    in order to endure the hard trials that have been visited upon
+    the Empire, and to win the way, with firm step, from out the
+    dark present to a bright future."
+
+These were fine phrases, but, like all other pronunciamentos and reforms
+of October, they came too late. The political censorship had recently
+been relaxed, and the people, ignorant though they may have been of
+actual conditions at home, knew what was going on within the borders of
+their greatest ally. Ten days earlier a strike had been begun at Prague
+as a peace demonstration, and had involved much of Bohemia and Moravia.
+At Budapest revolution was in the air, and the Magyar deputies of the
+Parliament were openly discussing the question of declaring Hungary's
+independence. On October 17th, Kaiser Karl announced that steps were to
+be taken to reorganize the Monarchy on a federalized basis.
+
+Two days later President Wilson rejected Baron Burian's peace offer.
+He declared that the United States Government had recognized the
+Czecho-Slovak state and the aspirations of the Jugo-Slavs, and he was
+therefore "no longer at liberty to accept the mere autonomy of these
+peoples as a basis of peace, but is obliged to insist that they and
+not he shall be the judges of what action on the part of the
+Austro-Hungarian Government will satisfy their aspirations and their
+conception of their rights and destiny as members of the family of
+nations."
+
+Count Michael Karolyi, leader of the opposition in Hungary, on the same
+day, in a speech in the lower house of Parliament at Budapest, attacked
+the alliance of Austria-Hungary with Germany. He admitted that the
+Central Powers had lost the war, and appealed to his countrymen to "try
+to save the peace." A memorial was sent to Kaiser Karl declaring that
+"Hungary must return to its autonomy and complete independence."
+
+The Czechs were already in virtual control in Prague. Magyar Hungary was
+rotten with Bolshevism, the fruits of the propaganda of returned
+soldiers and Russian agents. Croatian soldiers at Fiume had revolted.
+Baron Burian retired and was succeeded by Count Andrassy.
+
+Much of this was known to all Germans when the Kaiser's decree was
+issued. But they did not know what the Kaiser and his advisers knew, and
+they did not know why Ludendorff had deserted the sinking ship a day
+earlier, sending his resignation to the Kaiser and being succeeded as
+Quartermaster-General by General Groener. All indications had, indeed,
+pointed to the defection of Austria, but so long as it did not come the
+Germans--that is, such of them as had not completely lost hope or been
+infected with internationalist doctrines--still had a straw to cling to.
+
+On October 26th Kaiser Karl informed the German Emperor that he intended
+to ask for peace "within twenty-four hours." He invited Germany to join
+in the request. Before the German reply could be received Count Andrassy
+sent a note to Washington accepting President Wilson's conditions for an
+armistice and for peace, and declaring that Austria-Hungary was ready,
+"without awaiting the result of other negotiations, to enter into
+negotiations upon peace between Austria-Hungary and the states in the
+opposing group, and for an immediate armistice upon all the Dual
+Monarchy's fronts."
+
+On October 29th the government at Vienna issued a report declaring that
+a note had been sent to Secretary Lansing, asking him to "have the
+goodness to intervene with the President of the United States in order
+that, in the interests of humanity as well as in the interests of all
+those peoples who live in Austria-Hungary, an immediate armistice may be
+concluded on all fronts, and for an overture that immediate negotiations
+for peace may follow." A semi-official statement was issued the same day
+in an attempt to make it appear that the Dual Monarchy had not been
+recreant to its treaty agreement not to conclude a separate peace. Count
+Andrassy's note to Lansing, it was explained, did not "necessarily mean
+an offer of a separate peace. It means merely that Austria-Hungary is
+ready to act separately in the interests of the reëstablishment of
+peace."
+
+The fine distinction between "separate peace" and "separate action to
+reëstablish peace" could deceive nobody. All Germany staggered under the
+blow, and while she was still staggering, there came another. Turkey
+quit. Germany stood alone, deserted, betrayed.
+
+Fast on the heels of the Austrian collapse came the terror of defeated
+governments--revolution. The ink had not dried on Vienna's note on
+October 29th before students and workingmen began assembling in front of
+the Parliament buildings in the Austrian capital. Officers in uniform
+addressed cheering thousands, and called on the soldiers among their
+hearers to remove the national colors from their caps and uniforms.
+President Dinghofer of the National Council declared that the council
+would take over the whole administration of the country, "but without
+the Habsburgs." When, on the same afternoon, the National Assembly came
+together for its regular session, a crowd gathered in front of the Diet
+and cheered a huge red flag unfurled by workingmen on the very steps of
+the Diet building.
+
+Revolution is both contagious and spontaneous in defeat. The news from
+Vienna was followed by reports of revolution in Hungary. In Budapest
+laborers plundered the military depots and armed themselves. In Prague
+the _Prager Haus-Regiment_, No. 28, took charge of the revolution. This
+was one of the regiments that had been disbanded in 1915 for treachery
+in the Carpathians. Now it came into its own. Count Michael Karolyi
+telegraphed on October 31st to the Berlin _Tageblatt_:
+
+    "Revolution in Budapest. National Council has taken over the
+    government. Military and police acknowledge National Council
+    completely. Inhabitants rejoicing."
+
+The message was signed by Karolyi as president of the National Council.
+
+The revolution in Bohemia exercised a particularly depressing effect
+upon loyal Germans because of its outspoken anti-German character. Even
+in these first days the Czechish newspapers began discussing the
+division of German territories. The _Vecer_ demanded Vienna as a part of
+the new Czecho-Slovak state on the ground that a majority of the city's
+inhabitants or their ancestors originally came from Bohemia and Moravia.
+The _Narodini Listy_ gave notice that the Germans of Northern Bohemia
+would not be permitted to join Germany. These were among the more
+moderate demands made by this press.
+
+"What will the Kaiser do?" asked the Berlin _Vorwärts_ in its leading
+Article on the last day of October. The article voiced a question which
+all but the most extreme reactionaries had been asking for two weeks.
+Even men devoted to the monarch personally and themselves convinced
+monarchists in principle realized that the only hope of securing a just
+peace lay in sacrificing Kaiser Wilhelm. Scheidemann, the Socialist
+Secretary of State, wrote to Chancellor Prince Max, declaring that the
+Kaiser must retire, and that his letter had been written "in agreement
+with the leaders of the Socialist party and its representatives in the
+Reichstag." Up to the time of the publication of the _Vorwärts_ leader
+the authorities had forbidden any public discussion of the Kaiser's
+abdication. The censorship restrictions on this subject were now removed
+and the press was permitted to discuss it freely.
+
+But while many of the party leaders were already inwardly convinced that
+the supreme sacrifice of abdication must be made by the Kaiser, none of
+the Empire's political parties except the two Socialist parties
+considered it politically expedient to make the demand. Even the
+Progressives, farthest to the left of all the _bourgeois_ parties, not
+only refused to follow the Socialists' lead, but went on record as
+opposed to abdication. At a convention of the party in Greater Berlin on
+November 6th, Dr. Mugdan, one of the party's prominent Reichstag
+deputies, reporting the attitude of the party on the question of
+abdication, said:
+
+    "The Progressives do not desire to sow further unrest and
+    confusion among the German people."
+
+This was the attitude of a majority of the leaders among the people. It
+was dictated less by loyalty to the sovereign than by a realization that
+the disintegrating propaganda of the Internationalists had affected so
+large a part of the people that the abdication of the Kaiser would
+almost inevitably bring the collapse of the state. They could not yet
+realize that this collapse was inevitable in any case, nor that the
+number of those devoted to the Kaiser was comparatively so small that it
+was of little consequence whether he remained on the throne or
+abdicated.
+
+The Kaiser himself, as will be seen later,[22] was mainly moved by the
+same considerations. He believed chaos would certainly follow his
+abdication. It is also far from improbable that he had not yet abandoned
+all hope of military victory. The German army leaders, in trying to
+deceive the people into a belief that a successful termination of the
+war was still possible, had doubtless deceived their monarch as well.
+Possibly they had even deceived themselves. Field Marshal von Hindenburg
+sent a message to the press on November 3d, wherein he declared:
+
+    "Our honor, freedom and future are now at stake. We are
+    invincible if we are united. If the German army be strongly
+    supported by the will of the people, our Fatherland will brave
+    all onslaughts."
+
+    [22] _Vide_ chapter X.
+
+But while Hindenburg was writing the situation was altering for the
+worse with every hour. Kaiser Karl had fled from Vienna. German officers
+had been attacked in Bucharest. Bavarian troops had been refused
+permission to use railways in Austrian Tirol. German troops had been
+disarmed and robbed in Bohemia and even in Hungary. The German armies in
+the West were still fighting bravely, but even the ingeniously worded
+communiques of Great Headquarters could not conceal the fact that they
+were being steadily thrown back, with heavy loss of prisoners and guns.
+Rumors of serious revolts in the fleet were circulating from mouth to
+mouth and, after the manner of rumors, growing as they circulated. Even
+the monarchist, Conservative _Lokal-Anzeiger_ had to admit the gravity
+of the situation. On November 6th it declared that "a mighty stream" was
+rolling through the land, and every one who had eyes to see and ears to
+hear could perceive "whither this current is setting." It continued:
+
+    "New factors of great importance have increased the confusion:
+    the collapse of our allies, their complete submission to the
+    will of our enemies, the multiplication thereby of the military
+    dangers that surround us, and, not least, the catastrophic
+    dissolution of all order in Austria-Hungary. The blind
+    fanaticism of Bolshevism, which would with brutal force tear
+    down everything in its way and destroy in Germany as well every
+    remnant of authority, is planning now, in the very moment when
+    the final decision must be reached, to play into the hands of
+    our enemies through internal revolution. We will not at this
+    time discuss whether the authorities have done their complete
+    duty in putting down this movement, which everyone could see
+    growing. It is enough to say that the danger is here, and duty
+    demands that we stand together from left to right, from the top
+    to the bottom, to render these destroying elements harmless or,
+    if it be too late for that, to strike them to the ground.
+
+    "And another thing must be said. Just as the people's government
+    has undertaken to bring about a peace that does not destroy the
+    vital interests of the German people, * * * it must just as
+    energetically endeavor to protect us from internal collapse with
+    all the strength and all the authority which its constitution as
+    a people's government confers upon it. * * * When, as now, the
+    overthrow of all existing institutions is being preached, when
+    the people's government is disregarded and recourse is had to
+    force, the government must realize that there is but one thing
+    to do. The people, whose representatives the members of
+    government are, want concrete evidence that an insignificant
+    minority will not be permitted to trample upon the institutions
+    of state and society under whose protection we have heretofore
+    lived. * * * The German Empire is not yet ripe for the disciples
+    of Lenine and Trotzky."
+
+General von Hellingrath, Bavarian Minister of War, issued a proclamation
+calling on the people to preserve order and not to lose their confidence
+in the government. A report that Bavarian troops had been sent to the
+North Tirol to protect Bavaria's borders against possible aggression by
+Czechish and Jugo-Slavic troops of the former ally further depressed all
+Germans, and particularly the South Germans.
+
+The new government made an appeal to the people's reason. In a
+proclamation issued on November 4th and signed by Prince Max and all
+other members of the cabinet, including Scheidemann, it called attention
+to the parliamentary reforms already accomplished and summoned the
+people to give their fullest support to the government. These reforms
+were:
+
+    Equal franchise in Prussia; the formation of a government from
+    the majority parties of the Reichstag; the Chancellor and his
+    ministers could retain office only if they possessed the
+    confidence of the Reichstag and hence of the people;
+    declarations of war and conclusions of peace now required the
+    assent of the Reichstag; the military had been subordinated to
+    the civil authorities; a broad amnesty had been declared, and
+    the freedom of assemblage and of the press assured.
+
+"The alteration of Germany into a people's state, which shall not stand
+in the rear of any state in the world in respect of political freedom
+and social reforms, will be carried further with decision," said the
+proclamation.
+
+It was a very respectable array of real reforms that was thus set forth.
+If they had come a few months earlier the subsequent course of Germany's
+and the whole world's history would doubtless have been changed. But,
+unknown to the great mass of Germans except through wild rumor,
+revolution had already come and the German Empire was tottering to its
+fall.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER IX.
+
+                  A Revolt Which Became a Revolution.
+
+
+The elements that had long been working to bring about a revolution had
+for months been nearer their goal than even they themselves suspected,
+but they were nevertheless not ready for the final step when events,
+taking the bit into their teeth, ran away with the revolutionists along
+the very road which they had wanted to follow.
+
+It lies in the nature of the employment of those that go down to the sea
+in ships that they are more resolute and reckless than their
+shore-keeping brothers, and less amenable to discipline. They are also
+subject to certain cosmopolitan, international influences which do not
+further blind patriotism. Furthermore, the percentage of rude, violent
+and even criminally inclined men is proportionately higher afloat than
+ashore. The Russian revolution of 1905 started among the sailors in
+Cronstadt. The same men set the example in atrocities against officers
+in the Russian revolution of 1917. Sailors played a prominent part in
+the Portuguese revolution, and there are few fleets in the world without
+their history of rough deeds done by mutinous mariners.
+
+On October 28th there came an order from the Admiralty at Berlin that
+the fleet was to be prepared for a cruise into the North Sea. Just what
+this cruise was intended to accomplish is not clear. High naval officers
+have assured the writer that it was to have been primarily a
+reconnaissance, and that no naval battle was intended or desired. The
+report circulated among the crews, however, that a last desperate stand
+was to be made, in which the whole fleet would be sacrificed, but in
+which as great losses as possible were to be inflicted on the British
+Fleet. This was not at all to the liking of men demoralized by long
+idleness--an idleness, moreover, in which Bolshevist Satans had found
+much work for them to do.
+
+Just at this time, too, came a gruesome story which further unfavorably
+affected the crews' morale. A submarine cruiser, it was reported, had
+become entangled in a net, but had freed itself and reached port,
+dragging the net with it. When the net was pulled ashore, it was
+declared, three small U-boats were found fast in it, their crews dead of
+suffocation. The story was probably false, but it increased the men's
+opposition to the cruise ordered. They were also disquieted by the fact
+that large numbers of floating mines were being brought aboard the
+speedier cruisers.
+
+Rumblings of the coming storm were heard first on board the battleships
+_Thüringen_ and _Helgoland_, a part of whose crews flatly refused to
+obey orders to carry out the cruise ordered by the Admiralty. The mutiny
+was not general even aboard these ships, and it was quickly quelled. The
+embers, however, smouldered for three days and then burst into flame.
+
+Alone among the great revolutions of the world, the German revolution
+was the work of the humblest of the proletariat, unplanned and unguided
+by _bourgeois_ elements. It came from below not only in the figurative
+but also in the literal sense of the word, for it came from the very
+hold of a battleship. It was the stokers of the _Markgraf_ at Kiel who
+set rolling the stone which became the avalanche of revolution.
+
+The crews of the _Markgraf_ and of some of the other ships in the Kiel
+squadron demanded that the mines be taken ashore and the projected
+cruise abandoned. The officers refused their demands. Thereupon the
+stokers of the _Markgraf_ left the ship and went ashore. This was on
+Sunday morning, November 3d. The stokers were joined by members of other
+ships' crews ashore at the time, and a meeting was held. When the
+stokers returned to the _Markgraf_ they found her guarded by marines and
+they were not permitted to come aboard. They boarded another ship nearby
+and demanded their dinner. Messtime had passed while they were holding
+their meeting ashore, and their demand was refused. The stokers broke
+into the provision-rooms and helped themselves. Thereupon the mutineers,
+about one hundred and fifty in number, were arrested and taken to the
+military prison in the center of the city. All the small boats of the
+_Markgraf_ were taken ashore to prevent the rest of the crew from
+reaching land.
+
+When the arrest of the mutinous stokers became known aboard their
+battleship there was an outburst of indignation. The officers, in
+sending the boats ashore, had overlooked an old barge which lay
+alongside the ship. As many of the crew as the barge could carry
+clambered into it and rowed ashore, using boards as paddles. Then they
+sent the small boats back to bring ashore the rest of their comrades. At
+four o'clock in the afternoon practically the entire crew of the
+_Markgraf_ held a meeting on the large promenade and maneuver grounds
+near the harbor. A great many members of other ships' crews attended
+this meeting. Violent speeches were made and it was decided to demand
+the immediate release of the _Markgraf's_ stokers. Shortly before six
+o'clock the inflamed mob--it was already little else--went to the
+Waldwiese (city park), where a company of the First Marine Division was
+quartered. The mutineers demolished the barracks, released several men
+who were locked up for minor military offenses, and stole all the arms
+and ammunition in the place.
+
+An ordered procession then started toward the center of the city. It
+grew steadily in size as it went through accretions from sailors,
+marines and other members of war-vessels' crews, and also from the
+riotous and criminal elements common to all larger cities and especially
+to harbor-cities.
+
+The military authorities had meanwhile made preparations to deal with
+the mutineers. As early as four o'clock _erhöhte Alarmbereitschaft_
+(literally, "increased readiness to respond to an alarm") had been
+ordered. Buglers and drummers passed through the streets, proclaiming
+the order and warning against demonstrations.
+
+The mutineers' procession reached the central railway station about 7
+P.M., and proceeded, its numbers increasing steadily, through the
+Holsteinstrasse to the Market Place. It passed through the Dänische
+Strasse and Brunswigerstrasse toward Feldstrasse, in which was situated
+the military prison where the _Markgraf_ stokers were confined. The
+procession had by this time become a howling, whistling, singing mob,
+whose progress could be heard many blocks away. Passers-by were
+compelled to join the procession. The entrances to the Hospitalstrasse
+and to the Karlstrasse at the so-called _Hoffnung_, near the prison,
+were guarded by strong military forces, and the prison itself was
+protected by a machine-gun detachment. Firemen were also ready to turn
+their hoses on the mob.
+
+The procession reached the _Hoffnung_ and prepared to force its way into
+the Karlstrasse. The commander of the troops stationed there ordered the
+mob to halt. His order was disregarded. The troops fired a blind volley
+over the heads of the mutineers, who nevertheless forged steadily ahead.
+The next volley was poured into the ranks of the marchers. It was
+followed by shrieks of rage, by scattering shots from the mutineers and
+by some stone-throwing. There was a sharp conflict for two or three
+minutes, and then the mob, howling and cursing, scattered
+panic-stricken.[23] Eight of them lay dead on the street, and
+twenty-nine were wounded. The officer in command of the troops and one
+lieutenant were also fatally injured, the former by knife-thrusts and
+stones.
+
+[23] In all the clashes that marked the subsequent course of the
+    German revolution not one instance can be found where the
+    enemies of authority failed to run like sheep before loyal
+    troops and determined officers. The "martyrs of the
+    revolution" were mainly killed by stray bullets or overtaken
+    by bullets while they were running away.
+
+An hour later the street was quiet, and the night passed without further
+disturbances. The city was strongly patrolled, but otherwise there was
+nothing to indicate that the curtain had gone up on the world's greatest
+and most tragic revolution.
+
+The leaders of the mutineers spent most of Sunday night and Monday
+morning in conference. A Soldiers' Council was formed--the first in
+Germany. The military governor of Kiel issued a proclamation, calling
+upon the mutineers to formulate and present their demands. They
+complied. Their demands were: The release of all persons arrested for
+breach of discipline; recognition of the Soldiers' Council; abolishing
+of the duty to salute superiors;[24] officers and men to have the same
+rations; the proposed expedition of the fleet to be abandoned, and, in
+general, better treatment of the ships' crews. The governor accepted all
+these demands, and announcement was made to that effect by wireless to
+all ships in the Kiel squadron. The mutineers declared themselves
+satisfied, and promised to resume their duties, to obey orders and to
+preserve order in the city and board their ships.
+
+[24] It is difficult to understand why Socialists attach such
+    importance to this question. It will be remembered that the
+    very first decree issued by Kerensky was his famous (and
+    fatal) "Prikaz No. 1," abolishing the salute. The Socialists,
+    it is true, hate authority as embodied in a state, yet they
+    voluntarily submit to a party authority quite as rigid as
+    that of Prussian militarism.
+
+In circumstances at all approaching the normal this would have marked
+the end of the revolt. But all the circumstances were abnormal. The men
+of the navy had, indeed, suffered fewer actual privations and hardships
+than those of the land forces, but even they had been underfed. Their
+families, in common with all Germans at home, had endured bitter want,
+and had written thousands of complaining letters to their relatives
+afloat.[25] The Socialist contagion--particularly of the Independent
+brand--had affected wide circles among sailors and marines. Indeed, the
+chief field of operations of the Rühles, Haases, Cohns and their Russian
+helpers had been the navy, where idle hands invited the finding of
+mischief for them to do. The morale of the members of the navy had also,
+in common with the morale of the land troops and of the whole German
+people, been badly shaken by the reverses that began in July, 1918, and
+by the desertion of Germany by her allies.
+
+[25] Complaining letters from home to the men in the trenches
+    were early recognized by the authorities as a source of
+    danger for the spirit of the troops.
+
+In addition to and above all this there were two fatal factors:
+authority, the corner stone of all civilized governments, had been
+shaken, and the mutineers had learned their own strength. If horses were
+sentient beings with means of communicating their thoughts, and if all
+the horses of a certain community suddenly discovered that they were
+really immeasurably stronger than their masters, it would require no
+great effort of imagination to realize that few horses in that community
+would thereafter suffer themselves to be harnessed. The only ones that
+would submit would be a small number of especially intelligent animals
+who could look ahead to the winter, with deep snow covering the
+pastures, with no straw-bedded stalls and walls set up against the cold
+winds.
+
+So it was in Kiel. The mutineers had made their first kill; they had
+tasted blood. From all the ships of the squadron they streamed into the
+city. Patrols, established to maintain order, began going over to the
+revolting seamen. The mutineers secured more arms and ammunition from
+the barracks at the shipyards and the soldiers stationed there joined
+them. In the afternoon (Monday) the mutineers joined for a giant
+demonstration. A procession numbering possibly twenty thousand sailors,
+marines and soldiers, with a band at the head, marched to the different
+civil and military prisons and lockups and released the prisoners, who
+joined the procession. The civil and military authorities of Kiel,
+gravely disquieted, had meanwhile communicated with the government at
+Berlin and asked for help. The government replied that it would send
+Conrad Haussmann and Gustav Noske. Haussmann, who had for many years
+been one of the leaders of the Clerical (Catholic) party in the
+Reichstag, was a member of Prince Max's cabinet. He was chosen as the
+government's official representative. Noske, who was later to
+demonstrate himself to be one of the few really able and forceful men of
+Germany, had been for some years a member of the Reichstag as Majority
+Socialist. A woodworker by trade, he had as a youth lifted himself out
+of the ruck of his party by energy, ambition, hard work and
+straightforwardness. He became a party secretary and later editor of a
+Socialist paper in Chemnitz.[26] Although not so widely known as many
+other Socialist leaders in the Reichstag, he nevertheless played a
+prominent part in his party's councils and was highly regarded and
+respected. He enjoyed also a wide popularity among members of the fleet,
+and it was confidently expected that he would be able to calm the unruly
+troublemakers and restore order.
+
+[26] The typical career of a German Socialist leader. It is not
+    far afield to estimate that seven of every ten of the
+    Socialist leaders and government officials in Germany have
+    been or still are members of the editorial staffs of
+    Socialist newspapers or magazines. Most of the others are
+    lawyers; proletarians who earn their bread by the actual
+    sweat of their brows are rare in the party leadership.
+
+Haussmann and Noske reached Kiel late Monday afternoon. The parading
+mutineers met them at the station. Noske, speaking from the top of an
+automobile, addressed the crowd, appealing to their patriotism and to
+the German instinct for orderly procedure. Their main demands, he
+pointed out, had already been granted. The government, representing all
+parties of the empire, promised that all grievances should be heard and
+redressed. The speech appeared to have some effect. Isolated
+demonstrations took place until into the evening, but there were no
+serious clashes anywhere.
+
+The situation seemed somewhat more hopeful. The leaders on both sides
+either could not or did not realize what powerful and pernicious
+influences were working against them. The Governor felt his hand
+strengthened by the presence of Haussmann, the Minister; the Workmen's
+and Soldiers' Council was both calmed and encouraged by the presence of
+Noske, the party leader. The members of the council and the men
+representing the Kiel government began a joint session in the evening.
+Four delegates of the Social-Democratic party of Kiel also attended the
+conference, although their party had already, at a meeting a few hours
+earlier, virtually decided to order a general sympathy strike.
+
+The deliberations of the conference showed that the situation had
+suddenly assumed the aspect of a strike, a mere labor and party
+question. The soldier and sailor delegates left the debate largely to
+the party leaders. Both sides, government and strikers alike, showed
+themselves honestly desirous of finding a peaceful settlement. The
+difficulties proved, however, to be very great. At 1:00 A.M., on
+Tuesday, the conference took a recess. Noske telegraphed to Berlin:
+"Situation serious. Send me another man." But despite all difficulties
+both sides were hopeful.
+
+Of the many thousands of mutineers, however, there were many who were
+not disposed to await an orderly adjustment of the situation. Already
+potential masters of the squadron, they set about transmuting
+potentiality into actuality. On one ship after another the red flag of
+sedition, the emblem of the negation of loyalty to native land, replaced
+the proud imperial standard. It is an amazing thing that in all Germany
+not a dozen of the thousands of officers whose forefathers had for two
+centuries enjoyed the privileges of an exclusive and loyal caste gave
+their lives for their King in an effort to oppose revolt and revolution.
+At Kiel, and later at Hamburg, Swinemünde, Berlin--in fact,
+everywhere--the mutineers and revolutionaries met no resistance from the
+very men of whom one might have expected that they would die, even in a
+forlorn cause, in obedience to the old principle of _noblesse oblige_.
+At Kiel there were but three of this heroic mold. These men, whose names
+deserve to be remembered and honored wherever bravery and loyalty are
+prized, were Commander Weniger, Captain Heinemann and Lieutenant Zenker
+of the battleship _König_, who were shot down as, revolver in hand, they
+defended the imperial standard and killed several of the men who were
+trying to replace it with the red rag of revolution. Captain Heine,
+commandant of the city of Kiel, was shot down in the hallway of his home
+Tuesday evening by sailors who had come to arrest him. These four men
+were the only officers deliberately shot in Kiel, except the two fatally
+wounded in Sunday night's fighting at the military prison.
+
+Admiral Krafft, commander of the Kiel squadron, finally decided to leave
+port with his ships. But it was too late. Some of the ships had to be
+left behind, for the mutineers, coming alongside in small
+fishing-steamers and other craft, had compelled the loyal remnants of
+the crews to refuse to obey the order to accompany the squadron. Even on
+the ships least affected by the mutiny, hundreds of the crews refused to
+come aboard. Word of the revolt had moreover reached other coast cities,
+and when the ships reached Lübeck, Flensburg, Swinemünde and other
+ports, it proved impossible to keep the missionaries of mutiny ashore
+and on shipboard from communicating with each other. Thus the contagion
+was spread further.
+
+Tuesday was a day of tense excitement at Kiel. There was some shooting,
+due--as was also the case later in Berlin--to false reports that
+officers had fired from houses on the mutineers. The streets were filled
+with automobiles carrying red flags, and red flags began to appear over
+various buildings. Noske, feverishly active, devoting all his iron
+energy to restoring order and finding a peaceful solution of the revolt,
+conferred continuously with representatives of the city government, with
+military and naval authorities and with the strikers. The movement still
+had outwardly only the aspect of a strike, serious indeed, but still a
+strike. He succeeded in having countermanded an order bringing troops to
+the city. Despite this, the suspicious mutineers compelled the Governor
+to go with them to the railway station in order to send the troops back
+if it should prove that the counterorder had not reached them in time.
+At the request of the mutineers--who treated the Governor with all
+courtesy--he remained at the station until the troop train arrived
+empty.
+
+The situation on Tuesday was adversely affected by the flight of Prince
+Heinrich, brother of the Kaiser. He was not unpopular with the men of
+the navy and he was never even remotely in danger. Yet he fled from Kiel
+in an automobile and, fleeing, destroyed the remnant of authority which
+his government still enjoyed. The flight itself rendered the strikers
+nervous, and the fact that the death of a marine, who was shot while
+standing on the step of the Prince's automobile, was at first ascribed
+to him, enraged the mutineers and was a further big factor in rendering
+nugatory the efforts of Noske and all others who were honestly striving
+to find a way out of the situation. Autopsy showed that the marine had
+been shot in the back by one of the bullets fired after the fleeing
+automobile by the victim's own comrades. This disclosure, however, came
+a day later, and then it was too late to undo the mischief caused by the
+first report.
+
+A "non-resistance" order, the first one of many that helped make the
+revolution possible, was also issued on Tuesday by the military
+authorities. Officers were commanded not to use force against the
+strikers. "Only mutual understanding of the demands of the moment can
+restore orderly conditions," said the decree.
+
+Wednesday, the fourth day of the revolt at Kiel, was the critical and,
+as it proved, the decisive day. When night came the mutineers were
+crowned with victory, and the forces of orderly government had lost the
+day. And yet, strangely enough, neither side realized this. The strikers
+believed themselves isolated in the corner of an undisturbed empire. The
+more conservative among them began to consider their situation in a
+different light. There was an undercurrent of feeling that no help could
+be looked for from other quarters and that a reconciliation with the
+authorities should be sought. Noske shared this feeling. Speaking to the
+striker's delegates late on Wednesday evening, he advised them to
+compromise. Seek an agreement with the government, he said in effect.
+The government is ready and even eager to reach a fair compromise. We
+stand alone, isolated.
+
+Neither Noske nor the bulk of the mutineers yet knew what had been going
+on elsewhere in northwestern Germany. The Independent Socialist and
+Spartacan plotters for revolution at Berlin saw in the Kiel events the
+opportunity for which they had been waiting for more than three years,
+and they struck promptly. Haase and some of his followers went
+immediately to Hamburg, and other revolutionary agents proceeded to the
+other coast cities to incite strikes and revolts. The ground had been so
+well prepared that their efforts were everywhere speedily successful. In
+the few cities where the people were not already ripe for revolution,
+the supineness of the authorities made the revolutionaries' task a light
+one. Leaders of the Kiel mutineers met the Berlin agitators in different
+cities and coöperated with them.
+
+The procedure was everywhere the same. Workmen's and soldiers' councils
+were formed, policemen and loyal troops were disarmed and the city
+government was taken over by the soviets. By Thursday evening soviet
+governments had been established in Hamburg, Cuxhaven, Wilhelmshaven,
+Bremen, Hanover, Rostock, Oldenburg and other places. The soviets in
+virtually all these places were controlled by Independent
+Socialists--even then only a slight remove from Bolsheviki--and their
+spirit was hostile not alone to the existing government, but equally to
+the Majority Socialists. At Hamburg, for instance, the Workmen's and
+Soldiers' Council, which had forcibly taken over the Majority Socialist
+organ _Hamburger Echo_ and rechristened it _Die rote Fahne_, published a
+proclamation forbidding the press to take any notice whatever of
+proclamations issued by the Majority Socialists or the leaders of
+trade-unions. The proclamation declared that "these elements will be
+permitted to coöperate in the government, but they will not be permitted
+to present any demands." Any attempt to interfere with the soviet was
+declared to be counter-revolutionary, and it was threatened that such
+attempts would "be met with the severest repressive measures."
+
+The revolution at Hamburg was marked by much shooting and general
+looting. A semblance of order was restored on November 8th, but it was
+order only by comparison with the preceding day, and life and property
+were for many days unsafe in the presence of the vicious elements in
+control of the city. Prisoners were promiscuously released. Russian
+prisoners of war, proudly bearing red ribbons and flags, marched with
+their "brothers" in the demonstrations. A detachment of marines went to
+Harburg, near by, and liberated all the prisoners confined in the jail
+there.
+
+The cowardice, supineness and lack of decision of the authorities
+generally have already been referred to. A striking and characteristic
+illustration is furnished by the story of the revolution at Swinemünde,
+on the Baltic Sea. Two warships, the _Dresden_ and _Augsburg_, were in
+the harbor when news came of the Kiel mutiny. The admiral was Count
+Schwerin and one of his officers was Prince Adalbert, the sailor-son of
+the Kaiser. The crews of the ships were loyal, and the Prince was
+especially popular with them. The garrison at Swinemünde was composed of
+fifteen hundred coast artillerists and some three hundred marines. The
+artillerists were all men of the better class, technically educated and
+thoroughly loyal. At a word from their commanding-officer they would
+have blown any mutinous ship out of the water with their heavy coast
+guns. And yet Admiral Count Schwerin and Prince Adalbert donned civilian
+clothing and took refuge with civilian friends ashore.
+
+Thirty-six submarines arrived at five o'clock in the afternoon, but left
+two hours later because there was no food to be had at Swinemünde. The
+coast artillerists begged to be allowed to wipe out the mutineers. The
+mayor of Swinemünde protested. Shells from the sea, he said, might fall
+into the city and damage it. And so, under the guns of loyal men, the
+sailors looted the ships completely during the evening and night.
+
+A committee of three marines called on Major Grunewald, commander of the
+fortress, and insolently ordered him to direct the garrison to appoint a
+soldiers' council. The artillerists were dumfounded when the major
+complied. The council appointed consisted of three marines, one
+artillerist and one infantryman, of whom there were about a hundred in
+the garrison. One of the members was an officer, Major Grunewald having
+been ordered to direct the appointment of one. When the council had been
+formed the troops were drawn up to listen to a speech by a sergeant of
+marines. The major, his head bared, listened obediently.
+
+"We are the masters here now," said the sergeant. "It is ours to
+command, yours to obey. The salute is abolished. When we meet a decent
+officer we may possibly say 'good day, major,' to him, but when we meet
+some little runt (_Schnösel_) of a lieutenant we shan't recognize him.
+The officers may now go to their quarters. We don't need them. If we
+should need them later we shall tell them."[27]
+
+[27] The flight of Prince Heinrich and later of the Kaiser made a
+    painful impression in Germany, especially among Germans of
+    the better class, and did much to alienate sympathy from
+    them. It had been thought that, whatever other faults the
+    Hohenzollerns might possess, they were at least not cowards.
+    The flight of Prince Adalbert is even today not generally
+    known.
+
+The government at Berlin and the Majority Socialists endeavored, even
+after the events already recorded, to stem the tide, or at least to
+lead the movement into more orderly channels. Stolten and Quarck,
+Socialist Reichstag deputies, and Blunck, Progressive deputy, and
+Stubbe and Schumann, Socialists, representing the executive committee
+of the central labor federation, went to Hamburg. But Haase, Ledebour
+and the other agitators had done their work too well. Thursday morning
+brought the reports of the successes of the uprisings to the mutineers
+at Kiel, who were on the point of returning to their ships. A
+Workmen's and Soldiers' Council was formed for the whole province of
+Schleswig-Holstein. The revolt had already become revolution. The
+revolutionaries seized the railway running from Hamburg to Berlin, and
+also took charge of telephonic and telegraphic communication. Their
+emissaries started for Berlin.
+
+It has been set forth in a previous chapter that the promise of
+President Wilson to give the Germans a just peace on the basis of his
+fourteen points and the supplementary points, and his declaration that
+the war was against a system and not against the German people
+themselves had played a very considerable part in making the revolution
+possible. This appears clearly in the report of the events at Bremen. On
+November 7th a procession, estimated at thirty thousand persons, passed
+through the city and halted at the market place. A number of speeches
+were made. One of the chief speakers, a soldier, reminded his hearers
+that Wilson had said that a peace of justice was possible for the
+Germans only if they would take the government into their own hands.
+This had now been done, and nobody could reproach the revolutionaries
+with being unpatriotic, since their acts had made a just peace possible.
+
+A similar address was made at a meeting of the revolutionaries in
+Hanover, where the speaker told his hearers that the salvation of
+Germany depended upon their loyal support of the revolution, which had
+placed all power in the hands of the people and fulfilled the conditions
+precedent entitling them to such a peace as the President had promised
+them.
+
+At the request of the government Noske assumed the post of Governor of
+Kiel. Order was restored. The relations between the mutineers and their
+former officers were strikingly good. The spirit of the Majority
+Socialists prevailed. Not until the Berlin revolution had put the seal
+upon their work did the mutineers of Kiel realize that it was they who
+had started the revolution.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER X.
+
+                     The Revolution Reaches Berlin.
+
+
+The first news of the Kiel revolt reached Berlin on November 5th, when
+the morning papers published a half-column article giving a fairly
+accurate story of the happenings of Sunday, November 3d. The report
+ended:
+
+    "By eight o'clock the street" (Karlstrasse, where the firing
+    occurred) "was clear. Only a few pools of blood and numerous
+    shattered windows in the nearby buildings gave evidence that
+    there had been sad happenings here. The late evening and the
+    night were quiet. Excited groups stood about the street corners
+    until midnight, but they remained passive. Reinforced patrols
+    passed through the city, which otherwise appeared as usual. All
+    public places are open and the performances in the theaters were
+    not interrupted."
+
+The papers of the following day announced that "official reports
+concerning the further course of events in Kiel and other cities in
+North Germany had not been made public here up to noon. We are thus for
+the moment unable to give a report concerning them."
+
+This was but half the truth. The capital was already filled with
+reports, and the government was by this time fully informed of what was
+going on. Rumors and travelers' tales passed from mouth to mouth, but
+even yet the movement was not considered directly revolutionary, nor,
+indeed, was it revolutionary, although it became so within the next
+twenty-four hours. The executive committee of the German Federation of
+Labor published a declaration regarding "the recent spreading of
+anonymous handbills summoning laborers to strikes and disorders for
+political ends." It was also reported by the press that Kurt Eisner, who
+had been released from prison by the October amnesty, had made a violent
+revolutionary speech at a meeting of the Independent Socialists in
+Munich. A further significant newspaper item complained of the
+distribution in Germany of vast quantities of revolutionary literature
+printed in Sweden and Denmark and smuggled across the Danish border.
+
+Joffe, convicted of abusing his privileges as a diplomat and of lying,
+had been escorted to a special train, together with his staff, and
+headed for Russia. With him went the Berlin representatives of the Rosta
+Telegraph Agency. But it was too late. Not only had the mischief already
+been done, but the loyalist Germans had also been disgusted with the
+government's timorous failure to grasp this nettle earlier and the
+Independent Socialists and their Spartacan soul-brothers were still
+further enraged, if possible, by the expulsion and the manner in which
+it was carried out.
+
+It is doubtful whether the government even yet realized that it had an
+embryo revolution to deal with. A more homogeneous government, composed
+of men with executive as well as legislative experience, would have
+realized it, but homogeneity and executive experience were sadly lacking
+in this cabinet. It is significant that the experienced men at the head
+of the political police had already begun preparations to crush any
+uprising and had burned certain archives which they did not desire to
+have fall into the hands of revolutionary elements. The government was
+also embarrassed by the uncertain attitude of the Majority Socialists.
+Ostensibly these did not desire the overthrow of the monarchy, but
+merely of the Kaiser; Scheidemann had declared in so many words that his
+party, despite the fact that it had always striven for an eventual
+republic, was willing to wait for such a development and was for the
+present not opposed to the maintaining of a constitutional monarchy. As
+late as November 8th Scheidemann told von Payer that the Socialists did
+not insist on the abolition of the monarchy.
+
+There were even Socialists who did not desire the Kaiser's abdication.
+Herr Marum, a Socialist member of the Baden Diet, in a speech at the end
+of October, had warned his hearers that any attempt to depose the Kaiser
+would bring chaos and imperil the state. He declared that the
+overwhelming majority of Germans were still monarchists, and although
+the Socialists were advocates of a republic, that question was now
+subordinate. The Kaiser, said Marum, had, in common with all Germans,
+learned much, and it would be a great risk to try to force a republic
+upon an unwilling majority. Dr. Dietz, a Socialist city councillor,
+seconded Marum, and expressed indignation at any efforts to make a
+scapegoat of the Kaiser.
+
+The Wednesday evening papers published a note from Lansing, wherein it
+was stated that the allied nations accepted Wilson's fourteen points of
+January 8, 1918, and the supplementary points enunciated in the Mount
+Vernon speech, except that relating to the freedom of the seas. The
+German delegation "for the conclusion of an armistice and to begin peace
+negotiations" left Berlin for the west. It was composed of General von
+Gündell, General von Winterfeldt, Admiral Meurer and Admiral von Hintze.
+
+Thursday, November 7th, brought more reassuring news from Kiel. The
+official Wolff Bureau reported:
+
+    "The military protection of the Baltic by the marine is
+    completely reëstablished. All departing warships carry the
+    war-flag. The movement among the sailors and workmen has taken a
+    quieter course. The soldiers of the garrison are endeavoring to
+    take measures against violations of order. A gradual general
+    surrender of weapons is proceeding. Private houses and business
+    places, as well as lazarets and hospitals, are unmolested.
+    Nearly all banks are doing business. The provisioning in the
+    barracks and on the ships is being carried out in the usual
+    manner. The furnishing of provisions to the civilian population
+    has not been interfered with. The strike at the factories
+    continues. The people are quiet."
+
+Reports from other coast cities were less favorable. Wolff reported:
+
+    "In Hamburg there is a strike in the factories. Breaches of
+    discipline and violent excesses have occurred. The same is
+    reported from Lübeck. Except for excesses in certain works,
+    private property has not been damaged nor touched. The
+    population is in no danger."
+
+Chancellor Prince Max issued a proclamation, declaring that Germany's
+enemies had accepted Wilson's program, except as to the freedom of the
+seas. "This," he said, "forms the necessary preliminary condition for
+peace negotiations and at the same time for armistice negotiations." He
+declared that a delegation had already been sent to the west front, but
+"the successful conduct of negotiations is gravely jeopardized by
+disturbances and undisciplined conduct." The Chancellor recalled the
+privations endured by the people for more than four years and appealed
+to them to hold out a little longer and maintain order.
+
+The situation was, however, already lost. If Scheidemann, Ebert and
+their fellow members in the central committee of the Majority Socialist
+organization had had their followers in hand the revolution could
+probably still have been prevented, or at least transformed into an
+orderly dethroning of the Kaiser and institution of parliamentary
+reforms. But they did not have them in hand, and the result was that
+_Vorwärts_, the party's central organ, published in its morning issue a
+further demand for the Kaiser's abdication. _Vorwärts_ declared that his
+sufferings could not be compared to those of most German fathers and
+that the sacrifice he was called upon to make was comparatively small.
+The appearance of this article was followed a few hours later by an
+ultimatum to the government, demanding that the Kaiser abdicate within
+twenty-four hours and declaring that if he failed to do so, the
+Socialists would withdraw from the government. It is probable that
+Scheidemann, Ebert and some of the other leaders of the party presented
+the ultimatum with reluctance, realizing what it would involve, but they
+were helpless in the face of the sentiment of the mass of their party
+and of the attitude of the Independent Socialists.
+
+The attitude of the Kaiser toward abdication was already known to them.
+Following Scheidemann's demand a week earlier, Dr. Drews, the Minister
+of the Interior, had submitted the demand to the Kaiser. Scheidemann had
+declared that, if the Kaiser did not abdicate, the Independent
+Socialists would demand the introduction of a republic, in which case
+the Majority Socialists would be compelled to make common cause with
+them. The Kaiser, doubtless still convinced of the loyalty of the
+troops, was not moved by Drews's report. He declared that his abdication
+would mean complete anarchy and the delivering of Germany into the hands
+of the Bolsheviki. He could not accept the responsibility for such a
+step. That Scheidemann and Ebert, although they were cognizant of the
+Kaiser's attitude, consented to Thursday's ultimatum gives color to a
+report that informal negotiations had in the meantime been carried on
+between them and certain Independent leaders.[28]
+
+[28] These negotiations had nothing to do with a revolution as
+    such, nor with the formation of soviets. It must be
+    emphasized that the Majority Socialists still had no part in
+    these plans and were themselves surprised by the events of
+    Friday evening and Saturday.
+
+Revolution was now fairly on the march. The Independent Socialists and
+Liebknecht's Spartacans were already endeavoring to form a Workmen's and
+Soldiers' Council for Greater Berlin. General von Linsingen, commander
+in the Marches, made a last desperate attempt to forbid the revolution
+by issuing the following decree:
+
+    "In certain quarters there exists the purpose to form Workmen's
+    and Soldiers' Councils after the Russian pattern, in disregard
+    of the provisions of the laws.
+
+    "Institutions of this kind conflict with the existing state
+    order and endanger the public safety.
+
+    "Under paragraph 9b of the law regarding a state of siege I
+    forbid any formation of such associations and the participation
+    therein."
+
+This was the last order issued by the military authorities in Berlin. A
+counterpiece was the last anti-revolutionary order issued by the old
+police authorities, which forbade eight mass meetings which the
+Independent Socialists proposed to hold Thursday evening, with "The
+Anniversary of the Russian Revolution" as their theme. The police order,
+however, was enforced.
+
+The first revolutionary emissaries reached Berlin Thursday evening, in
+the form of various detachments of armed marines from Hamburg. The
+military authorities, more resolute than those in the provincial cities,
+sent troops to the railway station to receive them. The marines suffered
+themselves to be disarmed and went without resistance to barracks, with
+the exception of one detachment of about two hundred and fifty men, of
+whom all but some seventy escaped into the streets with their weapons.
+These men formed the nucleus of the revolution in Berlin.
+
+Berlin was still without any but the most meager news of the
+revolution Friday. The papers complained of an even more
+narrow-minded and arbitrary censorship by the new government than
+that under the old régime. The press was on the whole restricted
+to printing official reports, although some of them added a few
+paragraphs of explanatory comment. An inspired report that the
+excesses in the northwest bore no political character was contradicted
+by the _Vorwärts_, which declared that they had a "liberty seeking
+socialistic character everywhere." Unimportant disturbances took place
+during the day in Rosenthalerstrasse, in the old city, and a few arrests
+were made, but the day passed quietly on the whole.
+
+Crowds stood in front of the bulletin boards of the various newspapers
+all day, waiting for news from Grand Headquarters. Would the Kaiser
+abdicate? The term of the Socialist ultimatum expired. Scheidemann gave
+notice that the party would wait another twenty-four hours, and a few
+hours later the term was extended until after the decision regarding the
+armistice, the terms of which were expected to reach Berlin on Saturday.
+
+The government, weak, irresolute, inexperienced, faced a situation which
+would have confounded stronger men. A day earlier they had consented to
+summon from Kiel and Hamburg about a thousand marines who were supposed
+to be devoted to Noske. This attempt to cast out the Devil with
+Beelzebub indicates in some degree the desperateness of the situation.
+More troops were brought to the capital on Friday. They were the
+Naumburg _Jäger_ (sharpshooters) and the Lübben _Jäger_, excellent
+troops, who had been in the Finland contingent, had distinguished
+themselves by patriotic daring and exemplary discipline, and who were
+considered absolutely reliable. These men, about four thousand in all,
+were in part quartered in different large restaurants and in part in the
+barracks of the Alexander Regiment. It was in these barracks that
+(ironic coincidence!) Kaiser Wilhelm made his well-known speech on March
+28, 1901, in which he asserted his confidence that, if the Berliners
+should again become "insolent and disobedient" (_frech und unbotmässig_)
+as in 1848, his troops would know how to protect their imperial master.
+In all there were perhaps twenty thousand soldiers in Berlin at this
+time, including several regiments of the Prussian Guard.
+
+Throughout Thursday and Friday the Independent Socialists were
+feverishly active. Liebknecht, "Red Rosa" Luxemburg and other Spartacans
+joined the Independent agitators in revolutionary propaganda among the
+soldiers and in making preparations for the final coup. The police,
+loyal and alert to the last, arrested Däumig on a charge of high treason
+and closed the central bureau of the Independent Socialist party. Again
+too late! There were plenty left to carry on the work. The Majority
+Socialists, or at least their leaders, knew in a general way of the
+activities of these revolutionary forces, but they were still ignorant
+of the details.
+
+Prince Max telegraphed the Kaiser, offering to resign. The Kaiser asked
+him to remain in office for the time being at least.
+
+Friday night the Berlin Workmen's and Soldiers' Council was organized at
+a meeting summoned by Barth, Haase and other Independents. In addition
+to the Independents and Spartacans at the meeting, there were a number
+of more or less well-known men who had not theretofore been identified
+with these parties. One of them, a man who was to play a prominent rôle
+in the events of Saturday, the day of the real revolution, was
+Lieutenant Colin Ross, a prominent journalist and war correspondent.
+Another was Captain von Beerfelde. It was von Beerfelde who, at that
+time a member of the General Staff, betrayed a friend's confidence by
+making public the Lichnowsky memorandum. This resulted, quite naturally,
+in his arrest and imprisonment. The government could not have acted
+otherwise, but there is no doubt that von Beerfelde was subjected to
+unnecessary indignities during his arrest, and these, in connection with
+the arrest itself, transformed the somewhat unbalanced and egotistic man
+into a bitter enemy of all existing institutions. The General Staff was
+further represented at Friday night's meeting by First Lieutenant
+Tibertius, a man of no particular prominence or importance, who came to
+the meeting in company with the Independent leaders. Barth had bought
+some sixteen hundred revolvers with money given him by Joffe, and these
+were distributed at the meeting and outside, to soldiers and civilians
+alike. Barth presided at the meeting, which was held in the Reichstag
+chamber.
+
+The Majority Socialists now saw the hopelessness of keeping apart from
+the movement. They declared their solidarity with the Independents, and,
+in the few hours that remained, set about trying to save whatever could
+be saved out of the wreck which was plainly coming.
+
+Friday night, despite these occurrences, passed quietly. The streets
+were unusually crowded until after midnight, but it was mainly a curious
+crowd, awaiting further news, particularly of the Kaiser's expected
+abdication. The royal palace was strongly cordoned by steel-helmeted
+troops, a searchlight played from the tower of the city hall and the
+streets of the old city were well patrolled by troops and policemen. The
+police chiefs of various municipalities of Greater Berlin conferred with
+General von Linsingen on ways and means of meeting eventual
+disturbances. They decided that further military forces were not needed.
+
+Saturday, revolution day, dawned with the great mass of the inhabitants
+still ignorant of the events of the preceding days. The coming events
+nevertheless cast their shadows before. The morning papers reported that
+the Kaiser's son-in-law, Duke Ernest August of Brunswick, had abdicated
+after an eleventh-hour attempt to stem the tide by a decree for
+franchise reform. It was also evident that the Kaiser must go, for the
+Clericals, National Liberals and Progressives in the government
+permitted it to be reported that, while they were still supporters of a
+monarchical form of government, they had, in view of the extraordinary
+circumstances, decided that personal considerations must be disregarded.
+
+The Wolff Bureau was forced to admit that the revolt that started at
+Kiel had extended to many other places in the Empire. The report said:
+
+    "A certain carefully planned procedure is now disclosing itself.
+    Everywhere the same picture: from the chief centers, Kiel and
+    Hamburg, trains carrying armed marines and agitators are being
+    sent out into the country. These men endeavor to seize the
+    centers of communication and abolish the military commands. They
+    then attach to themselves criminal elements, among whom there
+    are great numbers of deserters, and endeavor to corrupt the
+    troops by representing to them that it is not a question of a
+    revolutionary movement, but one to secure military reforms. The
+    attempt has been successful with many troops, but it has met
+    energetic resistance from others. The whole movement plainly
+    proceeds from Russia, and it is proved that the former members
+    of the Berlin representation of the Soviet republic have
+    coöperated in it. As the Russian Government has itself admitted,
+    it hopes by this means to cause Bolshevist ideas to spring into
+    new life here in Germany and thereafter in all Europe."
+
+This was the first open admission that the Kiel revolt had developed
+into a revolution. The newspapers were permitted also to publish reports
+from various water-front cities, showing that the Workmen's and
+Soldiers' Councils were in power in Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck, Kiel and
+other places, and that these councils "are in charge of the government
+in nearly all garrisons in the province of Holstein." They were also
+permitted to report the proclamation of the republic in Bavaria, and the
+complete text of Kurt Eisner's bombastic address to the people. It was
+reported from Frankfort-on-Main that General von Studnitz, commander in
+that city, had ordered all garrisons there to hold meetings on Friday
+evening for the formation of soldiers' councils. This action followed
+representations from Frankfort's Majority Socialists, acting in concert
+with the Progressives.
+
+Nowhere, however, was any mention made of Friday night's events in
+Berlin itself. The papers published articles couched in general terms,
+warning all citizens to preserve order, and reminding them that the
+city's provisioning would be gravely disturbed by disorders. In fact,
+the daily supply of milk had already dropped ninety thousand liters as a
+result of the "sudden interruption of railway traffic."
+
+The Majority Socialists had summoned a meeting for the early morning of
+Saturday in the Reichstag building. They had been in session only a
+short time when the news came that a large parade of workingmen was
+proceeding down the Chausseestrasse. This was about 9:00 A.M. The parade
+was largely made up of employees from the Schwartzkopff works, which had
+been for two years a hotbed of discontent, of radical socialism and
+Bolshevism. The marchers entered the barracks of the Fusilier
+Guards--known in Berlin and North Germany generally as the
+_Maikäfer_--and demanded that the soldiers surrender their weapons. A
+captain, the first officer encountered, shot down four of the rioters
+before he was himself killed. He was the only officer in Berlin rash,
+brave and loyal enough to give his life deliberately for his monarch and
+for the old system. The soldiers then meekly surrendered their rifles
+and the parade moved on, reinforced in every street with deserters,
+criminals, hooligans and other undesirable elements such as are to be
+found in all large cities.
+
+The Majority Socialists realized that their only hope was to try to lead
+the movement and direct it into comparatively orderly channels. They
+appointed Scheidemann, Ebert and David to confer with the Independent
+Socialist delegates Dittmann, Vogtherr and Ledebour, regarding the
+organization of a new government.
+
+Further reports came of street demonstrations. Bloodshed appeared
+imminent. Colin Ross went to the palace of the Chancellor and found
+Prince Max. The Prince was nervous and all but entirely unstrung. Ross
+told him the Majority Socialists had decided that there must be no
+firing on the people, and asked him to issue an order to that effect.
+Max said he would do so. Ross thereupon went to Minister of War Scheuch
+and told him that the Chancellor had ordered that the troops should not
+fire on the citizens. The order was communicated to the various
+garrisons and also to police headquarters.
+
+What would have occurred if this order had not been issued is a matter
+of conjecture. Assuredly there would have been bloodshed. Quite apart
+from the question of the reliability or unreliability of the troops
+there were the Berlin police to deal with. Their ranks had been thinned
+by calls to the front, but those still on duty were no inconsiderable
+factor. The force was made up entirely of veteran non-commissioned
+officers, who must have served twelve years in the army. They were,
+moreover, like all great city police forces, picked men, above the
+average physically, and far above the average in bravery, resoluteness
+and loyalty. Only a negligible number of them had been perverted by red
+doctrines, and they were well armed and fully prepared for the day's
+events. High police officials assured the author that they could have
+put down the revolution in its very beginnings if the order had not come
+forbidding them to offer resistance.
+
+Viewed in the light of subsequent events, this statement must be
+rejected. The police could and would have put up a brave battle, but
+there were too few of them for one thing, and for another, the
+revolution had too great momentum to be stopped by any force available
+to the authorities. One military defection had already occurred when
+Saturday dawned. A corporal of the Naumburg _Jäger_, who were quartered
+in the Alexander barracks, had been arrested for making an incendiary
+speech to some comrades, and when the troops were alarmed at 3:00 A.M.
+and ordered to be ready to go into action they refused to obey. Major
+Ott, commander of the battalion directly affected, came and told the men
+that the Kaiser had already abdicated. They sent a delegation to the
+_Vorwärts_, where they learned that the major's statement was not true.
+The delegation thereupon announced that the battalion would place itself
+on the side of the workingmen. The Kaiser Alexander Guards followed the
+_Jäger's_ example.
+
+There were some good troops in Berlin--such as the _Jäger_ already
+mentioned--but the great majority of the men were by no means of the
+highest standard. The best troops were naturally at the front, and those
+at home were in large part made up of men who had been away from the
+firing-line for some weeks or even longer, and who had been subjected to
+a violent campaign of what the Socialists call _Aufklärung_, literally,
+clearing up, or enlightenment. The word is generally used as part of a
+phrase, _Aufklärung im sozial-demokratischen Sinne_, that is,
+"enlightenment in the social-democratic sense." The great majority of
+any army is made up of men who work with their hands. A great part of
+the others consists of small shopkeepers, clerks and others whose
+associations in civilian life are mainly with the workingmen. An appeal
+not to shoot one's "proletarian brother" is, in the nature of things, an
+appeal which strikes home to these people. The Kaiser was still
+nominally occupying the throne, but it was certain that he would
+abdicate. This was a further element of weakness for the government,
+since such of the troops as were still _kaisertreu_ (loyal to the
+Kaiser) saw themselves about to be deprived of their monarch, who,
+however they may have regarded him personally, nevertheless represented
+for them the majesty and unity of the German State. Hence, even before
+the order came not to fire on the people, the troops had begun to place
+themselves on the side of the revolutionaries and were everywhere
+permitting themselves to be disarmed. Otto Wels, a Majority Socialist
+member of the Reichstag, and others of his colleagues made the round of
+the barracks, appealing to the soldiers not to shed their brothers'
+blood. And then came the no-resistance order.
+
+The streets filled with marching crowds, civilians and soldiers, arm in
+arm, cheering and singing. Hawkers appeared everywhere with small red
+flags, red rosettes, red ribbons, red flowers. The red flag of
+revolution began breaking out on various buildings. Soldiers tore off
+their regimental insignia and removed the cockades from their caps.
+Factories were deserted.
+
+The revolution had come!
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XI.
+
+                         The Kaiser Abdicates.
+
+
+Events moved with lightning rapidity. All that has been related in the
+foregoing chapter concerning the developments of November 9th had
+happened before 11:00 A.M. The Majority Socialists, still in session in
+the Reichstag and now in complete fellowship with the Independents and
+members of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council, decided that the
+republic must be proclaimed. Some enterprising individuals prepared an
+Article reporting the Kaiser's abdication. Ross took it to the
+_Vorwärts_, which published it in an extra edition, nearly two hours
+before the abdication actually took place. The paper was fairly torn
+from the hands of the venders in the streets, and processions of
+red-ribboned marchers became more frequent.
+
+The cabinet had meanwhile been in almost constant telephonic
+communication with the Kaiser. It had been repeatedly represented to him
+that only his abdication could prevent rioting and bloodshed. But the
+decision which he was called upon to make was not an easy one, and it
+cannot be wondered that he hesitated. He was particularly insistent
+that, while he could consider abdicating as German Emperor, he could not
+and would not abdicate as King of Prussia. The decision had still not
+been reached at noon. The cabinet, fearing to delay longer, had the
+following report sent out by the Wolff Bureau:
+
+    "The Kaiser and King has decided to surrender the throne (_dem
+    Throne zu entsagen_). The Imperial Chancellor will remain in
+    office until the questions connected with the abdication of the
+    Kaiser, the abandoning by the Crown Prince of the German Empire
+    and Prussia of his rights to the throne, and the installation of
+    a regency shall have been adjusted. It is his intention to
+    propose to the regent the appointment of Deputy Ebert as
+    Imperial Chancellor and to submit to him a draft of a measure
+    regarding the immediate calling of general elections for a
+    constituent German national assembly, which shall finally
+    determine the future form of government of the German people,
+    and also of those peoples that may desire to be included within
+    the borders of the Empire.
+
+                                  (signed) "The Imperial Chancellor,
+                                             "Max, Prince of Baden."
+
+It will be observed that this, so far from being the proclamation of a
+republic, clearly contemplated the continued existence of the monarchy.
+The question of the future form of government was, it is true, to be
+left to the national assembly, but if the events of Saturday afternoon
+and Sunday had not occurred it is probable that this assembly would have
+decided upon a constitutional monarchy. Speculations along this line are
+of merely academic interest, but for a better understanding of the
+extent of the reversal of these two days it may be pointed out that a
+clear majority of the German people was undoubtedly monarchic in
+principle. The only body of republican opinion was represented by the
+Social-Democrats of both wings, who composed less than forty per cent of
+the total population, and even among them, as we have seen, there were
+men who felt that the time had not yet come for a republic.
+
+Prince Max's proclamation anticipated by a full hour the Kaiser's actual
+abdication. It was furthermore erroneous in its assertion that "the
+King" had abdicated. The Kaiser's first abdication did not include the
+royal throne of Prussia. Only when all hope was definitely lost did he
+surrender this.
+
+A detachment of _Jäger_ occupied the Reichstag, and a great crowd
+gathered outside. Scheidemann, in an address from the Reichstag steps,
+told the crowd that the dynasty had been overthrown, and that Ebert had
+been appointed to form a new government on republican lines and with the
+participation of all political parties.[29] Scheidemann, like Max, also
+anticipated events, for the republic had not yet been authoritatively
+proclaimed, nor had Ebert been appointed Chancellor.
+
+[29] The Majority Socialists honestly intended to form a people's
+    government representing all parties. That only Socialists
+    were eventually admitted was due to the flat refusal of the
+    Independents to let the despised _bourgeoisie_ have any voice
+    whatever in the governmental affairs.
+
+Two hours later, shortly after 2:00 P.M., Ebert, Scheidemann, Braun and
+two members of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council, Prolat and Hiller,
+went to the palace of the Chancellor in an automobile carrying a red
+flag and guarded by armed soldiers. They informed Prince Max that they
+considered it absolutely necessary to form a socialistic government,[30]
+since this alone could save Germany. The Prince thereupon requested
+Ebert to accept the chancellorship. Ebert complied and thus became for
+one day "Imperial Chancellor," the possessor of an office which did not
+exist in an empire which no longer existed.
+
+[30] "Socialistic" in a non-partisan sense; a republic based on
+    the Socialist party's tenets, but not necessarily conducted
+    exclusively by them. The exclusion of the _bourgeoisie_ was a
+    later idea.
+
+Ebert's first act was to proclaim the republic officially. He did this
+in an address to a crowd which filled Wilhelmstrasse and Wilhelmplatz in
+front of the Chancellor's official residence. Hysteric cheering followed
+the announcement that the German Empire had become history.
+
+The greatest revolution of all times was an accomplished fact before
+three o'clock on Saturday afternoon, November 9th. The old system, with
+its tens of thousands of trained and specialized officials; with armies
+that had successfully fought for years against the combined resources of
+the rest of the world; with citizens trained from their very infancy to
+reverence the Kaiser and to obey those in authority; with the moral
+support of the monarchic Germans, who far outnumbered the
+republican--this system fell as a rotten tree falls before a gale. The
+simile lacks in perfection because the tree falls with a crash, whereas
+the old German governmental system made less noise in its collapse than
+did the Kingdom of Portugal some years earlier. It simply disappeared.
+_Fuit Germania_.
+
+Up to this time the Majority Socialists, by stealing the thunder of the
+Independents and acting with a good deal of resolution, had kept
+themselves in the center of the stage. The real makers of the
+revolution, the Independents and Spartacans, had been confined to
+off-stage work. It was Liebknecht, with his instinct for the theatrical
+and dramatic, who now came to the front. A vast crowd had gathered
+around the royal palace. It was made up in part of the "class-conscious
+proletariat," but in large part also of the merely curious. Liebknecht,
+accompanied by Adolf Hoffmann[31] and another left wing Socialist,
+entered the palace and proceeded to a balcony in the second story,
+where, lacking a red flag, he hung a red bed-blanket over the rail of
+the balcony and then delivered an impassioned harangue to the crowd
+below. The real revolution, he declared, had only begun, and attempts at
+counter-revolution could be met only by the vigilance of an armed
+proletariat. The working-classes must arm themselves, the _bourgeoisie_
+must be disarmed. Hoffmann, who spoke briefly, said that he was enjoying
+the happiest and proudest moment of his life. While he was still
+speaking a red flag was hoisted over the palace, to the cheers of the
+people gathered around the building.
+
+[31] Hoffman was for several years a member of the Prussian Diet
+    and prominent in the councils of the Social-Democratic party.
+    Although a professed atheist and unable to write a sentence
+    of his mother-tongue without an error in spelling or grammar,
+    he became under the first revolutionary government Prussian
+    Minister of Education (_Kultusminister_), with charge over
+    the church and schools. Hoffman left the old party at the
+    time of the split in 1915, and has since been an abusive and
+    virulent enemy of his former colleagues. He distinguished
+    himself in the Diet chiefly by disregard of the ordinary
+    amenities of civilized intercourse and parliamentary forms.
+    Speaking from the speaker's rostrum in the Diet, with his
+    back to the presiding-officer--after the usual European
+    custom--he would utter some insult to the royal house, the
+    authorities in general, one of the _bourgeois_ parties of the
+    house or one of the members. He appeared to know
+    instinctively whenever his remarks were inadmissible, for he
+    would pause, hunch up his shoulders like one expecting to be
+    struck from behind, and wait for the presiding-officer to
+    ring his bell and call him to order. A few minutes later the
+    same scene would be reënacted.
+
+Some of the palace guard had given up their rifles and left their posts.
+Others had joined the revolutionaries. The looting of the palace began.
+It did not assume great proportions on this first day, but many valuable
+Articles had disappeared when night came. Government property of all
+kinds was sold openly in the streets by soldiers and civilians. Rifles
+could be had for a few marks, and even army automobiles were sold for
+from three to five hundred marks. Processions kept moving about the
+city, made up in part of soldiers and in part of armed civilians.
+Persons without red badges were often molested or mishandled. Cockades
+in the imperial or some state's colors were torn from soldiers' caps,
+their shoulder insignia were ripped off and their belts taken away by
+the embryo and self-constituted "red guard." The patriotic cockades
+inflamed their revolutionary hearts; the belts, being of good leather--a
+rare article--could be used for repairing the shoes of the faithful.
+Officers were hunted down, their shoulder-straps torn off and their
+swords and revolvers taken from them. Many officers were roughly
+handled. Hundreds escaped a like fate by a quick change into civilian
+clothing. The _mobile vulgus_ had forgotten that forty per cent of
+Germany's active officer corps had been killed in fighting for their
+country, and that a great part of those left were crippled by wounds. It
+saw in these men only the representatives of an iron discipline and of
+authority--and authority is hated by all truly class-conscious
+_Genossen_. It was this same feeling that led, on the following day, to
+the disarming of the police--a measure which so quickly avenged itself
+in an increase of crime from which even the proletariat suffered that
+their sabers and revolvers were restored to the police within a month.
+
+Thus far the revolution had been all but bloodless. The brave officer of
+the _Maikäfer_ and the four revolutionaries who fell before him were the
+only victims. But about 6:00 P.M., as an automobile ambulance turned
+into the palace courtyard, a single shot was heard. Observers thought
+they saw the smoke of the shot in the central entrance to the royal
+stables, which are situated across the street just south of the palace.
+While the source of the shot was being investigated a second shot was
+fired. Almost immediately machine guns began firing from the cellar
+windows and the first and second stories of the stables.[32] The crowd
+filling the square melted away. Members of the Soldiers' Council
+returned the fire. The shooting continued until late into the night,
+when members of the Soldiers' Council entered the stables. They found
+nobody there.
+
+[32] This story of the origin of Saturday evening's shooting
+    comes from the Soldiers' Council, and is undoubtedly
+    exaggerated. No other report of the incident is, however,
+    available.
+
+By whom or with what intention the first shots were fired is not
+known. The most radical of the revolutionaries, and especially the
+Liebknecht followers, saw in them the beginning of the dreaded
+"counter-revolution." The stables were at the time occupied by some of
+the marines who had been brought to Berlin two days earlier. These men,
+who were later to cause the new government so much trouble,[33] were in
+large part what is so aptly expressed by the slang term "roughnecks."
+Their leader was a degraded officer named Heinrich Dorrenbach.[34]
+Viewed in the light of their subsequent conduct it is impossible that
+they could have been won for any counter-revolutionary movement. The
+revolutionaries, however, who knew that they had been summoned by Prince
+Max's government, concluded that the shots had been fired by them. There
+were few casualties from the encounter.
+
+[33] It was these men who surrounded the imperial chancellery on
+    December 24th, held the cabinet members there _incommunicado_
+    by severing the telephone wires, and compelled the government
+    to grant their wage demands and to permit them to retain the
+    royal stables as barracks. They also helped loot the palace.
+    The government had to disarm them during the second
+    "Bolshevik week" in Berlin early in March, when twenty-four
+    of them were summarily executed.
+
+[34] Dorrenbach was afterward indicted in Brunswick for bribery
+    and looting.
+
+The Majority Socialists' three delegates conferred again with Dittmann,
+Vogtherr and Ledebour, the Independents' representatives. They were
+unable to come to an agreement, and the Independents withdrew to confer
+with their party's executive committee. This committee debated the
+question for some hours with the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council.[35]
+Liebknecht, still nominally an Independent, for the _Spartacus Bund_ had
+not yet been formally organized as a separate party; Ledebour, Dittmann,
+and Barth, who was chairman of the council, took a leading part in the
+debate that ensued. It was finally decided to make the Independents'
+participation in the government conditional upon the granting of certain
+demands. First of all, the new government must be only a _provisorium_
+for the conclusion of the armistice, and its existence was to be limited
+to three days. Before the expiration of that term the Soviet was to
+decide what course should then be taken. The republic must be a
+socialistic republic,[36] and all legislative, executive and judicial
+power must rest in the hands of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils,
+who were to be elected by "the laboring population _under the exclusion
+of all bourgeois elements_."[37]
+
+[35] That the radical wing of the German Socialists conferred in
+    a party matter with this council, which was supposed to
+    represent Socialists of both parties, is significant. As a
+    matter of fact, the real power in the council was from the
+    beginning in the hands of the Independent and Spartacan
+    members, and their ascendancy grew steadily.
+
+[36] Here, as the demands show, "socialistic" in the most rigid
+    and "class-conscious" partisan sense.
+
+[37] The italics are those of the Independents themselves, as
+    used in publishing their demands in their party organ.
+
+These demands were communicated to the Majority Socialist delegates,
+who, after a conference with their party's executive committee, rejected
+them. They especially opposed the exclusion of all _bourgeois_ statesmen
+from the government, declaring that this would make the provisioning of
+the people impossible. They demanded coöperation of the two parties
+until the convening of a constituent assembly, and rejected the
+three-day limitation upon the existence of the government to be formed.
+Further negotiations between the two sets of delegates were agreed on
+for Sunday morning.
+
+The German Socialists have always had a keen appreciation of the
+influence of the press. No other country has such an extensive,
+well-edited and influential array of Socialist newspapers and
+periodicals as Germany, and in no other country are the Socialists so
+carefully disciplined into taking their political views from their party
+organs. As the parent party, the Majority Socialists already had their
+press. The Independents had no organ of any importance in Berlin, and
+Liebknecht's Spartacans had none at all. This, for persons who, if not
+in abstract theory, nevertheless in actual practice refuse to admit that
+the _bourgeoisie_ has any rights whatever, was a matter easily remedied.
+Liebknecht, at the head of a group of armed soldiers, went in the
+evening to the plant of the Conservative _Lokal-Anzeiger_, turned out
+the whole staff and took possession. The paper appeared Sunday morning
+as _Die rote Fahne_ (The Red Flag). Independent Socialists and members
+of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council at the same time took violent
+possession of the venerable _Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_, which
+they published Sunday morning as _Die Internationale_.
+
+The Wolff Bureau had already been occupied by members of the Workmen's
+and Soldiers' Council. It was compelled to send out any articles coming
+from that council, and its other news dispatches were subjected to a
+censorship quite as rigid and _tendencieuse_ and even less intelligent
+than that prevailing under the old régime. The committee put in charge
+of the Wolff Bureau was nominally composed of an equal number of
+Majority and Independent Socialists, but the latter, by dint of their
+rabid energy and resolution, were able for a long time to put their
+imprint on all news issuing from the bureau.
+
+_Die rote Fahne_ of Sunday morning published on the first page a leading
+Article which undoubtedly was written by Liebknecht himself. It began:
+
+    "Proudly the red flag floats over the imperial capital. Berlin
+    has tardily followed the glorious example of the Kiel sailors,
+    the Hamburg shipyard laborers and the soldiers and workingmen of
+    various other states."
+
+The article glorified the revolution and declared that it must sweep
+away "the remains and ruins of feudalism." There must be not merely a
+republic, but a socialistic republic, and its flag must not be "the
+black, red and gold flag of the _bourgeois_ Republic of 1848, but the
+red flag of the international socialistic proletariat, the red flag of
+the Commune of 1871 and of the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1912.
+**** The revolutionary, triumphant proletariat must erect a new order
+out of the ruins of the World War. **** The first tasks in this
+direction are speedy peace, genuine proletarian domination, reshaping of
+economic life from the pseudo-socialism of the war to the real socialism
+of peace."
+
+The article closed with an appeal to workingmen and soldiers to retain
+their weapons and go forward "under the victorious emblem of the red
+flag."
+
+On the third page of the same issue appeared another article, also
+probably from Liebknecht's pen. It was an appeal to the "workmen and
+soldiers in Berlin" to fortify the power already won by them. "The red
+flag floats over Berlin,"[38] wrote Liebknecht again. But this was only
+a beginning. "The work is not finished with the abdication of a couple
+of Hohenzollerns. Still less is it accomplished by the entrance into the
+government of a couple more government Socialists. These have supported
+the _bourgeoisie_ for four years and they cannot do otherwise now."
+
+[38] No one can long study objectively the manifestations of
+    partisan Social-Democracy without feeling that there is
+    something pathological about the fetichistic worship of the
+    red flag by the radical elements among the Socialists.
+
+"Mistrust is the first democratic virtue," declared Liebknecht. The
+government must be completely reorganized. He then set forth the demands
+that must be presented. They are of interest as the first formulation of
+the program of those who afterward became the supporters of Bolshevist
+ideals in Germany. Except for certain points designed only to meet then
+existing conditions this program is still in essentials that of the
+German Communists, as the Spartacans now term themselves. It follows:
+
+    1. Disarming of the whole police force, of all officers and
+    also of such soldiers as do not stand on the base of the new
+    order; arming of the people;[39] all soldiers and
+    proletarians who are armed to retain their weapons.
+
+    [39] _Bewaffnung des Volkes_; "people" used as a synonym for
+        the proletarian section of it. The _Bourgeoisie_ are not
+        _das Volk_ (the people) to the extreme Socialist.
+
+    2. Taking over of all military and civil offices and commands
+    by representatives (_Vertrauensmänner_) of the Workmen's and
+    Soldiers' Council.
+
+    3. Surrender of all weapons and stores of munitions, as well
+    as of all other armaments, to the Workmen's and Soldiers'
+    Council.
+
+    4. Control by the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council of all
+    means of traffic.
+
+    5. Abolishment of courts-martial; corpse-like obedience
+    (_Kadavergehorsam_) to be replaced by voluntary discipline of
+    the soldiers under control of the Workmen's and Soldiers'
+    Council.
+
+    6. Abolishment of the Reichstag and of all parliaments,[40]
+    as well as of the existing national government; taking over
+    of the government by the Berlin Workmen's and Soldiers'
+    Council until the formation of a national workmen's and
+    soldiers' council.
+
+    [40] Americans inclined to extend sympathy to Liebknecht (or
+        his memory) are again reminded that he and his followers are
+        violent opponents of democracy. The same is true of the real
+        leaders of the Independent Socialists.
+
+    7. Election throughout Germany of workmen's and soldiers'
+    councils, in whose hands exclusively the lawgiving and
+    administrative power shall rest.
+
+    8. Abolishment of dynasties[41] and separate states; our
+    parole is: United Socialistic Republic of Germany.
+
+    [41] Several of the German dynasties were still in existence
+        on the morning of November 10th. King Friedrich August of
+        Saxony, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and Grand Duke
+        Friedrich August of Oldenburg were deposed on November 10th,
+        and Prince Heinrich XXVII of Reuss (younger line) abdicated
+        on the same day. The King of Saxony accepted his deposition
+        by a formal act of abdication two days later. Duke Karl
+        Eduard of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and Grand Duke Friedrich Franz
+        of Mecklenburg-Schwerin abdicated on November 13th. King
+        Ludwig of Bavaria, whom Kurt Eisner had already declared
+        deposed, issued a statement on November 13th liberating all
+        officials from their oath of allegiance, "since I am no
+        longer in a position to direct the government." The Munich
+        Soviet acknowledged this as an act of abdication. Prince
+        Friedrich of Waldeck-Pyrmont, refusing to abdicate, was
+        deposed on the same day. Grand Duke Friedrich of Baden and
+        Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe did not leave their thrones
+        until November 15th.
+
+    9. The immediate establishing of relations with all workmen's
+    and soldiers' councils existing in Germany, and with the
+    socialistic brother parties of foreign countries.
+
+    10. The immediate recall to Berlin of the Russian Embassy.
+
+This proclamation closed by declaring that no real Socialist must enter
+the government as long as a single "government" Socialist (Majority)
+belonged to it. "There can be no coöperation with those who have
+betrayed us for four years," said the proclamation.
+
+This item followed: "_Die rote Fahne_ sends its first and warmest
+greeting to the Federative Socialistic Soviet Republic (Russia) and begs
+that government to tell our Russian brethren that the Berlin
+laboring-class has celebrated the first anniversary of the Russian
+revolution by bringing about the German revolution."
+
+_Die Internationale_ also published a leader glorifying the revolution
+and declaring that "the red flag floats over the capital." It called on
+its readers to be on their guard and closed with a _lebe hoch_![42] for
+the German Socialistic Republic and the _Internationale_.
+
+[42] Literally, "may it live high!" The French _vive_ and the
+    English "hurrah for--!"
+
+All the Sunday morning papers published a proclamation and an appeal by
+the "Imperial Chancellor," Ebert. The proclamation was addressed to
+"Fellow Citizens,"[43] and was a formal notice that Ebert had taken over
+his office from Prince Max and was about to form a new government. He
+requested the aid of all good citizens and warned especially against any
+acts calculated to interfere with supplying food to the people. The
+appeal was a summons to all officials throughout the country to place
+themselves at the disposition of the new government.[44] "I know it will
+be hard for many to work with the new men who have undertaken the
+conduct of the government," said the appeal, "but I appeal to their love
+for our people."
+
+[43] _Mitbürger._ Subsequent proclamations were, with few
+    exceptions, addressed to _Genossen_. The government could not
+    shake off its party fetters.
+
+[44] It is not possible to withhold admiration from the tens of
+    thousands of officials throughout Germany who, hating and
+    despising party Socialism, and themselves monarchic in
+    principle by tradition and training, nevertheless stayed at
+    their posts and did what they could to prevent utter chaos.
+    The choice was especially hard for the men in higher
+    positions, since most of these not only had to carry out
+    orders of a revolutionary red government, but also had to
+    submit to having their daily acts controlled and their orders
+    altered and countersigned by a _Genosse_ who was often an
+    unskilled manual laborer. The best traditions of German
+    officialdom were honorably upheld by these men, and it is to
+    them, rather than to those at the head of the government,
+    that credit is due for even the small measure of order that
+    was preserved.
+
+Sunday was ushered in with the crack of rifle fire and the rattle of
+machine-guns. Nervous _Genossen_, incited by fanatics or irresponsible
+agitators saw the specter of counterrevolution on every hand and
+circulated wild tales of officers firing on the people from various
+buildings, chiefly the Victoria Café and the Bauer Café at the corner of
+Unter den Linden and Friedrichstrasse, some buildings near the
+Friedrichstrasse railway station, other buildings farther down Unter den
+Linden, and the Engineers' Society building and the official home of the
+Reichstag president, the two last-named buildings situated across the
+street to the east of the Reichstag. While it is barely possible that
+some loyal cadets may have fired on a crowd in one or two places, it has
+never been definitely proved. The talk of resistance by officers is
+absurd. The only occupant of the residence of the Reichstag president,
+which was fired at with machine guns from the roof of the Reichstag, was
+one frightened old woman, who spent the day crouching in a corner of the
+cellar. There was nobody in the Engineers' building. The day's victims
+were all killed to no purpose by the wild shooting of persons--mainly
+youths--who lost their heads. The shooting continued on Monday, but
+gradually died out. The stories sent to the outside world through the
+soviet-controlled Wolff Bureau of officers firing on the revolutionaries
+and then escaping by subterranean passages were the inventions of
+excited and untrained minds.
+
+It had been decided at Saturday night's conference to hold an election
+on Sunday morning for district workmen's and soldiers' councils, and to
+hold a meeting at the Circus Busch at five o'clock Sunday afternoon to
+form the government. Sunday morning's papers published the summons for
+the election. The larger factories were directed to elect one delegate
+for every thousand employees. Factories employing fewer than five
+hundred persons were directed to unite for the election of delegates.
+Each battalion of soldiers was also to choose one delegate. These
+delegates were directed to meet at Circus Busch for the election of a
+provisional government.
+
+The Majority Socialists were in a difficult position. The Independents
+claimed--and with right--that they had "made the revolution." The
+preponderance of brute force was probably, so far as Berlin alone was
+concerned, on their side. In any event they had a support formidable
+enough to compel Scheidemann and his followers to make concessions to
+them. The three delegates from each party met again. The result of
+their deliberations was concessions on both sides. The Majority
+Socialists agreed to exclude _bourgeois_ elements from the cabinet,
+but the Independents agreed that this should not apply to those
+ministers (war, navy, etc.), whose posts required men of special
+training--the so-called _Fachminister_. The Independents consented to
+enter the government without placing a time-limit on their stay or on
+its existence. Each party was to designate three "people's
+commissioners" (_Volksbeauftragte_), who were to have equal rights.
+The Independents stipulated further in their conditions (which were
+accepted):
+
+    "The political power shall be in the hands of the workmen's and
+    soldiers' councils, which shall be summoned shortly from all
+    parts of the empire for a plenary session.
+
+    "The question of a constituent assembly will not become a live
+    issue until after a consolidation of the conditions created by
+    the revolution, and shall therefore be reserved for later
+    consideration."
+
+The Independents announced that, these conditions being accepted, their
+party had named as members of the government Hugo Haase, Wilhelm
+Dittmann and Emil Barth. Dittmann had but recently been released from
+jail, where he was serving a short sentence for revolutionary and
+anti-war propaganda. He was secretary of the Independent Socialist
+party's executive committee, an honest fanatic and but one step removed
+from a communist. Barth was in every way unfit to be a member of any
+government. There were grave stories afloat, some of them well founded,
+of his moral derelictions, and he was a man of no particular ability.
+Some months later, and several weeks after he had resigned from the
+cabinet, he was found riding about Southern Germany on the pass issued
+to him as a cabinet member and agitating for the overthrow of the
+government of which he had been a part.
+
+The Majority Socialists selected as their representatives in the
+government Friedrich (Fritz) Ebert, Phillip Scheidemann and Otto
+Landsberg, the last named an able and respected lawyer and one of the
+intellectual leaders of the Berlin Socialists.
+
+When, at 5:00 P.M., the combined workmen's and soldiers' councils of
+Greater Berlin met in the Circus Busch, Ebert was able to announce that
+the differences between the two Socialist parties had been adjusted. The
+announcement was greeted with hearty applause. The meeting had a
+somewhat stormy character, but was more orderly than might have been
+expected. A considerable number of front-soldiers were present, and the
+meeting was dominated throughout by them. They demonstrated at the
+outset that they had no sympathy with fanatic and ultraradical agitators
+and measures, and Liebknecht, who delivered a characteristic passionate
+harangue, demanding the exclusion of the Majority Socialists from any
+participation in the government, had great difficulty in getting a
+hearing. The choice of the six "people's commissioners" was ratified by
+the meeting.
+
+It is a striking thing, explainable probably only by mass-psychology,
+that although the meeting was openly hostile to Liebknecht and his
+followers, it nevertheless voted by an overwhelming majority, to "send
+the Russian Workmen's and Soldiers' government our fraternal greetings,"
+and decided that the new German government should "immediately resume
+relations with the Russian government, whose representative in Berlin it
+awaits."
+
+The meeting adopted a proclamation declaring that the first task for the
+new government should be the conclusion of an armistice. "An immediate
+peace," said this proclamation, "is the revolution's parole. However
+this peace may be, it will be better than a continuation of the
+unprecedented slaughter."[45] The proclamation declared that the
+socialization of capitalistic means of production was feasible and
+necessary, and that the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council was "convinced
+that an upheaval along the same lines is being prepared throughout the
+whole world. It expects confidently that the proletariat of other
+countries will devote its entire might to prevent injustice being done
+to the German people at the end of the war."[46] Following the adoption
+of this proclamation, the meeting elected a _Vollzugsrat_ or executive
+council from the membership of the workmen's and soldiers' councils
+present. It was made up of twenty-eight men, fourteen workmen and
+fourteen soldiers, and the Majority and Independent Socialists were
+represented on each branch of the council with seven members. The
+twenty-eight men chosen were Emil Barth, Captain von Beerfelde,
+Bergmann, Felix Bernhagen, Otto Braun, Franz Buchel, Max Cohen (Reuss),
+Erich Däumig, Heinrich Denecke, Paul Eckert, Christian Finzel, Gelberg,
+Gustav Gerhardt, Gierth, Gustav Heller, Ernst Jülich, Georg Ledebour,
+Maynitz, Brutus Molkenbuhr, Richard Müller, Paul Neuendorf, Hans
+Paasche, Walter Portner, Colin Ross, Otto Strobel, Waltz and P. Wegmann.
+Captain von Beerfelde was made chairman of the soldiers' branch and
+Müller of the workmen's representatives on this council. Müller, a
+metal-worker by trade, was a rabid Independent Socialist, a fiery
+agitator and bitter opponent of a constituent assembly. It was largely
+due to his leadership and to the support accorded him by Ledebour and
+certain other radical members of the _Vollzugsrat_ that this council
+steadily drifted farther and farther toward the Independent and
+Spartacan side and ultimately became one of the greatest hindrances to
+honest government until its teeth were drawn in December.
+
+[45] Germany would have accepted almost any kind of peace in
+    November. This is but one of many things indicating it.
+
+[46] There is something both characteristic and pathetic in the
+    German Socialists' confidence that the proletariat in the
+    enemy countries would follow their example. The wish was, of
+    course, father to the thought, but it exhibited that same
+    striking inability to comprehend other peoples' psychology
+    that characterized the Germans throughout the war.
+
+The council, however, started out well. Its first act, following the
+Circus Busch meeting, was to order the _Lokal-Anzeiger_ and the
+_Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung_ restored to their lawful owners, and
+this was done. The council formally confirmed the choice of the six
+_Volksbeauftragte_ and established rules for their guidance. Neither the
+council nor the people's commissioners could claim to have their mandate
+from the whole Empire, but they assumed it. Revolutionary governments
+cannot be particular, and Berlin was, after all, the capital and most
+important city. There was, furthermore, no time to wait for general
+elections. The Circus Busch meeting had good revolutionary precedents,
+and some sort of central government was urgently necessary.
+
+There was still some scattered firing in Berlin on Monday, but
+comparative order was established. The six-man cabinet was in almost
+uninterrupted session, and the first result of its deliberation was an
+edict, issued on Tuesday, making many fundamental changes in existing
+laws. The edict lifted the "state of siege," which had existed since the
+outbreak of the war. All limitations upon the right of assembly were
+removed, and it was especially provided that state employees and
+officials should enjoy the right freely to assemble. The censorship was
+abolished, including also the censorship of theaters.[47] "Expression of
+opinion in word and print" was declared free.[48] The free exercise of
+religion was guaranteed. Amnesty was granted all political prisoners,
+and pending prosecutions for political offenses were annulled.[49] The
+Domestic Servants law was declared repealed.[50] It was promised that a
+general eight-hour law should become effective not later than January 1,
+1919. Other sociological reforms were promised, and woman's suffrage was
+introduced with the provision that "all elections for public offices
+shall hereafter be conducted under equal, secret, general and direct
+vote on the proportional system by all males and females twenty years
+old or over."[51] The same system, it was decreed, should be followed in
+the elections for the national assembly.
+
+[47] Consistent efforts were made by those interested in
+    discrediting all news sent from Germany after the revolution
+    to make the general public believe that a rigid censorship of
+    outgoing letters and news telegrams was still maintained. The
+    American so-called Military Intelligence--which is
+    responsible for an appalling amount of
+    misinformation--reported in January that the censorship was
+    stricter than during the war. This was untrue. The author, at
+    that time a working journalist in Berlin, was repeatedly
+    entrusted with the censor's stamp and told to stamp his own
+    messages when they were ready, since the censor desired to
+    leave his office. The only reason for maintaining even the
+    formality of a censorship was to prevent the illegitimate
+    transfer of securities or money out of the country. There was
+    no censorship whatever on news messages.
+
+[48] The immediate result of this was a flood of new papers,
+    periodicals and pamphlets, some of them pornographic and many
+    of them marked by the grossness which unfortunately
+    characterizes much of the German humor. Some of the
+    publishers fouled their own nests in a manner difficult to
+    understand. One pamphlet sold on the streets was _Die
+    französischen Liebschaften des deutschen Kronprinzen während
+    des Krieges_.
+
+[49] This principle was to make much trouble later for the
+    government, for the radical Socialists consider murder a
+    "political crime" if the victim be a _bourgeois_ politician.
+    There are also extremists for whom any prisoner is a victim
+    of capitalism, and hundreds of dangerous criminals were
+    released in Berlin and various other cities in raids on jails
+    and prisons.
+
+[50] Domestic servants, particularly those in hotels, were real
+    gainers by the revolution. Chambermaids, for example, who had
+    always been on duty from 6 A.M. until 11 or 12 P.M., suddenly
+    found themselves able, for the first time in their lives, to
+    get enough sleep and to have some time at their own disposal.
+
+[51] Twenty-five years had formerly been the age entitling one to
+    vote. The reduction undoubtedly operated primarily in favor
+    of the Socialists, for youth is inclined to radicalism
+    everywhere.
+
+_Vorwärts_, in a leader on the same day, spoke of the constituent
+assembly as of a thing assured. A good impression was made by the report
+that Hindenburg had remained at his post and placed himself at the
+disposition of the new government. Prince Leopold of Prussia also
+assured the government of his support.
+
+The revolution had started well. Reports that the Poles were plundering
+in Posen and Upper Silesia made little impression. The proletariat was
+intoxicated with its new liberty. The saner _bourgeoisie_ were
+differently minded: "_Das Böse sind wir los; die Bösen sind
+geblieben_."[52]
+
+[52] We have shaken off the great evil; the evil-doers have
+    remained.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XII.
+
+                   "The German Socialistic Republic."
+
+
+The character and completeness of the revolution were even yet not
+realized in all parts of Germany. Rulers of various states, in some
+places aided by Majority Socialists, made desperate eleventh-hour
+attempts to save their thrones. Prince Regent Aribert of Anhalt received
+a deputation of National Liberals, Progressives and Socialists, who
+presented a program for parliamentarization. The Socialists,
+Progressives, Clericals and Guelphs in Brunswick coalesced "to further a
+policy of peace and progress and to spare our people severe internal
+disorders." The two Reuss principalities amalgamated, and a reformed
+franchise and parliamentarization were promised. The government in
+Hesse-Darmstadt ordered thorough parliamentary reforms. The Württemburg
+ministry resigned and the Progressive Reichstag Deputy Liesching was
+appointed Minister-President. Grand Duke Ernst Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar
+renounced the right of exemption from taxation enjoyed not only by him
+personally, but by all his family and court officials. Grand Duke
+Friedrich Franz of Mecklenburg-Schwerin received a deputation to discuss
+parliamentary reforms. A Socialist meeting in Breslau broke up in
+disorder because the Majority Socialists opposed the Independent
+Socialists' demand that force be employed to secure the fulfillment of
+their demands.
+
+But dynasties could not longer be saved. When night came on Monday, the
+revolution in Germany was to all practical intents an accomplished fact.
+Fourteen of the twenty-five states, including all four kingdoms and all
+the other really important states, were already securely in the
+revolutionaries' hands. The red flag waved over the historic royal
+palace in Berlin. King Ludwig of Bavaria had been declared deposed and
+had fled from his capital. King Friedrich August of Saxony was still
+nominally occupying his throne, but soldiers' councils had taken over
+the government both in Dresden and Leipsic, and were considering the
+King's abdication. Württemberg had been declared a republic and the King
+had announced that he would not be an obstacle to any movement demanded
+by the majority of his people. The free cities of Hamburg, Bremen and
+Lübeck were being ruled by Socialists. In the grand duchies of
+Oldenburg, Baden, Hesse and the Mecklenburgs the rulers' power was gone
+and their thrones were tottering. Grand Duke Ernst August of Brunswick,
+the Kaiser's son-in-law, abdicated.
+
+And the Kaiser and King of Prussia fled.
+
+Nothing more vividly illustrates the physical, mental and moral
+exhaustion of the German people at this time than the fact that the
+former ruler's flight hardly evoked more than passing interest. Many
+newspapers published it with no more display than they gave to orders by
+Germany's new rulers, and none "played it up" as a great news item.
+
+The clearest picture of the occurrences at the Kaiser's headquarters on
+the fatal November 9th has been given by General Count von Schulenberg,
+chief of the General Staff of the Crown Prince's army. Von Schulenberg
+was present also on November 1st, when Minister of the Interior Drews
+presented the government's request that the Kaiser abdicate. Drews had
+hardly finished speaking, reports von Schulenberg, before the Kaiser
+exclaimed:
+
+    "You, a Prussian official, who have sworn the oath of fealty to
+    your king, how can you venture to come before me with such a
+    proposal?
+
+    "Have you considered what chaos would follow? Think of it! I
+    abdicate for my person and my house! All the dynasties in
+    Germany collapse in an instant. The army has no leader, the
+    front disintegrates, the soldiers stream in disorder across the
+    Rhine. The revolutionaries join hands, murder, incendiarism and
+    plundering follow, and the enemy assists. I have no idea of
+    abdicating. The King of Prussia may not be false to Germany,
+    least of all at a time like this. I, too, have sworn an oath,
+    and I will keep it."
+
+Hindenburg and Groener (Ludendorff's successor) shared the Kaiser's
+opinion at this time that abdication was not to be thought of. The
+situation, however, altered rapidly in the next few days. Von
+Schulenburg declares that Scheidemann[53] was the chief factor in the
+movement to compel the monarch to go. Early on the morning of November
+9th, when von Schulenberg reached headquarters building in Spa, he found
+general depression. "Everybody appeared to have lost his head." The
+various army chiefs were present to report on the feeling among their
+men. Hindenburg had reported to them that revolution had broken out in
+Germany, that railways, telegraphs and provision depots were in the
+revolutionaries' hands, and that some of the bridges across the Rhine
+had been occupied by them. The armies were thus threatened with being
+cut off from the homeland. Von Schulenberg continues:
+
+    "I met Generals von Plessen and Marschall, who told me that the
+    Field Marshall (Hindenburg) and General Groener were on the way
+    to tell the Kaiser that his immediate abdication was necessary.
+    I answered: 'You're mad. The army is on the Kaiser's side.' The
+    two took me with them to the Kaiser. The conference began by
+    Hindenburg's saying to the Kaiser that he must beg to be
+    permitted to resign, since he could not, as a Prussian officer,
+    give his King the message which he must give. The Kaiser
+    answered: 'Well, let us hear the message first.' Thereupon
+    Groener gave a long description of the situation, the homeland
+    in the hands of revolutionists, revolution to be expected in
+    Berlin at any minute, and the army not to be depended on. To
+    attempt with the enemy in the rear to turn the army about and
+    set it in march for civil warfare was not to be thought of. The
+    only salvation for the Fatherland lay in the Kaiser's immediate
+    abdication. Hindenburg, the general intendant and chief of
+    military railways agreed with Groener."
+
+[53] Cf. Scheidemann's statement to von Payer, chapter viii.
+
+The Kaiser asked von Schulenberg's opinion. He disagreed with the
+others, and counseled resistance. He agreed that it would be impossible
+to invade all Germany with united front, but advocated an attack on a
+few places, such as Cologne and Aachen, with picked troops, and an
+appeal to the people to rise against the marines, who had been "incited
+to action by the Jews, who had made great profits in the war, and by
+persons who had escaped doing their duty in the war and were now trying
+to knife the army in the back."
+
+The Kaiser approved this counsel. He would not abdicate, he declared,
+nor would he have any part in bringing about civil warfare, but Cologne,
+Aachen and Verviers must be attacked immediately.
+
+Groener was unconvinced. He declared that the revolution had gone too
+far and was too well organized throughout Germany to make it possible to
+put it down by force of arms. Moreover, he said, several army chiefs had
+reported that the army could no longer be depended on. The Kaiser
+thereupon asked for a report from every army chief on the army's
+dependability. A summons to this effect was sent out, and Groener,
+Hindenburg and von Schulenberg remained with the Kaiser.
+
+One calamitous report after another began coming from Berlin. The
+military governor reported that he had no longer any dependable troops.
+The Chancellor telephoned that civil war was inevitable unless the
+Kaiser's abdication was received within a few minutes. The Kaiser and
+the Crown Prince conferred together. Another report came from the
+Chancellor that the situation in Berlin was steadily becoming graver.
+Admiral von Hintze, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had joined the
+little group in the Kaiser's rooms, declared that the monarchy could not
+be saved unless the Kaiser abdicated at once.
+
+Von Schulenberg continues:
+
+    "His Majesty thereupon told Excellency von Hintze to telephone
+    to the Chancellor that, in order to prevent bloodshed, he would
+    abdicate as Kaiser, but that he would remain as King of Prussia
+    and not leave his army. I declared that His Majesty's decision
+    should be formulated in writing and telephoned to the Chancellor
+    only when it bore the Kaiser's signature. His Majesty thereupon
+    commissioned Excellency von Hintze, Generals von Pless and
+    Marschall and myself to draw up the declaration. While we were
+    at work on it, the chief of the Imperial Chancellery, Excellency
+    von Wahnschaffe, telephoned. I talked with him myself, and when
+    he said that the abdication must be in Berlin within a few
+    minutes, answered that such an important matter as the Kaiser's
+    abdication could not be completed in a few minutes. The decision
+    was made and was now being put into form; the government must be
+    patient for the half-hour that would be required to place the
+    abdication in its hands. The declaration had the following form:
+
+        "'1. His Majesty is prepared to abdicate as Kaiser if
+        further bloodshed can be hindered thereby.
+
+        "'2. His Majesty desires that there be no civil war.
+
+        "'3. His Majesty remains as King of Prussia and will
+        lead his army back to the homeland in disciplined order.'
+
+    "This declaration was approved and signed by His Majesty, and
+    was telephoned by Excellency von Hintze to the Chancellery. At
+    8:10 o'clock in the evening His Majesty received from the office
+    of the Imperial Chancellor a report of the announcement made
+    public through the Wolff Bureau, in which the Imperial
+    Chancellor, without waiting for the Kaiser's answer, had
+    reported the Kaiser's abdication as Kaiser and King. His Majesty
+    received the news with the deepest seriousness and with royal
+    dignity. He asked my views on the situation. I answered:
+
+        "'It is a coup d'état, an abuse of power to which your
+        Majesty must not submit. Your Majesty is King of
+        Prussia, and there is now more than ever a pressing
+        necessity for Your Majesty to remain with the army as
+        supreme commander. I guarantee that it will be true to
+        Your Majesty.'
+
+    "His Majesty replied that he was and would remain King of
+    Prussia, and that he would not abandon the army. Thereupon he
+    commissioned Generals von Pless and Marschall and Excellency von
+    Hintze to report to the Field Marshal what had happened. He then
+    took leave of the Crown Prince and of me. After I had left, he
+    called me back, thanked me once more and said:
+
+        "'I remain King of Prussia and I remain with the troops.'
+
+    "I answered:
+
+        "'Come to the front troops in my section. Your Majesty
+        will be in absolute safety there. Promise me to remain
+        with the army in all events.'
+
+    "His Majesty took leave of me with the words:
+
+        "'I remain with the army.'
+
+    "I took leave of him and have not seen him again."
+
+In the general condemnation of the Kaiser, his flight to Holland has
+been construed as due to cowardice. His motives are unimportant, but
+this construction appears to be unjust. He was convinced that he had
+nothing to fear from his people, nor is there any reason to suppose that
+he would for a moment have been in danger if he had remained. It is also
+probable that he entertained hopes of leading a successful
+counter-revolutionary movement. But his protests were overruled by men
+in whom he had great confidence. Hindenburg and Groener, following an
+unfavorable report from nearly all the army chiefs regarding the feeling
+in their commands, told the Kaiser that they could not guarantee his
+safety for a single night. They declared even that the picked
+storm-battalion guarding his headquarters at Spa was not to be depended
+on.
+
+Others added their entreaties, and finally, unwillingly and
+protestingly, the Kaiser consented to go.
+
+With him went the Crown Prince. There was no one left in Germany to
+whom adherents of a counter-revolution could rally. Scheming
+politicians for months afterward painted on every wall the spectre of
+counter-revolution, and it proved a powerful weapon of agitation against
+the more conservative and democratic men in charge of the country's
+affairs, but counter-revolution from above--and that was what these
+leaders falsely or ignorantly pretended to fear--was never possible from
+the time the armistice was signed until the peace was made at
+Versailles. Counter-revolution ever threatened the stability of the
+government, but it was the gory counter-revolution of Bolshevism.
+
+The Kaiser's flight had the double effect of encouraging the Socialists
+and discouraging the Conservatives, the right wing of the National
+Liberals and the few prominent men of other _bourgeois_ parties from
+whom at least a passive resistance might otherwise have been expected.
+The Junkers disappeared from view, and, disappearing, took with them the
+ablest administrative capacities of Germany, men whose ability was
+unquestioned, but who were now so severely compromised that any
+participation by them in a democratic government was impossible. "The
+German People's Republic" as it had been termed for a brief two days,
+became the "German Socialistic Republic." Numerically the strongest
+party in the land, the Socialists of all wings insisted upon putting the
+red stamp upon the remains of Imperial Germany.
+
+In their rejoicing at the revolution and the end of the war, the great
+mass of the people forgot for the moment that they were living in a
+conquered land. Those that did remember it were lulled into a feeling of
+over-optimistic security by the recollection of President Wilson's
+repeated declarations that the war was being waged against the German
+governmental system and not against the German people, and by the
+declaration in Secretary Lansing's note of the previous week that the
+Allies had accepted the President's peace points with the exception of
+the second.
+
+The Soldiers' and Workmen's Councils held plenary sessions on Monday and
+ratified the proceedings of Sunday. The spirit of the proceedings,
+especially in the Soldiers' Council, was markedly moderate. Ledebour,
+one of the most radical of the Independent Socialists, was all but
+howled down when he tried to address the soldiers' meeting in the
+Reichstag. Colin Ross, appealing for harmonious action by all factions
+of Social-Democracy, was received with applause. The _Vollzugsrat_,
+which was now in theory the supreme governing body of Germany, also took
+charge of the affairs of Prussia and Berlin. Two Majority and two
+Independent Socialists were appointed "people's commissioners" in
+Berlin. It is worthy of note that all four of these men were Jews.
+Almost exactly one per cent of the total population of Germany was made
+up of Jews, but here, as in Russia, they played a part out of all
+proportion to their numbers. In all the revolutionary governmental
+bodies formed under the German Socialistic Republic it would be
+difficult to find a single one in which they did not occupy from a
+quarter to a half of all the seats, and they preponderated in many
+places.
+
+The _Vollzugsrat_ made a fairly clean sweep among the Prussian
+ministers, filling the majority of posts with _Genossen_. Many of the
+old ministers, however, were retained in the national government,
+including Dr. Solf as Foreign Minister and General Scheuch as Minister
+of War, but each of the _bourgeois_ ministers retained was placed under
+the supervision of two Socialists, one from each party, and he could
+issue no valid decrees without their counter-signature. The same plan
+was followed by the revolutionary governments of the various federal
+states. Some of the controllers selected were men of considerable
+ability, but even these were largely impractical theorists without any
+experience in administration. For the greater part, however, they were
+men who had no qualifications for their important posts except
+membership in one of the Socialist parties and a deep distrust of all
+_bourgeois_ officials. The Majority Socialist controllers, even when
+they inclined to agree with their _bourgeois_ department chiefs on
+matters of policy, rarely dared do so because of the shibboleth of
+solidarity still uniting to some degree both branches of the party.
+Later, when the responsibilities of power had sobered them and rendered
+them more conservative, and when they found themselves more bitterly
+attacked than the _bourgeoisie_ by their former _Genossen_, they shook
+off in some degree the thralldom of old ideas, but meanwhile great and
+perhaps irreparable damage had been done.
+
+The revolutionary government faced at the very outset a more difficult
+task than had ever confronted a similar government at any time in the
+world's history. The people, starving, their physical, mental and moral
+powers of resistance gone, were ready to follow the demagogue who made
+the most glowing promises. The ablest men of the Empire were sulking in
+their tents, or had been driven into an enforced seclusion, and the men
+in charge of the government were without any practical experience in
+governing or any knowledge of constructive statecraft. Every one knew
+that the war was practically ended, but thousands of men were
+nevertheless being slaughtered daily to no end.
+
+In all the Empire's greater cities the revolutionaries, putting into
+disastrous effect their muddled theories of the "brotherhood of man,"
+had opened the jails and prisons and flooded the country with criminals.
+What this meant is dimly indicated by the occurrences in Berlin ten days
+later, when Spartacans raided Police Headquarters and liberated the
+prisoners confined there. Among the forty-nine persons thus set free
+were twenty-eight thieves and burglars and five blackmailers and
+deserters; most of the others were old offenders with long criminal
+records. This was but the grist from one jail in a sporadic raid and the
+first ten days of November had resulted in wholesale prison-releases of
+the same kind. The situation thus created would have been threatening
+enough in any event, but the new masters of the German cities, many of
+whom had good personal reasons for hating all guardians of law and
+order, disarmed the police and further crippled their efficiency by
+placing them under the control of "class-conscious" soldiers who, at a
+time when every able-bodied fighting man was needed on the west front,
+filled the streets of the greater cities and especially of Berlin.
+
+The result was what might have been expected. Many of the new guardians
+of law and order were themselves members of the criminal classes, and
+those who were not had neither any acquaintance with criminals and their
+ways nor with methods of preventing or detecting crime. The police,
+deprived of their weapons and--more fatal still--of their authority,
+were helpless. And this occurred in the face of a steadily increasing
+epidemic of criminality, and especially juvenile criminality, which had
+been observed in all belligerent countries as one of the concomitants of
+war and attained greater proportions in Germany than anywhere else.
+
+Nor was this the only encouragement of crime officially offered. In
+ante-bellum days, when German cities were orderly and efficient police
+and _gendarmerie_ carefully watched the comings and goings of every
+inhabitant or visitor in the land, every person coming into Germany or
+changing his residence was compelled to register at the police-station
+in his district. But now, when the retention and enforcement of this
+requirement would have been of inestimable value to the government, it
+was generally abolished. The writer, reaching Berlin a week after the
+revolution, went directly to the nearest police-station to report his
+arrival.
+
+"You are no longer required to report to the police," said the _Beamter_
+in charge.
+
+And thus the bars were thrown down for criminals and--what was
+worse--for the propagandists and agents of the Russian Soviet Republic.
+_Die neue Freiheit_ (the new freedom) was interpreted in a manner
+justifying Goethe's famous dictum of a hundred years earlier that
+"equality and freedom can be enjoyed only in the delirium of insanity"
+(_Gleichheit und Freiheit können nur im Taumel des Wahnsinns genossen
+werden_).
+
+The _Vollzugsrat_, from whose composition better things had been
+expected, immediately laid plans for the formation of a Red Guard on the
+Russian pattern. On November 13th it called a meeting of representatives
+of garrisons in Greater Berlin and of the First Corps of Königsberg to
+discuss the functions of the Soldiers' Council. It laid before the
+meeting its plan to equip a force of two thousand "socialistically
+schooled and politically organized workingmen with military training" to
+guard against the danger of a counterrevolution. It redounds to the
+credit of the soldiers that they immediately saw the cloven hoof of the
+proposal. "Why do we need two thousand Red Guards in Berlin?" was the
+cry that arose. Opposition to the plan was practically unanimous, and
+the meeting adopted the following resolution:
+
+    "Greater Berlin's garrison, represented by its duly elected
+    Soldiers' Council, will view with distrust the weaponing of
+    workingmen as long as the government which they are intended to
+    protect does not expressly declare itself in favor of summoning
+    a national assembly as the only basis for the adoption of a
+    constitution."
+
+The meeting took a decided stand against Bolshevism and, in general,
+against sweeping radicalism. All speakers condemned terrorism from
+whatever side it might be attempted, and declared that plundering and
+murder should be summarily punished. The destructive plans of the
+Spartacus group found universal condemnation, and nearly all speakers
+emphasized that the Soldiers' Council had no political rôle to play. Its
+task was merely to preserve order, protect the people and assist in
+bringing about an orderly administration of the government's affairs.
+The council adopted a resolution calling for the speediest possible
+holding of elections for a constituent assembly.
+
+On the following day the _Vollzugsrat_ announced that, in view of the
+garrisons' opposition, orders for the formation of the Red Guard had
+been rescinded. The Soldiers' Council deposed Captain von Beerfelde, one
+of their fourteen representatives on the executive council, "because he
+was endeavoring to lead the revolution into the course of the radicals."
+It was von Beerfelde who, supporting the fourteen workmen's
+representatives on the _Vollzugsrat_, had been largely instrumental in
+the original decision to place the capital at the mercy of an armed
+rabble.
+
+The steadfast attitude of the soldiers was the more astonishing in view
+of the great number of deserters in Greater Berlin at this time. Their
+number has been variously estimated, but it is probable that it reached
+nearly sixty thousand. With an impudent shamelessness impossible to
+understand, even when one realizes what they had suffered, these
+self-confessed cowards and betrayers of honest men now had the
+effrontery to form a "Council of Deserters, Stragglers and Furloughed
+Soldiers," and to demand equal representation on all government bodies
+and in the Soviets. Liebknecht played the chief rôle in organizing these
+men, but Ledebour, already so radical that he was out of sympathy even
+with the reddest Independent Socialists, and certain other Independents
+and Spartacans assisted. This was too much for even the revolutionary
+and class-conscious soldiers under arms, and nearly a month later at
+least one Berlin regiment still retained enough martial pride to fire on
+a procession of these traitors.
+
+In these deserters and stragglers, and in the thousands of criminals of
+every big city, including those liberated from jails and prisons by the
+revolution, Liebknecht and his lieutenants found tools admirably adapted
+to their ends. The Spartacans had already been indirectly recognized as
+a separate political party in an announcement made by the Workmen's and
+Soldiers' Council on November 11th, which, referring to the seizure of
+the _Lokal-Anzeiger_ by the Spartacans and of the _Norddeutsche
+Allgemeine Zeitung_ by the Independents, pointed out that "all the
+Socialist factions in Berlin now have their daily paper." The Spartacans
+now organized. Ledebour, an aged fanatic, temperamental, never able to
+agree with the tenets or members of any existing party, organized an
+"Association of Revolutionary Foremen," which was recruited from the
+factories and made up of violent opponents of democratic government. To
+all intents and purposes this association must be reckoned as a wing of
+the Spartacus group. It played a large part in the January and March
+uprisings against the government, and throughout strengthened the hands
+of the opponents of democracy and the advocates of soviet rule in
+Germany.
+
+Despite all its initial extravagances, the _bona fides_ of the
+Ebert-Haase government at this time cannot fairly be questioned. It
+honestly desired to restore order in Germany and to institute a
+democratic government. With the exception of Barth, the least able and
+least consequential member of the cabinet, all were agreed that a
+constituent assembly must be summoned. Haase and Dittmann, the two
+other Independent Socialist members, had not yet begun to coquet with
+the idea of soviet government, although, in the matter of a
+constituent assembly, they were already trying to hunt with the hounds
+and run with the hares by favoring its summoning, but demanding that
+the elections therefor be postponed until the people could be
+"enlightened in the Social-Democratic sense." This meant, of course,
+"in the Independent Social-Democratic sense," which, as we shall see,
+eventually degenerated into open advocacy of the domination of the
+proletariat.
+
+To this government, facing multifold tasks, inexperienced in ruling,
+existing only on sufferance and at best a makeshift and compromise,
+the armistice of November 11th dealt a terrible moral and material
+blow. A wave of stupefied indignation and resentment followed the
+publication of its terms, and this feeling was increased by the
+general realization of Germany's helplessness. Hard terms had, indeed,
+been expected, but nothing like these. One of the chief factors that
+made bloodless revolution possible had been the reliance of the great
+mass of the German people on the declarations of leaders of enemy
+powers--particularly of the United States--that the war was being waged
+against the German governmental system, the Hohenzollerns and
+militarism, and not against the people themselves. There can be no doubt
+that these promises of fair treatment for a democratic Germany did
+incalculably much to paralyze opposition to the revolution.
+
+In the conditions of the armistice the whole nation conceived itself to
+have been betrayed and deceived. Whether this feeling was justified is
+not the part of the historian to decide. It is enough that it existed.
+It was confirmed and strengthened by the fact that the almost unanimous
+opinion of neutral lands, including even those that had been the
+strongest sympathizers of the Allied cause, condemned the armistice
+terms unqualifiedly, both on ethical and material grounds. It is ancient
+human experience that popular disaffection first finds its scapegoat in
+the government, and history repeated itself here. The unreflecting
+masses forgot for the moment the government's powerlessness. It saw only
+the abandonment of rich German lands to the enemy, the continuance of
+the "hunger-blockade" and, worst of all, the retention by the enemy of
+the German prisoners. Of all the harsh provisions of the armistice, none
+other caused so much mental and moral anguish as the realization that,
+while enemy prisoners were to be sent back to their families, the
+Germans, many of whom had been in captivity since the first days of the
+war, must still remain in hostile prison-camps. The authority of the
+government that accepted these terms was thus seriously shaken at the
+very outset.
+
+The government was as seriously affected materially as morally by the
+armistice. During the whole of the last year food and fuel conditions
+had been gravely affected by limited transportation facilities. Now,
+with an army of several millions to be brought home in a brief space of
+time, five thousand locomotives and 150,000 freight cars had to be
+delivered up to the enemy. This was more than a fifth of the entire
+rolling stock possessed by Germany at this time. Moreover, nearly half
+of all available locomotives and cars were badly in need of repairs, and
+a considerable percentage of these were in such condition that they
+could not be used at all. Nor was this all. Although nothing had been
+stipulated in the armistice conditions regarding the size or character
+of the engines to be surrendered, only the larger and more powerful ones
+were accepted. One month later it had been found necessary to transport
+810 locomotives to the places agreed upon for their surrender, and of
+these only 206 had been accepted. Of 15,720 cars submitted in the same
+period, only 9,098 had been accepted. The result was a severe
+over-burdening of the German railways.
+
+What this meant for Germany's economic life and for the people generally
+became apparent in many ways during the winter, and in none more
+striking than in a fuel shortage which brought much suffering to the
+inhabitants of the larger cities. The coalfields of the Ruhr district
+required twenty-five thousand cars daily to transport even their
+diminishing production, but the number available dropped below ten
+thousand. Only eight hundred cars were available to care for the
+production in Upper Silesia, and a minimum of three thousand was
+required. The effect on the transportation of foodstuffs to the cities
+cannot so definitely be estimated, but that it was serious is plain.
+
+The armistice provided that the blockade should be maintained. In
+reality it was not only maintained, but extended. Some of the most
+fertile soil in Germany lies on the left bank of the Rhine, and cities
+along that river had depended on these districts for much of their food.
+With enemy occupation, these supplies were cut off. What this meant was
+terribly apparent in Düsseldorf after the occupation had been completed.
+Düsseldorf, with a population of nearly 400,000, had depended on the
+left bank of the Rhine for virtually all its dairy products. These were
+now cut off, and the city authorities found themselves able to secure a
+maximum of less than 7,000 quarts of milk daily for the inhabitants.
+
+A further extension of the blockade came when German fishermen were
+forbidden to fish even in their territorial waters in the North Sea and
+the Baltic. The available supply of fish in Germany had already dropped,
+as has been described, to a point where it was possible to secure a
+ration only once in every three or four weeks. And now even this
+trifling supply was no longer available. Vast stores of food were
+abandoned, destroyed or sold to the inhabitants of the occupied
+districts when the armies began the evacuation of France and Belgium,
+and millions of soldiers, returning to find empty larders at home,
+further swelled the ranks of the discontented.
+
+Only the old maxim that all is fair in war can explain or justify the
+great volume of misleading reports that were sent out regarding food
+conditions in Germany in the months following the armistice. Men who
+were able to spend a hundred marks daily for their food, or whose
+observations were limited to the most fertile agricultural districts of
+Germany, generalized carelessly and reported that there were no
+evidences of serious shortage anywhere, except perhaps, in one or two of
+the country's largest cities. Men who knew conditions thoroughly
+hesitated to report them because of the supposed exigencies of war and
+wartime policies, or, reporting them in despite thereof, saw themselves
+denounced as pro-German propagandists.
+
+Months later, when perhaps irreparable damage had been done, the truth
+began to come out. The following Associated Press dispatch is
+significant:
+
+    "London, July 1.--Germany possessed a sound case in claiming
+    early relief, according to reports of British officers who
+    visited Silesia in April to ascertain economic conditions
+    prevailing in Germany. A white paper issued tonight gives the
+    text of their reports and the result of their investigations.
+
+    "It is said that there was a genuine shortage of foodstuffs and
+    the health of the population had suffered so seriously that the
+    working classes had reached such a stage of desperation that
+    they could not be trusted to keep the peace."
+
+One is told officially that the old régime in Russia fell "because as an
+autocracy it did not respond to the democratic demands of the Russian
+people."[54] This is an ascription to the Russian people of elevated
+sentiments to which they have not the shadow of a claim. The old régime
+fell because it did not respond to the demands of the Russian people for
+food. Wilhelm II fell because the Germans were hungry. It was hunger
+that handicapped the efforts of the Ebert-Haase government throughout
+its existence and it was hunger that proved the best recruiting agent
+for Liebknecht and the other elements that were trying to make democracy
+impossible in Germany. If any people with experience of hunger were
+asked to choose between the absolutism of Peter the Great with bursting
+granaries and the most enlightened democracy with empty bins, democracy
+would go away with its hands as empty as its bins.
+
+[54] _War Cyclopedia_, issued by the Committee on Public
+    Information, p. 241.
+
+"Give us this day our daily bread" is the first material petition in the
+prayer of all the Christian peoples of the world, but only those who
+have hungered can realize its deep significance.
+
+The fact is not generally known--and will doubtless cause surprise--that
+a determined effort was made by the American, French and British
+governments after the armistice to make first-hand independent reporting
+of events in Germany impossible. Assistant Secretary of State Polk
+followed the example of the other governments named by issuing on
+November 13th an order, which was cabled to all American embassies and
+legations abroad, prohibiting any American journalist from entering
+Germany. The State Department refused to issue passports to journalists
+desiring to go to adjoining neutral countries except upon their pledge
+not to enter Germany without permission. Requests for permission were
+either denied, or (in some instances) not even acknowledged.
+
+There were, however, some American journalists stationed in lands
+adjoining Germany, and a few of these, although warned by members of
+their diplomatic corps, conceived it to be their duty to their papers
+and to their people as well, to try to learn the truth about the German
+situation, instead of depending longer upon hearsay and neutral
+journalists. Some of the most valuable reports reaching Washington in
+these early days came from men who had disobeyed the State Department's
+orders, but this did not save at least two of the disobedient ones from
+suffering very real punishment at the hands of resentful officials.
+
+What the purpose of the State Department was in thus attempting to
+prevent any but army officers or government officials from reporting on
+conditions in Germany the writer does not know. It is probable, however,
+that the initiative did not come from Washington.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XIII.
+
+                           "The New Freedom."
+
+
+The conclusion of the armistice was the signal for a general collapse
+among Germany's armed forces. This did not at first affect the troops in
+the trenches, and many of them preserved an almost exemplary spirit and
+discipline until they reached home, but the men of the _étappe_--the
+positions back of the front and at the military bases--threw order and
+discipline to the winds. It was here that revolutionary propaganda and
+red doctrines had secured the most adherents in the army, and the effect
+was quickly seen. Abandoning provisions, munitions and military stores
+generally, looting and terrifying the people of their own villages and
+cities, the troops of the _étappe_ straggled back to the homeland, where
+they were welcomed by the elements responsible for Germany's collapse.
+
+The government sent a telegram to the Supreme Army Command, pointing out
+the necessity of an orderly demobilization and emphasizing the chaotic
+conditions that would result if army units arbitrarily left their posts.
+Commanding officers were directed to promulgate these orders:
+
+    "1. Relations between officers and men must rest upon mutual
+    confidence. The soldier's voluntary submission to his officer
+    and comradely treatment of the soldier by his superior are
+    conditions precedent for this.
+
+    "2. Officers retain their power of command. Unconditional
+    obedience when on duty is of decisive importance if the return
+    march to the German homeland is to be successfully carried out.
+    Military discipline and order in the armies must be maintained
+    in all circumstances.
+
+    "3. For the maintenance of confidence between officers and men
+    the soldiers' councils have advisory powers in matters relating
+    to provisioning, furloughs and the infliction of military
+    punishments. It is their highest duty to endeavor to prevent
+    disorder and mutiny.
+
+    "4. Officers and men shall have the same rations.
+
+    "5. Officers and men shall receive the same extra allowances of
+    pay and perquisites."
+
+"Voluntary submission" by soldiers to officers might be feasible in a
+victorious and patriotic army, but it is impracticable among troops
+infected with Socialist doctrines and retreating before their
+conquerors. Authority, once destroyed, can never be regained. This was
+proved not only at the front, but at home as well. _Die neue Freiheit_
+(the new freedom), a phrase glibly mouthed by all supporters of the
+revolution, assumed the same grotesque forms in Germany as in Russia.
+Automobiles, commandeered by soldiers from army depots or from the royal
+garages, flying red flags, darted through the streets at speeds defying
+all regulations, filled with unwashed and unshaven occupants lolling on
+the cushioned seats. Cabmen drove serenely up the left side of Unter den
+Linden, twiddling their fingers at the few personally escorted and
+disarmed policemen whom they saw. Gambling games ran openly at
+street-corners. Soldiers mounted improvised booths in the streets and
+sold cigarettes and soap looted from army stores.
+
+Earnest revolutionaries traveled through the city looking for signs
+containing the word _kaiserlich_ (imperial) or _königlich_ (royal), and
+mutilated or destroyed them. Court purveyors took down their signs or
+draped them. The _Kaiser Keller_ in Friedrichstrasse became simply a
+_Keller_ and the bust of the Kaiser over the door was covered with a
+piece of canvas. The Royal Opera-House became the "Opera-House Unter den
+Linden."
+
+One of the most outstanding characteristics of the German people in
+peace times had been their love of order. Even the superficial observer
+could not help noticing it, and one of its manifestations earned general
+commendation. This was that the unsightly billboards and placarded walls
+that disfigure American cities were never seen in Germany. Neat and
+sightly columns were erected in various places for official, theatrical
+or business announcements, and no posters might be affixed anywhere
+else. Nothing more strikingly illustrates the character of the collapse
+in Germany than the fact that it destroyed even this deeply ingrained
+love of order. _Genossen_ with brushes and paste-pots calmly defaced
+house-walls and even show windows on main streets with placards whose
+quality showed that German art, too, had suffered in the general
+collapse of the Empire.
+
+There was something so essentially childish in the manner in which a
+great part of the people reacted to _die neue Freiheit_ that one is not
+surprised to hear that it also turned juvenile heads. Several hundred
+schoolboys and schoolgirls, from twelve to seventeen years old, paraded
+through the main streets of Berlin, carrying red flags and placards with
+incendiary inscriptions. The procession stopped before the Prussian Diet
+building, where the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council was in session, and
+presented a list of demands. These included the vote for all persons
+eighteen years old or over, the abolition of corporal punishment and
+participation by the school-children in the administration of the
+schools. The chairman of the _Vollzugsrat_ of the council addressed the
+juvenile paraders, and declared that he was in complete sympathy with
+their demands.
+
+A seventeen-year-old lad replied with a speech in which he warned the
+council that there would be terrible consequences if the demands were
+not granted. The procession then went on to the Reichstag building,
+where speeches were made by several juvenile orators, demanding the
+resignation or removal of Ebert and Scheidemann and threatening a
+general juvenile strike if this demand was not accepted immediately.
+
+Enthusiasm was heightened in the first week of the revolutionary
+government's existence by reports that enemy countries were also in the
+grip of revolution. Tuesday's papers published a report that Foch had
+been murdered, Poincaré had fled from Paris and the French government
+had been overthrown. Reports came from Hamburg and Kiel that English
+sailors had hoisted the red flag and were fraternizing with German
+ships' crews on the North Sea. The Soldiers' Council at Paderborn
+reported that the red flag had been hoisted in the French trenches from
+the Belgian border to Mons, and that French soldiers were fraternizing
+with the Germans. That these reports found considerable credence throws
+a certain light on the German psychology of these days. The reaction
+when they were found to be false further increased the former
+despondency.
+
+The six-man cabinet decreed on November 15th the dissolution of the
+Prussian Diet and the abolishment of the House of Lords. Replying to a
+telegram from President Fehrenbach of the Reichstag, asking whether the
+government intended to prevent the Reichstag from coming together in the
+following week, the cabinet telegraphed:
+
+    "As a consequence of the political overturn, which has done away
+    with the institution of German Kaiserdom as well as with the
+    Federal Council in its capacity of a lawgiving body, the
+    Reichstag which was elected in 1912 can also not reconvene."
+
+The cabinet--subject to the control theoretically exercisable by the
+_Vollzugsrat_--was thus untrammeled by other legislative or
+administrative institutions. But it was, as we have seen, trammeled from
+without by the disastrous material conditions in Germany, by the mental
+and moral shipwreck of its people, by the peculiar German psychology and
+by the political immaturity of the whole nation--a political immaturity,
+moreover, which even certain cabinet members shared. From within the
+cabinet was also seriously handicapped from the start by its "parity"
+composition, that is to say, the fact that power was equally divided
+between Majority and Independent Socialists without a deciding casting
+vote in case of disagreement along party lines. If the Independent
+Socialist cabinet members and the rank and file of their party had
+comprehended the real character and completeness of the revolution, as
+it was comprehended by some of the theorists of the party--notably Karl
+Kautsky and Eduard Bernstein--and if they had avoided their disastrous
+fellowship with Joffe and other Bolshevik agents, the subsequent course
+of events would have been different. But they lacked this comprehension
+and they had been defiled in handling the pitch of Bolshevism.
+
+All the revolutions of the last century and a quarter had been of
+_bourgeois_ origin. They had, however, been carried into effect with the
+aid of the proletariat, since the _bourgeoisie_, being numerically much
+weaker than the proletariat, does not command the actual brute force to
+make revolution. At first the _bourgeoisie_, as planners of the
+overthrow, took control of the authority of the state and exercised it
+for their own ends. The proletariat, which had learned its own strength
+and resources in the revolutionary contests, used its power to compel a
+further development of the revolution in a more radical direction and
+eventually compelled the first holders of authority to give way to a
+government more responsive to the demands of the lower classes. Thus the
+events of 1789 in Paris were followed by the victory of the Montane
+party, the events of September 4, 1870, by those of March 18, 1871, and
+the Kerensky revolution in Petrograd by the Bolshevik revolution of
+November, 1917.
+
+The German revolution, however, alone among the great revolutions of the
+world, was, as has already been pointed out, both in its origins and
+execution, proletarian and Socialistic. The _bourgeoisie_ had no part in
+it and no participation in the revolutionary government. Any attempt to
+develop the revolution further by overthrowing or opposing the first
+revolutionary government could therefore serve only factional and not
+class interests. Factional clashes were, of course, inevitable. The
+members of the Paris Commune split into four distinct factions,
+Jacobins, Blanquists, Proudhonists and a small group of Marxist
+Internationalists. But these, bitterly as they attacked each other's
+methods and views, nevertheless presented at all times a united front
+against the _bourgeoisie_, whereas the German Independent Socialists,
+from whom better things might have been expected, almost from the
+beginning played into the hands of the Spartacans, from whom nothing
+good could have been expected, and thus seriously weakened the
+government and eventually made a violent second phase of the revolution
+unavoidable.
+
+If it be admitted that Socialist government was the proper form of
+government for Germany at this time, it is clear that the Independent
+Socialists had a very real mission. This was well expressed in the first
+month of the revolution in a pamphlet by Kautsky, in which he wrote:
+
+    "The extremes (Majority Socialists and Spartacans) can best be
+    described thus: the one side (Majority) has not yet completely
+    freed itself from _bourgeois_ habits of thought and still has
+    much confidence in the _bourgeois_ world, whose inner strength
+    it overestimates. The other side (Spartacans) totally lacks all
+    comprehension of the _bourgeois_ world and regards it as a
+    collection of scoundrels. It despises the mental and economic
+    accomplishments of the _bourgeoisie_ and believes that the
+    proletarians, without any special knowledge or any kind of
+    training, are able to take over immediately all political and
+    economic functions formerly exercised by the _bourgeois_
+    authorities.
+
+    "Between these two extremes we find those (the Independents) who
+    have studied the _bourgeois_ world and comprehend it, who regard
+    it objectively and critically, but who know how properly to
+    value its accomplishments and realize the difficulties of
+    replacing it with a better system. This Marxist center must, on
+    the one hand, spur the timorous on and awaken the blindly
+    confiding, and on the other, put a check upon the blind
+    impetuosity of the ignorant and thoughtless. It has the double
+    task of driving and applying the brakes.
+
+    "These are the three tendencies that contend with each other
+    within the ranks of the proletariat."
+
+Indications of the coming split with the cabinet were observable even in
+the first week of the government's existence. Together with its decree
+dissolving the Diet, the cabinet announced that "the national government
+is engaged in making preparations for the summoning of a constituent
+assembly at the earliest possible moment." The overwhelming majority of
+the German people already demanded the convening of such a body. Only
+the Spartacans, who had formally effected organization on November 14th,
+openly opposed it as a party, but there was much anti-assembly sentiment
+in Independent Socialist ranks, although the party had as yet taken no
+stand against it. Richard Müller, the dangerous Independent Socialist
+demagogue at the head of the workmen's section of the _Vollzugsrat_, was
+one of the most rabid opponents of a national assembly and one of the
+men responsible for his party's subsequent opposition to it. Speaking at
+a meeting of the _Vollzugsrat_ on November 19th he said:
+
+    "There is a cry now for a national assembly. The purpose is
+    plain. The plan is to use this assembly to rob the proletariat
+    of its power and lay it back in the hands of the _bourgeoisie_.
+    But it will not succeed. We want no democratic republic. We want
+    a social republic."
+
+Haase, speaking for the cabinet, cleverly avoided putting himself on
+record as to whether or not a national assembly would eventually be
+called. It could not be called together yet, he said, because
+preparations must first be made. Election lists must be drawn up and the
+soldiers in the field must have an opportunity to vote. Moreover, the
+soldiers, who had been "mentally befogged" by the pan-German propaganda
+at the front, must be "enlightened" before they could be permitted to
+vote. Large industries must also be socialized before time could be
+taken to summon a _constituante_.
+
+It soon became apparent that the work in the cabinet was not going
+smoothly. Ebert, Scheidemann and Landsberg, Socialists though they were,
+lacked any trace of that fanaticism which marks so many Socialist
+leaders. They were sobered by their new responsibilities. Looked at from
+above, administrative problems presented a different picture from that
+which they had when viewed from below by men whose chief rôle had been
+one of opposition and criticism. Sweeping socialization of all
+industries, regulation of wages and hours of work, the protection of
+society against criminals, the raising of revenue, the abolishing of
+capitalism and capitalists--these things were less simple than they had
+seemed. To socialize the administration of the state was not difficult,
+for that was a mechanism which had been built up. But society, as these
+novices in government now comprehended more clearly than before, is an
+organism which has grown up. The product of centuries of growth cannot
+be recklessly made over in a few weeks.
+
+The Majority Socialist trio, realizing the impracticability of tearing
+down old institutions before there was something better to take their
+place, moved slowly in instituting reforms. This was little to the
+liking of the radicals within and without the cabinet. Haase,
+politician before all else, and Dittmann, class-conscious fanatic,
+insisted on speedier reforms along orthodox Socialist lines, and
+particularly on a far-reaching socialization of big industries. Nearly
+a year earlier Haase, Cohn and Ledebour, attending the notorious Joffe
+banquet, had approved Bolshevik attacks on the Majority Socialists and
+excused the slow progress of the revolutionary propaganda by saying
+that "those--Eberts and Scheidemanns" could not be brought to see
+reason. It was hardly to be expected that the Independents would be
+milder now. The work of the cabinet was hampered already, although the
+Independent members kept up a pretense of working with the old party's
+representatives.
+
+Haase, Dittmann and Barth were supported by the _Vollzugsrat_. This
+body, which had started out by ordering the restoration to their
+owners of the newspapers seized during the revolution, had so far
+faced about two days later that Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were
+able to exhibit to the publishers of the _Lokal-Anzeiger_ an order from
+the _Vollzugsrat_ directing them to place their plant at the disposal
+of the Spartacans for the printing of _Die rote Fahne_, whose editor
+the Luxemburg woman was to be. The order did not even hint at any
+compensation for the publishers. Naturally they refused flatly to obey
+it, and the Greater Berlin Soldiers' Council, still dominated by men of
+the better sort, meeting two days later, indignantly denounced the
+action of the _Vollzugsrat_ and compelled the withdrawal of the order.
+
+Despite the fact that the Majority and Independent Socialists were
+evenly represented on this council, the latter dominated it. Brutus
+Molkenbuhr, the Majority Socialist co-chairman with Richard Müller was
+no match for his fanatic colleague, and most of the other members were
+nobodies of at most not more than average intelligence. A more poorly
+equipped body of men never ruled any great state, and whatever of good
+was accomplished by the cabinet in the first month of its existence was
+accomplished against the opposition of a majority of these men. Müller's
+radicalism grew daily greater. "The way to a national assembly must lead
+over my dead body" he declared in a speech filled with braggadocio, and
+his hearers applauded.
+
+The Soldiers' Council noted with increasing displeasure the drift of the
+_Vollzugsrat_ toward the left. At the end of November, after a stormy
+session, the council adopted a resolution expressing dissatisfaction
+with the attitude of the _Vollzugsrat_ and appointing one representative
+from each of the seven regiments stationed in Berlin to weigh charges
+against the executive council and, if necessary, to reform it. The
+resolution charged the _Vollzugsrat_ with holding secret sessions,
+usurping powers, grafting, nepotism,[55] failure to take steps to
+protect the country's eastern border against the aggressions of the
+Poles and hindering all practical work.
+
+[55] A long chapter could be written upon this subject alone. The
+    trail of German revolutionary governments (but not the
+    national cabinet) is slimy with graft, robbery and nepotism.
+    Eichhorn, in the two months that he held the office of
+    Berlin's Police President, made not a single one of the daily
+    reports required of him and never accounted for moneys
+    passing through his hands. Himself drawing salary from
+    _Rosta_ and also as police-president, he appointed his wife
+    to a highly paid clerkship and his young daughter drew a
+    salary for receiving visitors. An Independent Socialist
+    minister's wife drew a large salary for no services. The
+    _Vollzugsrat_ employed a hundred stenographers and messengers
+    who had nothing to do except draw their salaries. The _53er
+    Ausschuss_, a committee of marines and soldiers which took
+    entire charge of the admiralty and conducted its affairs
+    without any regard to the national government, voted itself
+    sums larger than had been required to pay all the salaries of
+    the whole department in other days. The police captain of a
+    Berlin suburb, a youthful mechanic, received ninety marks a
+    day, his wife was made a clerk at fifty marks, and he
+    demanded and received an automobile for his private use. The
+    first revolutionary military commandant of Munich tried to
+    defraud a bank of 44,000 marks on worthless paper. The
+    _Vollzugsrat_ never made an honest accounting for the
+    tremendous sums used by it. Hundreds of soldiers' and
+    workmen's committees constituted themselves into soviets in
+    tiny villages and paid themselves daily salaries equaling the
+    highest weekly pay that any of them had ever earned. Robbery
+    through official requisition became so common that the people
+    had to be warned against honoring any requisitions.
+
+The Independent Socialists' ascendancy in the executive body was assured
+on December 5th, when an election was held to fill two vacancies among
+the soldier members. Two Independents were chosen, which gave that party
+sixteen of the council's twenty-eight members.
+
+Even by this time the shift of sentiment in the ranks of Independent
+Socialism had proceeded to a point where this party's continued
+ascendancy would have been as great a menace to democratic government
+as would Liebknecht's Spartacans. Adolph Hoffmann, the party's Prussian
+Minister of Cults, openly declared that if an attempt were made to
+summon the national assembly it must never be permitted to meet, even
+if it had to be dispersed as the Russian Bolsheviki dispersed the
+constituent assembly in Petrograd, and his pronouncement was hailed
+with delight by _Die Freiheit_, the party's official organ in Berlin,
+and by Independents generally. Emil Eichhorn, who was once one of the
+editors of _Vorwärts_ but now prominent in the Independent Socialist
+party, and who had been appointed police-president of Berlin, was on
+the payroll of _Rosta_, the Russian telegraph agency which served as a
+central for the carrying on of Bolshevik propaganda in Germany. He did
+as much as any other man to make the subsequent fighting and bloodshed
+in Berlin possible by handing out arms and ammunition to Liebknecht's
+followers, and by dismissing from the city's Republican Guard--the
+soldier-policemen appointed to assist and control the policemen--men
+loyal to the new government.
+
+The Spartacans were feverishly active. Liebknecht and his lieutenants
+organized and campaigned tirelessly. _Der rote Soldatenbund_ (the Red
+Soldiers' League) was formed from deserters and criminals and armed with
+weapons furnished by Eichhorn from the police depots, stolen from
+government stores or bought with money furnished by Russian agents. The
+funds received from this source were sufficient also to enable the
+Spartacan leaders to pay their armed supporters twenty marks a day, a
+sum which proved a great temptation to many of the city's unemployed
+whose sufferings had overcome their scruples.
+
+The first demonstration of strength by the Spartacans came on November
+26th, when they forcibly seized the Piechatzek Crane Works and the
+Imperator Motor Company, both big Berlin plants. Spartacan employees
+assisted Liebknecht's red soldiery to throw the management out. The
+funds and books of both plants were seized, soldiers remained in charge
+and plans were made to run the plants for the sole benefit of the
+workers. The cabinet ordered the plants restored to their owners, and
+the order was obeyed after it became apparent that the _Vollzugsrat_,
+although in sympathy with the usurpers, did not dare oppose the cabinet
+on such an issue.
+
+The openly revolutionary attitude of the Liebknecht cohorts and their
+insolent defiance of the government, resulted in armed guards being
+stationed in front of all public buildings in Berlin. But here was again
+exhibited that peculiar unpractical kink in the Socialist mentality: the
+guards were directed not to shoot!
+
+The reason for the existence of this kink will be apparent to one who
+has read carefully the preceding chapters regarding Socialism's origin
+and the passages therein reporting the attitude of the two wings of the
+party in the Reichstag following Admiral von Capelle's charges in the
+autumn of 1917. The first article in the Socialist creed is solidarity.
+"Proletarians of all lands: Unite!" cried Marx and Engels in their
+Communist Manifesto seven decades ago. The average Socialist brings to
+his party an almost religious faith; for hundreds of thousands Socialism
+is their only religion. All members of the party are their "comrades,"
+the sheep of one fold, and their common enemies are the _bourgeois_
+elements of society, the wolves. Black sheep there may be in the fold,
+but they are, after all, sheep, and like must not slaughter like,
+_Genossen_ must not shoot _Genossen_.
+
+The supporters of the government were to learn later by bitter
+experience that some sheep are worse than wolves, but they had not yet
+learned it. Spartacans coolly disarmed the four guards placed at the old
+palace in Unter den Linden and stole their guns. They disarmed the
+guards at the Chancellor's Palace, the seat of the government, picked
+the pockets and stole the lunch of the man in charge of the machine-gun
+there, and took the machine-gun away in their automobile. They staged a
+demonstration against Otto Wels, a Majority Socialist who had been
+appointed city commandant, and had no difficulty in invading his private
+quarters because the guards posted in front had orders not to shoot and
+were simply brushed aside. When the demonstration was ended, the
+Spartacans proceeded on their way rejoicing, taking with them the arms
+of the government soldiers.
+
+The Spartacans were by this time well equipped with rifles, revolvers
+and ammunition, and had a large number of machine-guns. They secured one
+auto-truck full of these from the government arsenal at Spandau on a
+forged order. They even had a few light field guns and two or three
+minethrowers. In the absence of any opposition except the futile
+denunciations of the _bourgeois_ press and the _Vorwärts_, their numbers
+were increasing daily and they were rapidly fortifying themselves in
+various points of vantage. Neukölln, one of the cities making up Greater
+Berlin, was already completely in their power. The Workmen's and
+Soldiers' Council of this city consisted of seventy-eight men, all of
+whom were Spartacans. This council forcibly dissolved the old city
+council, drove the mayor from the city hall and constituted itself the
+sole legislative and administrative organ in the city. A decree was
+issued imposing special taxes upon all non-Socialist residents, and
+merchants were despoiled by requisitions enforced by armed hooligans.
+
+The "Council of Deserters, Stragglers and Furloughed Soldiers" announced
+a number of meetings for the afternoon of December 6th to enforce a
+demand for participation in the government. The largest of these
+meetings was held in the Germania Hall in the Chausseestrasse, just
+above Invalidenstrasse and near the barracks of the _Franzer_, as the
+Kaiser Franz Regiment was popularly known. The main speaker was a man
+introduced as "Comrade Schultz," but whose Hebraic features indicated
+that this was a revolutionary pseudonym. He had hardly finished
+outlining the demands of "us deserters" when word came that the
+_Vollzugsrat_ had been arrested. It developed later that some misguided
+patriots of the old school had actually made an attempt to arrest the
+members of this council, which had developed into such a hindrance to
+honest government, but the attempt failed.
+
+The report, however, threw the meeting into great excitement. A
+motion to adjourn and march to the Chancellor's Palace to protest
+against the supposed arrest was carried and the crowd started
+marching down Chausseestrasse, singing the laborers' Marseillaise.
+At the same time the crowd present at a similar meeting in a hall a
+few blocks away started marching up Chausseestrasse to join the
+Germania Hall demonstrants. Both processions found their way blocked
+by a company of _Franzer_, drawn up in front of their barracks, standing
+at "ready" and with bayonets fixed. The officer in command ordered the
+paraders to stop:
+
+    "Come on!" cried the leaders of the demonstration. "They won't
+    shoot their comrades!"
+
+But the _Franzer_ had not yet been "enlightened." A rattling volley rang
+out and the deserters, stragglers and furloughed paraders fled. Fifteen
+of them lay dead in the street and one young woman aboard a passing
+street car was also killed.
+
+The incident aroused deep indignation not only among the Spartacans,
+but among the Independent Socialists as well. The bulk of the
+Independents were naturally excited over the killing of "comrades," and
+the leaders saw in it a welcome opportunity further to shake the
+authority of the Majority Socialist members of the government. Even the
+_Vorwärts_, hesitating between love and duty, apologetically demanded an
+investigation. The government eventually shook off all responsibility
+and it was placed on the shoulders of an over-zealous officer acting
+without instructions. This may have been--indeed, probably was--the
+case. The cabinet's record up to this time makes it highly improbable
+that any of its members had yet begun to understand that there are
+limits beyond which no government can with impunity permit its authority
+to be flouted.
+
+The day following the shooting saw the first of those demonstrations
+that later became so common. Liebknecht summoned a meeting in the
+Siegesallee in the Tiergarten. Surrounded by motor-trucks carrying
+machine-guns manned by surly ruffians, he addressed the assembled
+thousands, attacking the government, demanding its forcible overthrow
+and summoning his hearers to organize a Red Guard.
+
+It is significant that, although actual adherents of Spartacus in Berlin
+could at this time be numbered in thousands, tens of thousands attended
+the meeting. Between the Spartacans and thousands of Independent
+Socialists of the rank and file there were already only tenuous dividing
+lines.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIV.
+
+                  The Majority Socialists in Control.
+
+
+The Independent Socialist trio in the cabinet had been compelled to give
+up--at least outwardly--their opposition to the summoning of a national
+assembly. Popular sentiment too plainly demanded such a congress to make
+it possible to resist the demand. Also the Majority members of the
+cabinet had been strengthened by two occurrences early in December.
+Joffe, the former Russian Bolshevik ambassador, had published his
+charges against Haase, Barth and Cohn, and, although these were merely a
+confirmation of what was generally suspected or even definitely known by
+many, they had an ugly look in the black and white of a printed page and
+found a temporary reaction which visibly shook the authority of these
+men who had accepted foreign funds to overthrow their government.
+
+The other factor strengthening the hands of Ebert, Scheidemann and
+Landsberg was the manner of the return of the German front-soldiers.
+
+Gratifying reports had come of the conduct of these men on their
+homeward march. Where the soldiers of the _étappe_ had thrown discipline
+and honor to the winds and straggled home, a chaotic collection of
+looters, the men who, until noon on November 11th, had kept up the
+unequal struggle against victorious armies, brought back with them some
+of the spirit that kept them at their hopeless posts. They marched in
+good order, singing the old songs, and scores of reports came of rough
+treatment meted out by them to misguided _Genossen_ who tried to compel
+them to substitute the red flag for their national or state flags, or
+for their regimental banners.
+
+The first returning soldiers poured through the Brandenburger Tor on
+December 10th. A victorious army could not have comported itself
+differently. The imperial black-white-red, the black-and-white of
+Prussia, the white-and-blue of Bavaria and the flags of other states
+floated from the ranks of the veterans. Flowers decked their helmets.
+Flowers and evergreens covered gun-carriages and caissons, flowers
+peeped from the muzzles of the rifles. Women, children and old men
+trudged alongside, cheering, laughing, weeping. Time was for the moment
+rolled back. It was not December, 1918, but August, 1914.
+
+The people greeted the troops as if they were a conquering army. They
+jammed the broad Unter den Linden; cheering and handclapping were almost
+continuous. The red flags had disappeared from the buildings along the
+street and been replaced by the imperial or Prussian colors. Only the
+_Kultusministerium_, presided over by Adolph Hoffmann, illiterate
+director of schools and atheistic master of churches, stayed red. The
+flag of revolution floated over it and a huge red carpet hung
+challengingly from a second-story window.
+
+It was evident on this first day, as also on the following days, that
+red doctrines had not yet destroyed discipline and order. The men
+marched with the cadenced step of veterans, their ranks were correctly
+aligned, their rifles snapped from hand to shoulder at the command of
+their officers. The bands blared national songs as the long lines of
+field-gray troops defiled through the central arch of the great gate,
+once sacredly reserved for the royal family.
+
+A hush fell on the waiting crowds. The soldiers' helmets came off. A
+massed band played softly and a chorus of school-children sang the old
+German anthem:
+
+            _Wie sie so sanft ruh'n,
+            Alle die Seligen,
+            In ihren Gräbern._
+
+Ebert delivered the address of welcome, which was followed by three
+cheers for "the German Republic." It was no time for cheers for the
+"German Socialist Republic." The soldiers had not yet been
+"enlightened."
+
+The scenes of this first day were repeated on each day of the week. The
+self-respecting, sound attitude of the front-soldiers angered the
+Spartacans and Independents, but was hailed with delight by the great
+majority of the people. The _Vollzugsrat_, resenting the fact that it
+had not been asked, as the real governing body of Germany, to take part
+officially in welcoming the soldiers, sent one of its members to deliver
+an address of welcome. He had hardly started when bands began to play,
+officers shouted out commands, the men's rifles sprang to their
+shoulders and they marched away, leaving him talking to an empty square.
+
+The six-man cabinet announced that a national assembly would be
+convened. The date tentatively fixed for the elections was February 2d,
+which was a compromise, for the Majority Socialists wanted an earlier
+date, while the Independent trio desired April. It was announced also
+that a central congress of all Germany's workmen's and soldiers'
+councils had been summoned to meet in Berlin on December 16th. This
+congress was to have power to fix the date for the national assembly and
+to make the necessary preparations.
+
+No definite rules were laid down covering the manner of choosing
+delegates to the congress. Despite the consequent possibility that the
+elections of delegates would be manipulated by the less scrupulous
+Spartacans and Independents, the congress chosen was a remarkably
+representative body. The numerical weakness of the two radical wings of
+Socialism found striking illustration in the makeup of the congress. Of
+its total membership of some four hundred and fifty, the Spartacans and
+Independents together had only about forty delegates. That this
+accurately represented the proportionate strengths of the conservative
+and the radical camps was proved at the elections for the national
+assembly a month later, when the Independents, with four per cent of the
+total popular vote, again had one-eleventh of the Majority Socialists'
+forty-four per cent. In considering the rôle played by the radicals in
+the second phase of the revolution it must be remembered that the
+majority of their strength lay in Berlin, where they eventually won a
+greater following than that of the old party. If Berlin and the free
+cities of Hamburg and Bremen could have been isolated from the empire
+and allowed to go their own way, ordered government in Germany would
+have come months sooner.[56]
+
+[56] It is not merely in very recent times that the largest
+    cities have become the strongholds of radicalism. In a
+    session of the Prussian Diet on March 20, 1852, a deputy
+    charged the government with lack of confidence in the people.
+    Bismarck replied: "The deputy having declared here that the
+    government distrusts the people, I can say to him that it is
+    true that I distrust the inhabitants of the larger cities so
+    long as they let themselves be led by self-seeking and lying
+    demagogues, but that I do not find the real people there. If
+    the larger cities rise up again in rebellion, the real people
+    will have ways of bringing them to obedience, even if these
+    must include wiping them off the face of the earth."
+
+The following account of the sessions of the central congress is copied
+from the author's diary of those days. There is nothing to add to or
+take from the estimates and comments set down at that time.
+
+    "December 16th. The Central Congress of Germany's Workmen's and
+    Soldiers' Councils convened today in the _Abgeordnetenhaus_
+    (Prussian Diet). There are about four hundred and fifty
+    delegates present, including two women. There is a fair
+    sprinkling of intelligent faces in the crowd, and the average of
+    intelligence and manners is far above that of the Berlin
+    Soldiers' Council. None of the delegates keeps his hat on in the
+    chamber and a few who have started smoking throw their cigars
+    and cigarettes away at the request of the presiding officer,
+    Leinert from Hanover, who was for some years a member of the
+    Prussian Diet and is a man of ability and some parliamentary
+    training.
+
+    "After organization, which is effected with a show of
+    parliamentary form, Richard Müller, chairman of the executive
+    committee of the _Vollzugsrat_, mounts the speaker's tribune to
+    give an extended report of the committee's activities. The
+    report, which turns out to be really a defense of the committee,
+    gets a cool reception. The _Vollzugsrat_ has drifted steadily to
+    the left ever since it was appointed, and is strongly
+    Independent Socialist and Spartacan, and it is already evident
+    that the Majority Socialists have an overwhelming majority in
+    the Congress.
+
+    "Chairman Leinert interrupts Müller's speech with an
+    announcement that a _Genosse_ has an important communication to
+    make. A man who declares that he speaks 'in the name of at least
+    250,000 of Berlin's proletariat, now assembled before this
+    building,' reads a series of demands. The first, calling for the
+    strengthening of the socialist republic, is greeted with general
+    applause, but then come the familiar Spartacan (Bolshevik)
+    demands for the disarming of the _bourgeoisie_, weaponing of
+    'the revolutionary proletariat,' formation of a Red Guard (loud
+    cries of 'No!'), and 'all power to remain in the hands of the
+    workmen's and soldiers' councils.' In other words, the Russian
+    Soviet republic.
+
+    "A half dozen officer-delegates present join in the protests
+    against the demands. Loud cries of '_raus die Offiziere!_' (out
+    with the officers!) come from a little group of Spartacans and
+    Independent Socialists at the right of the room. Order is
+    finally restored and Müller completes his defense of the
+    _Vollzugsrat_.
+
+    "A delegate moves that 'Comrades Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg
+    be invited to attend the session as guests with advisory powers,
+    in view of their great services to the revolution.'[57] The
+    motion is voted down, five to one. It is renewed in the
+    afternoon, but meets the same fate, after a turbulent scene in
+    which the Spartacans and their Independent Socialist allies howl
+    and shout insults at the top of their voices.
+
+    [57] Neither Liebknecht nor Luxemburg had been chosen as
+         delegate, although desperate efforts were made to have
+         them elected.
+
+    "Liebknecht, who has entered the building while this was going
+    on, addresses his followers in the street in front from the
+    ledge of a third-story window. The '250,000 of Berlin's
+    proletariat' prove to be about seven thousand, nearly half of
+    them women and girls and a great majority of the rest
+    down-at-the-heels youths. His speech is the usual Bolshevik
+    rodomontade. A middle-aged workman who leaves the crowd with me
+    tells me:
+
+        "'Two-thirds of the people there are there because they
+        have to come or lose their jobs. One has to eat, you know.'
+
+    "I learned later in the day that many of the paraders had been
+    induced to attend by the representation that it was to be a
+    demonstration in favor of the national assembly. It is also
+    asserted that others were forced by Spartacans with drawn
+    revolvers to leave their factories.
+
+    "December 17th. The second day's session of the Congress was
+    marked by a virulent attack on Ebert by Ledebour, between whom
+    and Liebknecht there is little difference. The reception of his
+    speech by the delegates again demonstrated that the Majority
+    Socialists make up nine-tenths of the assembly. Barth also took
+    it upon himself to attack Ebert and to disclose secrets of the
+    inner workings of the cabinet. Ebert answered with an indignant
+    protest against being thus attacked from the rear. Barth has the
+    lowest mentality of all the six cabinet members, and I am
+    informed on good authority that he has an unsavory record. His
+    alleged offenses are of a nature regarded by advanced
+    penologists as pathological rather than criminal, but however
+    that may be, he seems hardly fitted for participation in any
+    governing body.
+
+    "Liebknecht's followers staged another demonstration like that
+    of yesterday. The Congress had decided that no outsiders should
+    be permitted again to interrupt the proceedings, but a
+    delegation of some forty men and women from the Schwarzkopff,
+    Knorr and other red factories, bearing banners inscribed with
+    Bolshevik demands, insisted on entering and nobody dared oppose
+    them. They filed onto the platform and read their stock
+    resolutions, cheered by the little group of their soul-brothers
+    among the deputies and by fanatics in the public galleries.
+    Beyond temporarily interrupting the proceedings of the Congress
+    they accomplished nothing.
+
+    "The incompetence--to use no stronger word--of the _Vollzugsrat_
+    was again demonstrated today, as well as its careless financial
+    methods.
+
+    "December 18th. A well-dressed German who stands beside me in
+    the diplomatic gallery insists on explaining to all occupants of
+    the gallery that it is intolerable that the speaker now in the
+    tribune should be permitted to speak of the late 'revolt.' 'It
+    was not a revolt; it was a revolution, and they ought to compel
+    him to call it that,' he says. How typical of the mentality of a
+    great number of the delegates themselves! They have spent
+    precious hours discussing Marx and Bebel and the brotherhood of
+    man--which, however, appears to extend only to the
+    proletariat--but only two or three clear heads have talked of
+    practical things. The failure of the Socialists generally to
+    realize that it is not now a question of doing what they would
+    like to do, but what they must do, is extraordinary and amazing.
+    One speaker has read nearly a chapter from one of Bebel's books.
+    Only a few leaders are clear-sighted enough to insist that it is
+    more important just now to save Germany from disintegration and
+    the German people from starvation than to impose the doctrines
+    of internationalism upon a world not yet ready for them. The
+    members of the average high school debating club in any American
+    city have a keener sense for practical questions than has the
+    great majority of this Congress.[58]
+
+    [58] This may appear to be an extravagant comparison, but it
+        is so near the truth that I let it stand.
+
+    "December 19th. The Congress tonight changed the date for the
+    National Assembly from February 16th to January 19th. Hardly
+    forty of the delegates opposed the change. These
+    forty--Independents and Spartacans--tried vainly to have a
+    resolution passed committing Germany to the Russian Soviet
+    system, but the vast majority would have none of it. Haase spoke
+    in favor of the National Assembly. If he maintains this course
+    his coöperation with the three Majority members of the cabinet
+    will be valuable, but he is a trimmer and undependable.
+
+    "The Congress was enabled by a bolt of the Independents to
+    accomplish another valuable bit of work, viz., the appointment
+    of a new central _Vollzugsrat_ made up entirely of Majority
+    Socialists. It includes some excellent men, notably Cohen of
+    Reuss, whose speech in advocacy of the National Assembly and of
+    changing its date has been the most logical and irrefutable
+    speech made during the Congress, and Leinert, first chairman of
+    the Congress. With the support of this new executive committee
+    the cabinet will have no excuse if it continues to shilly-shally
+    along and fails to exhibit some backbone.
+
+    "But I am apprehensive. A scraggly-bearded fanatic in one of the
+    public galleries today repeatedly howled insults at Majority
+    Socialist speakers, and, although repeated remonstrances were
+    made, nobody had enough energy or courage to throw him out.
+    Leinert once threatened to clear the galleries if the
+    demonstrations there were repeated. The spectators promptly
+    responded with hoots, hisses and the shaking of fists, but the
+    galleries were not cleared.
+
+    "German government in miniature! The same mentality that places
+    guards before public buildings and orders them not to use their
+    weapons! _Sancta simplicitas!_"
+
+It will be observed that the foregoing report, comparatively lengthy
+though it is, fails to record an amount of legislative business
+commensurate with the length of the session. And yet there is little to
+add to it, for but two things of importance were done--the alteration of
+the date for holding the elections for the National Assembly and the
+appointment of the new _Vollzugsrat_. Outside this the accomplishments
+of the Congress were mainly along the line of refusing to yield to
+Independent and Spartacan pressure designed to anchor the soviet scheme
+in the government. New light is thrown on the old _Vollzugsrat_ by the
+fact that it had invited the Russian Government to send delegates to the
+Congress. The cabinet had learned of this in time, and a week before the
+Congress was to assemble it sent a wireless message to Petrograd, asking
+the government to abstain from sending delegates "in view of the present
+situation in Germany." The Russians nevertheless tried to come, but were
+stopped at the frontier.
+
+The manner in which Haase and Dittmann had supported their Majority
+Socialist colleagues in the cabinet by their speeches during the
+Congress had demonstrated that, while there were differences between the
+two groups, they were not insurmountable. The events of the week
+following the Congress of Soviets, however, altered the situation
+completely.
+
+It has been related how, in the days preceding the actual revolution in
+Berlin, the so-called "People's Marine Division" had been summoned to
+the capital to protect the government. It was quartered in the Royal
+Stables and the Royal Palace, and was entrusted with the custody of the
+Palace and its treasures.
+
+It speedily became apparent that a wolf had been placed in charge of the
+sheepfold. The division, which had originally consisted of slightly more
+than six hundred men, gradually swelled to more than three thousand,
+despite the fact that no recruiting for it nor increase in its numbers
+had been authorized. A great part of the men performed no service
+whatever, terrorized inoffending people, and, as investigation by the
+Finance Ministry disclosed, stole everything movable in the Palace.
+
+The division demanded that it be permitted to increase its numbers to
+five thousand and that it be made a part of the Republican Soldier Guard
+in charge of the city's police service. This demand was refused by the
+City Commandant, Otto Wels, since the ranks of the Soldier Guard were
+already full. A compromise was eventually reached by which those of the
+division who had formerly been employed on police duty and who were
+fathers of families and residents of Berlin, would be added to the
+police force if the Marine Division would surrender the keys to the
+Palace which it was looting. The Marines agreed to this, but failed to
+surrender the keys. On December 21st a payment of eighty thousand marks
+was to be made to them for their supposed services. Wels refused to hand
+over the money until the keys to the Palace had been surrendered.
+
+Wels had incurred the deep hatred of the more radical elements of the
+capital by his sturdy opposition to lawlessness. He was almost the
+only Majority Socialist functionary who had displayed unbending energy
+in his efforts to uphold the authority of the government, and public
+demonstrations against him had already been held, in which he was
+classed with Ebert and Scheidemann as a "bloodhound." The leaders of the
+Marine Division decided reluctantly to give up the Palace keys, but they
+would not hand them over to the hated Wels. Early in the afternoon of
+December 23d they sought out Barth, the member of the cabinet who stood
+closest to them, and gave the keys to him. Barth telephoned to Wels that
+the keys had been surrendered. Wels pointed out that Ebert was the
+member of the cabinet in charge of military affairs, and declared that
+he would pay out the eighty thousand marks only upon receipt of advices
+that the keys were in Ebert's possession.
+
+The delivery to Barth of the keys had been entrusted two marines who
+constituted the military post at the Chancellor's Palace. These men,
+informed of Wels's attitude, occupied the telephone central in the
+palace, and informed Ebert and Landsberg that Dorrenbach, their
+commander, had ordered that no one be permitted to leave or enter the
+building. An hour later, at five-thirty o'clock, the Marines left the
+building, but in the evening the whole division appeared before the
+palace and occupied it.
+
+Government troops, summoned by telephone, also appeared, and an armed
+clash appeared imminent. Ebert, however, finally induced the Marines to
+leave on condition that the government troops also left.
+
+While this was going on, a detachment of Marines had entered Wels's
+office, compelled him at the point of their guns to pay out the eighty
+thousand marks due them, and had then marched him to the Royal Stables,
+where he was locked up in a cellar and threatened with death. Ebert,
+Scheidemann and Landsberg, without consulting their colleagues, ordered
+the Minister of War to employ all force necessary for the release of
+Wels. At the last moment, however, negotiations were entered into and
+Wels was released shortly after midnight on the Marines' terms.
+
+Spartacans and radical Independents took the part of the Marines.
+Richard Müller, Ledebour, Däumig and other members of the defunct
+original _Vollzugsrat_ were galvanized into new opposition. Ledebour's
+"Revolutionary Foremen of Greater Berlin Industries" demanded the
+retirement of the Independent Socialist members of the cabinet, and the
+demand was approvingly published by _Die Freiheit_, the party's official
+organ. The head and forefront of the Majority cabinet members' offending
+was their order to the War Minister to use force in upholding the
+government's authority, and radical revolutionists condemn force when it
+is employed against themselves.
+
+The position of Haase and Dittmann as party leaders was seriously
+shaken. The left wing of their party, led by Eichhorn and Ledebour, was
+on the point of disavowing them as leaders and even as members of the
+party. At the party's caucuses in Greater Berlin on December 26th, held
+to nominate candidates for delegates to the coming National Assembly,
+Ledebour refused to permit his name to be printed on the same ticket
+with Haase's, and Eichhorn secured 326 votes to 271 for the party's
+head.
+
+On the evening of the same day the Independents in the cabinet submitted
+eight formulated questions to the _Vollzugsrat_, in which this body was
+asked to define its attitude as to various matters. The _Vollzugsrat_
+answered a majority of the questions in a sense favorable to the
+Independents. Its answer to one important question, however, gave the
+Independents the pretext for which they were looking. The question ran:
+
+    "Does the _Vollzugsrat_ approve that the cabinet members Ebert,
+    Scheidemann and Lansberg on the night of December 23d conferred
+    upon the Minister of War the authority, in no manner limited, to
+    employ military force against the People's Marine Division in
+    the Palace and Stables?"
+
+The executive council's answer was:
+
+    "The people's commissioners merely gave the order to do what was
+    necessary to liberate Comrade Wels. Nor was this done until
+    after the three commissioners had been advised by telephone by
+    the leader of the People's Marine Division that he could not
+    longer guarantee the life of Comrade Wels. The _Vollzugsrat_
+    approves."
+
+The _Vollzugsrat_ itself presented a question. It asked:
+
+    "Are the People's Commissioners prepared to protect public order
+    and safety, and also and especially private and public property,
+    against forcible attacks? Are they also prepared to use the
+    powers at their disposal to prevent themselves and their organs
+    from being interfered with in their conduct of public affairs by
+    acts of violence, irrespective of whence these may come?"
+
+The Independents, for whom Dittmann spoke, hereupon declared that they
+retired from the government. Thus they avoided the necessity of
+answering the _Vollzugsrat's_ question. In a subsequent statement
+published in their press the trio declared that the Majority members
+were encouraging counter-revolution by refusing to check the power of
+the military. They themselves, they asserted, were a short while earlier
+in a position to take over the government alone, but they could not do
+so since their principles did not permit them to work with a Majority
+Socialist _Vollzugsrat_. What they meant by saying that they could have
+assumed complete control of the cabinet was not explained, and it was
+probably an over-optimistic statement. There is no reason to believe
+that the Independents had up to this time been in a position enabling
+them to throw the Majority Socialists out of the cabinet.
+
+Ebert, Scheidemann and Landsberg, in a manifesto to the people, declared
+that the Independents had, by their resignations, refused to take a
+stand in favor of assuring the safety of the state. The manifesto said:
+
+    "By rejecting the means of assuring the state's safety, the
+    Independents have demonstrated their incapacity to govern. For
+    us the revolution is not a party watchword, but the most
+    valuable possession of the whole wealth-producing folk.
+
+    "We take over their tasks as people's commissioners with the
+    oath: All for the revolution, all through the revolution. But we
+    take them over at the same time with the firm purpose to oppose
+    immovably all who would convert the revolution of the people
+    into terror by a minority."
+
+The _Vollzugsrat_ elected to fill the three vacancies: Gustav Noske,
+still governor of Kiel: Herr Wissell, a member of the old Reichstag, and
+Herr Loebe, editor of the Socialist _Volkswacht_ of Breslau. Loebe,
+however, never assumed office, and the cabinet consisted of five members
+until it was abolished by act of the National Assembly in February.
+
+The Majority Socialists staged a big demonstration on Sunday, December
+29th, in favor of the new government. Thousands of the _bourgeoisie_
+joined in a great parade, which ended with a tremendous assembly in
+front of the government offices in the Wilhelmstrasse. The size and
+character of the demonstration showed that the great majority of
+Berlin's law-abiding residents were on the side of Ebert and his
+colleagues.
+
+The Majority Socialists did not take over the sole responsibility for
+the government with a light heart. They had begun to realize something
+of the character of the forces working against them and were saddened
+because they had been compelled to abandon party traditions by relying
+upon armed force. Yet there was clearly no way of avoiding it. The
+Spartacans were organizing their cohorts in Bremen, Hamburg, Kiel and
+other cities, and had already seized the government of Düsseldorf, where
+they had dissolved the city council and arrested Mayor Oehler. The
+Soviets of Solingen and Remscheid had accepted the Spartacan program by
+a heavy majority. The state government of Brunswick had adopted
+resolutions declaring that the National Assembly could not be permitted
+to meet. At a meeting of the Munich Communists Emil Mühsam[59] had been
+greeted with applause when he declared that the summons for the assembly
+was "the common battle-cry of reaction." Resolutions were passed
+favoring the nullification of all war-loans.[60]
+
+[59] Mühsam was one of the characteristic types of Bolsheviki.
+    For years he had been an unwashed, unshorn and unshaven
+    literary loafer in Berlin cafés, whose chief ability
+    consisted in securing a following of naïve persons willing to
+    buy drinks for him.
+
+[60] The left wing of the Independent Socialist Party already
+    demanded nullification, and the whole party drifted so
+    rapidly leftward that a platform adopted by it in the first
+    week of the following March definitely demanded nullification.
+
+The Spartacans (on December 30th) had reorganized as the "Communist
+Laborers' Party of Germany--Spartacus League." Radek-Sobelsohn, who had
+for some weeks been carrying on his Bolshevik propaganda from various
+hiding places, attended the meeting and made a speech in which he
+declared that the Spartacans must not let themselves be frightened by
+the fear of civil war. Rosa Luxemburg openly summoned her hearers to
+battle.
+
+The authority of the national government was small in any event, and was
+openly flouted and opposed in some places. Sailors and marines had
+organized the Republic of Oldenburg-East Frisia and elected an
+unlettered sailor named Bernhard Kuhnt as president. The president of
+the Republic of Brunswick was a bushelman tailor named Leo Merges, and
+the minister of education was a woman who had been a charwoman and had
+been discharged by a woman's club for which she had worked for petty
+peculations. Kurt Eisner, minister-president of Bavaria, was a dreamy,
+long-haired Communist writer who had earlier had to leave the editorial
+staff of _Vorwärts_ because of an utter lack of practical common-sense.
+He was a fair poet and an excellent feuilletonist, but quite unfitted to
+participate in governmental affairs. His opposition to the national
+government severely handicapped it, and the Bavarian state government
+was at the same time crippled by the natural antagonism of a
+predominantly Catholic people to a Jewish president.
+
+To the south the Czechs had occupied Bodenbach and Tetschen in German
+Bohemia, and were threatening the border. To the east the Poles,
+unwilling to await the awards of the peace conference, had seized the
+city of Posen, were taxing the German residents there for the
+maintenance of an army to be used against their own government, and had
+given notice that a war loan was to be issued. Paderewski, head of the
+new Polish Government, had been permitted to land at Danzig on the
+promise that he would proceed directly to Warsaw. Instead, he went to
+Posen and made inflammatory speeches against the Germans until the
+English officer accompanying him was directed by the British Government
+to see that the terms of the promise to the German government were
+obeyed. The German Government, endeavoring to assemble and transport
+sufficient forces to repel Polish aggressions against German territory,
+found opposition among the Spartacans and Independent Socialists at
+home, and from the Bolshevik Brunswick authorities, who announced that
+no government troops would be permitted to pass through the state, or to
+be recruited there. Government troops entering Brunswick were disarmed.
+The state government gave the Berlin cabinet notice that decrees of the
+Minister of War had no validity in Brunswick. General Scheuch, the
+Minister of War, resigned in disgust.
+
+What later became an epidemic of strikes began. Seventy thousand workers
+were idle in Berlin. Upper Silesia reported serious labor troubles
+throughout the mining districts, due to Russian and German Bolshevist
+agitators and Poles.
+
+A less happy New Year for men responsible for the affairs of a great
+state was doubtless never recorded.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XV.
+
+                   Liebknecht Tries to Overthrow the
+                  Government; Is Arrested and Killed.
+
+
+In the six weeks that Emil Eichhorn had been Police-President of Berlin
+the situation in his department had become a public scandal. The arming
+of the criminal and hooligan classes by this guardian of public safety,
+which had at first been carried on quietly, was now being done openly
+and shamelessly, and had reached great proportions. Liebknecht and
+Ledebour, Spartacan and Independent, were in constant and close
+fellowship with him. A considerable part of the Republican Soldier Guard
+had been turned from allegiance to the government that had appointed
+them and could be reckoned as adherents of Eichhorn. The Berlin police
+department had become an _imperium in imperio_.
+
+The _Vollzugsrat_ conducted a formal investigation of Eichhorn's
+official acts. The investigation, which was conducted honestly and with
+dignity, convicted the Police-President of gross inefficiency,
+insubordination, diversion and conversion of public funds, and conduct
+designed to weaken and eventually overthrow the government. _Vorwärts_
+was able to disclose the further fact that Eichhorn had throughout his
+term of office been drawing a salary of 1,800 marks monthly from
+Lenine's _Rosta_, the Bolshevik propaganda-central for Germany. The
+_Vollzugsrat_ removed Eichhorn from office.
+
+Eichhorn, relying on the armed forces at his disposal and doubtless
+equally on the probability that a Socialist government would not dare
+use actual force against _Genossen_, refused to comply with the order
+for his removal. The more ignorant of his followers--and this embraced a
+great proportion--saw in the _Vollzugsrat's_ action the first move in
+that counter-revolution whose specter had so artfully been kept before
+their eyes by their leaders.
+
+It is a current saying in England that when an Englishman has a
+grievance, he writes to the _Times_ about it. When a German has a
+grievance, he organizes a parade and marches through the city carrying
+banners and transparencies, and shouting _hoch_! (hurrah!) for his
+friends and _nieder_! (down) with his enemies. On Sunday, January 5th, a
+great demonstration was staged as a protest against Eichhorn's removal.
+It is significant that, although Eichhorn was an Independent Socialist,
+the moving spirit and chief orator of the day was the Spartacan
+Liebknecht. This, too, despite the fact that at the convention where the
+Spartacus League had been reorganized a week earlier, the Independents
+had been roundly denounced as timorous individuals and enemies of
+Simon-Pure Socialism. Similar denunciations of the Spartacans had come
+from the Independents. The psychology of it all is puzzling, and the
+author contents himself with recording the facts without attempting to
+explain them.
+
+Sunday's parade was of imposing proportions, and it was marked by a grim
+earnestness that foreboded trouble. The organizers claimed that 150,000
+persons were in the line of march. The real number was probably around
+twenty thousand. Transparencies bore defiant inscriptions. "Down with
+Ebert and Scheidemann, the Bloodhounds and Grave-diggers of the
+Revolution!" was a favorite device. "Down with the Bloodhound Wels!" was
+another. Cheers for "our Police-President" and groans for the cabinet
+were continuous along the line of march. The great mass of the paraders
+were ragged, underfed, miserable men and women, mute testimony to the
+sufferings of the war-years.
+
+Liebknecht addressed the paraders. Counter-revolution, he declared, was
+already showing its head. The Ebert-Scheidemann government must be
+overthrown and the real friends of the revolution must not shrink from
+using violence if violence were necessary. Others spoke in a similar
+vein.
+
+Conditions appeared propitious for the _coup_ that had been preparing
+for a month. Late Sunday evening armed Spartacans occupied the plants of
+the _Vorwärts_, _Tageblatt_, the Ullstein Company (publishers of _Die
+Morgenpost_ and _Berliner Zeitung-am-Mittag_), the _Lokal-Anzeiger_ and
+the Wolff Bureau.
+
+The Spartacans in the _Vorwärts_ plant published on Monday morning _Der
+rote Vorwärts_ (the Red _Vorwärts_). It contained a boastful leading
+Article announcing that the paper had been taken over by "real
+revolutionists," and that "no power on earth shall take it from us." The
+Liebknechtians also seized on Monday the Büxenstein plant, where the
+_Kreuz-Zeitung_ is printed. There was much promiscuous shooting in
+various parts of the city. Spartacans fired on unarmed government
+supporters in front of the war ministry, killing one man and wounding
+two. There were also bloody clashes at Wilhelm Platz, Potsdamer Platz
+and in Unter den Linden.
+
+The _Vollzugsrat_ rose to the occasion like a _bourgeois_ governing
+body. It conferred extraordinary powers on the cabinet and authorized it
+to use all force at its disposal to put down the Bolshevist uprising.
+That it was Bolshevist was now apparent to everybody. The cabinet, still
+hesitant about firing on _Genossen_, conferred with the Independents
+Haase, Dittmann, Cohn and Dr. Rudolf Breitscheid, the last named one of
+the so-called "intellectual leaders" of the Independent Socialists.
+These men wanted the government to "compromise." The cabinet declared it
+could listen to no proposals until the occupied newspaper plants should
+have been restored to their rightful owners. The delegation withdrew to
+confer with the Spartacan leaders. These refused flatly to surrender
+their usurped strongholds.
+
+Several lively street battles marked the course of Tuesday, January 7th.
+The Spartacans succeeded in driving the government troops from the
+Brandenburger Tor, but after a short time were in turn driven out.
+Spartacan and Independent Socialist parades filled the streets of the
+old city. The government did nothing to stop these demonstrations. Haase
+and the other members of Monday's delegation spent most of the day
+trying to induce the government to compromise. Their ingenious idea of a
+"compromise" was for the entire cabinet to resign and be replaced by a
+"parity" government made up of two Majority Socialists, two Independents
+and two Spartacans. This, of course, would have meant in effect a
+government of four Bolsheviki and two Majority Socialists. Despite their
+traditions of and training in party "solidarity," the cabinet could not
+help seeing that the "compromise" proposed would mean handing the
+government over bodily to Liebknecht, for Haase and Dittmann had long
+lost all power to lead their former followers back into democratic
+paths. The bulk of the party was already irrevocably committed to
+practical Bolshevism. The scholarly Eduard Bernstein, who had followed
+Haase and the other seceders from the Majority Socialists in 1916, had
+announced his return to the parent party. In a long explanation of the
+reasons for his course he denounced the Independents as lacking any
+constructive program and with having departed from their real mission.
+They had become, he declared, a party committed to tearing down existing
+institutions. Other adherents of the party's right wing refused to have
+anything to do with the new course.
+
+The night of January 7th was marked by hard fighting. Spartacans
+repeatedly attacked government troops at the Anhalt Railway Station in
+the Königgrätzerstrasse, but were repulsed with heavy losses. They also
+attacked the government troops defending the Potsdam Railway Station, a
+quarter of a mile north from the Anhalt Station, but were also repulsed
+there. Government soldiers, however, had considerable losses in an
+unsuccessful attempt to retake the Wolff Bureau building at
+Charlottenstrasse and Zimmerstrasse. On Wednesday, the section of the
+city around the Brandenburger Tor was again filled with parading
+Bolsheviki, but the government had plucked up enough courage and
+decision to decree that no parades should be permitted to enter
+Wilhelmstrasse, where the seat of government is situated. Spartacans
+attempted to invade this street in the afternoon, but scattered when
+government soldiers fired a few shots, although the soldiers fired into
+the air. The Independent go-betweens again assailed the cabinet in an
+effort to secure the "compromise" government suggested the day before.
+The delegation was hampered, however, both by the fact that the cabinet
+realized what such a compromise would mean and by the fact that the
+Independents could promise nothing. The Spartacans stubbornly refused to
+surrender the captured newspaper plants, and the Independents themselves
+were committed to the retention in office of Eichhorn.
+
+Eichhorn, still at his desk in Police Headquarters, refused even to
+admit to the building Police-President Richter of Charlottenburg, who
+had been named as his successor, and he and his aides were still busily
+arming deluded workingmen and young hooligans of sixteen and seventeen,
+as well as some women. The People's Marine Division announced that it
+sided with the government, but it played little part in its defense.
+
+The rattle of machine-guns and the crack of rifles kept Berliners awake
+nearly all night. The hardest fighting was at the _Tageblatt_ plant, in
+front of the Foreign Office and the Chancellor's Palace, and around the
+Brandenburger Tor. Thursday morning found the government decided to put
+an end to the unbearable conditions. It was announced that no parades
+would be tolerated and that government soldiers had been ordered to
+shoot to kill if any such aggregations disobeyed orders to disperse.
+Spartacus, realizing that the government meant what it said, called no
+meetings, and the streets were free of howling demonstrants for the
+first time since Sunday.
+
+The government further addressed a proclamation to the people,
+addressing them this time as _Mitbürger_ (fellow-citizens), instead of
+_Genossen_. It announced that negotiations had been broken off with the
+rebels, and assailed the dishonest and dishonorable tactics of the
+Independent Socialists represented by the Haase-Dittmann delegation.
+_Die Freiheit_ and _Der rote Vorwärts_ assailed the government; still
+the proclamation had a good effect and decent elements generally rallied
+to the government's support. The day's fighting was confined to the
+_Tageblatt_ plant, where three hundred Bolsheviki were entrenched to
+defend the liberty of other people's property. The place could have been
+taken with artillery, but it was desired to spare the building if
+possible.
+
+Friday passed with only scattered sniping. The Spartacans and their
+Independent helpers grew boastful. They had not yet learned to know what
+manner of man Gustav Noske, the new cabinet member, was. They made his
+acquaintance early Saturday morning. Before the sun had risen government
+troops had posted themselves with artillery and mine-throwers a few
+hundred yards from the _Vorwärts_ plant. The battle was short and
+decisive. A single mine swept out of existence the Spartacans' barricade
+in front of the building, and a few more shots made the building ripe
+for storm. The government troops lost only two or three men, but more
+than a score of Bolsheviki were killed and more than a hundred,
+including some Russians and women, were captured. The _Vorwärts_ plant
+was a new building and much more valuable than some of the other plants
+occupied by the Spartacans, but it was selected for bombardment because
+the cabinet members wished to show, by sacrificing their own party's
+property first, that they were not playing favorites.
+
+The fall of the _Vorwärts_ stronghold and the firm stand of the
+government disheartened the mercenary and criminal recruits of the
+Spartacans. Police Headquarters, the real center of the revolutionary
+movement, was taken early Sunday morning after a few 10.5-centimeter
+shells had been fired into it. The official report told of twelve
+Spartacans killed, but their casualties were actually much higher.
+Eichhorn had chosen the better part of valor and disappeared. The
+Bolsheviki occupying the various newspaper plants began deserting _en
+masse_ over neighboring roofs and the plants were occupied by government
+troops without a contest. News came that Liebknecht's followers had also
+abandoned the Boetzow Brewery in the eastern part of the city, one of
+their main strongholds. Late in the afternoon they also fled from the
+Silesian Railway Station, where they had been storing up stolen
+provisions, assembling arms and ammunition and preparing to make a last
+desperate stand.
+
+The government, averse though it was to the employment of force to
+maintain its authority, had realized at the beginning of December the
+increasing strength of the Spartacans, and had begun assembling a
+military force of loyal soldiers in various garrisons outside the city.
+Three thousand of these troops now marched into the city. Hundreds of
+the men in the ranks carried rifles slung across officers'
+shoulder-straps. They marched as troops ought to march, sang patriotic
+songs and looked grimly determined. For miles along their route they
+were greeted by frantic cheering and even by joyous tears from the
+law-abiding citizens who had been terrorized by the scum of a great
+capital.[61]
+
+[61] The task of the government was made harder throughout its
+    darkest days by the aid and comfort given its enemies by the
+    character of the reports published in certain enemy papers
+    regarding conditions in Germany. Nearly the entire Paris
+    press regularly published extravagantly untrue reports
+    concerning the situation, and many English and American
+    papers followed suit. The London _Times_ of December 10th
+    gravely told its readers that "in a political sense Ebert is
+    suspected of being a mere tool of the old régime, whose
+    difficult task it is to pave the first stages of the road to
+    the restoration of the Hohenzollerns months or years hence."
+    Three days later it declared that "the German army chiefs
+    propose to let the Spartacans upset the government so that
+    they can summon Hindenburg to save the day and reëstablish
+    the monarchy."Articles of this stamp were eagerly pounced
+    upon and republished by Independent Socialist and Spartacan
+    organs of the stamp of _Die Freiheit_, _Die Republik_,
+    Liebknecht's _Die rote Fahne_, and others, and were of great
+    assistance to the enemies of good government in their efforts
+    to convince the ignorant and fanatical that the government
+    was organizing a "white guard" for counter-revolutionary
+    purposes and was plotting the restoration of the monarchy.
+    One dispatch from Paris, published extensively in the
+    American press on February 26th, quoted in all seriousness "a
+    prominent American Socialist in close touch with German
+    Liberals and with exceptional sources of secret information,"
+    who had learned that "the German revolution was a piece of
+    theatrical manipulation by agents of the militaristic
+    oligarchy to win an armistice." That such a report could be
+    published in responsible organs is a staggering commentary on
+    the manner in which the war-psychosis inhibited clear
+    thinking. The Conservative Deputy Hergt, speaking in the
+    Prussian Diet on March 15th, said: "We Conservatives are not
+    conscienceless enough to plunge the land into civil warfare.
+    We shall wait patiently until the sound sense of the German
+    people shall demand a return to the monarchic form of
+    government." American papers carried the following report of
+    this statement: "Speaking before the new Prussian Diet in
+    Berlin, Deputy Hergt proposed that Prussia should restore the
+    monarchy." Volumes could be written about these false reports
+    alone.
+
+The week of terror had practically ended. There was still some
+sniping from housetops and some looting, but organized resistance had
+been crushed. Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg had gone into hiding.
+Liebknecht's seventeen-year-old son and sister had been arrested.
+Ledebour, more courageous or, perhaps, more confident that a veteran
+_Genosse_ had nothing to fear from a Socialist government, remained
+and was arrested.
+
+It had been no part of the cabinet's plan or desire to have their
+veteran colleague of former days arrested. On January 12th the writer,
+speaking with one of the most prominent Majority Socialist leaders,
+said:
+
+    "You can now hardly avoid having Ledebour locked up."
+
+The man addressed shrugged his shoulders reflectively and answered:
+
+    "Well, you see, Herr Kollege, we can't very well do so. Ledebour
+    is an old comrade, he was for many years one of the party's
+    secretaries and has done great services for the party."
+
+"But he has taken part in an armed uprising to overthrow the government
+and to destroy that same party," persisted the writer. The Socialist
+leader admitted it.
+
+"But he is acting from ideal motives," he said.
+
+This refusal to judge opponents by their acts instead of by their
+motives hampered the government throughout its career. It is less
+specifically Socialistic than German, and is the outgrowth of what is
+termed _Rechthaberei_ in German an untranslatable word exactly
+illustrated by the colloquy reported above. It is not the least among
+the mental traits that make it impossible for the average German ever to
+become what is popularly known as a practical politician; a trait that
+kept the German people in their condition of political immaturity.
+
+In Ledebour's case, however, the government found itself compelled to
+act drastically. A proclamation was found which declared the government
+deposed and taken over temporarily by the three men who signed it. These
+were Liebknecht, Ledebour and another Independent Socialist named
+Scholtze. In the first days of the uprising they had sent a detachment
+of Spartacans to the War Ministry to present the proclamation and take
+charge of that department's affairs, and only the presence of mind and
+courage of a young officer had prevented the scheme from succeeding. In
+the face of this, no government that demanded respect for its authority
+could permit Ledebour to remain at liberty. His arrest was nevertheless
+the signal for some adverse criticism even from Majority Socialists
+whose class-conscious solidarity was greater than their intelligence.
+
+Liebknecht was still in hiding, but it was less easy to hide in
+Berlin than it had been a month earlier, for the old criminal police
+were at work again. The experiment with soldier-policemen had
+resulted so disastrously that every Berliner who had anything to lose
+welcomed the return of these men who had been so denounced and hated
+in other days. The search lasted but two days. On January 15th
+Liebknecht's apartment was searched, and great amounts of propagandist
+pamphlets and correspondence showing him to be in constant touch with
+the Russian Soviet Government were found. On the evening of the next day
+policemen and soldiers surrounded the house of a distant relative of
+Liebknecht's wife in the western part of the city and Liebknecht was
+found. He denied his identity at first, but finally admitted that he was
+the man wanted.
+
+He was taken to the Eden Hotel in Charlottenburg, which had been
+occupied in part by the staff of the government troops. Rosa Luxemburg,
+found hiding in another house, was brought to the hotel at the same
+time. After the two had been questioned, preparations were made to take
+them to the city prison in Moabit.
+
+Despite all precautions, news of the arrests had transpired, and the
+hotel was surrounded by a vast crowd, mainly made up of better class
+citizens, since the district where the hotel is situated is one of the
+best residential districts of Greater Berlin. The feeling of these
+people against the two persons who were in so great measure responsible
+for the terrors of the week just past naturally ran high. The appearance
+of the soldiers guarding the two was the signal for a wild rush. The
+Luxemburg woman was struck repeatedly and Liebknecht received a blow on
+the head which caused a bloody wound.
+
+Neither the man nor woman ever reached prison. Soldiers brought to the
+morgue late that night the body of "an unidentified man," alleged to
+have been shot while running away from his guards. One bullet had struck
+him between the shoulders and another in the middle of the back of the
+neck. The woman disappeared utterly.
+
+On the following day (January 16th) it became known that both Liebknecht
+and Luxemburg had been killed. Exactly who fired the fatal shots was
+never clearly established, but an investigation did establish that the
+officers in charge of the men guarding the two prisoners were guilty of
+a negligence which was undoubtedly deliberate, and intended to make the
+killings possible.
+
+The impression was profound. The _Deutsche Tageszeitung_, while
+deploring lynch law and summary justice, declared that the deaths of the
+two agitators must be regarded as "almost a Divine judgment." This was
+the tenor of all _bourgeois_ comment, and even _Vorwärts_ admitted that
+the dead man and woman had fallen as victims of the base passions which
+they themselves had aroused. They had summoned up spirits which they
+could not exorcise. There was nevertheless much apprehension regarding
+the form which the vengeance of the victims' followers might take, but
+this confined itself in the main to verbal attacks on the _bourgeoisie_
+and Majority Socialists, and denunciation of Noske's "White Guard," as
+the loyal soldiers who protected the law-abiding part of the population
+were termed. Disorders were feared on the day of Liebknecht's funeral,
+but none came.
+
+The government gained a much needed breathing spell through these
+events. With Liebknecht and Luxemburg dead, Radek in hiding, Ledebour
+locked up and Eichhorn--as it transpired later--fled to Brunswick, the
+Spartacans, deprived of their most energetic leaders and shaken by their
+bloody losses of Bolshevik week, could not so quickly rally their forces
+for another _coup_. Their losses are not definitely known, but they were
+estimated at approximately two hundred dead and nearly a thousand
+wounded. The losses of the government troops were negligible.
+
+Noske, who had taken over from Ebert the administration of military
+affairs, announced that there would be no further temporizing with
+persons endeavoring to overthrow the government by force. He issued a
+decree setting forth the duty of the soldiers to preserve order, protect
+property and defend themselves in all circumstances.
+
+The decree said further:
+
+    "No soldier can be excused for failure to perform his duty if he
+    have not, in the cases specified above, made timely and adequate
+    use of his weapons to attain the purpose set forth."
+
+Some six years earlier Police-President von Jagow had brought a flood of
+Socialist abuse on his head because, in a general order to the police,
+he referred to the fact that there had been an unusual number of escapes
+of criminals and attacks on policemen and added: "Henceforth I shall
+punish any policeman who in such case has failed to make timely use of
+his weapons." And now a Socialist issued an order of much the same
+tenor. The _Genossen_ had learned by bitter experience that there is a
+difference between criticizing and governing, and that moral suasion
+occasionally fails with the lowest elements of a great city.
+
+Defeated in Berlin, the Bolsheviki turned their attention to the coast
+cities. The "Republic of Cuxhaven" was proclaimed, with a school-teacher
+as president. It collapsed in five days as a result of the government's
+decisive action. An attempted _coup_ in Bremen also failed, but both
+these uprisings left the Spartacans and Independents of these cities in
+possession of large supplies of arms and ammunition.
+
+January 18th, the forty-seventh anniversary of the founding of the
+German Empire, brought melancholy reflections for all Germans. The
+Bolshevist-hued Socialists were impotently raging in defeat; the
+_bourgeoisie_ lamented past glories; the Majority Socialists were under
+a crossfire from both sides. The Conservative _Kreuz-Zeitung_ wrote:
+
+    "January 18th: What feelings are awakened on this day under
+    prevailing conditions! In other times we celebrated today the
+    Empire's glory, its resurrection from impotence and dissension
+    to unity and strength. We believed its existence and power
+    assured for centuries. And today? After less than half a century
+    the old misery has come upon us and has cast us down lower than
+    ever. This time, too, Germany could be conquered only because it
+    was disunited. In the last analysis it was from the
+    Social-Democratic poison of Internationalism and negation of
+    state that the Empire became infected and defenseless. How
+    painfully wrong were those who, in smiling optimism, ever made
+    light of all warnings against the Social-Democratic danger. It
+    will be our real danger in the future also. If we do not
+    overcome the Social-Democratic spirit among our people we cannot
+    recover our health."
+
+The _Kreuz-Zeitung's_ diagnosis was correct, but it had required a
+national post-mortem to establish it.
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XVI.
+
+                           The National Assembly.
+
+
+In preparation for the National Assembly, the various existing
+political parties effected generally a sweeping reorganization, which
+included, for the most part, changes of designations as well. The
+Conservatives and Free Conservatives coalesced as The German National
+People's Party (_Deutsch-nationale Volkspartei_). The right wing of
+the National-Liberals, under the leadership of Dr. Stresemann, became
+the German People's Party (_Deutsche Volkspartei_). The left wing of the
+old party, under the leadership of Baron von Richthofen joined with the
+former Progressives (_Fortschrittliche Volkspartei_) to form the German
+Democratic Party (_Deutsch-demokratische Partei_). The Clericals
+retained their party solidarity but christened themselves German
+Christian Party (_Deutsch-Christliche Partei_). The Majority and
+Independent Socialists retained their old organizations and party
+designations. The Spartacans, as outspoken enemies of any national
+assembly, could not consistently have anything to do with it and placed
+no ticket in the field. Most of the Independent Socialists were also
+opponents of a constituent assembly, but the party organization was
+still trying to blow both hot and cold and had not yet gone on record
+officially as favoring a soviet government and the dictatorship of the
+proletariat.
+
+Of the parties as reorganized, the National People's and the People's
+parties were monarchic. The Christian Party (Clericals) contained many
+men who believed a limited monarchy to be the best form of government
+for Germany, but as a whole the party was democratically inclined and
+out of sympathy with any attempt at that time to restore the monarchy.
+The two Socialist parties were, of course, advocates of a republic and
+bitter opponents of monarchs and monarchies.
+
+The Democratic Party came into existence mainly through the efforts of
+Theodor Wolff, the brilliant editor of the Berlin _Tageblatt_. No other
+non-Socialist editor realized so early or so completely as Wolff whither
+the policy of the old government was taking Germany. He had opposed the
+submarine warfare, condemned the treaty of Brest-Litovsk, attacked the
+methods and influence of the pan-Germans and constantly advocated
+drastic democratic reforms. Probably no other _bourgeois_ newspaper had
+been so often suppressed as the _Tageblatt_, and it shared with
+Socialist organs the distinction of being prohibited in many army units
+and in some military departments at home. Although Wolff held no
+political office, his influence in the Progressive Party and with the
+left wing of the National-Liberals was great, and even many Socialists
+regularly read his leading articles, which were more often cabled to
+America than were the editorials of any other German publicist, not
+excepting even the _poseur_ Maximilian Harden-Witkowski.
+
+The revolution was hardly an accomplished fact before Wolff saw the
+necessity for a democratic, non-Socialist political party which must be
+free of elements compromised in any manner by participation in the old
+government or by support of its militaristic and imperialistic policies.
+He took it upon himself to issue the summons for the formation of such a
+party. The response was immediate and gratifying. Help came even from
+unexpected quarters. Prince Lichnowsky, former Ambassador to Great
+Britain; Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, who had succeeded Dr. Solf as Foreign
+Minister; Baron von Richthofen of the National-Liberals, Count Johannes
+Bernstorff, former Ambassador to the United States, and many other
+prominent members of the higher German nobility[62] joined with
+_bourgeois_ political leaders to organize the new party. Not all
+compromised elements could be kept out of the party, but they were
+excluded from any active participation in the conduct of its affairs or
+the shaping of its policies.
+
+[62] A surprisingly large number of Americans cannot or will not
+    believe that a prince or a count can be a real democrat. This
+    is plainly due to a too prevalent confusion of the words
+    democratic with republican. All republics are, Footnote: in
+    theory at least, democratic, but a monarchist can
+    consistently be a democrat. The two most democratic countries
+    in the world are Denmark and Norway, yet both are kingdoms.
+    The democratic sentiments of the men named above, with the
+    possible exception of one, were of no recent growth; they
+    long antedated the revolution.
+
+Taken as a whole, the party stood far to the left. Wolff, at the extreme
+left of his organization, might be described either as a _bourgeois_
+Socialist or a Socialistic _bourgeois_ politician. The recruits from the
+former National-Liberal Party were less radical, but even they
+subscribed to a platform which called for the nationalization
+(socialization) of a long list of essential industries, notably mines
+and water and electrical power, and, in general, for sweeping economic
+reforms and the most direct participation of the people in the
+government. The fact that the new party was chiefly financed by big
+Jewish capitalists caused it to be attacked by anti-Semites and
+proletarians alike, but this detracted little from its strength at the
+polls, since Germany's anti-Semites were never found in any considerable
+numbers among the _bourgeois_ parties of the Left, and the proletarians
+were already for the most part adherents of one of the Socialist
+factions.
+
+The campaign for the elections to the National Assembly was conducted
+with great energy and equally great bitterness by all parties. Despite
+an alleged shortage of paper which had for months made it impossible for
+the newspapers to print more than a small part of the advertisements
+submitted to them, tons of paper were used for handbills and placards.
+The streets, already filthy enough, were strewn ankle-deep in places
+with appeals for this or that party and vilifications of opponents.
+Aëroplanes dropped thousands of dodgers over the chief cities. New daily
+papers, most of them unlovely excrescences on the body of the press,
+made their appearance and secured paper grants for their consumption.
+
+One feature of the campaign illustrated strikingly what had already been
+clear to dispassionate observers: Germany's new government was
+unashamedly a party government first and a general government second.
+Majority Socialist election posters were placed in public buildings,
+railway stations, etc., to the exclusion of all other parties. Its
+handbills were distributed by government employees and from government
+automobiles and aëroplanes. The _bourgeois Hallesche Zeitung's_ paper
+supply was cut in half in order that the new Socialist _Volkszeitung_
+might be established, and its protest was dismissed by the Soldiers'
+Council with the statement that the _Volkszeitung_ was "more important."
+Not even the most reactionary of the old German governments would have
+dared abuse its power in this manner. It may be doubted whether the
+revolutionary government was at all conscious of the impropriety of its
+course, but even if it had been it would have made no difference. One of
+the great sources of strength of Socialism is its conviction that all
+means are sacred for the furtherance of the class struggle.
+
+The Spartacans had boasted that the elections would not be permitted to
+be held, but the decided attitude of the government made their boast an
+empty one. Soldiers in steel helmets, their belts filled with
+hand-grenades and carrying rifles with fixed bayonets, guarded the
+polling places whereever trouble was expected. In Harburg the
+ballot-boxes were burned, and reports of disorders came from two or
+three small districts elsewhere, but the election as a whole was quietly
+and honestly conducted. Election day in Manhattan has often seen more
+disorders than were reported from all Germany on January 19th.
+
+The result of the election contained no surprises; it was, in general,
+practically what had been forecast by the best observers. The Majority
+Socialists, who had hoped for an absolute majority but had not expected
+it, polled about 43 per cent of the total popular vote and secured 163
+delegates to the National Convention. This was an increase of nearly 8
+per cent since the last general election of 1912. The Independent
+Socialists demonstrated considerable strength in Greater Berlin, but
+only one in every twenty-five of the whole country's voters supported
+them and only twenty-two of their followers were elected. Kurt Eisner,
+Minister-President of Bavaria, failed of election although his name was
+on the ticket in more than twenty election districts.
+
+The total membership of the National Convention was to have been 433
+delegates, but the French authorities in charge of the troops occupying
+Alsace-Lorraine refused to permit elections to be held there, which
+reduced the assembly's membership to 421. A majority was thus 211, and
+the two Socialist parties, with a combined total of 185, could
+accomplish nothing without 26 additional votes from some _bourgeois_
+party. As it later developed, moreover, the government party could count
+on the support of the Independents only in matters where Socialist
+solidarity was sentimentally involved; on matters affecting economic
+policies there was much more kinship between the Majority Socialists and
+the Democrats than between them and the followers of Haase.
+
+The Democrats, with 75 delegates, were the second strongest
+non-Socialist party, the former Clericals having 88. By virtue of their
+position midway between Right and Left they held the real balance of
+power.
+
+The National People's Party, the former Conservatives and Free
+Conservatives, made a surprisingly good showing in the elections,
+securing 42 delegates. This number, however, included the delegates of
+the Middle and the National-Liberal parties of Bavaria and the Citizens'
+Party and Peasants' and Vineyardists' League of Württemberg. The remnant
+of the old National-Liberal Party was able to elect only 21 delegates.
+
+There were, in addition to the parties enumerated, the Bavarian
+Peasants' League with 4 delegates, the Schleswig-Holstein Peasants' and
+Farm-Laborers' Democratic League with 1 delegate, the Brunswick State
+Election Association with 1 and the German-Hanoverian Party (Guelphs)
+with 4 delegates. Not even the urgent need of uniting dissevered
+elements so far as possible could conquer the old German tendency to
+carry metaphysical hairsplitting into politics. The German Reichstags
+regularly had from twelve to sixteen different parties, and even then
+there were generally two or three delegates who found themselves unable
+to agree with the tenets of any one of these parties and remained
+unattached, the "wild delegates" (_die Wilden_), as they were termed.
+There were ten parties in the National Assembly, and one of these, as
+has been said, was a combination of five parties.
+
+Democracy had an overwhelming majority in the assembly. The Majority
+Socialists and Democrats together had a clear joint majority of 27
+votes, and the Clericals' strength included many democratic delegates.
+No fewer than eight of the party's delegates were secretaries of labor
+unions. Thirty-four women, the greatest number ever chosen to any
+country's parliament, were elected as delegates. The Majority
+Socialists, the original advocates of woman's suffrage in Germany,
+fittingly elected the greatest number of these--15; the Clericals were
+next with 7, the Democrats elected 5, the Conservatives 4, and the
+Independent Socialists 3.
+
+The government announced that the National Assembly would be held in
+Weimar on February 6th. Hardly a fortnight had passed since the first
+"Bolshevik week," and the cabinet feared disorders, if nothing worse, if
+an attempt were made to hold the assembly in Berlin. It was also easier
+to afford adequate protection in a city of thirty-five thousand than in
+the capital. Although it was never declared in so many words, it is
+probable that a sentimental reason also played a part in the choice.
+There was no taint of Prussianism about Weimar. As the "intellectual
+capital of Germany" it has an aura possessed by no other German city.
+Goethe, Schiller and Herder spent the greater part of their lives in
+this little Thuringian city and are buried there. It has given shelter
+to many other men whose names are revered by educated people the world
+over. It is reminiscent of days when militarism and imperialism had not
+yet corrupted a "people of thinkers and dreamers," of days when culture
+had not yet given way to _Kultur_, of days before a simple, industrious
+people had been converted to a belief in their mission to impose the
+ideals of _Preussen-Deutschland_ upon the world with "the mailed fist"
+and "in shining armor." It is characteristic that men in high places
+believed--and they undoubtedly did believe--that a recollection of these
+things could in some way redound to the benefit of Germany.
+
+The days between the elections and the convening of the National
+Assembly brought further serious complications in Germany's domestic
+situation. Disaffection among the soldiers was increased by an order of
+Colonel Reinhardt, the new Minister of War, defining the respective
+powers of officers' and the soldiers' councils. The order declared that
+the power of command remained with the officers in all matters affecting
+tactics and strategy. The councils' functions were confined to matters
+of provisioning and to disciplinary punishments. This order, although in
+accordance with the original decree of the cabinet regarding the matter,
+failed to satisfy men who had become contemptuous of all authority
+except their own.
+
+The Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils of the whole country were also
+disquieted by the announcement of the government that, with the
+convening of the National Assembly, all political power would pass to
+the assembly, and revolutionary government organs everywhere and of all
+kinds would cease to exist. This was not at all to the taste of most of
+the members of the Soviets, who were affected less by political
+considerations than by the prospect of losing profitable sinecures and
+being compelled to earn a living by honest effort. The combined Soviets
+of Greater Berlin voted, 492 to 362, to demand the retention of the
+Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils in any future state-form which might be
+adopted. Other Soviets followed the example, and there was talk of
+holding a rival congress in Berlin contemporaneously with the sessions
+of the National Assembly in Weimar. The Spartacans, already beginning to
+recover from their defeats of a few days earlier, began planning another
+_coup_ for the first week of February.
+
+Noske's troops were kept constantly in action. The Bolsheviki in
+Wilhelmshaven staged an armed uprising, but it was quickly put down.
+They seized power in Bremen, defied the government to cast them out, and
+several regiments were required to defeat and disarm them. There was
+rioting in Magdeburg, and also in Düsseldorf. Polish aggressions,
+particularly between Thorn and Graudenz, continued. It was difficult to
+move troops against them because of the opposition of the Independents
+and Spartacans, and a great part of the soldiers, arrived at the front,
+refused to remain and could not be detained, since, under Socialist
+methods, they had the right to quit at any time on giving a week's
+notice. Serious strikes further embarrassed and handicapped the
+government.
+
+The determination and energy displayed by the cabinet in these difficult
+days deserve generous acknowledgment, and especially so in view of the
+fact that it required a high degree of moral courage for any body of
+Socialist rulers to brave the denunciations of even well meaning
+_Genossen_ by relying on armed force to compel respect for their
+authority and to carry out the mandate given them now by the great
+majority of the German people. Preparations for the National Assembly
+were well made. No person was permitted even to buy a railway ticket to
+Weimar unless he was in possession of a special pass bearing his
+photograph, and a detachment of picked troops was sent to the city to
+protect the assembly against interruption. Machine-guns commanded all
+entrances to the beautiful National Theater which had been converted to
+the purposes of the assembly, and a special detail of experienced Berlin
+policemen and plain-clothes detectives was on hand to assist the
+soldiers.
+
+The local garrisons of Weimar, Eisenach, Gotha and other nearby places
+made a futile attempt to prevent the sending of troops from Berlin, but
+never got farther than the beginning. Their attitude was not due to any
+political considerations, but was dictated by selfishness and wounded
+pride: they insisted that the sending of outside troops was an insult to
+them, since they could furnish all the troops necessary to preserve
+order, and they also felt that they were entitled to the extra pay and
+rations dealt out to Noske's men.
+
+The National Assembly convened on February 6th with nearly a full
+attendance. It was called to order by Ebert, who appealed for unity and
+attacked the terms of the November armistice and the additional terms
+imposed at its renewals since. The speech received the approval of all
+members of the assembly except the Independent Socialists, who even on
+this first day, started their tactics of obstruction, abuse of all
+speakers except their own and rowdyish interruptions of the business of
+the sessions.
+
+On February 7th Dr. Eduard David, a scholarly man who had been for many
+years one of the Majority Socialists' leaders, was elected president
+(speaker) of the National Assembly. The other officers chosen came from
+the Christian, Democratic and Majority Socialist parties, the extreme
+Right and extreme Left being unrepresented. Organization having been
+effected, a provisional constitution was adopted establishing the
+Assembly as a law-giving body. It provided for the election of a
+National President, to serve until his successor could be elected at a
+general election, and for the appointment of a Minister-President and
+various ministers of state. The constitution created a so-called
+Committee of State, to be named by the various state governments and to
+occupy the position of a Second Chamber, and empowered the assembly to
+enact "such national laws as are urgently necessary," particularly
+revenue and appropriation measures.
+
+Friedrich Ebert was elected Provisional President of the German Republic
+on February 11th by a vote of 277 out of a total of 379 votes. Hardly a
+decade earlier the German Emperor had stigmatized all the members of
+Ebert's party as _vaterlandslose Gesellen_ and as "men unworthy to bear
+the name of German." Now, less than three months after that monarch had
+been overthrown, a Socialist was placed at the head of what was left of
+the German Empire. A young and inconsequential Prussian lieutenant had
+six years earlier been refused permission to marry the girl of his
+choice because her mother sold eggs. The new President of the country
+had been a saddler. He had once even been the owner of a small inn in
+Hamburg.
+
+Ebert belongs to that class which the French call the _petite
+bourgeoisie_, the lower middle class. He possesses all the solid,
+domestic virtues of this class, and is a living exemplification of old
+copy-book maxims about honesty as the best policy and faithfulness in
+little things. Without a trace of brilliancy and without any unusual
+mental qualities, his greatest strength lies in an honesty and
+dependability which, in the long run, so often outweigh great mental
+gifts. Few political leaders have ever enjoyed the confidence and trust
+of their followers to a greater degree.
+
+The ministry chosen was headed by Scheidemann as Minister-President.
+Other members were: Minister of Defense (army and navy), Noske;
+Interior, Hugo Preuss; Justice, Sendsberg; Commerce, Hermann Müller;
+Labor, Bauer; Foreign Affairs, Count Brockdorff-Rantzau; Under-Secretary
+for Foreign Affairs, Baron von Richthofen; Finance, Dr. Schiffer; Posts
+and Telegraphs, Geisberg. Erzberger, David and Wissell were made
+ministers without portfolio.
+
+The first sessions of the National Assembly made on the whole a good
+impression. The members were for the most part earnest men and women,
+fully up to the intellectual average of legislative bodies anywhere;
+there were comparatively few among them who were compromised by
+relations with the old government, and these were not in a position to
+do no harm. The extreme Right was openly monarchic, but the members of
+this group realized fully the hopelessness of any attempt to restore
+either the Hohenzollerns or a monarchic state-form at this time, and
+manifested their loyalty to the former ruler only by objecting
+vigorously to Social-Democratic attacks on the Kaiser or to depreciation
+of the services of the crown in building up the Empire. Apart from the
+pathologically hysterical conduct of the Independent Socialists, and
+particularly of the three women delegates of that party, the assembly's
+proceedings were carried on in what was, by European parliamentary
+standards, a dignified manner.
+
+From the very beginning, however, the proceedings were sicklied o'er by
+the pale cast of care. After the sufferings and losses of more than four
+years of war, the country was now rent by internal dissensions and
+fratricidal strife. To the costs of war had been added hundreds of
+millions lost to the state through the extravagance, dishonesty or
+incompetence of revolutionary officials and particularly Soviets. The
+former net earnings of the state railways of nearly a billion marks had
+been converted into a deficit of two billions. Available sources of
+revenue had been almost exhausted. The German currency had depreciated
+more than sixty per cent. Industry was everywhere crippled by senseless
+strikes.
+
+An insight into Germany's financial situation was given by the report of
+Finance Minister Schiffer, who disclosed that the prodigious sum of
+nineteen billion marks would be required in the coming year to pay
+interest charges alone. The war, he declared, had cost Germany one
+hundred and sixty-one billion marks, which exceeded by nearly fourteen
+billions the credits that had been granted.
+
+The incubus of the terrible armistice terms rested upon the assembly.
+Enemy newspapers, especially those of Paris, were daily publishing
+estimates of indemnities to be demanded from Germany, and the most
+modest of these far exceeded Germany's total wealth of all descriptions.
+Naïve German editors faithfully republished these articles, failing to
+realize that they were part of the enemy propaganda and designed further
+to weaken the Germans' morale and increase their feeling of helplessness
+and despondency. Not even the fiercest German patriots and loyalists of
+the old school could entirely shake off the feeling of helplessness that
+overshadowed and influenced every act of the National Assembly.
+
+The Majority Socialists had come to realize more fully the difference
+between theory and practice. The official organ of the German Federation
+of Labor had discovered a week earlier that "the socialistic conquests
+of the revolution can be maintained only if countries competing with
+German industry adopt similar institutions." There were already concrete
+proofs available that socialization, even without regard to foreign
+competition, was not practical under the conditions prevailing in the
+country. At least two large factory owners in Northern Germany had
+handed their plants over to their workmen and asked them to take full
+charge of manufacture and sale. In both instances the workmen had, after
+a trial, requested the owners to resume charge of the factories.
+
+How shall we socialize when there is nothing to socialize? asked
+thoughtful men. The answer was obvious. _Gegen den Tod ist kein Kraut
+gewachsen_ (there is no remedy against death) says an old German
+proverb, and industry was practically dead. The government party now
+discovered what Marx and Engels had discovered nearly fifty years
+before.
+
+"The practical application of these principles will always and
+everywhere depend upon historically existing conditions. * * * The
+Commune has supplied the proof that the laboring class cannot simply
+take possession of the machinery of state and set it in motion for its
+own purposes."[63]
+
+[63] Introduction to the second edition of the Manifesto of 1849,
+    quoted in chapter iii.
+
+The tardy realization of this fact placed the delegates of the
+government party in a serious dilemma. Sweeping socialization had been
+promised, and the rank and file of the party expected and demanded it.
+In these circumstances it was obvious that a failure to carry out what
+was at the same time a party doctrine and a campaign pledge would have
+serious consequences, and it must be reckoned to the credit of the
+leaders of the party that they put the material welfare of the state
+above party considerations and refused to let themselves be hurried into
+disastrous experiments along untried lines. Their attitude resulted in
+driving many of the members of the Socialist party into the ranks of the
+Independents, but in view of the fact that the government nevertheless
+remained strong enough to defeat these elements wherever they had
+recourse to violence, and of the further fact that to accede to the
+demands of these intransigeants would have given the final blow to what
+little remained of German industry, the leaders must be said to have
+acted wisely and patriotically.
+
+With organization effected, the National Assembly settled down to work.
+But it was work as all similar German organizations in history had
+always understood it. All the political immaturity, the tendency to
+philosophical and abstract reasoning, the ineradicable devotion to the
+merely academic and the disregard of practical questions that are such
+prominent characteristics of the people were exhibited just as they had
+been at the Congress at Frankfort-on-the-Main seventy years earlier. It
+has been written of that Congress:
+
+    "But the Germans had had no experience of free political life.
+    Nearly every deputy had his own theory of the course which ought
+    to be pursued, and felt sure that the country would go to ruin
+    if it were not adopted. Learned professors and talkative
+    journalists insisted on delivering interminable speeches and on
+    examining in the light of ultimate philosophical principles
+    every proposal laid before the assembly. Thus precious time was
+    lost, violent antagonisms were called forth, the patience of the
+    nation was exhausted, and the reactionary forces were able to
+    gather strength for once more asserting themselves."[64]
+
+    [64] _Encyclopedia Britannica_, title "Germany."
+
+Except that the reactionary forces were too weakly represented at Weimar
+to make them an actual source of danger this characterization of the
+Frankfort Congress might have been written about the proceedings of the
+National Assembly of February. It is a significant and illuminating fact
+that the greatest animation exhibited at any time during the first week
+of the assembly was aroused by a difference of meaning as to the
+definition of a word. Professor Hugo Preuss, Prussian Minister of the
+Interior, to whom had been entrusted the task of drafting a proposed
+constitution for the new republic, referred in a speech elucidating it,
+to "an absolute majority."
+
+"Does 'absolute majority' mean a majority of the whole number of
+delegates?" asked some learned delegate.
+
+The other delegates were galvanized instantly into the tensest interest.
+Here was a question worth while! What does "absolute majority" mean? An
+animated debate followed and was listened to with a breathless interest
+which the most weighty financial or economic questions had never
+succeeded in evoking.
+
+And while the National Assembly droned thus wearily on, clouds were
+again gathering over Berlin and other cities in the troubled young
+republic.
+
+
+
+
+                             CHAPTER XVII.
+
+                       The Spartacans Rise Again.
+
+
+Article xxvi of the armistice of November 11th declared:
+
+    "The Allies and the United States have in view the provisioning
+    of Germany during the armistice to the extent deemed
+    necessary."[65]
+
+    [65] Les Alliés et les États-Unis envisagent le ravitaillement
+        de l'Allemagne, pendant l'armistice, dans la mesure reconnue
+        nécessaire.
+
+Even by the end of November it had become apparent to all intelligent
+observers on the ground and to many outside Germany that such
+provisioning was urgently necessary, and that if it did not come at once
+the result would be a spread of Bolshevism which would endanger all
+Europe. Allied journalists in Germany were almost a unit in recognizing
+the dangers and demands of the situation, but they were greatly hampered
+in their efforts to picture the situation truthfully by the sentiments
+prevailing in their respective countries as a result of the passions
+engendered by the conflict so lately ended. This was in the highest
+degree true as to the Americans, which was especially regrettable and
+unfortunate in view of the fact that America was the only power
+possessing a surplus of immediately available foodstuffs. American
+correspondents, venturing to report actual conditions in Germany, found
+themselves denounced as "pro-Germans" and traitors by the readers of
+their papers. More than this: they became the objects of unfavorable
+reports by officers of the American Military Intelligence, although many
+of these men themselves were convinced that empty stomachs were breeding
+Bolshevism with every passing day. One correspondent, who had been so
+bitterly anti-German from the very beginning of the war that he had had
+to leave Germany long before America entered the struggle, was denounced
+in a report to the Military Intelligence at Washington on March 3d as
+"having shown pro-German leanings throughout the war." An American
+correspondent with a long and honorable record, who had taken a
+prominent part in carrying on American propaganda abroad and upon whose
+reports high diplomatic officials of three of the Allied countries had
+relied, was astounded to learn that the Military Intelligence, in a
+report of January 11, 1919, had denounced him as "having gone to Berlin
+to create sentiment in the United States favorable to furnishing Germany
+food-supply."
+
+There was less of this sort of thing in England, and many prominent
+Englishmen were early awake to the dangers that lay in starvation. Early
+in January Lord Henry Bentinck, writing to the London _Daily News_,
+declared there was no sense in maintaining the blockade. It was
+hindering the development of industry and the employment of the idle in
+England, and in Middle Europe it was killing children and keeping
+millions hungry and unemployed. The blockade, said Lord Henry, was the
+Bolshevists' best friend and had no purpose except to enable England to
+cut off her own nose in order to spite Germany's face. Many other
+leaders of thought in England took the same stand.
+
+Despite the (at least inferential) promise in the armistice that Germany
+should be revictualled, not a step had been taken toward doing this
+when, on January 13th, more than two months after the signing of the
+armistice, President Wilson sent a message to administration leaders in
+Congress urging the appropriation of one hundred million dollars for
+food-relief in Europe.
+
+"Food-relief is now the key to the whole European situation and to the
+solution of peace," said the President. "Bolshevism is steadily
+advancing westward; is poisoning Germany. It cannot be stopped by force,
+but it can be stopped by food, and all the leaders with whom I am in
+conference agree that concerted action in this matter is of immediate
+and vital importance."
+
+So far, so good. This was a step in the right direction. But it had to
+be qualified. This was done in the next paragraph:
+
+    "The money will not be spent for food for Germany itself,
+    because Germany can buy its food, but it will be spent for
+    financing the movement of food to our real friends in Poland and
+    to the people of the liberated units of the Austro-Hungarian
+    Empire and to our associates in the Balkans.
+
+Former Ambassador Henry White, a member of the American peace
+delegation, supported the President's appeal with a message stating that
+"the startling westward advance of Bolshevism now dominates the entire
+European situation. * * * The only effective barrier against it is
+food-relief."
+
+The House adopted the President's recommendation without question, but
+the Senate insisted on adding a stipulation that no part of the money
+should be spent for food for Germany and no food bought with these funds
+should be permitted to reach that country.
+
+Just how an ulcer in Germany was to be cured by poulticing similar
+ulcers in other countries is doubtless a statesmen's secret. It is not
+apparent to non-official minds. Germany, despite her poverty and the
+depreciation of her currency, might have been able to buy food, but she
+was not permitted to buy any food. At least one of "the liberated units
+of the Austro-Hungarian Empire" was in equally bad case. Count Michael
+Karolyi, addressing the People's Assembly at Budapest, declared that the
+Allies were not carrying out their part of the armistice agreement in
+the matter of food-supplies for Hungary, and that it was impossible to
+maintain order in such conditions. Whether the armistice actually
+promised to supply food is a matter of interpretation; that no food had
+been supplied is, however, a matter of history.
+
+On January 17th a supplementary agreement was entered into between the
+Allies and Germany, in which the former undertook to permit the
+importation of two hundred thousand tons of breadstuffs and seventy
+thousand tons of pork products to Germany "in such manner and from such
+places as the Associated Governments may prescribe." This was but a part
+of the actual requirements of Germany for a single month, but if it had
+been supplied quickly it would have gone far toward simplifying the
+tremendous problem of maintaining a semblance of order in Germany.
+
+Weeks passed, however, and no food came. With the Bolshevik
+conflagration spreading from city to city, long debates were carried on
+as to what fire department should be summoned and what kind of uniforms
+the firemen should wear. More districts of East Prussia and Posen, the
+chief granaries of Northeastern Germany and Berlin, were lost to
+Germany. There was a serious shortage of coal and gas in the cities.
+
+Strikes became epidemic. Work was no longer occasionally interrupted by
+strikes; strikes were occasionally interrupted by work. Berlin's
+electric power-plant workers threw the city into darkness, and the
+example was followed in other cities. The proletarians were apparently
+quite as ready to exploit their brother proletarians as the capitalists
+were. Coal miners either quit work entirely or insisted on a seven-hour
+day which included an hour and a half spent in coming to and going from
+work, making the net result a day of five and a half hours. Street-car
+employees struck, and for days the undernourished people of the capital
+walked miles to work and home again. The shops were closed by strikes,
+stenographers and typewriters walked out; drivers of garbage wagons,
+already receiving the pay of cabinet ministers, demanded more pay and
+got it. From every corner of the country came reports of labor troubles,
+often accompanied by rioting and sabotage.
+
+In most of these strikes the hand of Spartacus and the Independent
+Socialists could be discerned. The working people, hungry and miserable,
+waiting vainly week after week for the food which they believed had been
+promised them, were tinder for the Bolshevist spark. The government's
+unwise method of handling the problem of the unemployed further greatly
+aggravated the situation. The support granted the unemployed often or
+perhaps generally was greater than their pay in their usual callings. A
+man with a wife and four children in Greater Berlin received more than
+fourteen marks daily. The average wage for unskilled labor was from ten
+to twelve marks, and the result was that none but the most conscientious
+endeavored to secure employment, and thousands deliberately left their
+work and lived on their unemployment-allowances. Two hundred thousand
+residents of Greater Berlin were receiving daily support from the city
+by the middle of February, and this proportion was generally maintained
+throughout the country. This vast army of unemployed further crippled
+industry, imposed serious financial burdens upon an already bankrupt
+state, and--inevitable result of idleness--made the task of Bolshevist
+agitators easier.
+
+The Spartacans, who since their defeat in Berlin in January had been
+more carefully watched, began to assemble their forces elsewhere. Essen
+became their chief stronghold, and the whole Ruhr district, including
+Düsseldorf, was virtually in their hands. Other Spartacan centers were
+Leipsic, Halle, Merseburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Mannheim and Augsburg. All
+this time, however, they were also feverishly active in Berlin. A
+general strike, called by the Spartacans and Independent Socialists for
+the middle of February, collapsed. A secret sitting of the leaders of
+the Red Soldiers' League on February 15th was surprised by the
+authorities, who arrested all men present and thus nipped in the bud for
+a time further preparations for a new revolt. The Independents made
+common cause with the Spartacans in demanding the liberation of all
+"political prisoners," chief among whom were Ledebour, who helped
+organize the revolt of January 5th, and Radek, "this international
+criminal," as Deputy Heinrich Heine termed him in a speech before the
+Prussian Diet.
+
+The respite, however, was short. On Monday, March 3d, the Workmen's
+Council now completely in the hands of the enemies of the government
+called a general strike. Street cars, omnibuses and interurban trains
+stopped running, all business was suspended and nightfall plunged the
+city into complete darkness. This was the signal for the first
+disturbances. There was considerable rioting, with some loss of blood,
+in the eastern part of the city beyond Alexander Platz, a section always
+noted as the home of a large criminal element. Spartacans, reinforced by
+the hooligan and criminal element--or let it rather be said that these
+consisted and had from the beginning consisted mainly of hooligans and
+criminals--began a systematic attack on police-stations everywhere.
+Thirty-three stations were occupied by them during the night, the police
+officials were disarmed and their weapons distributed to the rabble that
+was constantly swelling the ranks of the rebels.
+
+The first serious clash of this second Bolshevik week came at the
+Police-Presidency, which the Spartacans, as in January, planned to make
+their headquarters. This time, however, the building was occupied by
+loyal government troops, and the incipient attack dissolved before a few
+volleys. The night was marked by extensive looting. Jewelers in the
+eastern part of the city suffered losses aggregating many million marks.
+
+The situation grew rapidly worse on Tuesday. Nearly thirty thousand
+government troops marched into the city, bringing light and heavy
+artillery, mine-throwers and machine-guns. Berlin was converted into an
+armed camp. The revolt would have been quickly put down but for an
+occurrence made possible by the government's weakness at Christmas time.
+The People's Marine Division, looters of the Royal Palace, parasites on
+the city's payroll and "guardians of the public safety," threw off the
+mask and went over to the Spartacans in a body. A considerable number of
+the Republican Soldier Guards, Eichhorn's legacy to Berlin, followed
+suit. The government's failure to disarm these forces six weeks earlier,
+when their Bolshevist sentiments had become manifest, now had to be paid
+for in blood. The defection was serious not only because it added to the
+numbers of the Bolsheviki, but also because it greatly increased the
+supplies of weapons and munitions at the disposal of the enemies of the
+government.
+
+The defection, too, came as a surprise and at a most unfortunate time.
+The Marine Division, upon which the commanders of the government troops
+had naïvely depended, had been ordered to clear the Alexander Platz, a
+large open place in front of the Police-Presidency. They began
+ostensibly to carry out the order, but had hardly reached the place when
+they declared that they had been fired on by government troops.
+Thereupon they attacked the Police-Presidency, but were beaten off with
+some twenty-five killed. They withdrew to the Marine House at the
+Jannowitz Bridge, which they had been occupying since their expulsion
+from the Royal Stables, and set about fortifying it.
+
+The following day--Ash Wednesday--was marked by irregular but severe
+fighting in various parts of the city. The government proclaimed a state
+of siege. More loyal troops were brought to the city. From captured
+Spartacans it was learned that a massed attack on the Police-Presidency
+was to be made at eleven o'clock at night by the People's Marine
+Division, the Red Soldiers' League and civilian Spartacans. The assault
+did not begin until nearly three o'clock Thursday morning. Despite the
+government troops' disposition, the Spartacans succeeded, after heavy
+bombardment of the building, in occupying two courts in the southern
+wing. The battle was carried on throughout the night and until Thursday
+afternoon. Few cities have witnessed such civil warfare. Every
+instrument known to military science was used, with the exception of
+poison-gases. Late on Thursday afternoon the attackers were dispersed
+and the Spartacans in the Police-Presidency, about fifty men, were
+arrested.
+
+The Marine House was also captured on the same afternoon. The defenders
+hoisted the white flag after a few mines had been thrown into the
+building, but had disappeared when the government troops occupied it.
+What their defection to the Spartacans had meant was illustrated by the
+finding in the building of several thousand rifles, more than a hundred
+machine guns, two armored automobiles and great quantities of ammunition
+and provisions. The Republican Soldiers' Guard, barricaded in the Royal
+Stables, surrendered after a few shells had been fired.
+
+The fighting so completely took on the aspects of a real war that the
+wildest atrocity stories began to circulate. They were, like all
+atrocity stories, greatly exaggerated, but it was established that
+Spartacans had killed unarmed prisoners, including several policemen,
+had stopped and wrecked ambulances and killed wounded, and had
+systematically fired on first-aid stations and hospitals. Noske rose to
+the occasion like a mere _bourgeois_ minister. He decreed:
+
+    "All persons found with arms in their hands, resisting
+    government troops, will be summarily executed."
+
+Despite this decree, the Spartacans, who had erected street-barricades
+in that part of Berlin eastward and northward from Alexander Platz, put
+up a show of resistance for some days. They were, however, seriously
+shaken by their heavy losses and weakened by the wholesale defections of
+supporters who had joined them chiefly for the sake of looting and who
+had a wholesale respect for Noske as a man of his word. They had good
+reason to entertain this respect for the grim man in charge of the
+government's military measures. The government never made public the
+number of summary executions under Noske's decree, but there is little
+doubt that these went well above one hundred. A group of members of the
+mutinous People's Marine Division had the splendid effrontery to call at
+the office of the city commandant to demand the pay due them as
+protectors of the public safety. Government troops arrested the callers,
+a part of whom resisted arrest. Twenty-four of these men, found to have
+weapons in their possession, were summarily executed.
+
+_Die Freiheit_ and _Die Republik_ denounced the members of the
+government as murderers. The office of the Spartacans' _Die rote Fahne_
+had been occupied by government troops on the day of the outbreak of the
+Bolshevik uprising. The _bourgeois_ and Majority Socialist press
+supported the government whole-heartedly, and the law-abiding citizens
+were encouraged by their new rulers' energy and by the loyalty and
+bravery of the government troops. There was a general recognition of the
+fact that matters had reached a stage where a minority, in part deluded
+and in part criminal, could not longer be permitted to terrorize the
+country.
+
+The uprising collapsed rapidly after the Spartacans had been driven
+from their main strongholds. They maintained themselves for a few days
+in Lichtenberg, a suburb of Berlin, and--as in the January
+uprisings--sniping from housetops continued for a week. No list of
+casualties was ever issued, but estimates ran as high as one thousand,
+of which probably three-quarters were suffered by the Spartacans. They
+were further badly weakened by the loss of a great part of their
+weapons, both during the fighting and in a general clean-up of the city
+which was made after the uprising had been definitely put down.
+
+As we have seen, the efforts of the German Bolsheviki, aided by the left
+wing of the Independent Socialists, to overthrow the government by force
+had failed wherever the attempt had been made. Not only in Berlin, but
+in a dozen other cities and districts as well, the enemies of democracy
+had been decisively defeated. In Munich and Brunswick alone they were
+still strong and defiant, but they were to be defeated even there later.
+In these circumstances it might have been expected that they would not
+again be able to cause serious trouble to the government. But a new
+aspect was put on circumstances by an occurrence whose inevitability had
+long been recognized by close observers.
+
+The Independent Social-Democratic Party went over to the Spartacans
+officially, bag and baggage.
+
+In theory, to be sure, it did nothing of the kind. It maintained its own
+organization, "rejected planless violence," declared its adherence to
+"the fundamental portion of the Erfurt program," and asserted its
+readiness to use "all political and economic means" to attain its aims,
+"including parliaments," which were rejected by the Spartacans. Apart
+from this, however, there was little difference in theory and none in
+practice between the platforms of the two parties, for the Independents
+declared themselves for Soviet government and for the dictatorship of
+the proletariat, and their rejection of violent methods existed only on
+paper.
+
+The party congress convened at Berlin on March 2d and lasted four days.
+Haase and Dittmann, the former cabinet members, were again in control,
+and it could not be observed in their attitude that there had been a
+time when they risked a loss of influence in the party by standing too
+far to the right. The "revolution-program" adopted by the party declared
+that the revolutionary soldiers and workingmen of Germany, who had
+seized the power of the state in November, "have not fortified their
+power nor overcome the capitalistic class-domination." It continued:
+
+    "The leaders of the Socialists of the Right (Majority) have
+    renewed their pact with the _bourgeois_ classes and deserted the
+    interests of the proletariat. They are carrying on a befogging
+    policy with the words 'democracy' and 'Socialism.'
+
+    "In a capitalistic social order democratic forms are a deceit.
+    So long as economic liberation and independence do not follow
+    upon political liberation there is no true democracy.
+    Socialization, as the Socialists of the Right are carrying it
+    out, is a comedy."
+
+The program declared a new proletarian battling organization necessary,
+and continued:
+
+    "The proletarian revolution has created such an organization in
+    the Soviet system. This unites for revolutionary activities the
+    laboring masses in the industries. It gives the proletariat the
+    right of self-government in industries, in municipalities and in
+    the state. It carries through the change of the capitalistic
+    economic order to a socialistic order.
+
+    "In all capitalistic lands the Soviet system is growing out of
+    the same economic conditions and becoming the bearer of the
+    proletarian world-revolution.
+
+    "It is the historic mission of the Independent Social-Democratic
+    Party to become the standard bearer of the class-conscious
+    proletariat in its revolutionary war of emancipation.
+
+    "The Independent Social-Democratic Party places itself upon the
+    foundation of the Soviet system. It supports the Soviets in
+    their struggle for economic and political power.
+
+    "It strives for the dictatorship of the proletariat, the
+    representatives of the great majority of the people, as a
+    necessary condition precedent for the effectuation of Socialism.
+
+    "In order to attain this end the party will employ all political
+    and economic means of battle, including parliaments." With this
+    preface, these "immediate demands" of the party were set forth:
+
+    "1. Inclusion of the Soviet system in the constitution: the
+    Soviets to have a deciding voice in municipal, state and
+    industrial legislation.
+
+    "2. Complete disbandment of the old army. Immediate disbandment
+    of the mercenary army formed from volunteer corps. Organization
+    of a national guard from the ranks of the class-conscious
+    proletariat. Self-administration of the national guard and
+    election of leaders by the men. Abolishment of courts-martial.
+
+    "3. The nationalization of capitalistic undertakings shall be
+    begun immediately. It shall be carried through without delay in
+    the mining industry and production of energy (coal, water,
+    electricity), iron and steel production as well as other highly
+    developed industries, and in the banking and insurance business.
+    Large estates and forests shall immediately be converted into
+    the property of society, whose task it shall be to raise all
+    economic undertakings to the highest point of productivity by
+    the employment of all technical and economic means, as well as
+    to further comradeship. Privately owned real estate in the
+    cities shall become municipal property, and the municipalities
+    shall build an adequate number of dwellings on their own
+    account.
+
+    "4. Election of officials and judges by the people. Immediate
+    constitution of a state court which shall determine the
+    responsibility of those persons guilty of bringing on the war
+    and of hindering the earlier conclusion of peace.
+
+    "5. War profits shall be taxed entirely out of existence. A
+    portion of all large fortunes shall be handed over to the state.
+    Public expenditures shall be covered by a graduated tax on
+    incomes, fortunes and inheritances. The war loans shall be
+    annulled, but necessitous individuals, associations serving the
+    common welfare, institutions and municipalities shall be
+    indemnified.
+
+    "6. Extension of social legislation. Protection and care of
+    mother and child. A care-free existence shall be assured to war
+    widows and orphans and the wounded. Superfluous rooms of the
+    possessing class shall be placed at the disposition of the
+    homeless. Fundamental reform of public-health systems.
+
+    "7. Separation of church from state and of church from school.
+    Uniform public schools of secular character, which shall be
+    erected on socialistic-pedagogic principles. Every child shall
+    have a right to an education corresponding to his capacities,
+    and to the furnishing of means toward that end.
+
+    "8. A public monopoly of newspaper advertisements shall be
+    created for the benefit of municipalities.
+
+    "9. Establishment of friendly relations with all nations.
+    Immediate resumption of diplomatic relations with the Russian
+    Soviet Republic and Poland. Reëstablishment of the Workmen's
+    _Internationale_ on the basis of revolutionary social policy in
+    the spirit of the international conferences of Zimmerwald and
+    Kienthal."
+
+It will be observed that the difference between these demands and those
+of the Bolsheviki (Spartacans) is precisely the difference between
+tweedledum and tweedledee--one of terminology. Some even of these
+principles were materially extended by interpretation three weeks later.
+On March 24th the Independent Socialists in the new Prussian Diet,
+replying to a query from the Majority Socialists as to their willingness
+to participate in the coming Prussian Constituent Assembly, stated
+conditions which contained the following elaboration of point 3 in the
+program given above:
+
+    "The most important means of production in agriculture,
+    industry, trade and commerce shall be nationalized immediately;
+    the land and its natural resources shall be declared to be the
+    property of the whole people and shall be placed under the
+    control of society."
+
+The answer, by the way, was signed by Adolph Hoffmann, whose
+acquaintance we have already made, and Kurt Rosenfeld, the millionaire
+son-in-law of a wealthy leather dealer.
+
+The essential kinship of the Independents and Spartacans will be more
+clearly apparent from a comparison of the latters' demands, as published
+on April 14th in _Die rote Fahne_, then appearing in Leipsic. They
+follow:
+
+    "Ruthless elimination of all Majority Socialist leaders and of
+    such Independents as have betrayed the Soviet system and the
+    revolution by their coöperation with Majority Socialists.
+
+    "Unconditional acceptance of the demands of the Spartacus
+    Party's program.[66]
+
+    [66] _Vide_ chapter xi.
+
+    "Immediate introduction of the following measures: (a)
+    Liberation of all political prisoners; (b) dissolution of all
+    parliamentary gatherings; (c) dissolution of all
+    counter-revolutionary troop detachments, disarming of the
+    _bourgeoisie_ and the internment of all officers; (d) arming of
+    the proletariat and the immediate organization of revolutionary
+    corps; (e) abolition of all courts and the erection of
+    revolutionary tribunals, together with the trial by these
+    tribunals of all persons involved in bringing on the war, of
+    counter-revolutionaries and traitors; (f) elimination of all
+    state administrative officials and boards (mayors, provincial
+    councillors, etc.), and the substitution of delegates chosen by
+    the people; (g) adoption of a law providing for the taking over
+    by the state without indemnification of all larger undertakings
+    (mines, etc.), together with the larger landed estates, and the
+    immediate taking over of the administration of these estates by
+    workmen's councils; (h) adoption of a law annulling war-loans
+    exceeding twenty thousand marks; (i) suppression of the whole
+    _bourgeois_ press, including particularly the Majority Socialist
+    press."
+
+Some of the members of the former right wing of the Independent
+Socialists left the party and went over to the Majority Socialists
+following the party congress of the first week in March. They included
+the venerable Eduard Bernstein, who declared that the Independents had
+demonstrated that they "lacked utterly any constructive program." The
+dictates of party discipline, however, together with the desperation of
+suffering, were too much for the great mass of those who had at first
+rejected Bolshevist methods, and the German Bolsheviki received material
+reinforcements at a time when they would have been powerless without
+them.
+
+The Spartacans had lost their armed battle against the government, but
+they had won a more important bloodless conflict.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+                    Red or White Internationalism Which?
+
+
+All revolutions have their second phase, and this phase ordinarily
+presents features similar in kind and varying only in degree. After the
+actual overthrow of the old government a short period of excited
+optimism gives place to a realization of the fact that the
+administration of a state is not so simple as it has appeared to the
+opposition parties, and that the existing order of things--the result of
+centuries of natural development--cannot be altered over night. Under
+the sobering influence of this realization ultra-radicalism loses
+ground, the revolutionary government accepts the aid of some of the men
+who have been connected with the deposed government, and the
+administration of affairs proceeds along an orderly middle course.
+
+But other revolutions, as has been stated, have had a different
+inception, and none have depended for their successful execution and
+subsequent development on a people so sorely tried, so weakened
+physically and morally, and--last but not least--so extensively infected
+with the virus of internationalism. In so far as revolutions were not
+the work of a group of selfish aspirants for power, they were brought
+about by patriotic men whose first and last thought was the welfare of
+their own country, and who concerned themselves not at all about the
+universal brotherhood of man or the oppressed peoples of other lands or
+races. The German revolutionists, however, scoffed at patriotism as an
+outworn dogma. The majority of their adherents came from the poorest and
+most ignorant stratum of the people, the class most responsive to the
+agitation of leaders who promised that division of property contemplated
+by Communist Socialism.
+
+The Independent Socialists had "made the revolution." They claimed the
+right to determine its development. The _bourgeoisie_, itself incapable
+of restoring the old order and, for the most part, not desiring to do
+so, supported the parent Socialist Party as the lesser of two evils. The
+Independents found themselves without the power to determine what course
+"their revolution" should take. All revolutionary history showed that
+this course would not be that desired by the Independent leaders and
+promised by them to their radical followers. The occurrences of the
+first month following the revolution again demonstrated what might be
+called the natural law of revolutionary development. The Majority
+Socialists in the government refused to let themselves be hurried into
+disastrous socializing experiments. They refused to ban intelligence and
+ability merely because the possessors happened not to be _Genossen_.
+They even believed (_horribile dictu!_) that private property-rights
+should not be abolished out of hand. They were so recreant to the
+principles of true internationalism that they resented foreign
+aggressions against Germans and German soil, and they actually proposed
+to resist such aggressions by force.
+
+With heretics like these there could be no communion. They could not
+even be permitted to hold communion among themselves if it could be
+prevented, and the result was, as we have seen, the efforts of the
+Independents and Spartacans to wreck the tabernacle.
+
+To recount the developments of the period from the crushing of the March
+uprising to the signing of the Peace of Versailles would be but to
+repeat, with different settings, the story of the first four months of
+Republican Germany. This period, too, was filled with Independent
+Socialist and Spartacan intrigues and armed opposition to the
+government, culminating in the brief but bloody reign of the Communists
+in Munich in April. Strikes continued to paralyze industry. No food
+supplies of any importance were received. The National Assembly at
+Weimar continued to demonstrate the philosophic tendencies, academic
+learning and political immaturity of the German people. Distinct left
+wings came into being in both the Majority Socialist and Democratic
+parties. Particularism, the historic curse of the country, again raised
+its head.
+
+Red internationalism in Germany received a marked impetus from the
+events in Hungary at the end of March, when Count Michael Karolyi handed
+the reins of government over to the Bolshevist leader Bela Kun. An
+effort has been made to represent this as a bit of theatricals staged by
+Karolyi with the support and encouragement of Berlin. Such an
+explanation is symptomatic of the blindness of those who will not see
+the significance of this development. To assert that the German
+Government, itself engaged in a life-and-death struggle with Bolshevism
+at home and threatened with an irruption of the Bolshevist forces of
+Russia, would deliberately create a new source of infection in a
+contiguous land requires either much mental hardihood or a deep
+ignorance of existing conditions. The author is able to state from
+first-hand knowledge that the German Government was completely surprised
+by the news from Budapest, and that it had no part, direct or indirect,
+in bringing about Karolyi's resignation or the accession to power of the
+Hungarian Bolsheviki.
+
+The developments in Hungary were made inevitable by the unwisdom with
+which this "liberated unit of the Austro-Hungarian Empire" was treated.
+When the November armistice was concluded, there was a "gentlemen's
+agreement" or understanding that the demarcation line established by the
+armistice should be policed by French, English or American troops. It
+was not observed. Jugo-Slavs, Serbians and Roumanians were permitted not
+only to guard this line, but to advance well beyond it. The enemy
+occupation of the country extended to nearly all portions of Hungary
+upon which the central part, including Budapest, depended for coal,
+metals, wood, meats and even salt. The Czechs took possession of
+Pressburg, rechristened it Wilson City, and advanced along the Danube to
+within twenty miles of Budapest. Distress became acute.
+
+Then, on March 19th, the French Colonel Vix sent a note to Karolyi
+establishing a new demarcation line far inside the one established in
+November and at places even inside the lines held by Allied troops.
+Karolyi's position was already insecure. He had been welcomed when he
+assumed office as the restorer of nationalism and peace. The support
+accorded him had been largely due to his record as an opponent of
+Austria and a friend of the Entente. He had been under surveillance
+almost throughout the war because of his known pro-Ally sentiments, and
+only his prominence saved him from arrest. Now, when his supposed
+influence with the Allies was discovered to be non-existent, his only
+remaining support was shattered and he went. Hungary, infected with
+Bolshevism by Russian propagandists and returned prisoners of war, went
+over to the camp of Lenine.
+
+Another factor contributed greatly to the growth of the radical
+Independent Socialist and Bolshevist movement in Germany. This was the
+obvious dilemma of the Allies in the case of Russia, their undeniable
+helplessness and lack of counsel in the face of applied Bolshevism.
+Thousands of Germans came to believe that Bolshevism was a haven of
+refuge. Nor was this sentiment by any means confined to the proletariat.
+A Berlin millionaire said to the writer in March:
+
+    "If it comes to a question of choosing between Bolshevism and
+    Allied slavery, I shall become a Bolshevik without hesitation. I
+    would rather see Germany in the possession of Bolshevist Germans
+    than of any _bourgeois_ government wearing chains imposed by our
+    enemies. The Allies dare not intervene in Russia, and I don't
+    believe they would be any less helpless before a Bolshevist
+    Germany."
+
+Scores of well-to-do Germans expressed themselves in the same strain to
+the author, and thousands from the lower classes, free from the
+restraint which the possession of worldly goods imposes, put into
+execution the threat of their wealthier countrymen.
+
+With the conclusion of the peace of Versailles we leave Germany. The
+second phase of the revolution is not yet ended. Bolshevism, crushed in
+one place, raises its head in another. Industry is prostrate. Currency
+is so depreciated that importation is seriously hampered. The event is
+on the knees of the gods.
+
+But while the historian can thus arbitrarily dismiss Germany and the
+conditions created by the great war, the world cannot. From a material
+economic viewpoint alone, the colossal destruction of wealth and means
+of transportation, and the slaughter of millions of the able-bodied men
+of all nations involved are factors which will make themselves felt for
+many years. These obstacles to development and progress will, however,
+eventually be overcome. They are the least of the problems facing the
+world today as the result of the war and--this must be said now and it
+will eventually be realized generally--as a result of the Peace of
+Versailles. The men responsible for this peace declare that it is the
+best that could be made. Until the proceedings of the peace conference
+shall have been made public, together with all material submitted to it,
+including eventual prewar bargains and treaty commitments, this
+declaration cannot be controverted. One must assume at least that the
+makers of the peace believed it to be the best possible.
+
+The _bona fides_ of the peace delegates, however, while it protects them
+from adverse criticism, is a personal matter and irrelevant in any
+consideration of the treaty and its probable results. Nor is the
+question whether any better treaty was possible, of any relevancy. What
+alone vitally concerns the world is not the sentiments of a few men, but
+what may be expected from their work. As to this, many thoughtful
+observers in all countries have already come to realize what will
+eventually be realized by millions.
+
+The Treaty of Versailles has Balkanized Europe; it has to a large degree
+reëstablished the multiplicity of territorial sovereignties that
+handicapped progress and caused continuous strife more than a century
+ago; it has revived smouldering race-antagonisms which were in a fair
+way to be extinguished; it has created a dozen new _irredentas_, new
+breeding-places of war; it has liberated thousands from foreign
+domination but placed tens of thousands under the yoke of other foreign
+domination, and has tried to insure the permanency not only of their
+subjection, but of that of other subject races which have for centuries
+been struggling for independence. Preaching general disarmament, it has
+strengthened the armed might of one power by disarming its neighbors,
+and has given to it the military and political domination of Europe. To
+another power it has given control of the high seas. It has refused to
+let the laboring masses of the world--the men who fought and
+suffered--be represented at the conference by delegates of their own
+choosing.
+
+Such a treaty could not bring real peace to the world even if the
+conditions were less critical and complex. As they are, it will hasten
+and aggravate what the world will soon discover to be the most serious,
+vital and revolutionary consequence of the war. What this will be has
+already been dimly foreshadowed by the almost unanimous condemnation of
+the treaty by the Socialists of France, Italy, England and nearly all
+neutral countries.
+
+Virtually all Americans and even most Europeans have little conception
+of the extent to which the war and its two great revolutions have
+awakened the class-consciousness of the proletariat of all lands.
+Everywhere the laboring masses have been the chief sufferers. Everywhere
+composing an overwhelming majority of the people, they have nowhere been
+able to decide their own destinies or have an effective voice in
+government except through revolution. Everywhere they have been the
+pawns sacrificed on the bloody chessboard of war to protect kings and
+queens, bishops and castles. They are beginning to ask why this must be
+and why they were not permitted to have a voice in the conference at
+Versailles, and this question will become an embarrassing one for all
+who try to find the answer in the textbooks of governments as
+governments today exist.
+
+Deplore it though one may, Internationalism is on the march. Nor is it
+confined even today to people who work with their hands. Its advocates
+are to be found--have been found by hundreds in America itself--in the
+ranks of the thinkers of every country. The press in America has for
+months been pointing out the prevalence of internationalist sentiments
+among school-teachers and university professors, and it has been gravely
+puzzled by this state of affairs. It considers it a paradox that
+Internationalism exists among presumably well educated persons.
+
+One might as well call it a paradox for a victim of smallpox to have an
+eruption. It is no paradox. It is a symptom. And, incorrectly diagnosed
+and ignorantly treated, it is a dangerous disease.
+
+The physician diagnoses a disease at the outset, if he can, and aborts
+it if possible. If it be contagious, he employs precautions against its
+spread. No part of these precautions consists in ordering other people
+at the point of a rifle not to catch the disease.
+
+The greatest task of the governments of the world today is to diagnose
+correctly and treat intelligently. The proletarians have learned their
+strength. A new era is dawning.
+
+That era will be marked by an internationalism whose character and
+extent will depend upon the wisdom with which the masters of the world
+administer the affairs of their peoples. And the question which every
+man should ask himself today is:
+
+    Shall this Internationalism be Red or White?
+
+
+
+
+                              CHAPTER XIX
+
+                        The Weimar Constitution
+
+
+The provisional constitution adopted at Weimar in February, 1919, was
+naturally only a makeshift. It contained but ten paragraphs, furnishing
+the barest outline for the organization of the new state. Its basis was
+a draft of a proposed constitution made by Dr. Hugo Preuss, a leading
+authority on constitutional law, who had been appointed Minister of the
+Interior. This draft was published on January 20th. More than a hundred
+representatives of the various German states met in the Department of
+the Interior at Berlin on January 25th to consider it. This conference
+appointed a commission from its number, which was in session for the
+next five days in Berlin and then adjourned to Weimar, where it finished
+the draft of the provisional constitution.
+
+Even the short period intervening between the first publication of the
+Preuss draft and its submission to the National Assembly had sufficed to
+bring about one important and significant development. Preuss himself
+was an advocate of the so-called _Einheitsstaat_, a single state on the
+French plan, divided into departments merely for administrative
+purposes. Many of his friends of the German Democratic Party and all
+Socialists also wanted to do away with the separate states, both for
+doctrinal and selfish partisan reasons. Preuss realized from the
+beginning the impossibility of attaining his ideal completely, but he
+endeavored to pave the way by a dismemberment of Prussia, the largest
+and dominant German state, and by doing away completely with several of
+the smaller states, such as Anhalt, Oldenburg, etc. His constitutional
+draft of January proposed the creation of sixteen "territories of the
+state" (_Gebiete des Reichs_): Prussia (consisting of East Prussia, West
+Prussia, and Bromberg), Silesia, Brandenburg, Berlin, Lower Saxony, the
+three Hansa cities (Hamburg, Bremen, Lübeck), Upper Saxony, Thuringia,
+Westphalia, Hesse, the Rhineland, Bavaria, Baden, Wurtemberg,
+German-Austria, and Vienna.
+
+It became quickly apparent that Preuss and his followers had
+underestimated the strength of the particularistic, localized patriotism
+and respect for tradition cherished by a great part of the Germans. Not
+only were the South Germans aroused to opposition by the implied threat
+of a possible eventual onslaught on their own state boundaries, but the
+great majority of the Prussians as well protested mightily against the
+proposed dismemberment of Prussia. The unitarians saw themselves
+compelled to yield even in the temporary constitution by inserting a
+provision that "the territory of the free states can be altered only
+with their consent." The plan to reduce the states to mere governmental
+departments was thus already defeated.
+
+With the erection by the National Assembly of the _Staatenausschuss_, or
+Committee of the States,[67] the draft of the constitution was laid
+before that body for further consideration. On February 21st the
+committee submitted the result of its deliberations to the National
+Assembly, which referred it in turn to a special committee of
+twenty-eight members, whose chairman was Conrad Haussmann, a member of
+the German Democratic Party.
+
+[67] _Vide_ p. 245.
+
+The National Assembly began the second reading of the constitution on
+July 2d and finished it on July 22d. The third reading began on July
+29th. This brought a number of important changes, one of which is of
+deep significance as indicating the extent to which the members of the
+National Assembly had already succeeded in freeing themselves from the
+hysterical mode of thinking induced by the immediate revolutionary
+period. All drafts of the constitution up to that date had provided that
+no member of a former reigning house in Germany should be eligible to
+the Presidency. This provision was stricken out on third reading.
+
+The constitution was finally adopted on July 31, 1919, by a vote of 262
+ayes to 75 nayes. The negative votes were cast by the German National
+People's Party, the German People's Party, the Bavarian Peasants'
+League, and one member of the Bavarian People's Party (Dr. Heim). The
+constitution was signed by President Ebert and the ministry at
+Schwarzburg on August 11th, and went into effect three days later. On
+this date the imperial constitution of April 16, 1871, several
+paragraphs of which were still in effect under the provisional
+constitution of February, 1919, ceased to exist.
+
+The Weimar constitution consists of two "main divisions." The first,
+dealing with the construction of the state, is divided into seven
+sections, which are subdivided into 108 articles. The second main
+division, dealing with "fundamental rights and fundamental duties of the
+Germans," has five sections, with 57 articles.
+
+A comparison of the preambles of the old and new constitutions indicates
+the different point of view from which they were approached. The
+constitution of 1871 began:
+
+    "His Majesty the King of Prussia, in the name of the North
+    German Federation, His Majesty the King of Bavaria, His Majesty
+    the King of Wurtemberg, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of
+    Baden, and His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse and on the
+    Rhine, for those parts of the Grand Duchy of Hesse situated
+    south of the Main, form an everlasting federation for the
+    protection of the territory of the federation and of the right
+    prevailing within its borders, as well as for the furtherance of
+    the welfare of the German people."
+
+The new constitution's preamble reads:
+
+    "The German people, united in its races[68] and inspired by the
+    desire to renew and establish more firmly its state in freedom
+    and justice, to serve the ends of peace at home and abroad and
+    to further social progress, has given itself this constitution."
+
+    [68] _Das Deutsche Volk, einig in seinen Stämmen._ There is no
+        adequate English translation of _Stämme_ (plural of
+        _Stamm_), except the word "tribes," which, of course, is in
+        place only when speaking of uncivilized peoples.
+
+Article 1 reads:
+
+    "The German state[69] is a republic. The power of the state
+    comes from the people."
+
+    [69] _Das Deutsche Reich ist eine Republik._ Revolutionary
+        though they were, the constitution-makers could not bring
+        themselves to discard the old name _Reich_, although it
+        really means empire. Hence "state" is an inadequate
+        translation, but it is also impossible to say that "the
+        German Empire is a republic." The only solution appears to
+        be the adoption of the German word _Reich_--a solution
+        generally accepted in Europe.
+
+The revolutionary nature of the change is further emphasized in article
+3, which substitutes black-red-gold for the black-white-red of the old
+imperial flag.[70]
+
+[70] Black-white-red were retained as the colors of the
+    merchant-flag, but with the addition of the colors of the
+    Reich in the upper inner corner.
+
+Outwardly the most striking and apparent change of structure of the
+government is, of course, the fact that a president takes the place of
+the Kaiser, and that the various federated states are also required to
+have a republican form of government, with legislatures chosen by the
+direct, secret ballot of all male and female Germans, after the
+proportional election system. In fact, however, these are by no means
+the most important changes. "Republic" is, after all, more or less a
+shibboleth; the actual form and representative character of governments
+depend less on whether their head is a president or a hereditary monarch
+than on the extent to which they make it possible for the people
+themselves to make their will prevail quickly and effectively.
+
+The changes wrought by the other seventeen articles of the first section
+are fundamental and sweeping. Their general nature is indicated at the
+outset, in article 2, which declares that "the territory of the Reich
+consists of the territories of the German lands." The choice of the name
+"lands" instead of states, as formerly, shows the smaller importance and
+lesser degree of self-government assigned to them. All the old
+_Reservatrechte_ or special rights reserved by several states under the
+monarchy[71] are done away with. The federal government assumes the
+exclusive right of legislation concerning foreign relations, post,
+telegraphs, and telephones, coinage, immigration and emigration, and
+customs duties.
+
+[71] _Vide_ p. 21.
+
+It reserves to itself further the right to enact uniform civil and
+criminal codes and procedure, and to legislate regarding the press,
+associations, the public health, workmen and their protection,
+expropriation, socialization, trade, commerce, weights and measures, the
+issue of paper currency, banks and bourses, mining, insurance, shipping,
+railways, canals and other internal waterways, theaters and
+cinematographs. "In so far as there is necessity for uniform
+regulations," the Reich may legislate concerning the public welfare and
+for the protection of the public order and security.
+
+The Reich reserves further the right to establish basic principles of
+legislation affecting religious associations, schools, manufacture, real
+estate, burial and cremation. It can also prescribe the limits and
+nature of the laws of the lands (states) affecting taxation, in so far
+as this may be necessary to prevent a reduction of the national income
+or a prejudicing of the Reich in its commercial relations, double
+taxation, the imposition of excessive fees which burden traffic, import
+taxes against the products of other states when such taxes constitute an
+unfair discrimination, and export premiums.
+
+The constitution takes from the states the power to collect customs and
+excises. The federal government is empowered to exercise a direct
+control in the various lands over all matters falling under its
+competence. Not only are all the things enumerated above, and many more,
+reserved to the Reich, but there is no provision conferring expressly
+any powers whatever on the lands. Nor is there any provision reserving
+to the states powers not expressly reserved to the Reich or expressly
+prohibited to the states. Article 12, the only provision along this
+line, states merely that "so long and in so far as the Reich makes no
+use of its law-giving powers, the lands retain the right of legislating.
+This does not apply to legislation reserved exclusively to the Reich."
+
+Article 13 provides that "the law of the Reich takes precedence over the
+law of the lands." In case of a disagreement between state and federal
+government as to whether a state law is in conflict with a federal law,
+an issue can be framed and placed before a federal supreme court. Preuss
+and some of his supporters wanted a provision expressly conferring upon
+the Supreme Court at Leipsic such power to rule on the constitutionality
+of legislation as has been assumed by the United States Supreme Court,
+but their views did not prevail.
+
+The President of the Reich is elected by the direct vote of all Germans,
+male and female, who have attained the age of twenty. The term of office
+is seven years, and there is no limit to the number of terms for which
+the same President may be elected. Every German who has reached the age
+of thirty-five is eligible for the Presidency. There is no requirement
+that he be a natural born citizen, nor even as to the length of time
+that he must have been a citizen. A limitation of eligibility to natural
+born citizens, as in the United States constitution, was considered, but
+was rejected, mainly because it was expected at the time the
+constitution was adopted that Austria would become a German land, and
+such a provision would have barred all living Austrians from the
+Presidency. There was also opposition on general principles from the
+internationalists of the Left, the most extreme of whom would as soon
+see a Russian or a Frenchman in the President's chair as a German.
+
+Articles 45 and 46, defining the powers of the President, take over
+almost bodily articles 11 and 18 of the imperial constitution, which
+defined the powers of the Kaiser. Like the Kaiser, the President
+"represents the Reich internationally"; receives and accredits
+diplomatic representatives; concludes treaties with foreign powers;
+appoints civil servants and officers of the army and navy, and is
+commander-in-chief of the country's military and naval forces. In only
+one important respect are the President's apparent powers less than the
+Kaiser's were: war can be declared and peace concluded only by act of
+the Reichstag and Reichsrat. Under the monarchy, a declaration of war
+required only the assent of the Federal Council and even this was not
+required if the country had been actually invaded by an enemy. The
+President has no power of veto over legislation, but he can order that
+any law be submitted to the people by referendum before it can go into
+effect. He can dissolve the Reichstag at any time, as could the Kaiser,
+but only once for the same reason--a limitation to which the Kaiser was
+not subject. He has the general power to pardon criminals. He can, if
+public safety and order be threatened, temporarily suspend most of the
+provisions of the constitution regarding freedom of speech and of the
+press, the right of assembly, the secrecy of postal and wire
+communications, freedom of organization, security against search and
+seizure in one's own dwelling, etc.
+
+All these provisions appear to confer very extensive powers upon the
+President. His appointments of diplomatic representatives do not require
+the assent of a legislative body. He appoints his own Chancellor and,
+upon the latter's recommendation, the ministers of the various
+departments, also without requiring the assent of the legislative body.
+By referring a legislative enactment to a referendum vote he exercises
+what is in effect a suspensive veto.
+
+Two articles of the constitution, however, render all these powers more
+or less illusory. Article 50 provides:
+
+    "All orders and decrees of the President, including those
+    affecting the country's armed forces, require for their
+    validity to be countersigned by the Chancellor or the
+    competent minister. The official who countersigns accepts
+    thereby the responsibility for the order or decree in
+    question."
+
+A similar provision in the American constitution would be of no
+importance, for the members of the cabinet are not responsible to either
+the people or the Congress for their acts. Once appointed, there is no
+way of getting rid of them against the will of the President, no matter
+how inefficient or even harmful they may be to the best interests of the
+country. The German constitution confers much more effective power upon
+the people and the people's representatives. Its article 54 provides:
+
+    "The Chancellor and the ministers of the Reich require the
+    confidence of the Reichstag for the conduct of their offices.
+    Any one of them must resign if the Reichstag, by express
+    decision, withdraws its confidence from him."
+
+It is readily apparent that the President's powers are greatly limited
+by these two articles. As against a hostile Reichstag he is all but
+powerless. The Chancellor or other member of the government required to
+countersign orders or decrees knows in advance that such countersigning
+means his own official suicide if the matter be one in which a majority
+of the Reichstag is at odds with the President. It is apparent from a
+study of the proceedings of the National Assembly and its constitutional
+committee that it was intended to give the President independent powers
+in respect of two important matters--the dissolution of the Reichstag
+and the suspensive veto by appeal to the people--but article 50 says
+unqualifiedly that "all" orders and decrees must be countersigned.
+
+The legislative functions of the Reich are vested in the Reichstag and
+the Reichsrat, or Council of the Reich, which succeeds the Federal
+Council of the monarchy. The members of the Reichstag are elected by
+direct vote of the people for a term of four years, after the
+proportional election system. The Reichstag must convene for the first
+time not later than thirty days after the election, which must be held
+on a Sunday or a public holiday, and the election for the succeeding
+Reichstag must be held within sixty days from the date of the expiration
+or dissolution of the preceding one. It convenes regularly on the first
+Wednesday of every November. The President of the Reichstag must call an
+extraordinary session at the demand of the President of the Reich or
+when a third of the members of the Reichstag itself demand it.
+
+All the constitution's provisions regarding the Reichstag indicate the
+determination of the framers of the instrument to make it a thoroughly
+representative, independent body of great dignity. The deputies are
+clothed with more far-reaching immunities than is the case in most
+countries, and in addition to that there is a specific provision
+extending to them the right to refuse to reveal, even in court
+proceedings, any matters communicated to them in their capacity as
+members of the Reichstag.
+
+There is a provision for a standing committee on foreign affairs, which
+may hold sessions at any time and holds office after the expiration of
+the members' terms or after dissolution of the Reichstag until the
+succeeding Reichstag convenes. It is expressly provided that the
+sessions of this committee shall not be public unless two-thirds of the
+members vote at any particular time to hold a public session. This
+provision, adopted by a body, the majority of whose members were
+outspoken opponents of secret diplomacy, is not without interest. It
+would seem to be a tacit admission that preliminary negotiations between
+nations cannot always be carried on advantageously in public.
+
+The Federal Council was, under the monarchy, the chief bulwark of the
+princes, whose representatives, not the people's, its members were.[72]
+In the new Reichsrat, the successor of the Federal Council, the various
+lands are represented "by members of their governments."[73] These are
+the cabinet ministers of the respective states. The Weimar constitution
+provides that such ministers shall be directly responsible to the diets
+of their respective lands, in like manner as the members of the federal
+government are responsible to the Reichstag. Hence, although chosen
+indirectly, being named, as under the imperial constitution, by their
+respective state governments, they are nevertheless subject to constant,
+effective control by the people's representatives, who can remove them
+at any time by a simple vote of lack of confidence.
+
+[72] _Vide_ p. 22.
+
+[73] Weimar constitution, art. 63.
+
+Each state is entitled to send at least one representative to the
+Reichsrat. The larger states are entitled to one representative for each
+700,000 inhabitants, and a remainder of at least 350,000 entitles them
+to one additional member. It is provided, however, that Prussia may not
+have more than two-fifths of the entire number of representatives.[74]
+The Reichsrat consists of sixty-six members, apportioned as follows:
+
+    Prussia, 26; Bavaria, 10; Saxony, 7; Wurtemberg, 4; Baden, 3;
+    Thuringia, 2; Hesse, 2; Hamburg, 2; Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1;
+    Oldenburg, 1; Brunswick, 1; Anhalt, 1; Bremen, 1; Lippe, 1;
+    Lübeck, 1; Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1; Waldeck, 1;
+    Schaumburg-Lippe, 1.
+
+[74] Original drafts of the constitution, as well as the
+    provisional constitution adopted in February, provided that
+    no state should have more than one-third of the total number.
+    Prussia, with four-sevenths of the total population of
+    Germany, successfully opposed this attempt to reduce her
+    representation so disproportionately. She was, however,
+    compelled to accept a provision that half her representatives
+    should be appointed by the state government and the other
+    half by the provincial governments. In the other lands the
+    state government appoints all the representatives.
+
+The fifth section of the constitution containing articles 68 to 77
+inclusive, is devoted to the legislative functions of the Reich. Article
+68 reads:
+
+    "Bills are proposed by the government of the Reich[75] or by the
+    members of the Reichstag.
+
+    [75] "The government of the Reich" or "the Reich government"
+        means the Chancellor and all the ministers of his cabinet.
+
+    "The laws of the Reich are enacted by the Reichstag."
+
+While the Reichsrat cannot directly propose legislative measures,
+however, it can compel the government to submit to the Reichstag
+measures drafted by it. If the government be in disagreement with the
+Reichsrat, it must accompany its submission with a statement of its
+attitude toward the measure in question. The Reichsrat, while it cannot
+take any positive part in enacting legislation, has the right to vote
+disapproval of any measure enacted by the Reichstag, and such
+disapproval acts as a suspensive veto. In such case, the measure goes
+back to the Reichstag. If the Reichstag reenacts it by a two-thirds
+majority, the President of the Reich must duly proclaim the law within
+three months or else order a popular referendum. If a smaller majority
+than two-thirds again votes in favor of the measure, the President may
+order a referendum within three months thereafter. If he fail to do
+this, the measure is lost.[76]
+
+[76] This seems to be the sole instance in which the President
+    possesses any real, independent power. In such a case it
+    would be possible for him to ally himself with the Reichsrat
+    against both Reichstag and government, for he cannot be
+    compelled to order a referendum.
+
+The express approval by the Reichsrat of proposed legislation is not
+required for its enactment. It must express its disapproval within two
+weeks after an act has been passed finally by the Reichstag; if it fail
+to do so, the act becomes law.
+
+One is again impressed by the importance assigned to the Reichstag, the
+direct creation of the people. The national government is responsible to
+it, as is also the President through the provision that all his decrees
+must be countersigned by a member of the government. A two-thirds
+majority of the Reichstag can overrule the Reichsrat, and the same
+number can impeach the President or any member of the government, or
+even submit directly to the people the question as to whether the
+President shall be recalled. Its decision to hold such a referendum
+automatically inhibits the President from exercising any of the
+functions of his office.
+
+It is the people themselves, however, to whom the supreme power is
+given, or, perhaps better expressed, who have reserved the supreme power
+for themselves by extensive provisions for referendum and initiative. In
+addition to the provisions for referendum already referred to, the
+President can decree, within one month after its passage, that any law
+enacted by the Reichstag shall be referred to the people.
+
+The law-giving powers delegated to the Reichstag can also be exercised
+directly by the people. One-twentieth of the registered voters can
+require that a referendum be held on any Reichstag enactment against
+whose formal proclamation as law at least one-third of the Reichstag
+members shall have protested. One-tenth of the registered voters can
+present the draft of a legislative measure and demand that it be
+referred to a general election. The Reichstag can prevent the holding of
+such a referendum only by adopting the proposed measure unchanged.
+Enactments of the Reichstag can be declared invalid by referendum only
+by the vote of a majority of a majority of all registered voters. Only
+the President can order that a referendum be held on the national
+budgets, customs and taxation, and salaries of officials and civil
+servants. No initiative is possible as to these things.
+
+The people's initiative was one of the various concessions to the
+Socialists of which more will be said later. It was not contemplated by
+the framers of the original drafts of the constitution and was
+introduced at a late period in the deliberations.
+
+The provisions regulating the amendment of the constitution are more
+definite than those of the United States constitution, and they also
+make it possible for the voters to make their will known by the
+democratic method of the direct ballot.[77] Amendments originating with
+the Reichstag or government may be adopted by the same procedure as is
+prescribed for ordinary legislative measures, except that two-thirds of
+two-thirds of all members, i.e., four-ninths of the whole house, must
+vote for them.[78] A tenth of the registered voters of the country may
+present a draft of a proposed amendment, as is provided for ordinary
+bills, and this amendment must be referred to a vote of the people
+unless the Reichstag adopt it unchanged. For the adoption of an
+amendment by referendum the affirmative vote of a majority of the
+registered voters is required.[79]
+
+[77] The United States Supreme Court has decided that the
+    constitutional requirement of a vote of "two-thirds of both
+    houses" (art. v) for amendments does not mean two-thirds of
+    both houses, but merely two-thirds of a quorum of both
+    houses. It has further decided that the people of the various
+    states have no right to vote directly upon constitutional
+    amendments; they are confined to indirect representation
+    through their legislatures.
+
+[78] Every European people regards its constitution merely as a
+    fundamental law, and ascribes no sacrosanct character to it.
+    Hence the departure from the American requirement of an
+    affirmative vote of three-fourths of the states. On the other
+    hand, the framers of the Weimar constitution, by providing
+    for a direct vote of the people, rendered it impossible for
+    an aggressive and unscrupulous minority to force through an
+    amendment against the wishes of a majority of the people.
+
+[79] The question of the return of the monarchy in some form is
+    and will be for some years chiefly of academic interest, but
+    it will be noted that, from a purely juristic viewpoint, a
+    monarchy can be re-established at any time by a bare majority
+    of all German men and women twenty years of age or over, and
+    that one-tenth of the voters, or somewhat less than four
+    millions, could at any time force a vote on the question.
+
+Seven articles deal with the judicial department of the government. They
+make no important changes from the old constitution, except that
+courts-martial are forbidden except in time of war or aboard warships.
+An attempt by the parties of the Left to do away with state courts and
+place the dispensing of justice solely in the hands of the federal
+courts failed.
+
+The second "main division" of the constitution deals with the
+"fundamental rights and fundamental duties of the Germans." Excluding
+fifteen "transitional and concluding decrees," the constitution contains
+165 articles. No less than 56 of these, or more than one-third, are
+devoted to sections bearing the following titles:
+
+    The individual; social life; religion and religious societies;
+    education and school; economic life.
+
+The first ten articles, dealing with the individual, begin by declaring
+the equality of all Germans before the law. All titles of nobility are
+abolished, but they may be borne hereafter as parts of a name. Orders
+and decorations may not be conferred by the state, and "no German may
+accept titles or orders from a foreign government."[80] That part of the
+Bill of Rights contained in amendments i, iv, vi, and xiv of the
+American constitution is taken over in effect, but with much enlargement
+of the rights of the individual. Thus, to the provision for freedom of
+speech and the press is added the declaration that "no employment or
+salaried relation shall deprive any person of this right, and no person
+may prejudice him for making use of this right." Later, in the articles
+dealing with economic life, it is further provided:
+
+[80] This goes even farther than the American constitution, which
+    provides merely that "no person holding any office of profit
+    or trust" under the federal government shall, without the
+    consent of Congress, accept any present or title from a
+    foreign power. (Art. I, sect. 9, par. 8.)
+
+    "Freedom to associate for the protection and furthering of labor
+    and economic conditions is guaranteed to every person and for
+    all callings. All agreements and measures which endeavor to
+    restrict or prevent the exercise of this freedom are
+    illegal.[81]
+
+    [81] Under this provision workmen cannot be required to sign
+        contracts binding them not to join labor-unions, nor can
+        employers contract with each other not to hire members of
+        such unions.
+
+A right to the protection of the Reich as against foreign countries is
+expressly granted "to all nationals of the Reich both within and without
+the territory of the Reich."[82] Nor may any German be delivered up to a
+foreign nation for prosecution or punishment. It is expressly provided
+that men and women "have, in principle, the same rights and duties." The
+right to assemble peaceably without previous notification or permission
+is granted--a flat contrast to the situation under the monarchy--but the
+Reichstag is empowered to enact a law requiring previous notification of
+such assemblages if they are to be held outdoors, and may prohibit them
+in case the public safety be threatened.
+
+[82] This, too, is a departure from the American model. An
+    American citizen has no constitutional right to the
+    protection of his government while he is without the country.
+
+Up to this point the Weimar constitution does not present any marked
+evidence of the circumstances under which it came into being. In
+comparison with the imperial constitution it may fairly be regarded as
+revolutionary, but considered by itself it is merely an advancedly
+democratic instrument with provisions insuring thoroughly parliamentary
+government in the best sense of the word. It is not until one reaches
+the articles dealing with social and economic life, the church and the
+school that the traces of Socialist influence become unmistakable.
+There, however, they are found on every page, beginning with the
+declaration that "motherhood has a right to the protection and care of
+the state," followed by an article providing that "illegitimate children
+are to be granted by legislation the same conditions for their bodily,
+mental and social development as are granted to legitimate children."
+
+Essentially, of course, neither provision is especially Socialistic, but
+both really represent a compromise with the parties of the Left. The
+Majority Socialists tried to have an article inserted giving to
+illegitimate children full rights of inheritance with legitimate
+children of their father's estate, and the right to bear his name. The
+motion was defeated, 167 to 129 votes. The Independent Socialists wanted
+a provision protecting women civil servants who become mothers of
+illegitimate children, and granting them the right to be addressed as
+_Frau_ (Mrs.) instead of _Fräulein_ (Miss). This, too, was defeated.
+
+Other articles due to Socialist advocacy, some of a principal nature,
+others merely doctrinaire, are:
+
+    Providing that legal rights may not be refused to any
+    association because it has a political, politico-social or
+    religious aim;
+
+    Providing that "no person is obliged to state his religious
+    belief";
+
+    Disestablishing the state church;
+
+    Providing for secular (non-religious) schools, freeing teachers
+    from the duty to give religious instruction, and permitting
+    parents or guardians to free their children from religious
+    instruction;
+
+    Providing that "the cultivation and use of land is a duty which
+    the owner owes to the community.[83] Increase in value of the
+    land which is not due to labor or the investment of capital in
+    it is to be utilized for the good of the people";
+
+    [83] This is an interesting novelty as to real estate, but
+        the principle is by no means new, being well established in
+        patent law. Failure to exploit a patent right may lead to
+        its loss.
+
+    "Property imposes obligations. Its enjoyment shall be at the
+    same time a service for the common weal";
+
+    Directing the dissolution of entailed estates;
+
+    Declaring that civil servants "are servants of the whole people,
+    not of a party."
+
+The anti-Christian and anti-religious sentiments of the Socialists did
+not find as complete expression in the constitution as those parties had
+desired. The church is disestablished, but it retains the right to tax
+its members and have legal process for the collection of the taxes. The
+property of the church is left untouched. Subsidies formerly paid from
+public funds are discontinued. Sunday is protected as "a day of rest and
+spiritual elevation." Religious bodies may hold services in hospitals,
+prisons, army barracks, etc., "in so far as need for divine services and
+ministerial offices exists," but no person can be compelled to attend.
+
+All these provisions are, of course, of comparatively minor
+importance--except that dissolving the entailed estates--and many are
+mere doctrinarianism, but the final section of the constitution, dealing
+with economic affairs, brings principles which, if the combined
+Socialist parties should ever succeed in getting a bare majority of the
+country's voters under their banner, would make possible far-reaching
+changes along Marxian lines. Article 153 reads:
+
+    "Property can be expropriated only for the common welfare and by
+    legal methods. Expropriation is to be made upon just
+    compensation, _so far as a law of the Reich does not prescribe
+    otherwise_." (Italics by the author.)
+
+Article 156 reads:
+
+    "The Reich can, by law, without prejudice to the question of
+    compensation, with due employment of the regulations governing
+    expropriations, transfer to the ownership of the people private
+    economic undertakings which are adapted for socialization. It
+    can itself participate, or cause the lands or municipalities to
+    participate, in the administration of economic undertakings and
+    associations, or can in other manner secure to itself a deciding
+    influence therein.
+
+    "The Reich can also, in case of urgent necessity and in the
+    interests of the public, consolidate by law economic
+    undertakings and associations on the basis of
+    self-administration, for the purpose of securing the coöperation
+    of all creative factors of the people, employers and employees,
+    in the administration, and of regulating production,
+    manufacture, distribution, utilization and prices, as well as
+    import and export, of the economic properties upon principles
+    serving the interests of the people."
+
+"Labor enjoys the especial protection of the Reich." gained by the
+revolutionary parties in framing the constitution. They not only make
+sweeping socialization possible, in the event of the Socialists coming
+into power, but also, as the italicized sentence in article 153
+indicates, socialization without compensation to the former private
+owners.
+
+There are still two Socialistic articles to be considered. One, article
+157, says:
+
+    "Labor enjoys the especial protection of the Reich."
+
+_Die Arbeitskraft_, translated above by labor, means the whole body of
+workmen. The provision is another bit of doctrinarianism without any
+particular value, but it is nevertheless at variance with the
+equal-rights-to-all and all-Germans-equal-before-the-law spirit that is
+so carefully emphasized elsewhere in the constitution. The other article
+calling for particular mention is No. 165, the last article of the
+constitution proper. This is a direct heritage of November, 1918.
+
+From the very outset, as has been pointed out repeatedly in this work,
+the Spartacans were determined to impose the soviet form of government
+upon Germany. Later on the Independent Socialists also threw off their
+parliamentary mask and joined in the demand for the _Räterepublik_ on
+the Bolshevist model. There were some leaders of the Majority Socialist
+Party who were willing to consider a combination of parliamentarism and
+sovietism, but most of the older leaders, including Ebert, had no
+sympathy with the idea. They were Socialists, but also democrats. When
+it began to become apparent to the advocates of the soviet system that
+they were in the minority, they raised a demand that the workmen's
+council should be "anchored" in the constitution. The framers of that
+document did not take the demand seriously, and the draft prepared for
+presentation to the National Assembly after the adoption of the
+provisional constitution made no reference to the councils.
+
+The extremer Socialists, however, renewed their original demand, and
+even the more conservative leaders of the parent party, much against
+their will, saw themselves compelled for partisan political reasons to
+support the demand. The result was article 165, inserted in the draft in
+June.
+
+This article begins by declaring that workmen and other wage-earners
+have equal rights with their employers in determining wage and working
+conditions and in coöperating "in the entire economic development of
+productive powers." It provides that they shall, for the protection of
+their social and economic interests, have the right to be represented
+through workmen's shop councils (_Betriebsarbeiterräte_), as well as in
+district workmen's councils (_Bezirksarbeiterräte_), and in a national
+workmen's council (_Reichsarbeiterrat_). The district and national
+councils combine with the representatives of the employers "and other
+interested circles of the people" to form district economic councils
+(_Bezirkswirtschaftsräte_), and a national economic council
+(_Reichswirtschaftsrat_). "The district economic councils and the
+national economic council are to be so constituted that all important
+groups of interests are represented in proportion to their economic and
+social importance."
+
+Article 165 continues:
+
+    "Politico-social and politico-economic bills of fundamental
+    importance shall, before their introduction, be laid by the
+    government of the Reich before the national economic council for
+    its consideration and report. The national economic council has
+    the right to propose such bills itself. If the government does
+    not approve of them, it must nevertheless lay them before the
+    Reichstag, together with a statement of its attitude. The
+    national economic council is empowered to have the bill
+    advocated before the Reichstag by one of its members.
+
+    "Powers of control and administration can be conferred upon the
+    workmen's and economic councils over matters lying in their
+    sphere of action."
+
+Thus the "anchor" of the workmen's councils in the German constitution.
+It is difficult to find in it the importance assigned to it by the
+Socialists. The national council has, in the last analysis, only such
+power as the Reichstag may choose to confer upon it. There was no sharp
+opposition to the article from the _bourgeois_ parties, doubtless due in
+large part to the fact that, even long before the revolution, the right
+of workmen to combine and negotiate as organizations with their
+employers was recognized by everybody, and that Germany, with less than
+two-thirds of the population of the United States, has roundly three
+times as many organized workmen. In the circumstance, article 165 did
+not bring any really revolutionary change.
+
+The foregoing is a brief outline of the more important features of the
+constitution of the German Republic. Considering all the attendant
+circumstances of its birth--the apathy of the people, the weakness of
+the government, the disruption of the Germans into factions which
+bitterly hated and opposed each other, the savage conditions of the
+peace, following the crushing conditions of the armistice, the
+disappearance from the political field of most of the trained minds of
+the old empire, the strength of the elements inspired by purely
+materialistic and egoistic aims or by a naive trust in the
+internationalists of other lands, the constant pressure from the
+enemy--the framers and proponents of the constitution accomplished a
+national deed of dignity and worth. They might easily have done much
+worse; it is impossible for one who watched the developments of those
+trying days to assert that they could have done much better.
+
+    (The author's acknowledgments are due as to this chapter to Dr.
+    Hugo Preuss, for valuable information as to the course of the
+    deliberations of the various constitutional commissions and
+    for interpretations of the constitution, and to Dr. Fremont
+    A. Higgins, A.M., LL.B. (Columbia), J.U.D. (University of
+    Kiel), who generously gave the benefit of his wide knowledge
+    of German law and bibliography.)
+
+
+
+
+    _Through the courtesy of the World Peace Foundation the Yale
+    University Press is enabled to reprint "The Constitution of the
+    German Commonwealth" as it appeared in the_ League of Nations
+    _for December, 1919. The following note on "The Terminology
+    of the Constitution" by the translators, William Bennett
+    Munro and Arthur Norman Holcombe, appeared in the introduction
+    to the translation_:
+
+
+A word should be added in explanation of the way in which certain
+technical terms have been translated.
+
+It is no longer fitting, for example, to translate _Reich_ as empire.
+Yet it is not clear to what extent the old spirit as well as the old
+forms have changed. Certainly the "strange trappings and primitive
+authority" of the imperial government are gone. How far has the spirit
+as well as the form of government of, by, and for the People taken its
+place? It is too soon to say. Whatever the event may be, it seems best
+for Americans at this time to substitute for empire the less specialized
+expression, commonwealth.
+
+Another difficulty arises when _Reichs_- is used as a qualifier. Is the
+_Reichsrat_, for example, a federal council or a national council? This
+raises a fundamental question concerning the effect of the Revolution.
+Is the German Commonwealth a unified state or does it remain a
+confederation? Apparently the former federal States have not yet
+surrendered all their sovereign powers. The residue of sovereignty left
+to the States, however, is slight and unsubstantial. Recently, indeed
+(December, 1919), the Assembly of the principal State, Prussia, is
+reported to have adopted a resolution in favor of further
+centralization. As the Constitution stands, the Commonwealth appears to
+be a federation in which the rights of the States are subordinated to
+those of the Union to a far greater extent than in our own United
+States. It has seemed proper, therefore, to use the term "national"
+rather than "federal."
+
+The term _Reichsregierung_ might be translated National Government, or
+Administration, or Cabinet. We have adopted the term Cabinet because of
+its greater precision. Both the other expressions have a more general as
+well as a specialized meaning and would ordinarily be understood by
+Americans to include the President as well as the Chancellor and
+Ministers, who alone are the members of the Cabinet in the strict sense
+of the term. The _Regierung_ must be distinguished from the
+_Ministerium_. The latter term may designate either the whole body of
+ministers or the department of any one minister. In the text of the
+German Constitution it is used only in the latter sense.
+
+The translations adopted for the principal political terms of the new
+Constitution are indicated in the glossary. In general the purpose has
+been to adhere as closely to a literal rendering of the German as was
+compatible with an intelligible English version. Preference has been
+given throughout the translation to the terminology of republican
+government as developed in the United States. For a correct
+understanding of a foreign constitution, no translation can however
+suffice; the original text with a commentary must be carefully studied
+by anyone who wishes to obtain a thorough comprehension of such a
+document.
+
+The translators are glad to acknowledge their indebtedness to Professor
+John A. Walz and Dr. F. W. C. Lieder of the Department of German in
+Harvard University, and to Dean Roscoe Pound of the Harvard Law School
+for careful scrutiny of the proofs and many helpful suggestions on
+difficult passages.
+
+                                                            W. B. M.
+                                                            A. N. H.
+
+    January 5, 1920.
+
+
+                                Glossary.
+
+           GERMAN                          TRANSLATION
+
+  Reich                          _Commonwealth_
+  Reichs-                        _of the Commonwealth, national_
+  Reichsarbeiterrat              _National Workers' Council_
+  Reichsgericht                  _National Judicial Court_
+  Reichskanzler                  _National Chancellor_
+  Reichsminister                 _National Minister_
+  Reichsministerium, pl.,-ien    _National Department_
+  Reichsprasident                _President of the Commonwealth,_
+                                     _National President_
+  Reichsrat                      _National Council_
+  Reichsregierung                _National Cabinet_
+  Reichstag                      _National Assembly_
+  Reichsverwaltungsgericht       _National Administration Court_
+  Reichswirtschaftsrat           _National Economic Council_
+  Land                           _State (as integral part of the_
+                                     _Commonwealth)_
+  Landes-                        _of the State, State_
+  Landesregierung                _State Cabinet_
+  Landtag                        _State Assembly_
+  Wahlprufungsgericht            _Electoral Commission_
+  Staat                          _country, state (one of the family of
+                                     nations); referring to Germany, it
+                                     designates the Commonwealth and
+                                     separate States as a single
+                                     political
+                                     entity._
+  Staatsgerichtshof              _Supreme Judicial Court_
+  staatlich                      _political_
+  freistaatlich                  _republican_
+
+
+
+
+                     The Constitution of the German
+                              Commonwealth
+
+
+                               _PREAMBLE_
+
+The German People, united in all their branches, and inspired by the
+determination to renew and strengthen their Commonwealth in liberty and
+justice, to preserve peace both at home and abroad, and to foster social
+progress, have adopted the following Constitution.
+
+
+                               CHAPTER I
+
+              Structure and Functions of the Commonwealth.
+
+
+                              _SECTION I_
+
+                        COMMONWEALTH AND STATES
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 1
+
+The German Commonwealth is a republic.
+
+Political authority is derived from the People.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 2
+
+The territory of the Commonwealth consists of the territories of the
+German States. Other territories may be incorporated into the
+Commonwealth by national law, if their inhabitants, exercising the right
+of self-determination, so desire.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 3
+
+The national colors are black, red and gold. The merchant flag is black,
+white and red, with the national colors in the upper inside corner.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 4
+
+The generally recognized principles of the law of nations are accepted
+as an integral part of the law of the German Commonwealth.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 5
+
+Political authority is exercised in national affairs by the National
+Government in accordance with the Constitution of the Commonwealth, and
+in State affairs by the State Governments in accordance with the State
+constitutions.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 6
+
+The Commonwealth has exclusive jurisdiction over:
+
+    1. Foreign relations;
+
+    2. Colonial affairs;
+
+    3. Citizenship, freedom of travel and residence, immigration
+    and emigration, and extradition;
+
+    4. Organization for national defense;
+
+    5. Coinage;
+
+    6. Customs, including the consolidation of customs and trade
+    districts and the free interchange of goods;
+
+    7. Posts and telegraphs, including telephones.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 7
+
+The Commonwealth has jurisdiction over:
+
+    1. Civil law;
+
+    2. Criminal law;
+
+    3. Judicial procedure, including penal administration, and
+    official cooperation between the administrative authorities;
+
+    4. Passports and the supervision of aliens;
+
+    5. Poor relief and vagrancy;
+
+    6. The press, associations and public meetings;
+
+    7. Problems of population; protection of maternity, infancy,
+    childhood and adolescence;
+
+    8. Public health, veterinary practice, protection of plants
+    from disease and pests;
+
+    9. The rights of labor, social insurance, the protection of
+    wage-earners and other employees, and employment bureaus;
+
+    10. The establishment of national organizations for
+    vocational representation;
+
+    11. Provision for war-veterans and their surviving
+    dependents;
+
+    12. The law of expropriation;
+
+    13. The socialization of natural resources and business
+    enterprises, as well as the production, fabrication,
+    distribution, and price-fixing of economic goods for the use
+    of the community;
+
+    14. Trade, weights and measures, the issue of paper money,
+    banking, and stock and produce exchanges;
+
+    15. Commerce in foodstuffs and in other necessaries of daily
+    life, and in luxuries;
+
+    16. Industry and mining;
+
+    17. Insurance;
+
+    18. Ocean navigation, and deep-sea and coast fisheries;
+
+    19. Railroads, internal navigation, communication by
+    power-driven vehicles on land, on sea, and in the air; the
+    construction of highways, in so far as pertains to general
+    intercommunication and the national defense;
+
+    20. Theaters and cinematographs.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 8
+
+The Commonwealth also has jurisdiction over taxation and other sources
+of income, in so far as they may be claimed in whole or in part for its
+purposes. If the Commonwealth claims any source of revenue which
+formerly belonged to the States, it must have consideration for the
+financial requirements of the States.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 9
+
+Whenever it is necessary to establish uniform rules, the Commonwealth
+has jurisdiction over:
+
+    1. The promotion of social welfare;
+
+    2. The protection of public order and safety.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 10
+
+The Commonwealth may prescribe by law fundamental principles concerning:
+
+    1. The rights and duties of religious associations;
+
+    2. Education, including higher education and libraries for
+    scientific use;
+
+    3. The law of officers of all public bodies;
+
+    4. The land law, the distribution of land, settlements and
+    homesteads, restrictions on landed property, housing, and the
+    distribution of population;
+
+    5. Disposal of the dead.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 11
+
+The Commonwealth may prescribe by law fundamental principles concerning
+the validity and mode of collection of State taxes, in order to prevent:
+
+    1. Injury to the revenues or to the trade relations of the
+    Commonwealth;
+
+    2. Double taxation;
+
+    3. The imposition of excessive burdens, or burdens in
+    restraint of trade on the use of the means and agencies of
+    public communication;
+
+    4. Tax discriminations against the products of other States
+    in favor of domestic products in interstate and local
+    commerce; or
+
+    5. Export bounties;
+
+or in order to protect important social interests.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 12
+
+So long and in so far as the Commonwealth does not exercise its
+jurisdiction, such jurisdiction remains with the States. This does not
+apply in cases where the Commonwealth possesses exclusive jurisdiction.
+
+The National Cabinet may object to State laws relating to the subjects
+of Article 7, Number 13, whenever the general welfare of the
+Commonwealth is affected thereby.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 13
+
+The laws of the Commonwealth are supreme over the laws of the States
+which conflict with them.
+
+If doubt arises, or difference of opinion, whether State legislation is
+in harmony with the law of the Commonwealth, the proper authorities of
+the Commonwealth or the central authorities of the States, in accordance
+with more specific provisions of a national law, may have recourse to
+the decision of a supreme judicial court of the Commonwealth.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 14
+
+The laws of the Commonwealth will be executed by the State authorities,
+unless otherwise provided by national law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 15
+
+The National Cabinet supervises the conduct of affairs over which the
+Commonwealth has jurisdiction.
+
+In so far as the laws of the Commonwealth are to be carried into effect
+by the State authorities, the National Cabinet may issue general
+instructions. It has the power to send commissioners to the central
+authorities of the States, and, with their consent, to the subordinate
+State authorities, in order to supervise the execution of national laws.
+
+It is the duty of the State Cabinets, at the request of the National
+Cabinet, to correct any defects in the execution of the national laws.
+In case of dispute, either the National Cabinet or that of the State may
+have recourse to the decision of the Supreme Judicial Court, unless
+another court is prescribed by national law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 16
+
+The officers directly charged with the administration of national
+affairs in any State shall, as a rule, be citizens of that State. The
+officers, employees and workmen of the national administration shall, if
+they so desire, be employed in the districts where they reside as far as
+is possible and not inconsistent with their training and with the
+requirements of the service.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 17
+
+Every State must have a republican constitution. The representatives of
+the People must be elected by the universal, equal, direct and secret
+suffrage of all German citizens, both men and women, according to the
+principles of proportional representation. The State Cabinet shall
+require the confidence of the representatives of the People.
+
+The principles in accordance with which the representatives of the
+People are chosen apply also to municipal elections; but by State law a
+residence qualification not exceeding one year of residence in the
+municipality may be imposed in such elections.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 18
+
+The division of the Commonwealth into States shall serve the highest
+economic and cultural interests of the People after most thorough
+consideration of the wishes of the population affected. State boundaries
+may be altered and new States may be created within the Commonwealth by
+the process of constitutional amendment.
+
+With the consent of the States directly affected, it requires only an
+ordinary law of the Commonwealth.
+
+An ordinary law of the Commonwealth will also suffice, if one of the
+States affected does not consent, provided that the change of boundaries
+or the creation of a new State is desired by the population concerned
+and is also required by a preponderant national interest.
+
+The wishes of the population shall be ascertained by a referendum. The
+National Cabinet orders a referendum on demand of one-third of the
+inhabitants qualified to vote for the National Assembly in the territory
+to be cut off.
+
+Three-fifths of the votes cast, but at least a majority of the qualified
+voters, are required for the alteration of a boundary or the creation of
+a new State. Even if a separation of only a part of a Prussian
+administrative district, a Bavarian circle, or, in other States, a
+corresponding administrative district, is involved, the wishes of the
+population of the whole district must be ascertained. If there is no
+physical contact between the territory to be cut off and the rest of the
+district, the wishes of the population of the district to be cut off may
+be pronounced conclusive by a special law of the Commonwealth.
+
+After the consent of the population has been ascertained the National
+Cabinet shall introduce into the National Assembly a bill suitable for
+enactment.
+
+If any controversy arises over the division of property in connection
+with such a union or separation, it will be determined upon complaint of
+either party by the Supreme Judicial Court of the German Commonwealth.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 19
+
+If controversies concerning the Constitution arise within a State in
+which there is no court competent to dispose of them, or if
+controversies of a public nature arise between different States or
+between a State and the Commonwealth, they will be determined upon
+complaint of one of the parties by the Supreme Judicial Court of the
+German Commonwealth, unless another judicial court of the Commonwealth
+is competent.
+
+The President of the Commonwealth executes judgments of the Supreme
+Judicial Court.
+
+
+                              _SECTION II_
+
+                         THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 20
+
+The National Assembly is composed of the delegates of the German People.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 21
+
+The delegates are representatives of the whole People. They are subject
+only to their own consciences and are not bound by any instructions.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 22
+
+The delegates are elected by universal, equal, direct and secret
+suffrage by all men and women over twenty years of age, in accordance
+with the principles of proportional representation. The day for
+elections must be a Sunday or a public holiday.
+
+The details will be regulated by the national election law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 23
+
+The National Assembly is elected for four years. New elections must take
+place at the latest on the sixtieth day after its term comes to an end.
+
+The National Assembly convenes at the latest on the thirtieth day after
+the election.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 24
+
+The National Assembly meets each year on the first Wednesday in November
+at the seat of the National Government. The President of the National
+Assembly must call it earlier if the President of the Commonwealth, or
+at least one-third of the members of the National Assembly, demand it.
+
+The National Assembly determines the close of its session and the day of
+reassembling.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 25
+
+The President of the Commonwealth may dissolve the National Assembly,
+but only once for the same cause.
+
+The new election occurs at the latest on the sixtieth day after such
+dissolution.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 26
+
+The National Assembly chooses its President, Vice-President and its
+Secretaries. It regulates its own procedure.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 27
+
+During the interval between sessions, or while elections are taking
+place, the President and Vice-President of the preceding session conduct
+its affairs.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 28
+
+The President administers the regulations and policing of the National
+Assembly building. The management of the building is subject to his
+direction; he controls its receipts and expenses in accordance with the
+provisions of the budget, and represents the Commonwealth in all legal
+affairs and in litigation arising during his administration.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 29
+
+The proceedings of the National Assembly are public. At the request of
+fifty members the public may be excluded by a two-thirds vote.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 30
+
+True and accurate reports of the proceedings in public sittings of the
+National Assembly, of a State Assembly, or of their committees, are
+absolutely privileged.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 31
+
+An Electoral Commission to decide disputed elections will be organized
+in connection with the National Assembly. It will also decide whether a
+delegate has forfeited his seat.
+
+The Electoral Commission consists of members of the National Assembly,
+chosen by the latter for the life of the Assembly, and of members of the
+National Administrative Court, to be appointed by the President of the
+Commonwealth on the nomination of the presidency of this court.
+
+This Electoral Commission pronounces judgment after public hearings
+through a quorum of three members of the National Assembly and two
+judicial members.
+
+Proceedings apart from the hearings before the Electoral Commission will
+be conducted by a National Commissioner appointed by the President of
+the Commonwealth. In other respects the procedure will be regulated by
+the Electoral Commission.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 32
+
+The National Assembly acts by majority vote unless otherwise provided in
+the Constitution. For the conduct of elections by the National Assembly
+it may, in its rules of procedure, make exceptions.
+
+The quorum to do business will be regulated by the rules of procedure.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 33
+
+The National Assembly and its committees may require the presence of the
+National Chancellor and of any National Minister.
+
+The National Chancellor, the National Ministers, and Commissioners
+designated by them, have the right to be present at the sittings of the
+National Assembly and of its committees. The States are entitled to send
+their plenipotentiaries to these sittings to submit the views of their
+Cabinets on matters under consideration.
+
+At their request the representatives of the Cabinets shall be heard
+during the deliberations, and the representatives of the National
+Cabinet shall be heard even outside the regular order of business.
+
+They are subject to the authority of the presiding officer in matters of
+order.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 34
+
+The National Assembly has the right, and, on proposal of one-fifth of
+its members, the duty to appoint committees of investigation. These
+committees, in public sittings, inquire into the evidence which they, or
+the proponents, consider necessary. The public may be excluded by a
+two-thirds vote of the committee of investigation. The rules of
+procedure regulate the proceedings of the committee and determine the
+number of its members.
+
+The judicial and administrative authorities are required to comply with
+requests by these committees for information, and the record of the
+authorities shall on request be submitted to them.
+
+The provisions of the code of criminal procedure apply as far as is
+suitable to the inquiries of these committees and of the authorities
+assisting them, but the secrecy of letter and other post, telegraph, and
+telephone services will remain inviolate.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 35
+
+The National Assembly appoints a Standing Committee on foreign affairs
+which may also act outside of the sittings of the National Assembly and
+after its expiration or dissolution until a new National Assembly
+convenes. Its sittings are not public, unless the committee by a
+two-thirds vote otherwise provides.
+
+The National Assembly also appoints a Standing Committee for the
+protection of the rights of the representatives of the People against
+the National Cabinet during a recess and after the expiration of the
+term for which it was elected.
+
+These committees have the rights of committees of investigation.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 36
+
+No member of the National Assembly or of a State Assembly shall at any
+time whatsoever be subject to any judicial or disciplinary prosecution
+or be held responsible outside of the House to which he belongs on
+account of his vote or his opinions uttered in the performance of his
+duty.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 37
+
+No member of the National Assembly or of a State Assembly shall during
+the session, without the consent of the House to which he belongs, be
+subject to investigation or arrest on account of any punishable offense,
+unless he is caught in the act, or apprehended not later than the
+following day.
+
+Similar consent is required in the case of any other restraint of
+personal liberty which interferes with the performance by a delegate of
+his duties.
+
+Any criminal proceeding against a member of the National Assembly or of
+a State Assembly, and any arrest or other restraint of his personal
+liberty shall, at the demand of the House to which he belongs, be
+suspended for the duration of the session.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 38
+
+The members of the National Assembly and the State Assemblies are
+entitled to refuse to give evidence concerning persons who have given
+them information in their official capacity, or to whom they have given
+information in the performance of their official duties, or concerning
+the information itself. In regard also to the seizure of papers their
+position is the same as that of persons who have by law the right to
+refuse to give evidence.
+
+A search or seizure may be proceeded with in the precincts of the
+National Assembly or of a State Assembly only with the consent of its
+President.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 39
+
+Civil officers and members of the armed forces need no leave to perform
+their duties as members of the National Assembly or of a State Assembly.
+
+If they become candidates for election to these bodies, the necessary
+leave shall be granted them to prepare for their election.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 40
+
+The members of the National Assembly shall have the right of free
+transportation over all German railroads, and also compensation as fixed
+by national law.
+
+
+                             _SECTION III_
+
+                     THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT AND THE
+                            NATIONAL CABINET
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 41
+
+The National President is chosen by the whole German People.
+
+Every German who has completed his thirty-fifth year is eligible for
+election.
+
+The details will be regulated by a national law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 42
+
+The National President, on assuming his office, takes before the
+National Assembly the following oath:
+
+I swear to devote all my energy to the welfare of the German People, to
+increase their prosperity, to protect them from injury, to preserve the
+Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth, to perform my duties
+conscientiously, and to deal justly with all.
+
+The addition of a religious affirmation is permitted.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 43
+
+The term of the National President is seven years. He is eligible for
+reelection.
+
+The President may be removed before the end of his term by vote of the
+People on proposal of the National Assembly. The act of the National
+Assembly in such case requires a two-thirds majority vote. Upon such
+action the President is suspended from further exercise of his office. A
+refusal by the People to remove the President has the effect of a new
+election and entails the dissolution of the National Assembly.
+
+The National President shall not be subject to criminal prosecution
+without the consent of the National Assembly.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 44
+
+The National President may not at the same time be a member of the
+National Assembly.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 45
+
+The National President represents the Commonwealth in matters of
+international law. He concludes in the name of the Commonwealth
+alliances and other treaties with foreign powers. He accredits and
+receives ambassadors.
+
+War is declared and peace concluded by national law.
+
+Alliances and treaties with foreign States, relating to subjects within
+the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, require the consent of the
+National Assembly.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 46
+
+The President appoints and dismisses the civil and military officers of
+the Commonwealth if not otherwise provided by law. He may delegate this
+right of appointment or dismissal to other authorities.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 47
+
+The National President has supreme command over all the armed forces of
+the Commonwealth.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 48
+
+If any State does not perform the duties imposed upon it by the
+Constitution or by national laws, the National President may hold it to
+the performance thereof by force of arms.
+
+If public safety and order in the German Commonwealth is materially
+disturbed or endangered, the National President may take the necessary
+measures to restore public safety and order, and, if necessary, to
+intervene by force of arms. To this end he may temporarily suspend, in
+whole or in part, the fundamental rights established in Articles 114,
+115, 117, 118, 123, 124 and 153.
+
+The National President must immediately inform the National Assembly of
+all measures adopted by authority of Paragraphs 1 or 2 of this Article.
+These measures shall be revoked at the demand of the National Assembly.
+
+If there is danger from delay, the State Cabinet may for its own
+territory take provisional measures as specified in Paragraph 2. These
+measures shall be revoked at the demand of the National President or of
+the National Assembly.
+
+The details will be regulated by a national law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 49
+
+The National President exercises the right of pardon for the
+Commonwealth. National amnesties require a national law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 50
+
+All orders and directions of the National President, including those
+concerning the armed forces, require for their validity the
+countersignature of the National Chancellor or of the appropriate
+National Minister. By the countersignature responsibility is assumed.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 51
+
+The National President is represented temporarily in case of disability
+by the National Chancellor. If such disability seems likely to continue
+for any considerable period, he shall be represented as may be
+determined by a national law.
+
+The same procedure shall be followed in case of a premature vacancy of
+the Presidency until the completion of the new election.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 52
+
+The National Cabinet consists of the National Chancellor and the
+National Ministers.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 53
+
+The National Chancellor and, on his proposal, the National Ministers are
+appointed and dismissed by the National President.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 54
+
+The National Chancellor and the National Ministers require for the
+administration of their offices the confidence of the National Assembly.
+Each of them must resign if the National Assembly by formal resolution
+withdraws its confidence.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 55
+
+The National Chancellor presides over the National Cabinet and conducts
+its affairs in accordance with rules of procedure, which will be framed
+by the National Cabinet and approved by the National President.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 56
+
+The National Chancellor determines the general course of policy and
+assumes responsibility therefor to the National Assembly. In accordance
+with this general policy each National Minister conducts independently
+the particular affairs intrusted to him and is held individually
+responsible to the National Assembly.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 57
+
+The National Ministers shall submit to the National Cabinet for
+consideration and decision all drafts of bills and other matters for
+which this procedure is prescribed by the Constitution or by law, as
+well as differences of opinion over questions which concern the
+departments of several National Ministers.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 58
+
+The National Cabinet will make its decisions by majority vote. In case
+of a tie the vote of the presiding officer will be decisive.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 59
+
+The National Assembly is empowered to impeach the National President,
+the National Chancellor, and the National Ministers before the Supreme
+Judicial Court of the German Commonwealth for any wrongful violation of
+the Constitution or laws of the Commonwealth. The proposal to bring an
+impeachment must be signed by at least one hundred members of the
+National Assembly and requires the approval of the majority prescribed
+for amendments to the Constitution. The details will be regulated by the
+national law relating to the Supreme Judicial Court.
+
+
+                              _SECTION IV_
+
+                          THE NATIONAL COUNCIL
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 60
+
+A National Council will be organized to represent the German States in
+national legislation and administration.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 61
+
+In the National Council each State has at least one vote. In the case of
+the larger States one vote is accorded for every million inhabitants.
+Any excess equal at least to the population of the smallest State is
+reckoned as equivalent to a full million. No State shall be accredited
+with more than two-fifths of all votes.
+
+[German-Austria after its union with the German Commonwealth will
+receive the right of participation in the National Council with the
+number of votes corresponding to its population. Until that time the
+representatives of German-Austria have a deliberate voice.][84]
+
+[84] Stricken out at the demand of the Supreme Council of the
+    Allied and Associated Powers. The Supreme Council addressed
+    the following demand to Germany on September 2, 1919:
+
+    "The Allied and Associated Powers have examined the German
+    Constitution of August 11, 1919. They observe that the
+    provisions of the second paragraph of Article 61 constitute a
+    formal violation of Article 80 of the Treaty of Peace signed
+    at Versailles on June 28, 1919. This violation is twofold:
+
+    "1. Article 61 by stipulating for the admission of Austria to
+    the Reichsrat assimilates that Republic to the German States
+    composing the German Empire--an assimilation which is
+    incompatible with respect to the independence of Austria.
+
+    "2. By admitting and providing for the participation of
+    Austria in the Council of the Empire Article 61 creates a
+    political tie and a common political action between Germany
+    and Austria in absolute opposition to the independence of the
+    latter.
+
+    "In consequence the Allied and Associated Powers, after
+    reminding the German Government that Article 178 of the
+    German Constitution declares that 'the provisions of the
+    Treaty of Versailles can not be affected by the
+    Constitution,' invite the German Government to take the
+    necessary measures to efface without delay this violation by
+    declaring Article 61, Paragraph 2, to be null and void.
+
+    "Without prejudice to subsequent measures in case of refusal,
+    and in virtue of the Treaty of Peace (and in particular
+    Article 29), the Allied and Associated Powers inform the
+    German Government that this violation of its engagements on
+    an essential point will compel them, if satisfaction is not
+    given to their just demand within 15 days from the date of
+    the present note, immediately to order the extension of their
+    occupation on the right bank of the Rhine."
+
+    Article 29 of the Treaty of Peace refers to Map No. 1 which
+    shows the boundaries of Germany and provides that the text of
+    Articles 27 and 28 will be final as to those boundaries.
+    Article 80 reads as follows:--
+
+    "Germany acknowledges and will respect strictly the
+    independence of Austria, within the frontiers which may be
+    fixed in a Treaty between that State and the Principal Allied
+    and Associated Powers; she agrees that this independence
+    shall be inalienable, except with the consent of the Council
+    of the League of Nations."
+
+    A diplomatic act was signed at Paris on September 22, 1919,
+    by the representatives of the Principal Allied and Associated
+    Powers and Germany in the following terms:
+
+    "The undersigned, duly authorized and acting in the name of
+    the German Government, recognizes and declares that all the
+    provisions of the German Constitution of August 11, 1919,
+    which are in contradiction of the terms of the Treaty of
+    Peace signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919, are null.
+
+    "The German Government declares and recognizes that in
+    consequence Paragraph 2 of Article 61 of the said
+    Constitution is null, and that in particular the admission of
+    Austrian representatives to the Reichstag could only take
+    place in the event of the consent of the Council of the
+    League of Nations to a corresponding modification of
+    Austria's international situation.
+
+    "The present declaration shall be approved by the competent
+    German legislative authority, within the fortnight following
+    the entry into force of the Peace Treaty.
+
+    "Given at Versailles, September 22, 1919, in the presence of
+    the undersigned representatives of the Principal Allied and
+    Associated Powers."
+
+The number of votes is determined anew by the National Council after
+every general census.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 62
+
+In committees formed by the National Council from its own members no
+State will have more than one vote.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 63
+
+The States will be represented in the National Council by members of
+their Cabinets. Half of the Prussian votes, however, will be at the
+disposal of the Prussian provincial administrations in accordance with a
+State law.
+
+The States have the right to send as many representatives to the
+National Council as they have votes.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 64
+
+The National Cabinet must summon the National Council on demand by
+one-third of its members.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 65
+
+The chairmanship of the National Council and of its committees is filled
+by a member of the National Cabinet. The members of the National Cabinet
+have the right and on request [of the National Council] the duty to take
+part in the proceedings of the National Council and its committees. They
+must at their request be heard at any time during its deliberations.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 66
+
+The National Cabinet, as well as every member of the National Council,
+is entitled to make proposals in the National Council.
+
+The National Council regulates its order of business through rules of
+procedure.
+
+The plenary sittings of the National Council are public. In accordance
+with the rules of procedure the public may be excluded during the
+discussion of particular subjects.
+
+Decisions are taken by a majority of those present.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 67
+
+The National Council shall be kept informed by the National Departments
+of the conduct of national business. At deliberations on important
+subjects the appropriate committees of the National Council shall be
+summoned by the National Departments.
+
+
+                                _SECTION V_
+
+                          NATIONAL LEGISLATION
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 68
+
+Bills are introduced by the National Cabinet or by members of the
+National Assembly.
+
+National laws are enacted by the National Assembly.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 69
+
+The introduction of bills by the National Cabinet requires the
+concurrence of the National Council. If an agreement between the
+National Cabinet and the National Council is not reached, the National
+Cabinet may nevertheless introduce the bill, but must state the dissent
+of the National Council.
+
+If the National Council resolves upon a bill to which the National
+Cabinet does not assent, the latter must introduce the bill in the
+National Assembly together with a statement of its attitude.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 70
+
+The National President shall compile the laws which have been
+constitutionally enacted and within one month publish them in the
+National Bulletin of Laws.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 71
+
+National laws go into effect, unless otherwise specified, on the
+fourteenth day following the date of their publication in the National
+Bulletin of Laws at the national capital.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 72
+
+The promulgation of a national law may be deferred for two months, if
+one-third of the National Assembly so demands. Laws which the National
+Assembly and the National Council declare to be urgent may be
+promulgated by the National President regardless of this demand.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 73
+
+A law enacted by the National Assembly shall be referred to the People
+before its promulgation, if the National President so orders within a
+month.
+
+A law whose promulgation is deferred at the demand of at least one-third
+of the National Assembly shall be submitted to the People, if
+one-twentieth of the qualified voters so petition.
+
+A popular vote shall further be resorted to on a measure initiated by
+the People if one-tenth of the qualified voters so petition. A fully
+elaborated bill must accompany such petition. The National Cabinet shall
+lay the bill together with a statement of its attitude before the
+National Assembly. The popular vote does not take place if the desired
+bill is enacted without amendment by the National Assembly.
+
+A popular vote may be taken on the budget, tax laws, and laws relating
+to the classification and payment of public officers only by authority
+of the National President.
+
+The procedure in connection with the popular referendum and initiative
+will be regulated by national law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 74
+
+The National Council has the right to object to laws passed by the
+National Assembly.
+
+The objection must be filed with the National Cabinet within two weeks
+after the final vote in the National Assembly and must be supported by
+reasons within two more weeks at the latest.
+
+In case of objection, the law is returned to the National Assembly for
+reconsideration. If an agreement between the National Assembly and the
+National Council is not reached, the National President may within three
+months refer the subject of the dispute to the People. If the President
+makes no use of this right, the law does not go into effect. If the
+National Assembly disapproves by a two-thirds majority the objection of
+the National Council, the President shall promulgate the law in the form
+enacted by the National Assembly within three months or refer it to the
+People.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 75
+
+An act of the National Assembly may be annulled by a popular vote, only
+if a majority of those qualified take part in the vote.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 76
+
+The Constitution may be amended by process of legislation. But acts of
+the National Assembly relating to the amendment of the Constitution are
+effective only if two-thirds of the legal membership are present, and at
+least two-thirds of those present give their assent. Acts of the
+National Council relating to the amendment of the Constitution also
+require a two-thirds majority of all the votes cast. If an amendment to
+the Constitution is to be adopted by the People by popular initiative,
+the assent of a majority of the qualified voters is required.
+
+If the National Assembly adopts an amendment to the Constitution against
+the objection of the National Council, the President may not promulgate
+this law, if the National Council within two weeks demands a popular
+vote.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 77
+
+The National Cabinet issues the general administrative regulations
+necessary for the execution of the national laws so far as the laws do
+not otherwise provide. It must secure the assent of the National Council
+if the execution of the national laws is assigned to the State
+authorities.
+
+
+                              _SECTION VI_
+
+                      THE NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 78
+
+The conduct of relations with foreign countries is exclusively a
+function of the Commonwealth.
+
+The States, in matters subject to their jurisdiction, may conclude
+treaties with foreign countries; such treaties require the assent of the
+Commonwealth.
+
+Agreements with foreign countries regarding changes of national
+boundaries will be concluded by the Commonwealth with the consent of the
+State concerned. Changes of boundaries may be made only by authority of
+a national law, except in cases where a mere adjustment of the
+boundaries of uninhabited districts is in question.
+
+To assure the representation of interests arising from the special
+economic relations of individual States to foreign countries or from
+their proximity to foreign countries, the Commonwealth determines the
+requisite arrangements and measures in agreement with the States
+concerned.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 79
+
+The national defense is a function of the Commonwealth. The organization
+of the German People for defense will be uniformly regulated by a
+national law with due consideration for the peculiarities of the people
+of the separate States.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 80
+
+Colonial policy is exclusively a function of the Commonwealth.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 81
+
+All German merchant ships constitute a unified merchant marine.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 82
+
+Germany forms a customs and trade area surrounded by a common customs
+boundary.
+
+The customs boundary is identical with the international boundary. At
+the seacoast the shore of the mainland and of the islands belonging to
+the national territory constitutes the customs boundary. Deviations may
+be made for the course of the customs boundary at the ocean and at other
+bodies of water.
+
+Foreign territories or parts of territories may be incorporated in the
+customs area by international treaties or agreements.
+
+Portions of territory may be excluded from the customs area in
+accordance with special requirements. In the case of free ports this
+exclusion may be discontinued only by an amendment to the Constitution.
+
+Districts excluded from the customs area may be included within a
+foreign customs area by international treaties or agreements.
+
+All products of nature or industry, as well as works of art, which are
+subjects of free commerce within the Commonwealth, may be transported in
+any direction across State and municipal boundaries. Exceptions are
+permissible by authority of national law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 83
+
+Customs duties and taxes on articles of consumption are administered by
+the national authorities.
+
+In connection with national tax administration by the national
+authorities, arrangements shall be provided which will enable the States
+to protect their special agricultural, commercial, trade and industrial
+interests.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 84
+
+The Commonwealth has authority to regulate by law:
+
+1. The organization of the State tax administrations so far as is
+required for the uniform and impartial execution of the national tax
+laws;
+
+2. The organization and functions of the authorities charged with the
+supervision of the execution of the national tax laws;
+
+3. The accounting with the States;
+
+4. The reimbursement of the costs of administration in connection with
+the execution of the national tax laws.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 85
+
+All revenues and expenditures of the Commonwealth must be estimated for
+each fiscal year and entered in the budget.
+
+The budget is adopted by law before the beginning of the fiscal year.
+
+Appropriations are ordinarily granted for one year; in special cases
+they may be granted for a longer period. Otherwise, provisions extending
+beyond the fiscal year or not relating to the national revenues and
+expenditures or their administration, are inadmissible in the national
+budget law.
+
+The National Assembly may not increase appropriations in the budget bill
+or insert new items without the consent of the National Council.
+
+The consent of the National Council may be dispensed with in accordance
+with the provisions of Article 74.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 86
+
+In the following fiscal year the National Minister of Finance will
+submit to the National Council and to the National Assembly an account
+concerning the disposition of all national revenue so as to discharge
+the responsibility of the National Cabinet. The auditing of this account
+will be regulated by national law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 87
+
+Funds may be procured by borrowing only in case of extraordinary need
+and in general for expenditures for productive purposes only. Such
+procurement of funds as well as the assumption by the Commonwealth of
+any financial obligation is permissible only by authority of a national
+law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 88
+
+The postal and telegraph services, together with the telephone service,
+are exclusively functions of the Commonwealth.
+
+The postage stamps are uniform for the whole Commonwealth.
+
+The National Cabinet, with the consent of the National Council, issues
+the regulations prescribing the conditions and charges for the use of
+the means of communication. With the consent of the National Council it
+may delegate this authority to the Postmaster General.
+
+The National Cabinet, with the consent of the National Council,
+establishes an advisory council to co-operate in deliberations
+concerning the postal, telegraph and telephone services and rates.
+
+The Commonwealth alone concludes treaties relating to communication with
+foreign countries.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 89
+
+It is the duty of the Commonwealth to acquire ownership of the railroads
+which serve as means of general public communication, and to operate
+them as a single system of transportation.
+
+The rights of the States to acquire private railroads shall be
+transferred to the Commonwealth on its demand.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 90
+
+With the taking over of the railroads the Commonwealth also acquires the
+right of expropriation and the sovereign powers of the States pertaining
+to railroad affairs. The Supreme Judicial Court decides controversies
+relating to the extent of these rights.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 91
+
+The National Cabinet, with the consent of the National Council, issues
+the regulations governing the construction, operation and traffic of
+railroads. With the consent of the National Council it may delegate this
+authority to the appropriate national minister.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 92
+
+The national railroads, irrespective of the incorporation of their
+budget and accounts in the general budget and accounts of the
+Commonwealth, shall be administered as an independent economic
+enterprise which shall defray its own expenses, including interest and
+the amortization of the railroad debt, and accumulate a railroad reserve
+fund. The amount of the amortization and of the reserve fund, as well as
+the purpose to which the reserve fund may be applied, shall be regulated
+by special law.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 93
+
+The National Cabinet with the consent of the National Council
+establishes advisory councils for the national railroads to co-operate
+in deliberations concerning railroad service and rates.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 94
+
+If the Commonwealth takes over the operation of railroads which serve as
+means of general public communication in any district, additional
+railroads to serve as means of general public communication within this
+district may only be built by the Commonwealth or with its consent. If
+new construction or the alteration of existing national railroad systems
+encroaches upon the sphere of authority of the State police, the
+national railroad administration, before its decision, shall grant a
+hearing to the State authorities.
+
+Where the Commonwealth has not yet taken over the operation of the
+railroads, it may lay out on its own account by virtue of national law
+railroads deemed necessary to serve as means of general public
+communication or for the national defense, even against the opposition
+of the States, whose territory they will traverse, without, however,
+impairing the sovereign powers of the States, or it may turn over the
+construction to another to execute, together with a grant of the right
+of expropriation if necessary.
+
+Each railroad administration must consent to connection with other roads
+at the expense of the latter.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 95
+
+Railroads serving as means of general public communication which are not
+operated by the Commonwealth are subject to supervision by the
+Commonwealth.
+
+The railroads subject to national supervision shall be laid out and
+equipped in accordance with uniform standards established by the
+Commonwealth. They shall be maintained in safe operating condition and
+developed according to the requirements of traffic. Facilities and
+equipment for passenger and freight traffic shall be maintained and
+developed in keeping with the demand.
+
+The supervision of rates is designed to secure non-discriminatory and
+moderate railroad charges.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 96
+
+All railroads, including those not serving as means of general public
+communication, must comply with the requirements of the Commonwealth so
+far as concerns the use of the roads for purposes of national defense.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 97
+
+It is the duty of the Commonwealth to acquire ownership of and to
+operate all waterways serving as means of general public communication.
+
+After they have been taken over, waterways serving as means of general
+public communication may be constructed or extended only by the
+Commonwealth or with its consent.
+
+In the administration, development, or construction of such waterways
+the requirements of agriculture and water-supply shall be protected in
+agreement with the States. Their improvement shall also be considered.
+
+Each waterways administration shall consent to connection with other
+inland waterways at the expense of the latter. The same obligation
+exists for the construction of a connection between inland waterways and
+railroads.
+
+In taking over the waterways the Commonwealth acquires the right of
+expropriation, control of rates, and the police power over waterways and
+navigation.
+
+The duties of the river improvement associations in relation to the
+development of natural waterways in the Rhine, Weser, and Elbe basins
+shall be assumed by the Commonwealth.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 98
+
+Advisory national waterways councils will be formed in accordance with
+detailed regulations issued by the National Cabinet with the consent of
+the National Council to co-operate in the management of the waterways.
+
+
+                               ARTICLE 99
+
+Charges may be imposed on natural waterways only for such works,
+facilities, and other accommodations as are designed for the relief of
+traffic. In the case of state and municipal public works they may not
+exceed the necessary costs of construction and maintenance. The
+construction and maintenance costs of works designed not exclusively for
+the relief of traffic, but also for serving other purposes, may be
+defrayed only to a proportionate extent by navigation tolls. Interest
+and amortization charges on the invested capital are included in the
+costs of construction.
+
+The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply to the charges imposed
+for artificial waterways and for accommodations in connection therewith
+and in harbors.
+
+The total costs of a waterway, a river basin, or a system of waterways
+may be taken into consideration in determining navigation tolls in the
+field of inland water transportation.
+
+These provisions apply also to the floating of timber on navigable
+waterways.
+
+Only the Commonwealth imposes on foreign ships and their cargoes other
+or higher charges than on German ships and their cargoes.
+
+For the procurement of means for the maintenance and development of the
+German system of waterways the Commonwealth may by law call on the
+shipping interests for contributions also in other ways [than by tolls].
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 100
+
+To cover the cost of maintenance and construction of inland navigation
+routes any person or body of persons who in other ways than through
+navigation derives profit from the construction of dams may also be
+called upon by national law for contributions, if several States are
+involved or the Commonwealth bears the costs of construction.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 101
+
+It is the duty of the Commonwealth to acquire ownership of and to
+operate all aids to navigation, especially lighthouses, lightships,
+buoys, floats and beacons. After they are taken over, aids to navigation
+may be installed or extended only by the Commonwealth or with its
+consent.
+
+
+                             _SECTION VII_
+
+                     THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 102
+
+Judges are independent and subject only to the law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 103
+
+Ordinary jurisdiction will be exercised by the National Judicial Court
+and the courts of the States.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 104
+
+Judges of ordinary jurisdiction are appointed for life. They may against
+their wishes be permanently or temporarily removed from office, or
+transferred to another position, or retired, only by virtue of a
+judicial decision and for the reasons and in the forms provided by law.
+The law may fix an age limit on reaching which judges may be retired.
+
+Temporary suspension from office in accordance with law is not affected
+by this Article.
+
+If there is a re-organization of the courts or of the judicial
+districts, the State department of justice may order involuntary
+transfers to another court or removal from office, but only with
+allowance of full salary.
+
+These provisions do not apply to judges of commercial tribunals, lay
+associates, and jurymen.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 105
+
+Extraordinary courts are illegal. No one may be removed from the
+jurisdiction of his lawful judge. Provisions of law relating to military
+courts and courts-martial are not affected hereby. Military courts of
+honor are abolished.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 106
+
+Military jurisdiction is abolished except in time of war and on board
+war-vessels. Details will be regulated by national law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 107
+
+There shall be administrative courts both in the Commonwealth and in the
+States, in accordance with the laws, to protect the individual against
+orders and decrees of administrative authorities.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 108
+
+In accordance with a national law a Supreme Judicial Court will be
+established for the German Commonwealth.
+
+
+
+
+                               CHAPTER II
+
+                Fundamental Rights and Duties of Germans.
+
+
+                              _SECTION I_
+
+                             THE INDIVIDUAL
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 109
+
+All Germans are equal before the law.
+
+Men and women have fundamentally the same civil rights and duties.
+
+Privileges or discriminations due to birth or rank and recognized by law
+are abolished. Titles of nobility will be regarded merely as part of the
+name and may not be granted hereafter.
+
+Titles may be conferred only when they designate an office or
+profession; academic degrees are not affected by this provision.
+
+Orders and honorary insignia may not be conferred by the state.
+
+No German may accept a title or order from a foreign Government.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 110
+
+Citizenship in the Commonwealth and in the States will be acquired and
+lost in accordance with the provisions of a national law. Every citizen
+of a State is at the same time a citizen of the Commonwealth.
+
+Every German has the same rights and duties in each State of the
+Commonwealth as the citizens of that State.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 111
+
+All Germans enjoy the right to travel and reside freely throughout the
+whole Commonwealth. Everyone has the right of sojourn and settlement in
+any place within the Commonwealth, the right to acquire land and to
+pursue any gainful occupation. No limitations may be imposed except by
+authority of a national law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 112
+
+Every German has the right to emigrate to foreign countries. Emigration
+may be limited only by national law.
+
+All German citizens, both within and without the territory of the
+Commonwealth, have a right to its protection with respect to foreign
+countries.
+
+No German may be surrendered to a foreign Government for prosecution or
+punishment.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 113
+
+Those elements of the People which speak a foreign language may not be
+interfered with by legislative or administrative action in their free
+and characteristic development, especially in the use of their mother
+tongue in the schools or in matters of internal administration and the
+administration of justice.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 114
+
+Personal liberty is inviolable. An interference with or abridgment of
+personal liberty through official action is permissible only by
+authority of law.
+
+Persons, who are deprived of their liberty, shall be informed at latest
+on the following day by what authority and on what grounds they have
+been deprived of liberty, and they shall without delay receive an
+opportunity to present objections against such loss of liberty.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 115
+
+The house of every German is his sanctuary and is inviolable. Exceptions
+are permissible only by authority of law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 116
+
+An act can be punishable only if the penalty was fixed by law before the
+act was committed.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 117
+
+The secrecy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications is
+inviolable. Exceptions may be permitted only by national law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 118
+
+Every German has a right within the limits of the general laws to
+express his opinion freely by word, in writing, in print, by picture, or
+in any other way. No relationship arising out of his employment may
+hinder him in the exercise of this right, and no one may discriminate
+against him if he makes use of this right.
+
+There is no censorship, although exceptional provisions may be made by
+law in the case of moving pictures. Legal measures are also permissible
+for combatting obscene and indecent literature as well as for the
+protection of youth at public plays and spectacles.
+
+
+                              _SECTION II_
+
+                             COMMUNITY LIFE
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 119
+
+Marriage, as the foundation of family life and of the maintenance and
+increase of the nation, is under the special protection of the
+Constitution. It is based on the equal rights of both sexes.
+
+The maintenance of the purity, the health, and the social advancement of
+the family is the task of the state and of the municipalities. Families
+with numerous children have a claim to equalizing assistance.
+
+Motherhood has a claim to the protection and care of the State.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 120
+
+The physical, mental, and moral education of their offspring is the
+highest duty and the natural right of parents, whose activities are
+supervised by the political community.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 121
+
+Illegitimate children shall be provided by law with the same
+opportunities for their physical, mental, and moral development as
+legitimate children.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 122
+
+Youth shall be protected against exploitation as well as against neglect
+of their moral, mental, or physical welfare. The necessary arrangements
+shall be made by state and municipality.
+
+Compulsory protective measures may be ordered only by authority of the
+law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 123
+
+All Germans have the right of meeting peaceably and unarmed without
+notice or special permission.
+
+Previous notice may be required by national law for meetings in the
+open, and such meetings may be forbidden in case of immediate danger to
+the public safety.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 124
+
+All Germans have the right to form associations or societies for
+purposes not contrary to the criminal law. This right can not be limited
+by preventive measures. The same provisions apply to religious
+associations and societies.
+
+Every association has the right of incorporation in accordance with the
+civil law. No association may be denied this right on the ground that it
+pursues a political, social-political, or religious object.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 125
+
+The liberty and secrecy of the suffrage are guaranteed. Details will be
+regulated by the election laws.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 126
+
+Every German has the right to petition or to complain in writing to the
+appropriate authorities or to the representatives of the People. This
+right may be exercised by individuals as well as by several persons
+together.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 127
+
+Municipalities and unions of municipalities have the right of
+self-government within the limits of the laws.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 128
+
+All citizens without distinction are eligible for public office in
+accordance with the laws and according to their ability and services.
+
+All discriminations against women in the civil service are abolished.
+
+The principles of the official relation shall be regulated by national
+law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 129
+
+Civil officers are appointed for life, in so far as is not otherwise
+provided by law. Pensions and provisions for surviving dependents will
+be regulated by law. The duly acquired rights of the civil officers are
+inviolable. Claims of civil officers based upon property rights may be
+established by process of law.
+
+Civil officers may be suspended, temporarily or permanently retired, or
+transferred to other positions at a smaller salary only under the
+legally prescribed conditions and forms.
+
+A process of appeal against disciplinary sentence and opportunity for
+reconsideration shall be established. Reports of an unfavorable
+character concerning a civil officer shall not be entered in his
+official record, until he has had the opportunity to express himself.
+Civil officers shall also be permitted to inspect their official
+records.
+
+The inviolability of the duly acquired rights and the benefit of legal
+processes for the establishment of claims based on property rights are
+also assured especially to regular soldiers. In other respects their
+position is regulated by national law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 130
+
+The civil officers are servants of the whole community, not of a part of
+it.
+
+To all civil officers freedom of political opinion and of association
+are assured.
+
+The civil officers receive special representation in their official
+capacity in accordance with more precise provisions of national law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 131
+
+If a civil officer in the exercise of the authority conferred upon him
+by law fails to perform his official duty toward any third person, the
+responsibility is assumed by the state or public corporation in whose
+service the officer is. The right of redress [by the state or public
+corporation] against the officer is reserved. The ordinary process of
+law may not be excluded.
+
+Detailed regulations will be made by the appropriate law-making
+authority.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 132
+
+Every German, in accordance with the laws, has the duty of accepting
+honorary offices.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 133
+
+All citizens are obliged, in accordance with the laws, to render
+personal services to the state and the municipality.
+
+The duty of military service will be defined in accordance with the
+provisions of the national defense law. This will determine also how far
+particular fundamental rights shall be restricted in their application
+to the members of the armed forces in order that the latter may fulfill
+their duties and discipline may be maintained.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 134
+
+All citizens, without distinction, contribute according to their means
+to the support of all public burdens, as may be provided by law.
+
+
+                             _SECTION III_
+
+                    RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 135
+
+All inhabitants of the Commonwealth enjoy complete liberty of belief and
+conscience. The free exercise of religion is assured by the Constitution
+and is under public protection. This Article leaves the general laws
+undisturbed.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 136
+
+Civil and political rights and duties are neither conditioned upon nor
+limited by the exercise of religious liberty.
+
+The enjoyment of civil and political rights as well as eligibility to
+public office is independent of religious belief.
+
+No one is under any obligation to reveal his religious convictions.
+
+The authorities have a right to inquire about religious affiliation only
+so far as rights and duties are dependent thereon or in pursuance of a
+statistical enumeration prescribed by law.
+
+No one may be forced to attend any church ceremony or festivity, to take
+part in any religious exercise, or to make use of any religious oath.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 137
+
+There is no state church.
+
+Freedom of association in religious societies is guaranteed. The
+combination of religious societies within the Commonwealth is not
+subject to any limitations.
+
+Every religious society regulates and administers its affairs
+independently within the limits of the general law. It appoints its
+officers without interference by the state or the civil municipality.
+
+Religious societies may be incorporated in accordance with the general
+provisions of the civil law.
+
+Existing religious societies remain, to the same extent as heretofore,
+public bodies corporate. The same rights shall be accorded to other
+religious societies if by their constitution and the number of their
+members they offer a guaranty of permanence. If a number of such public
+religious societies unite, this union is also a public body corporate.
+
+The religious societies, which are recognized by law as bodies
+corporate, are entitled on the basis of the civil tax rolls to raise
+taxes according to the provisions of the laws of the respective States.
+
+The associations, which have as their aim the cultivation of a system of
+ethics, have the same privileges as the religious societies.
+
+The issuance of further regulations necessary for carrying out these
+provisions comes under the jurisdiction of the States.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 138
+
+State contributions to religious societies authorized by law, contract,
+or any special grant, will be commuted by State legislation. The general
+principles of such legislation will be defined by the Commonwealth.
+
+The property of religious societies and unions and other rights to their
+cultural, educational, and charitable institutions, foundations, and
+other possessions are guaranteed.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 139
+
+Sundays and legal holidays remain under the protection of law as days of
+rest and spiritual edification.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 140
+
+The members of the armed forces shall be granted the necessary leave for
+the performance of their religious duties.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 141
+
+In so far as there is need for religious services and spiritual care in
+hospitals, prisons or other public institutions, the religious societies
+shall be permitted to perform the religious offices, but all compulsion
+shall be avoided.
+
+
+                              _SECTION IV_
+
+                         EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 142
+
+Art, science and the teaching thereof are free. The state guarantees
+their protection and takes part in fostering them.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 143
+
+The education of the young shall be provided for through public
+institutions. In their establishment the Commonwealth, States and
+municipalities co-operate.
+
+The training of teachers shall be regulated in a uniform manner for the
+Commonwealth according to the generally recognized principles of higher
+education.
+
+The teachers in the public schools have the rights and duties of state
+officers.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 144
+
+The entire school system is under the supervision of the state; it may
+grant a share therein to the municipalities. The supervision of schools
+will exercised by technically trained officers who must devote their
+time principally to this duty.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 145
+
+Attendance at school is obligatory. This obligation is discharged by
+attendance at the elementary schools for at least eight school years and
+at the continuation schools until the completion of the eighteenth year.
+Instruction and school supplies in the elementary and continuation
+schools are free.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 146
+
+The public school system shall be systematically organized. Upon a
+foundation of common elementary schools the system of secondary and
+higher education is erected. The development of secondary and higher
+education shall be determined in accordance with the needs of all kinds
+of occupations, and the acceptance of a child in a particular school
+shall depend upon his qualifications and inclinations, not upon the
+economic and social position or the religion of his parents.
+
+Nevertheless, within the municipalities, upon the petition of those
+entitled to instruction common schools shall be established of their
+faith or ethical system, in so far as this does not interfere with a
+system of school administration within the meaning of Paragraph 1. The
+wishes of those entitled to instruction shall be considered as much as
+possible. Details will be regulated by State laws in accordance with
+principles to be prescribed by a national law.
+
+To facilitate the attendance of those in poor circumstances at the
+secondary and higher schools, public assistance shall be provided by the
+Commonwealth, States, and municipalities, particularly, assistance to
+the parents of children regarded as qualified for training in the
+secondary and higher schools, until the completion of the training.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 147
+
+Private schools, as a substitute for the public schools, require the
+approval of the state and are subject to the laws of the States.
+Approval shall be granted if the private schools do not fall below the
+public schools in their educational aims and equipment as well as in the
+scientific training of their teachers, and if no separation of the
+pupils according to the wealth of their parents is fostered. Approval
+shall be withheld if the economic and legal status of the teacher is not
+sufficiently assured.
+
+Private elementary schools shall be only permissible, if for a minority
+of those entitled to instruction whose wishes are to be considered
+according to Article 146, Paragraph 2, there is no public elementary
+school of their faith or ethical system in the municipality, or if the
+educational administration recognizes a special pedagogical interest.
+
+Private preparatory schools shall be abolished.
+
+The existing law remains in effect with respect to private schools which
+do not serve as substitutes for public schools.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 148
+
+All schools shall inculcate moral education, civic sentiment, and
+personal and vocational efficiency in the spirit of German national
+culture and of international conciliation.
+
+In the instruction in public schools care shall be taken not to hurt the
+feelings of those of differing opinion.
+
+Civics and manual training are included in the school curriculum. Every
+pupil receives a copy of the Constitution on completing the obligatory
+course of study.
+
+The common school system, including university extension work, shall be
+cherished by the Commonwealth, States and municipalities.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 149
+
+Religious instruction is included in the regular school curriculum,
+except in the nonsectarian (secular) schools. The imparting of religious
+instruction is regulated by the school laws. Religious instruction is
+imparted in accordance with the principles of the religious society
+concerned, without prejudice to the right of supervision of the state.
+
+The imparting of religious instruction and the use of ecclesiastical
+ceremonies is optional with the teachers, and the participation of the
+pupils in religious studies, and in ecclesiastical ceremonies and
+festivities is left to the decision of those who have the right to
+control the religious education of the child.
+
+The theological faculties in the universities will be continued.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 150
+
+The artistic, historical and natural monuments and scenery enjoy the
+protection and care of the state.
+
+The prevention of the removal of German art treasures from the country
+is a function of the Commonwealth.
+
+
+                              _SECTION V_
+
+                             ECONOMIC LIFE
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 151
+
+The regulation of economic life must conform to the principles of
+justice, with the object of assuring humane conditions of life for all.
+Within these limits the economic liberty of the individual shall be
+protected.
+
+Legal compulsion is permissible only for safeguarding threatened rights
+or in the service of predominant requirements of the common welfare.
+
+The freedom of trade and industry is guaranteed in accordance with the
+national laws.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 152
+
+Freedom of contract prevails in economic relations in accordance with
+the laws.
+
+Usury is forbidden. Legal practices which conflict with good morals are
+void.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 153
+
+The right of private property is guaranteed by the Constitution. Its
+nature and limits are defined by law.
+
+Expropriation may be proceeded with only for the benefit of the
+community and by due process of law. There shall be just compensation in
+so far as is not otherwise provided by national law. If there is a
+dispute over the amount of the compensation, there shall be a right of
+appeal to the ordinary courts, in so far as not otherwise provided by
+national law. The property of the States, municipalities, and
+associations of public utility may be taken by the Commonwealth only
+upon payment of compensation.
+
+Property-rights imply property-duties. Exercise thereof shall at the
+same time serve the general welfare.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 154
+
+The right of inheritance is guaranteed in accordance with the civil law.
+
+The share of the state in inheritances is determined in accordance with
+the laws.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 155
+
+The distribution and use of the land is supervised by the state in such
+a way as to prevent its misuse and to promote the object of insuring to
+every German a healthful dwelling and to all German families, especially
+those with numerous children, homesteads corresponding to their needs.
+War-veterans shall receive special consideration in the enactment of a
+homestead law.
+
+Landed property, the acquisition of which is necessary to satisfy the
+demand for housing, to promote settlement and reclamation, or to improve
+agriculture, may be expropriated. Entailments shall be dissolved.
+
+The cultivation and utilization of the soil is a duty of the land-owner
+toward the community. An increase of the value of land arising without
+the application of labor or capital to the property shall inure to the
+benefit of the community as a whole.
+
+All mineral resources and all economically useful forces of nature are
+subject to the control of the state. Private royalties shall be
+transferred to the state, as may be provided by law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 156
+
+The Commonwealth may by law, without impairment of the right to
+compensation, and with a proper application of the regulations relating
+to expropriation, transfer to public ownership private business
+enterprises adapted for socialization. The Commonwealth itself, the
+States, or the municipalities may take part in the management of
+business enterprises and associations, or secure a dominating influence
+therein in any other way.
+
+Furthermore, in case of urgent necessity the Commonwealth, if it is in
+the interest of collectivism, may combine by law business enterprises
+and associations on the basis of administrative autonomy, in order to
+insure the co-operation of all producing elements of the people, to give
+to employers and employees a share in the management, and to regulate
+the production, preparation, distribution, utilization and pecuniary
+valuation, as well as the import and export, of economic goods upon
+collectivistic principles.
+
+The co-operative societies of producers and of consumers and
+associations thereof shall be incorporated, at their request and after
+consideration of their form of organization and peculiarities, into the
+system of collectivism.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 157
+
+Labor is under the special protection of the Commonwealth.
+
+The Commonwealth will adopt a uniform labor law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 158
+
+Intellectual labor, the rights of the author, the inventor and the
+artist enjoy the protection and care of the Commonwealth.
+
+The products of German scholarship, art, and technical science shall
+also be recognized and protected abroad through international agreement.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 159
+
+The right of combination for the protection and promotion of labor and
+economic conditions is guaranteed to everybody and to all professions.
+All agreements and measures which attempt to limit or restrain this
+liberty are unlawful.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 160
+
+Any one employed on a salary or as a wage earner has the right to the
+leave necessary for the exercise of his civil rights and, so far as the
+business is not substantially injured thereby, for performing the duties
+of public honorary offices conferred upon him. To what extent his right
+to compensation shall continue will be determined by law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 161
+
+For the purpose of conserving health and the ability to work, of
+protecting motherhood, and of guarding against the economic effects of
+age, invalidity and the vicissitudes of life, the Commonwealth will
+adopt a comprehensive system of insurance, in the management of which
+the insured shall predominate.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 162
+
+The Commonwealth commits itself to an international regulation of the
+legal status of the workers, which shall strive for a standard minimum
+of social rights for the whole working class of the world.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 163
+
+Every German has, without prejudice to his personal liberty, the moral
+duty so to use his intellectual and physical powers as is demanded by
+the welfare of the community.
+
+Every German shall have the opportunity to earn his living by economic
+labor. So long as suitable employment can not be procured for him, his
+maintenance will be provided for. Details will be regulated by special
+national laws.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 164
+
+The independent agricultural, industrial, and commercial middle class
+shall be fostered by legislation and administration, and shall be
+protected against oppression and exploitation.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 165
+
+Wage-earners and salaried employees are qualified to co-operate on equal
+terms with the employers in the regulation of wages and working
+conditions, as well as in the entire economic development of the
+productive forces. The organizations on both sides and the agreements
+between them will be recognized.
+
+The wage-earners and salaried employees are entitled to be represented
+in local workers' councils, organized for each establishment in the
+locality, as well as in district workers' councils, organized for each
+economic area, and in a National Workers' Council, for the purpose of
+looking after their social and economic interests.
+
+The district workers' councils and the National Workers' Council meet
+together with the representatives of the employers and with other
+interested classes of people in district economic councils and in a
+National Economic Council for the purpose of performing joint economic
+tasks and co-operating in the execution of the laws of socialization.
+The district economic councils and the National Economic Council shall
+be so constituted that all substantial vocational groups are represented
+therein according to their economic and social importance.
+
+Drafts of laws of fundamental importance relating to social and economic
+policy before introduction [into the National Assembly] shall be
+submitted by the National Cabinet to the National Economic Council for
+consideration. The National Economic Council has the right itself to
+propose such measures for enactment into law. If the National Cabinet
+does not approve them, it shall, nevertheless, introduce them into the
+National Assembly together with a statement of its own position. The
+National Economic Council may have its bill presented by one of its own
+members before the National Assembly.
+
+Supervisory and administrative functions may be delegated to the
+workers' councils and to the economic councils within their respective
+areas.
+
+The regulation of the organization and duties of the workers' councils
+and of the economic councils, as well as their relation to other social
+bodies endowed with administrative autonomy, is exclusively a function
+of the Commonwealth.
+
+
+
+
+                   TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 166
+
+Until the establishment of the National Administrative Court, the
+National Judicial Court takes its place in the organization of the
+Electoral Commission.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 167
+
+The provisions of Article 18, Paragraphs 3 to 6, become effective two
+years after the promulgation of the national Constitution.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 168
+
+Until the adoption of the State law as provided in Article 63, but at
+the most for only one year, all the Prussian votes in the National
+Council may be cast by members of the State Cabinet.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 169
+
+The National Cabinet will determine when the provisions of Article 83,
+Paragraph 1, shall become effective.
+
+Temporarily, for a reasonable period, the collection and administration
+of customs-duties and taxes on articles of consumption may be left to
+the States at their discretion.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 170
+
+The Postal and Telegraphic Administrations of Bavaria and Wurtemberg
+will be taken over by the Commonwealth not later than April 1, 1921.
+
+If no understanding has been reached over the terms thereof by October
+1, 1920, the matter will be decided by the Supreme Judicial Court.
+
+The rights and duties of Bavaria and Wurtemberg remain in force as
+heretofore until possession is transferred to the Commonwealth.
+Nevertheless, the postal and telegraphic relations with neighboring
+foreign countries will be regulated exclusively by the Commonwealth.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 171
+
+The state railroads, canals and aids to navigation will be taken over by
+the Commonwealth not later than April 1, 1921.
+
+If no understanding has been reached over the terms thereof by October
+1, 1920, the matter will be decided by the Supreme Judicial Court.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 172
+
+Until the national law regarding the Supreme Judicial Court becomes
+effective its powers will be exercised by a Senate of seven members,
+four of whom are to be elected by the National Assembly and three by the
+National Judicial Court, each choosing among its own members. The Senate
+will regulate its own procedure.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 173
+
+Until the adoption of a national law according to Article 138, the
+existing state contributions to the religious societies, whether
+authorized by law, contract or special grant, will be continued.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 174
+
+Until the adoption of the national law provided for in Article 146,
+Paragraph 2, the existing legal situation will continue. The law shall
+give special consideration to parts of the Commonwealth where provision
+for separate schools of different religious faiths is not now made by
+law.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 175
+
+The provisions of Article 109 do not apply to orders and decorations
+conferred for services in the war-years 1914-1919.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 176
+
+All public officers and members of the armed forces shall be sworn upon
+this Constitution. Details will be regulated by order of the National
+President.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 177
+
+Wherever by existing laws it is provided that the oath be taken in the
+form of a religious ceremony, the oath may be lawfully taken in the form
+of a simple affirmation by the person to be sworn: "I swear." Otherwise
+the content of the oath provided for in the laws remains unaltered.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 178
+
+The Constitution of the German Empire of April 16, 1871, and the law of
+February 10, 1919, relating to the provisional government of the
+Commonwealth, are repealed.
+
+The other laws and regulations of the Empire remain in force, in so far
+as they do not conflict with this Constitution. The provisions of the
+Treaty of Peace signed on June 28, 1919, at Versailles, are not affected
+by the Constitution.
+
+Official regulations, legally issued on the authority of laws heretofore
+in effect, retain their validity until superseded by other regulations
+or legislation.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 179
+
+In so far as reference is made in laws or executive orders to provisions
+and institutions which are abolished by this Constitution, their places
+are taken by the corresponding provisions and institutions of this
+Constitution. In particular, the National Assembly takes the place of
+the National Convention, the National Council that of the Committee of
+the States, and the National President elected by authority of this
+Constitution that of the National President elected by authority of the
+law relating to the provisional government.
+
+The power to issue executive orders, conferred upon the Committee of the
+States in accordance with the provisions heretofore in effect, is
+transferred to the National Cabinet; in order to issue executive orders
+it requires the consent of the National Council in accordance with the
+provisions of this Constitution.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 180
+
+Until the convening of the first National Assembly, the National
+Convention will function as the National Assembly. Until the
+inauguration of the first National President the office will be filled
+by the National President elected by authority of the law relating to
+the provisional government.
+
+
+                              ARTICLE 181
+
+The German People have ordained and established this Constitution by
+their National Convention. It goes into effect upon the day of its
+promulgation.
+
+SCHWARZBURG, August 11, 1919
+
+[_Signed_]
+
+The National President: EBERT.
+
+The National Cabinet: BAUER, ERZBERGER, HERMANN MÜLLER, DR. DAVID,
+NOSKE, SCHMIDT, SCHLICKE, GIESBERTS, DR. MAYER, DR. BELL.
+
+
+                                  FINIS
+
+
+
+
+                                 Errata
+
+
+    Page 48, line 11: For "diregarded" read "disregarded."
+
+    Page 76, line 13: For "this expression" read "their
+    expression."
+
+    Page 84, line 5: For "and this" read "and thus."
+
+    Page 90, lines 33 and 34: For "Michälis" read "Michaelis."
+
+    Page 94, line 18: For "Michälis" read "Michaelis."
+
+    Page 107, line 1: For "Michälis" read "Michaelis."
+
+    Page 116, line 1: For "Michälis" read "Michaelis."
+
+    Page 195, lines 5 and 12: For "_étape_" read "_étappe_."
+
+    Page 209, line 19: For "_étape_" read "_étappe_."
+
+    Page 232, line 24: For "by their acts, but rather by their
+    motives" read "by their acts instead of by their motives."
+
+    Page 240, line 24: For "Hamburg" read "Harburg."
+
+    Page 248, line 28: For "intransigent" read "intransigeant."
+
+    Page 257, line 17: For "governments' troops disposition" read
+    "government troops' disposition."
+
+    Page 259, line 10: For "Bosheviki" read "Bolsheviki."
+
+
+
+
+                Printed in the United States of America
+
+
+
+
+                           Transcriber Notes:
+
+Passages in italics were indicated by _underscores_.
+
+Small caps were replaced with ALL CAPS.
+
+Throughout the document, the oe ligature was replaced with "oe".
+
+The errors noted in the Errata have been corrected.
+
+Errors in punctuations and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected
+unless otherwise noted. For instance, sometimes Wurtemberg is used
+instead of Württemberg.
+
+In the table of contents, "_Inter_-many's" was replaced with
+"_Internationale_--Germany's".
+
+On page 33, "epecially" was replaced with "especially".
+
+On page 34, "occured" was replaced with "occurred".
+
+On page 41, "arbitary" was replaced with "arbitrary".
+
+On page 53, "Wilheim" was replaced with "Wilhelm".
+
+On page 65, "ninteen" was replaced with "nineteen".
+
+On page 91, "Dittman" was replaced with "Dittmann".
+
+On page 105, "agressively" was replaced with "aggressively".
+
+On page 107, "beween" was replaced with "between".
+
+On page 115, "situtation" was replaced with "situation".
+
+On page 121, "possiblities" was replaced with "possibilities".
+
+On page 125, "cooperate" was replaced with "coöperate".
+
+On page 128, there is reference to the "Narodini Listy," although some
+other sources refer to it as "Narodni List".
+
+On page 136, "panic-striken" was replaced with "panic-stricken".
+
+On page 137, "cantagion" was replaced with "contagion".
+
+On page 157, "hoplessness" was replaced with "hopelessness".
+
+On page 165, in footnote 36, a quotation mark was put before
+"class-conscious"
+
+On page 168, "abdiction" was replaced with "abdication".
+
+On page 244, "Februry" was replaced with "February".
+
+On page 255, "Februry" was replaced with "February".
+
+On page 266, the comma after "Republican Germany" was replaced with a
+period.
+
+On page 282, in footnote 76, "sems" was replaced with "seems".
+
+On page 328, "agricultral" was replaced with "agricultural".
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's And the Kaiser abdicates, by S. Miles Bouton
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND THE KAISER ABDICATES ***
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