diff options
Diffstat (limited to '39563-h/39563-h.htm')
| -rw-r--r-- | 39563-h/39563-h.htm | 15429 |
1 files changed, 15429 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/39563-h/39563-h.htm b/39563-h/39563-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a0f221 --- /dev/null +++ b/39563-h/39563-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,15429 @@ + +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of And the Kaiser Abdicates, by S. Miles Bouton. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + +h2 { + margin-top: 4%; + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +h3 { + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +/* paragraphs */ + +p { + margin-top: 3%; + margin-bottom: 3%; + text-align: justify; +} /* general paragraph */ + +p.cnobmargin { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .0%; +} /* centered no bottom margin */ + +p.cnomargins { + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: .0%; + margin-top: .0%; +} /* centered no bottom or top margin */ + +p.cnotmargin { + text-align: center; + margin-top: .0%; +} /* centered no top margin */ + +p.indent { + text-indent: 4%; +} /* indented paragraph */ + +p.cap:first-letter { float: left; clear: left; + margin: 2% 0% 0 0; + padding:0; + line-height: 1.8%; font-size: 250%; +} /* unindented with large first letter cap */ + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 8%; + margin-bottom: 8%; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +.hr2 +{ + width: 90%; + max-width: 90%; + color: #CCCCCC; + background-color: #FFFFFF; + border: none; + border-bottom: 6px double black; + margin: 8% auto; +} /* horizontal rule for chapter divisions */ + +/* tables */ + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.tdr {text-align: right;} /* right align cell */ + +.tdl {text-align: left;} /* left align cell */ + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.center { + text-indent: 0%; + text-align: center; +} + +.right {text-align: right;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +/* Links attributes */ + +a:link { color:#000000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:visited { color:#25383C; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:hover { color:#008000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +a:active { color:#000000; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #808080;} + +ins {text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 1px dashed #dcdcdc;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + padding: 6px; +} /* without border */ + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ + +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px; background-color: #CCCCCC;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 4% 0% 4% 0%;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0%; + padding-left: 12%; + text-indent: -12%; +} + +span.ralign { + position: absolute; + right: 10%; + top: auto; +} + +div.tnote { + background-color: #CCCCFF; + border-style: dotted; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + padding: 1%; + font-style: normal; + font-size: 90%; + text-align: justify; +} + + </style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +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.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<h2>And the Kaiser Abdicates.</h2> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="cnobmargin">PUBLISHED BY THE YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS</p> +<p class="cnomargins">IN MEMORY OF</p> +<p class="cnomargins">LIEUTENANT EARL TRUMBULL WILLIAMS</p> +<p class="cnomargins"><span class="smcap">301ST</span> UNITED STATES FIELD ARTILLERY</p> +<p class="cnomargins">OF THE CLASS OF 1910 YALE COLLEGE</p> +<p class="cnotmargin">WHO DIED MAY <span class="smcap">7TH</span> 1918</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2>AND THE KAISER<br /> +ABDICATES</h2> + +<p class="cnobmargin">THE GERMAN REVOLUTION</p> +<p class="cnotmargin">NOVEMBER 1918—AUGUST 1919</p> + +<h3>BY S. MILES BOUTON</h3> + +<p class="cnobmargin">WITH THE CONSTITUTION OF THE GERMAN</p> +<p class="cnomargins">COMMONWEALTH TRANSLATED BY</p> +<p class="cnomargins">WILLIAM BENNETT MUNRO AND</p> +<p class="cnotmargin">ARTHUR NORMAN HOLCOMBE</p> + +<p> </p> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/icon.png" width="183" height="168" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="cnotmargin">REVISED EDITION</p> + +<p> </p> + +<p class="cnobmargin">NEW HAVEN</p> +<p class="cnomargins">YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS</p> +<p class="cnomargins">LONDON : HUMPHREY MILFORD : OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS</p> +<p class="cnotmargin">MDCCCCXXI</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="cnobmargin">COPYRIGHT 1920, 1921 BY</p> +<p class="cnotmargin">YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS</p> + +<p class="cnobmargin"><i>First published October, 1920.</i></p> +<p class="cnomargins"><i>Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged,</i></p> +<p class="cnotmargin"><i>September, 1921.</i></p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="cnobmargin">TO THE</p> +<p class="cnomargins">HONORABLE IRA NELSON MORRIS</p> +<p class="cnomargins">AMERICAN MINISTER TO SWEDEN</p> +<p class="cnomargins">THE MAN, THE DIPLOMAT, AND THE LOYAL</p> +<p class="cnomargins">FRIEND, THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY</p> +<p class="cnotmargin">DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page9" id="page9"></a>[pg 9]</span></p> + +<h2>Contents.</h2> + +<p>Chapter I. The Governmental Structure of Germany. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page17">17</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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 +<i>Internationale</i>—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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter II. The German Conception of the State. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page31">31</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Individualism repressed for efficiency's sake—Authority the keynote—The +<i>Beamter</i> and his special privileges—Prussian ideals of duty—Education—The +Officer corps as supporters of the throne—Militarism—Dreams +of a <i>Welt-Imperium</i>—The fatal cancer of Socialism.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter III. Internationalism and <i>Vaterlandslose Gesellen</i>. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page45">45</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>The menace of internationalism—Marx and Engels—Socialist teachings +of the brotherhood of man—Lassalle's national Socialists join the <i>Internationale</i> +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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter IV. Germany under the "Hunger-Blockade." <span class="ralign"><a href="#page61">61</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter V. Internationalism at Work. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page75">75</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page10" id="page10"></a>[pg 10]</span> +Chapter VI. Propaganda and Morale. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page89">89</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter VII. Germany Requests an Armistice. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page107">107</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter VIII. The Last Days of Imperial Germany. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page121">121</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter IX. A Revolt Which Became a Revolution. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page133">133</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter X. The Revolution Reaches Berlin. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page147">147</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XI. The Kaiser Abdicates. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page159">159</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i>—Far-reaching +reforms are decreed.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a>[pg 11]</span> +Chapter XII. "The German Socialistic Republic." <span class="ralign"><a href="#page177">177</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>The end of the dynasties—The Kaiser flees—Central Soviet displays +moderate tendencies—Wholesale jail-releases—The police disarmed—<i>Die +neue Freiheit</i>—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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XIII. "The New Freedom." <span class="ralign"><a href="#page195">195</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i>—Charges +are made against it—The Red Soldiers' League—The first +bloodshed under the new régime.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XIV. The Majority Socialists in Control. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page209">209</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Front soldiers return—The central congress of Germany's Soviets—Radicals +in an insignificant minority—A new <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XV. Liebknecht Tries to Overthrow the Government; +Is Arrested and Killed. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page225">225</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>The first Bolshevist uprising—Prominent Berlin newspapers seized by +the Spartacans—The Independent Socialists' double-dealing—Capture of +the <i>Vorwärts</i> plant—Ledebour, Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg arrested—Liebknecht +and Luxemburg killed—The Bolsheviki turn their +attention to coast cities.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XVI. The National Assembly. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page237">237</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XVII. The Spartacans Rise Again. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page251">251</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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 +<i>Die rote Fahne</i> suppressed—Independent Socialists go over to the +Spartacans—Independent Socialist and Spartacan Platforms contrasted.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>Chapter XVIII. Red or White Internationalism: Which? <span class="ralign"><a href="#page265">265</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Radicalism encouraged by Bolshevism's success in Hungary.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12"></a>[pg 12]</span> +Chapter XIX. The Weimar Constitution. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page273">273</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The Constitution of the German Commonwealth. <span class="ralign"><a href="#page294">294</a></span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p>Translation by <span class="smcap">William Bennett Munro</span> and <span class="smcap">Arthur Norman Holcombe</span>. +Reprinted by permission of the World Peace Foundation.</p> +</blockquote> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13"></a>[pg 13]</span></p> + +<h2>Foreword.</h2> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14"></a>[pg 14]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">A word in conclusion regarding terminology.</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>Proletariat</i> 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., +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15"></a>[pg 15]</span> +who depend for their existence upon wages or salaries. Thus +actors, journalists, clerks, stenographers, etc., are reckoned +as proletarians.</p> + +<p class="indent">The <i>bourgeoisie</i> 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 <i>petite bourgeoisie</i>, +are regarded as proletarians. The nobility, formerly a class +by itself, is now <i>de facto</i> included under the name <i>bourgeoisie</i>, +despite the contradiction of terms thus involved.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Socialism and Social-Democracy, Socialist and Social-Democrat, +have been used interchangeably throughout. +There is no difference of meaning between the words.</p> + +<p class="right">S. MILES BOUTON</p> + +<p>Asheville, New York,<br /> + November 1, 1919.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>[pg 17]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h3>The Governmental Structure of Germany.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18"></a>[pg 18]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>débâcle</i>, and +to explain the events that followed it.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19"></a>[pg 19]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20"></a>[pg 20]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Zollverein</i> +or Customs Union. The existence of scores of small states,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> +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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_1_1"> +<span class="label">[1]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>[pg 21]</span> +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 <i>primus inter +pares</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The German Empire as thus formed consisted of twenty-five +states and the <i>Reichsland</i> 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,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> +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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>[pg 22]</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_2_2"> +<span class="label">[2]</span></a> +The Bavarians have from early days disliked the Prussians heartily. +<i>Saupreuss'</i> (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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The German Parliament or <i>Reichsrat</i> was composed of +two houses, the <i>Bundesrat</i>, or Federal Council, and the +<i>Reichstag</i>, 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 <i>Reichsland</i>. 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>[pg 23]</span> +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,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_3_3"> +<span class="label">[3]</span></a> +This was later altered to five years.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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).<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> This almost constant preoccupation +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24"></a>[pg 24]</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_4_4"> +<span class="label">[4]</span></a> +The population of Germany dropped from twenty to less than seven +millions during this war.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>[pg 25]</span> +provided he be kept well fed and amused. It is, in brief, the +spirit to which the Roman emperors catered with the <i>panem +et circenses</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>[pg 26]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27"></a>[pg 27]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>[pg 28]</span> +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29"></a>[pg 29]</span> +these powers to the Emperor <i>de jure</i>, did unquestionably +effect to some degree a <i>de facto</i> 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.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>[pg 31]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h3>The German Conception of the State.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32"></a>[pg 32]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Vorgesetzter</i> (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 <i>Stubenältester</i>, the senior soldier +in the same room with him. Insubordination was punished +rigorously.</p> + +<p class="indent">Precept, example and punishment were but a part of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33"></a>[pg 33]</span> +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 <i>vorbestraft</i>, that is, who had been punished +for any transgression, found himself automatically excluded +from any opportunity to become a <i>Beamter</i>, or government +official.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" id="page34"></a>[pg 34]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Beamter</i> enjoyed furthermore special protection under +the law. To call an ordinary person "idiot," for example, +was a <i>Beleidigung</i> or insult, but the same term applied to a +<i>Beamter</i> became <i>Beamtenbeleidigung</i>, 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 <i>Majestätsbeleidigung</i>, an insult to majesty, or +<i>lèse majesté</i>, as the French term it. Prosecutions for <i>Majestätsbeleidigung</i> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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" +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35"></a>[pg 35]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Junker</i>. Former Ambassador Gerard has paid a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id="page36"></a>[pg 36]</span> +deserved tribute to this class,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and the universal condemnation +visited upon them by democratic peoples cannot +justify a refusal to give them their due.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_5_5"> +<span class="label">[5]</span></a> +"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, +<i>My Four Years in Germany</i>, p. 123.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. <i>Er hat nur seine verdammte Pflicht und Schuldigkeit +getan</i> (he did only his accursed duty), said the King. +This saying became the formula that characterized the attitude +of the Prussian-German <i>Beamten</i> in their relations +to the state. Whatever was (or was represented as) their +"accursed duty" must be done, regardless of personal considerations +or rewards.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" id="page37"></a>[pg 37]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" id="page38"></a>[pg 38]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The authority of the German state had another and even +more powerful weapon than the <i>Beamtentum</i>. This was the +military establishment and the officer-corps. Upon this in +the first instance the throne of the Hohenzollerns was supported.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id="page39"></a>[pg 39]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>per +capita</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id="page40"></a>[pg 40]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Gebet vor der Schlacht</i> +(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!</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>(fixieren)</i> 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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41"></a>[pg 41]</span> +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.<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_6_6"> +<span class="label">[6]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" id="page42"></a>[pg 42]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Nachtwächterlied</i> appear +the lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">Und der König absolut,</span><br /> +<span class="i0">Wenn er unseren Willen tut!</span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p>(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 <i>Welt-Imperium</i>, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43"></a>[pg 43]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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?</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The cancer was Socialism, or Social-Democracy, as it is +termed in Germany.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id="page45"></a>[pg 45]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h3>Internationalism and Vaterlandslose Gesellen.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">More: The men responsible for the <i>débâcle</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46"></a>[pg 46]</span> +and the elimination of state boundaries which that doctrine +logically and necessarily implies. And this doctrine +was "made in Germany."</p> + +<p class="indent">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."<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_7_7"> +<span class="label">[7]</span></a> +<i>Die Quintessenz des Sozialismus</i>, by Schäffle.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeoisie</i>, +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The dominant idea of the Socialism of this period was +that set forth by Marx in his book, <i>Das Kapital</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page47" id="page47"></a>[pg 47]</span> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Internationale</i> +was founded with the coöperation of Marx and Engels, +and Socialism became a movement which directly concerned +all the states of the world.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48"></a>[pg 48]</span> +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 <i>Internationale</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The basic idea of the <i>Internationale</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" id="page49"></a>[pg 49]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page50" id="page50"></a>[pg 50]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> +formed the rival Confederation of German Unions upon an +internationalistic basis. This organization joined the <i>Internationale</i> +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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51"></a>[pg 51]</span> +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 <i>Internationale</i>, and the German +Socialists had until the breaking out of the World War maintained +their place as the apostles and leaders of internationalism.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_8_8"> +<span class="label">[8]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Socialism first showed itself as a political factor in Germany +in 1867, when five Socialists were elected to the North +German Diet. Two <i>Genossen</i><a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_9_9"> +<span class="label">[9]</span></a> +<i>Genosse</i>, comrade, is the term by which all German-speaking Socialists +address each other.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">A propaganda of tremendous extent and extreme ability +was carried on. No <i>bourgeois</i> 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 <i>Internationale</i>, +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Bismarck's clear political vision saw the menace in a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id="page52"></a>[pg 52]</span> +movement which openly aimed at the establishment of a +German republic and at the eventual overthrow of all <i>bourgeois</i> +governments and the elimination of local patriotism +and state lines. In 1878 he secured from the Reichstag the +enactment of the famous <i>Ausnahmegesetze</i> 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 <i>Ausnahmegesetze</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53"></a>[pg 53]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Kaiser Wilhelm II early realized the menace to the state +of these enemies of patriotism and of all <i>bourgeois</i> states. +In a much quoted speech he termed the Socialists <i>vaterlandslose +Gesellen</i> (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 <i>Gesellen</i>, too, when used in this sense has an unpleasant +connotation.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>lèse majesté</i> as possible, and sometimes +too closely. Leading Socialist papers had their special +<i>Sitzredacteur</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id="page54"></a>[pg 54]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The extent of these persecutions is indicated by a report +made to the Socialist congress at Halle in 1890, shortly +after the <i>Ausnahmegesetze</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Ausnahmegesetze</i> failed of their purpose just as completely +as did the Six Acts<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_10_10"> +<span class="label">[10]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id="page55"></a>[pg 55]</span> +whose very creed compelled them to regard as their natural +enemy even the most beneficent <i>bourgeois</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" id="page56"></a>[pg 56]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Der allgemeine deutsche +Arbeiterverein</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Particularismus</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id="page57"></a>[pg 57]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Muss-Preussen</i>, that is, "must-Prussians," +or Prussians by compulsion.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58"></a>[pg 58]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">August Bebel, one of the founders of German Socialism, +said:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_11_11"> +<span class="label">[11]</span></a> +Quoted by W. H. Dawson in <i>German Socialism and Ferdinand Lassalle</i>, ch. 15.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent"><i>Vorwärts</i>, central organ of German Socialism, wrote on +July 1, 1892:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"We would fight churches and preachers even if the +preachers and curates were the most conscientious of men."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent"><i>Vorwärts</i> contrived also to add insult to the statement by +using the word <i>Pfaffen</i> for preachers, a word having a contemptuous +implication in this sense throughout Northern +Germany.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_12_12"> +<span class="label">[12]</span></a> +Die neue Zeit, 1903, vol. i, p. 506.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent"><i>Genosse</i> Dr. Erdmann, writing after the war had begun, +said:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"We have no occasion to conceal the fact that Social-Democracy +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59"></a>[pg 59]</span> +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."<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_13_13"> +<span class="label">[13]</span></a> +Sozialistische Monatshefte, 1915, vol. i, p. 516.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent"><i>Vorwärts</i> 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!").</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">At the same session, Deputy Hellmann, a member of the +Majority (parent) Socialist party, said in a speech in answer +to Mumm:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"The church, like all social institutions, is subject to constant +change, and will eventually disappear."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">Quotations like the preceding could be multiplied indefinitely, +as could also acts consistent with these anti-religious +views. The first Minister of Cults (<i>Kultusminister</i>) appointed +by the revolutionary government in Prussia was +Adolf Hoffmann, a professed atheist, although this ministry +has charge of the affairs of the church.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Socialist literature and press in all countries abound +in anti-religious utterances. To quote one is to give a +sample of all. The <i>Social-Demokraten</i> 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60"></a>[pg 60]</span> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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!"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Dissident</i> (dissenter) or +<i>religionslos</i> (without any religion) increased rapidly. Clergymen +preached the doctrines of Christ to empty benches; +<i>religionslose Genossen</i> preached the doctrines of class warfare +and disloyalty to state to Socialist audiences that filled +their meeting-places.</p> + +<p class="indent">Thus the cancer ate its way into the vitals of the Empire.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id="page61"></a>[pg 61]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h3>Germany under the "Hunger-Blockade."</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id="page62"></a>[pg 62]</span> +few important natural resources, possessed a virtual monopoly +of the world's potash supply.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63"></a>[pg 63]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Germany's dependence on importations is shown by the +import statistics for 1913. The figures are in millions of +marks.</p> + +<blockquote> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="food import stats"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Cereals</td> +<td class="tdr">1037.</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Eggs</td> +<td class="tdr">188.2</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Fruits</td> +<td class="tdr">148.8</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Fish</td> +<td class="tdr">135.9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Wheaten products</td> +<td class="tdr">130.3</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Animal fats</td> +<td class="tdr">118.9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Butter</td> +<td class="tdr">118.7</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Rice</td> +<td class="tdr">103.9</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Southern fruits</td> +<td class="tdr">101.2</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Meats</td> +<td class="tdr">81.4</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Live animals</td> +<td class="tdr">291.6</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Coffee</td> +<td class="tdr">219.7</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Cacao</td> +<td class="tdr">67.1</td> +</tr> +</table> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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):</p> + +<blockquote> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="other import stats 1913"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Cotton</td> +<td class="tdr">664.1</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Wool</td> +<td class="tdr">511.7</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Hides and skins</td> +<td class="tdr">672.4</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Cotton yarn</td> +<td class="tdr">116.2</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id="page64"></a>[pg 64]</span></p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" width="100%" summary="other import stats 1913 b"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Flax and hemp</td> +<td class="tdr">114.4</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Woolen yarn</td> +<td class="tdr">108.</td> +</tr> +</table> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id="page65"></a>[pg 65]</span> +was rationed, the weekly allowance varying from six to nine +ounces in different parts of the Empire.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_14_14"> +<span class="label">[14]</span></a> +This allowance had dropped to less than five ounces in Prussia in the +last months of the war.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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 +<i>Kraftfutter</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id="page66"></a>[pg 66]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Restriction followed upon restriction, and every change +was for the worse. The <i>Kriegsbrot</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67"></a>[pg 67]</span> +to a great extent. Cheese disappeared entirely in August, +1916, and could not again be had.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">No German will ever forget the terrible <i>Kohlrübenwinter</i> +(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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" id="page68"></a>[pg 68]</span> +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 <i>Kriegsbrot</i>, in which fodder-turnips +had by this time been substituted for potatoes. The +quantity of even such food was limited.</p> + +<p class="indent">A little fruit would have varied this diet and been of +great dietetic value, but there was no fruit. <i>Wo bleibt das +Obst</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You will not be permitted to starve, but you must hunger," +said the mayor.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_15_15"> +<span class="label">[15]</span></a> +The mayor's statement contains in German a play on words: <i>Ihr sollt +nicht verhungern, aber hungern müsst Ihr</i>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69"></a>[pg 69]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" id="page70"></a>[pg 70]</span> +assumed that many would have withstood the attack had +they not been weakened by the privations of the four war-years.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. <i>Mens sana in corpore sano</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Socialism, and more especially that radical Socialism +which finds its expression in Bolshevism, Communism and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id="page71"></a>[pg 71]</span> +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 <i>Unterbeamten</i> and the <i>Mittelbeamten</i>, 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 <i>Beamten</i> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Schleichhandel</i>, literally "sneak trade," +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id="page72"></a>[pg 72]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> had a comparative abundance, they +were further embittered against war and against all governments +responsible for war, including their own.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73"></a>[pg 73]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Fusslappen</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" id="page75"></a>[pg 75]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h3>Internationalism at Work.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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" (<i>ein Ende mit Schrecken</i>) which, according to an +old proverb, was preferable to "terror without end" +(<i>Schrecken ohne Ende</i>). 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 <i>die alte +Büchse</i> (the old musket) and go to the front to defend the +Fatherland.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> parties in swearing to +support the Fatherland. The Kaiser retracted his reference +to <i>vaterlandslose Gesellen</i>. "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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" id="page76"></a>[pg 76]</span> +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 <i>Kaiserhoch</i>, the expression of loyalty to monarch +and country with which sessions of the Reichstag were +always closed.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<i>Vorwärts</i> because of his far-going radicalism and dreamy +impracticality.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id="page77"></a>[pg 77]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<i>enfant terrible</i> of his party at an age when the designation +applied almost literally.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" id="page78"></a>[pg 78]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" id="page79"></a>[pg 79]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Genosse</i>, 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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id="page80"></a>[pg 80]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81"></a>[pg 81]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82"></a>[pg 82]</span> +was free also from that fear of inconsistency which has been +called the vice of small minds.</p> + +<p class="indent">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" (<i>Arbeitsgemeinschaft</i>). 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The underground propaganda against the war and the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" id="page83"></a>[pg 83]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The autumn of 1916 brought the government's so-called +<i>Hilfsdienstgesetz</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84"></a>[pg 84]</span> +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 +<i>Kohlrübenwinter</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<i>débâcle</i> when it should come.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" id="page85"></a>[pg 85]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Strafversetzungen</i>, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" id="page86"></a>[pg 86]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Every such <i>Strafversetzung</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87"></a>[pg 87]</span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" id="page89"></a>[pg 89]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h3>Propaganda and Morale.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90"></a>[pg 90]</span> +naturally published no accounts of boats that failed to come +back, and this added a new terror to this branch of the +service.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> +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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_16_16"> +<span class="label">[16]</span></a> + 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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91"></a>[pg 91]</span> +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"I do not care at this time to go into details concerning +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92"></a>[pg 92]</span> +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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Der Atheist</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id="page93"></a>[pg 93]</span> +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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">Haase denied that the sailor had submitted any revolutionary +plan to him or his colleagues, and challenged Admiral +von Capelle to produce his evidence.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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 <i>Isvestia</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94"></a>[pg 94]</span> +press had classified them with <i>bourgeoisie</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.'</p> + +<p class="indent">"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95"></a>[pg 95]</span> +thus far attained by the organization, which, according to +his declaration, was very enthusiastic about the matter.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">Admiral von Capelle further read from the testimony of +the ringleader, Reichpietsch, who, after reading Sachse's +testimony, had said under oath:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" id="page96"></a>[pg 96]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bloc</i> 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 <i>bloc</i> 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 <i>bourgeois</i> papers of the stamp +of the Berlin <i>Tageblatt</i> 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 +<i>Vaterlandspartei</i> (Fatherland Party) and similar organizations. +Ignorant of the extent and nature of the Independent +Socialists' efforts to undermine authority, the <i>bloc</i> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" id="page97"></a>[pg 97]</span> +it nevertheless united the two factions when, as now, the +attack came from the extreme Right.</p> + +<p class="indent">Complete details of the mutiny of this summer have never +been given out. According to the best reports available, it +started on the battleship <i>Westfalen</i> at Wilhelmshaven and +included altogether four vessels, one of which was the <i>Nürnberg</i>. +The captain of the <i>Nürnberg</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Genosse</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" id="page98"></a>[pg 98]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Unter den Linden</i>. 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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Schutzhaft</i>, +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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99"></a>[pg 99]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeoisie</i>, to murder the +oppressors of the proletariat and to overthrow the government. +One of these appeals came from the Spartacan <i>Internationale</i> +and contained a carefully worked-out program for +instituting a reign of terror.</p> + +<p class="indent">Even the <i>Vorwärts</i>, which had been reluctant to credit the +charges against <i>Genosse</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id="page100"></a>[pg 100]</span> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">Following the publication of this wireless message, Cohn +also issued an explanation of his activities in connection with +Joffe. He said:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101"></a>[pg 101]</span> +exploited. The good effect of this propaganda cannot +be doubted.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Everybody's Magazine</i> 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 <i>débâcle</i> 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."<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_17_17"> +<span class="label">[17]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id="page102"></a>[pg 102]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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'."</p> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103"></a>[pg 103]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Kadaververwertungs-Anstalt</i> (Carcass Utilization +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page104" id="page104"></a>[pg 104]</span> +Factory) into a Corpse Utilization Factory (<i>Leichenverwertungs-Anstalt</i>) +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 <i>débâcle</i> 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 <i>Schrecklichkeit</i> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105"></a>[pg 105]</span> +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. * * * *</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Kölnische Volkszeitung</i> echoed the demand for a +propaganda ministry. It wrote:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" id="page107"></a>[pg 107]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h3>Germany Requests an Armistice.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page108" id="page108"></a>[pg 108]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Reports of serious dissensions in Austria-Hungary came +at the same time to add to the general depression. The +Vienna <i>Arbeiterzeitung</i> said:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109"></a>[pg 109]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Count Hertling's speech displeased everybody. The Conservative +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110"></a>[pg 110]</span> +press assailed him bitterly. The <i>Deutsche Tageszeitung</i>, +chief organ of the Junkers, called him "the gravedigger +of the Prussian monarchy." The <i>Kreuzzeitung</i> +charged him with minimizing the crown's deserts and exaggerating +the services of the Socialists. The liberal <i>bourgeois</i> +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 <i>Germania</i>, chief organ of +the Clericals, Hertling's own party, damned the speech +with faint praise.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> circles as a +likely successor to Count Hertling was Philip Scheidemann, +a leader of the Majority Socialists. The <i>vaterlandslose Gesellen</i> +were coming into their own.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">1. The government shall unqualifiedly accept the declaration +of the Reichstag of July 19, 1917,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> and declare its willingness +to enter a League of Nations whose fundamental +principles shall be the peaceful adjustment of all conflicts +and universal disarmament.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_18_18"> +<span class="label">[18]</span></a> +<i>Vide</i> chapter vi.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">2. The government shall make an absolutely unambiguous +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111"></a>[pg 111]</span> +declaration of its willingness to rehabilitate (<i>wiederherstellen</i>) +Belgium and reach an understanding regarding +compensation to that land, and also to rehabilitate Serbia +and Montenegro.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">5. There shall be uniformity in the imperial government, +and irresponsible unofficial auxiliary governments (<i>Nebenregierungen</i>) +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112"></a>[pg 112]</span> +else could unite the people. An article in the <i>Vorwärts</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>demarche</i> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The American armies need not frighten us," said Count +Hertling. "We shall take care of them."<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_19_19"> +<span class="label">[19]</span></a> +The German Government deceived its own people grossly in the matter of +the American forces in France. Hans Delbrück, editor of the <i>Preussische +Jahrbücher</i>, 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 <i>Times</i>. 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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113"></a>[pg 113]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114"></a>[pg 114]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"There is also something in connection with Turkey which +I cannot say, but which we can all think."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">Uneasy rumors that Austria was also about to follow the +lead of Bulgaria spread through Germany.</p> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115"></a>[pg 115]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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, <i>My Four Years in Germany</i>. 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116"></a>[pg 116]</span> +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 <i>Schrecklichkeit</i> +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 +<i>bloc</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" id="page117"></a>[pg 117]</span> +admit in so many words that all hope of an eventual victory +had been lost, but that was the effect of his message.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Prince Max's attitude at this crisis was explained by him +in an article in the <i>Preussische Jahrbücher</i> following the +armistice. He wrote then:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" id="page118"></a>[pg 118]</span> +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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"With a view to avoiding further bloodshed, the German +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" id="page119"></a>[pg 119]</span> +Government requests the immediate conclusion of an armistice +on land and water and in the air."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">Secretary of State Lansing sent the following reply on +October 8th:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"Before replying to the request of the Imperial<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> 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?</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_20_20"> +<span class="label">[20]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id="page120"></a>[pg 120]</span> +was supported by the vast majority of the Reichstag and +spoke in the name of the German Government and the German +people.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" id="page121"></a>[pg 121]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h3>The Last Days of Imperial Germany.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">This resolution removed the last obstacle to a real reform +of the Prussian franchise.</p> + +<p class="indent">Too late the Federal Council adopted radical amendments +to the Imperial Constitution. On October 13th and +16th, it accepted measures repealing article 21, paragraph +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" id="page122"></a>[pg 122]</span> +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" id="page123"></a>[pg 123]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">But while these concessions were being made at home, +<i>Schrecklichkeit</i> continued to rule unhampered on the sea. +The <i>Leinster</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Chancellor's position was also rendered more difficult +at this time by an agitation for a <i>levée en masse</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" id="page124"></a>[pg 124]</span> +them. We extend our hands to our friends beyond the frontiers +in this struggle."</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> 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 +<i>Beamter</i> in former days.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Despite all struggles between inherited powers and +forces striving to raise themselves, this period discloses itself +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id="page125"></a>[pg 125]</span> +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<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> and now accepted by the Reichstag +owe their existence to this conviction.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_21_21"> +<span class="label">[21]</span></a> +Here meaning merely the German federal states.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The post of Kaiser means service of the people (<i>Das +Kaiseramt ist Dienst am Volke</i>).</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id="page126"></a>[pg 126]</span> +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id="page127"></a>[pg 127]</span> +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Prager Haus-Regiment</i>, +No. 28, took charge of the revolution. This was one +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page128" id="page128"></a>[pg 128]</span> +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 +<i>Tageblatt</i>:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"Revolution in Budapest. National Council has taken +over the government. Military and police acknowledge National +Council completely. Inhabitants rejoicing."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The message was signed by Karolyi as president of the +National Council.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Vecer</i> 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 <i>Narodini Listy</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"What will the Kaiser do?" asked the Berlin <i>Vorwärts</i> +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 <i>Vorwärts</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id="page129"></a>[pg 129]</span> +except the two Socialist parties considered it politically +expedient to make the demand. Even the Progressives, +farthest to the left of all the <i>bourgeois</i> 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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"The Progressives do not desire to sow further unrest +and confusion among the German people."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Kaiser himself, as will be seen later,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> 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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_22_22"> +<span class="label">[22]</span></a> +<i>Vide</i> chapter X.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page130" id="page130"></a>[pg 130]</span> +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 <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id="page131"></a>[pg 131]</span> +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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id="page133"></a>[pg 133]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h3>A Revolt Which Became a Revolution.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" id="page134"></a>[pg 134]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Rumblings of the coming storm were heard first on board +the battleships <i>Thüringen</i> and <i>Helgoland</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Alone among the great revolutions of the world, the German +revolution was the work of the humblest of the proletariat, +unplanned and unguided by <i>bourgeois</i> 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 <i>Markgraf</i> at Kiel who +set rolling the stone which became the avalanche of revolution.</p> + +<p class="indent">The crews of the <i>Markgraf</i> 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 <i>Markgraf</i> +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 <i>Markgraf</i> they found her +guarded by marines and they were not permitted to come +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" id="page135"></a>[pg 135]</span> +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 <i>Markgraf</i> +were taken ashore to prevent the rest of the crew from reaching +land.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Markgraf</i> 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 <i>Markgraf's</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The military authorities had meanwhile made preparations +to deal with the mutineers. As early as four o'clock +<i>erhöhte Alarmbereitschaft</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" id="page136"></a>[pg 136]</span> +The mutineers' procession reached the central railway +station about 7 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, 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 <i>Markgraf</i> 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 <i>Hoffnung</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The procession reached the <i>Hoffnung</i> 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.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_23_23"> +<span class="label">[23]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The leaders of the mutineers spent most of Sunday night +and Monday morning in conference. A Soldiers' Council +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" id="page137"></a>[pg 137]</span> +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;<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_24_24"> +<span class="label">[24]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_25_25"> +<span class="label">[25]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">In addition to and above all this there were two fatal +factors: authority, the corner stone of all civilized governments, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id="page138"></a>[pg 138]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> Although not so widely known as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" id="page139"></a>[pg 139]</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_26_26"> +<span class="label">[26]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" id="page140"></a>[pg 140]</span> +proved, however, to be very great. At 1:00 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>noblesse oblige</i>. 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 <i>König</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id="page141"></a>[pg 141]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142"></a>[pg 142]</span> +however, came a day later, and then it was too late +to undo the mischief caused by the first report.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The procedure was everywhere the same. Workmen's and +soldiers' councils were formed, policemen and loyal troops +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" id="page143"></a>[pg 143]</span> +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 <i>Hamburger Echo</i> and rechristened it <i>Die +rote Fahne</i>, 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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Dresden</i> and <i>Augsburg</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" id="page144"></a>[pg 144]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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 +(<i>Schnösel</i>) 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."<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_27_27"> +<span class="label">[27]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">The government at Berlin and the Majority Socialists +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" id="page145"></a>[pg 145]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">At the request of the government Noske assumed the post +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" id="page146"></a>[pg 146]</span> +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.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" id="page147"></a>[pg 147]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h3>The Revolution Reaches Berlin.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" id="page148"></a>[pg 148]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" id="page149"></a>[pg 149]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Thursday, November 7th, brought more reassuring news +from Kiel. The official Wolff Bureau reported:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">Reports from other coast cities were less favorable. Wolff +reported:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page150" id="page150"></a>[pg 150]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<i>Vorwärts</i>, the party's central organ, published in its morning +issue a further demand for the Kaiser's abdication. <i>Vorwärts</i> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" id="page151"></a>[pg 151]</span> +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.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_28_28"> +<span class="label">[28]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Institutions of this kind conflict with the existing state +order and endanger the public safety.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Under paragraph 9b of the law regarding a state of +siege I forbid any formation of such associations and the +participation therein."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page152" id="page152"></a>[pg 152]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Vorwärts</i>, +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Jäger</i> (sharpshooters) +and the Lübben <i>Jäger</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" id="page153"></a>[pg 153]</span> +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" (<i>frech und unbotmässig</i>) +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Prince Max telegraphed the Kaiser, offering to resign. +The Kaiser asked him to remain in office for the time being +at least.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page154" id="page154"></a>[pg 154]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" id="page155"></a>[pg 155]</span> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" id="page156"></a>[pg 156]</span> +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> 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 <i>Maikäfer</i>—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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" id="page157"></a>[pg 157]</span> +order was communicated to the various garrisons and also +to police headquarters.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Jäger</i>, 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 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> 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 <i>Vorwärts</i>, 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 <i>Jäger's</i> +example.</p> + +<p class="indent">There were some good troops in Berlin—such as the +<i>Jäger</i> already mentioned—but the great majority of the men +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" id="page158"></a>[pg 158]</span> +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 +<i>Aufklärung</i>, literally, clearing up, or enlightenment. The +word is generally used as part of a phrase, <i>Aufklärung im +sozial-demokratischen Sinne</i>, 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 <i>kaisertreu</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The revolution had come!</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" id="page159"></a>[pg 159]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h3>The Kaiser Abdicates.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> 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 <i>Vorwärts</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"The Kaiser and King has decided to surrender the +throne (<i>dem Throne zu entsagen</i>). 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" id="page160"></a>[pg 160]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="right">(signed) "The Imperial Chancellor,<br /> +"Max, Prince of Baden."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">A detachment of <i>Jäger</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" id="page161"></a>[pg 161]</span> +the participation of all political parties.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Scheidemann, like +Max, also anticipated events, for the republic had not yet +been authoritatively proclaimed, nor had Ebert been appointed +Chancellor.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_29_29"> +<span class="label">[29]</span></a> +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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> have +any voice whatever in the governmental affairs.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Two hours later, shortly after 2:00 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, 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,<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> +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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_30_30"> +<span class="label">[30]</span></a> +"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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> was a later idea.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. <i>Fuit +Germania</i>.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" id="page162"></a>[pg 162]</span> +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<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> 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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_31_31"> +<span class="label">[31]</span></a> +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 (<i>Kultusminister</i>), 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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" id="page163"></a>[pg 163]</span> +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 <i>mobile vulgus</i> 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 <i>Genossen</i>. 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Thus far the revolution had been all but bloodless. The +brave officer of the <i>Maikäfer</i> and the four revolutionaries +who fell before him were the only victims. But about 6:00 +<span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, 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.<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> The crowd filling the square +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" id="page164"></a>[pg 164]</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_32_32"> +<span class="label">[32]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> +were in large part what is so aptly expressed by the slang +term "roughnecks." Their leader was a degraded officer +named Heinrich Dorrenbach.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_33_33"> +<span class="label">[33]</span></a> +It was these men who surrounded the imperial chancellery on December +24th, held the cabinet members there <i>incommunicado</i> 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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_34_34"> +<span class="label">[34]</span></a> +Dorrenbach was afterward indicted in Brunswick for bribery and looting.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> +Liebknecht, still nominally an Independent, for the <i>Spartacus +Bund</i> had not yet been formally organized as a separate +party; Ledebour, Dittmann, and Barth, who was chairman +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" id="page165"></a>[pg 165]</span> +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 <i>provisorium</i> 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,<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> 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 <i>under the exclusion +of all bourgeois elements</i>."<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_35_35"> +<span class="label">[35]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_36_36"> +<span class="label">[36]</span></a> +Here, as the demands show, "socialistic" in the most rigid and "class-conscious" +partisan sense.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_37_37"> +<span class="label">[37]</span></a> +The italics are those of the Independents themselves, as used in publishing +their demands in their party organ.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> has any rights +whatever, was a matter easily remedied. Liebknecht, at the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page166" id="page166"></a>[pg 166]</span> +head of a group of armed soldiers, went in the evening to +the plant of the Conservative <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i>, turned out +the whole staff and took possession. The paper appeared +Sunday morning as <i>Die rote Fahne</i> (The Red Flag). Independent +Socialists and members of the Workmen's and Soldiers' +Council at the same time took violent possession of the +venerable <i>Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung</i>, which they +published Sunday morning as <i>Die Internationale</i>.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>tendencieuse</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>Die rote Fahne</i> of Sunday morning published on the +first page a leading article which undoubtedly was written +by Liebknecht himself. It began:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" id="page167"></a>[pg 167]</span> +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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,"<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> 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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> for four +years and they cannot do otherwise now."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_38_38"> +<span class="label">[38]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">"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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">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;<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> all soldiers and proletarians who are +armed to retain their weapons.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_39_39"> +<span class="label">[39]</span></a> +<i>Bewaffnung des Volkes</i>; "people" used as a synonym for the proletarian +section of it. The <i>Bourgeoisie</i> are not <i>das Volk</i> (the people) to the extreme +Socialist.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">2. Taking over of all military and civil offices and commands +by representatives (<i>Vertrauensmänner</i>) of the Workmen's and +Soldiers' Council.</p> + +<p class="indent">3. Surrender of all weapons and stores of munitions, as well +as of all other armaments, to the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page168" id="page168"></a>[pg 168]</span> +4. Control by the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council of all means +of traffic.</p> + +<p class="indent">5. Abolishment of courts-martial; corpse-like obedience (<i>Kadavergehorsam</i>) +to be replaced by voluntary discipline of the +soldiers under control of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Council.</p> + +<p class="indent">6. Abolishment of the Reichstag and of all parliaments,<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> 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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_40_40"> +<span class="label">[40]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">7. Election throughout Germany of workmen's and soldiers' +councils, in whose hands exclusively the lawgiving and administrative +power shall rest.</p> + +<p class="indent">8. Abolishment of dynasties<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> and separate states; our parole is: +United Socialistic Republic of Germany.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_41_41"> +<span class="label">[41]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">10. The immediate recall to Berlin of the Russian Embassy.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">This item followed: "<i>Die rote Fahne</i> sends its first and +warmest greeting to the Federative Socialistic Soviet Republic +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" id="page169"></a>[pg 169]</span> +(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."</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>Die Internationale</i> 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 <i>lebe hoch</i>!<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> for the German Socialistic Republic +and the <i>Internationale</i>.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_42_42"> +<span class="label">[42]</span></a> +Literally, "may it live high!" The French <i>vive</i> and the English "hurrah +for—!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">All the Sunday morning papers published a proclamation +and an appeal by the "Imperial Chancellor," Ebert. +The proclamation was addressed to "Fellow Citizens,"<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> 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.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> "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."</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_43_43"> +<span class="label">[43]</span></a> +<i>Mitbürger.</i> Subsequent proclamations were, with few exceptions, addressed +to <i>Genossen</i>. The government could not shake off its party fetters.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_44_44"> +<span class="label">[44]</span></a> +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 <i>Genosse</i> 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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">Sunday was ushered in with the crack of rifle fire and the +rattle of machine-guns. Nervous <i>Genossen</i>, incited by fanatics +or irresponsible agitators saw the specter of counterrevolution +on every hand and circulated wild tales of officers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page170" id="page170"></a>[pg 170]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" id="page171"></a>[pg 171]</span> +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 <i>bourgeois</i> +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 +<i>Fachminister</i>. 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" (<i>Volksbeauftragte</i>), who were to have +equal rights. The Independents stipulated further in their +conditions (which were accepted):</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page172" id="page172"></a>[pg 172]</span> +lawyer and one of the intellectual leaders of the +Berlin Socialists.</p> + +<p class="indent">When, at 5:00 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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."<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" id="page173"></a>[pg 173]</span> +people at the end of the war."<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> Following the adoption of +this proclamation, the meeting elected a <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> +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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_45_45"> +<span class="label">[45]</span></a> +Germany would have accepted almost any kind of peace in November. +This is but one of many things indicating it.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_46_46"> +<span class="label">[46]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">The council, however, started out well. Its first act, following +the Circus Busch meeting, was to order the <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> +and the <i>Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung</i> restored to +their lawful owners, and this was done. The council formally +confirmed the choice of the six <i>Volksbeauftragte</i> 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" id="page174"></a>[pg 174]</span> +no time to wait for general elections. The Circus Busch +meeting had good revolutionary precedents, and some sort +of central government was urgently necessary.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> "Expression of opinion in word +and print" was declared free.<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> The free exercise of religion +was guaranteed. Amnesty was granted all political prisoners, +and pending prosecutions for political offenses were +annulled.<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> The Domestic Servants law was declared repealed.<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> +It was promised that a general eight-hour law +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" id="page175"></a>[pg 175]</span> +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."<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> The +same system, it was decreed, should be followed in the elections +for the national assembly.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_47_47"> +<span class="label">[47]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_48_48"> +<span class="label">[48]</span></a> +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 <i>Die französischen Liebschaften +des deutschen Kronprinzen während des Krieges</i>.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_49_49"> +<span class="label">[49]</span></a> +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 +<i>bourgeois</i> 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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_50_50"> +<span class="label">[50]</span></a> +Domestic servants, particularly those in hotels, were real gainers by the +revolution. Chambermaids, for example, who had always been on duty from +6 <span class="smcap">A.M.</span> until 11 or 12 <span class="smcap">P.M.</span>, suddenly found themselves able, for the first time +in their lives, to get enough sleep and to have some time at their own disposal.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_51_51"> +<span class="label">[51]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent"><i>Vorwärts</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> were differently minded: "<i>Das +Böse sind wir los; die Bösen sind geblieben</i>."<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_52_52"> +<span class="label">[52]</span></a> +We have shaken off the great evil; the evil-doers have remained.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page177" id="page177"></a>[pg 177]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h3>"The German Socialistic Republic."</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" id="page178"></a>[pg 178]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">And the Kaiser and King of Prussia fled.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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?</p> + +<p class="indent">"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" id="page179"></a>[pg 179]</span> +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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_53_53"> +<span class="label">[53]</span></a> +Cf. Scheidemann's statement to von Payer, chapter viii.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">The Kaiser asked von Schulenberg's opinion. He disagreed +with the others, and counseled resistance. He agreed +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" id="page180"></a>[pg 180]</span> +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Von Schulenberg continues:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" id="page181"></a>[pg 181]</span> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"'1. His Majesty is prepared to abdicate as Kaiser if further +bloodshed can be hindered thereby.</p> + +<p class="indent">"'2. His Majesty desires that there be no civil war.</p> + +<p class="indent">"'3. His Majesty remains as King of Prussia and will lead +his army back to the homeland in disciplined order.'</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">"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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"'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.'</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">"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:</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" id="page182"></a>[pg 182]</span></p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"'I remain King of Prussia and I remain with the troops.'</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">"I answered:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"'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.'</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">"His Majesty took leave of me with the words:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"'I remain with the army.'</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">"I took leave of him and have not seen him again."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Others added their entreaties, and finally, unwillingly +and protestingly, the Kaiser consented to go.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Kaiser's flight had the double effect of encouraging +the Socialists and discouraging the Conservatives, the right +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page183" id="page183"></a>[pg 183]</span> +wing of the National Liberals and the few prominent men +of other <i>bourgeois</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i>, 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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" id="page184"></a>[pg 184]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Vollzugsrat</i> made a fairly clean sweep among the +Prussian ministers, filling the majority of posts with <i>Genossen</i>. +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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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 <i>bourgeois</i> officials. The Majority Socialist +controllers, even when they inclined to agree with +their <i>bourgeois</i> 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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> by +their former <i>Genossen</i>, they shook off in some degree the +thralldom of old ideas, but meanwhile great and perhaps +irreparable damage had been done.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" id="page185"></a>[pg 185]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Nor was this the only encouragement of crime officially +offered. In ante-bellum days, when German cities were orderly +and efficient police and <i>gendarmerie</i> carefully watched +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" id="page186"></a>[pg 186]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"You are no longer required to report to the police," said +the <i>Beamter</i> in charge.</p> + +<p class="indent">And thus the bars were thrown down for criminals and—what +was worse—for the propagandists and agents of the +Russian Soviet Republic. <i>Die neue Freiheit</i> (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" +(<i>Gleichheit und Freiheit können nur im Taumel des Wahnsinns +genossen werden</i>).</p> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Vollzugsrat</i>, 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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The meeting took a decided stand against Bolshevism +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" id="page187"></a>[pg 187]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">On the following day the <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i>, had +been largely instrumental in the original decision to place +the capital at the mercy of an armed rabble.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page188" id="page188"></a>[pg 188]</span> +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 <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> by the Spartacans +and of the <i>Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Despite all its initial extravagances, the <i>bona fides</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">To this government, facing multifold tasks, inexperienced +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page189" id="page189"></a>[pg 189]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The government was as seriously affected materially as +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" id="page190"></a>[pg 190]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" id="page191"></a>[pg 191]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Months later, when perhaps irreparable damage had been +done, the truth began to come out. The following Associated +Press dispatch is significant:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" id="page192"></a>[pg 192]</span> +"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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."<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_54_54"> +<span class="label">[54]</span></a> +<i>War Cyclopedia</i>, issued by the Committee on Public Information, p. 241.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" id="page193"></a>[pg 193]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" id="page195"></a>[pg 195]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h3>"The New Freedom."</h3> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>étappe</i>—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 <i>étappe</i> straggled back to +the homeland, where they were welcomed by the elements +responsible for Germany's collapse.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"3. For the maintenance of confidence between officers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" id="page196"></a>[pg 196]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"4. Officers and men shall have the same rations.</p> + +<p class="indent">"5. Officers and men shall receive the same extra allowances +of pay and perquisites."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">"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. <i>Die neue Freiheit</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Earnest revolutionaries traveled through the city looking +for signs containing the word <i>kaiserlich</i> (imperial) +or <i>königlich</i> (royal), and mutilated or destroyed them. +Court purveyors took down their signs or draped them. The +<i>Kaiser Keller</i> in Friedrichstrasse became simply a <i>Keller</i> +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" id="page197"></a>[pg 197]</span> +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. <i>Genossen</i> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">There was something so essentially childish in the manner +in which a great part of the people reacted to <i>die neue +Freiheit</i> 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> of the council addressed +the juvenile paraders, and declared that he was in complete +sympathy with their demands.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" id="page198"></a>[pg 198]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The cabinet—subject to the control theoretically exercisable +by the <i>Vollzugsrat</i>—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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" id="page199"></a>[pg 199]</span> +lacked this comprehension and they had been defiled in +handling the pitch of Bolshevism.</p> + +<p class="indent">All the revolutions of the last century and a quarter had +been of <i>bourgeois</i> origin. They had, however, been carried +into effect with the aid of the proletariat, since the <i>bourgeoisie</i>, +being numerically much weaker than the proletariat, +does not command the actual brute force to make revolution. +At first the <i>bourgeoisie</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> 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 <i>bourgeoisie</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" id="page200"></a>[pg 200]</span> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"The extremes (Majority Socialists and Spartacans) can +best be described thus: the one side (Majority) has not yet +completely freed itself from <i>bourgeois</i> habits of thought +and still has much confidence in the <i>bourgeois</i> world, whose +inner strength it overestimates. The other side (Spartacans) +totally lacks all comprehension of the <i>bourgeois</i> world and +regards it as a collection of scoundrels. It despises the mental +and economic accomplishments of the <i>bourgeoisie</i> 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 <i>bourgeois</i> authorities.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Between these two extremes we find those (the Independents) +who have studied the <i>bourgeois</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"These are the three tendencies that contend with each +other within the ranks of the proletariat."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" id="page201"></a>[pg 201]</span> +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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i>, 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> on November 19th +he said:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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 <i>bourgeoisie</i>. +But it will not succeed. We want no democratic republic. +We want a social republic."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>constituante</i>.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" id="page202"></a>[pg 202]</span> +grown up. The product of centuries of growth cannot be +recklessly made over in a few weeks.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Haase, Dittmann and Barth were supported by the <i>Vollzugsrat</i>. +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 <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> an order from the <i>Vollzugsrat</i> +directing them to place their plant at the disposal +of the Spartacans for the printing of <i>Die rote Fahne</i>, 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> and compelled the withdrawal of the +order.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" id="page203"></a>[pg 203]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Soldiers' Council noted with increasing displeasure +the drift of the <i>Vollzugsrat</i> toward the left. At the end of +November, after a stormy session, the council adopted a +resolution expressing dissatisfaction with the attitude of the +<i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> with holding secret +sessions, usurping powers, grafting, nepotism,<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> failure to +take steps to protect the country's eastern border against the +aggressions of the Poles and hindering all practical work.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_55_55"> +<span class="label">[55]</span></a> +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 <i>Rosta</i> 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> employed a hundred stenographers +and messengers who had nothing to do except draw their salaries. +The <i>53er Ausschuss</i>, 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">The Independent Socialists' ascendancy in the executive +body was assured on December 5th, when an election was +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" id="page204"></a>[pg 204]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Die Freiheit</i>, +the party's official organ in Berlin, and by Independents +generally. Emil Eichhorn, who was once one of the editors +of <i>Vorwärts</i> but now prominent in the Independent Socialist +party, and who had been appointed police-president of +Berlin, was on the payroll of <i>Rosta</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Spartacans were feverishly active. Liebknecht and +his lieutenants organized and campaigned tirelessly. <i>Der +rote Soldatenbund</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The first demonstration of strength by the Spartacans +came on November 26th, when they forcibly seized the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" id="page205"></a>[pg 205]</span> +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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i>, although in +sympathy with the usurpers, did not dare oppose the cabinet +on such an issue.</p> + +<p class="indent">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!</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> +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, <i>Genossen</i> must not shoot <i>Genossen</i>.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" id="page206"></a>[pg 206]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> press and the <i>Vorwärts</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Franzer</i>, 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> +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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" id="page207"></a>[pg 207]</span> +into such a hindrance to honest government, but +the attempt failed.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Franzer</i>, drawn up in front of their +barracks, standing at "ready" and with bayonets fixed. The +officer in command ordered the paraders to stop:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"Come on!" cried the leaders of the demonstration. "They +won't shoot their comrades!"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">But the <i>Franzer</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<i>Vorwärts</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" id="page208"></a>[pg 208]</span> +by surly ruffians, he addressed the assembled thousands, +attacking the government, demanding its forcible overthrow +and summoning his hearers to organize a Red Guard.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" id="page209"></a>[pg 209]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h3>The Majority Socialists in Control.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The other factor strengthening the hands of Ebert, +Scheidemann and Landsberg was the manner of the return +of the German front-soldiers.</p> + +<p class="indent">Gratifying reports had come of the conduct of these men +on their homeward march. Where the soldiers of the <i>étappe</i> +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 +<i>Genossen</i> who tried to compel them to substitute the +red flag for their national or state flags, or for their regimental +banners.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" id="page210"></a>[pg 210]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Kultusministerium</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>Wie sie so sanft ruh'n,</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>Alle die Seligen,</i></span><br /> +<span class="i0"><i>In ihren Gräbern.</i></span><br /> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" id="page211"></a>[pg 211]</span> +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 +<i>Vollzugsrat</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" id="page212"></a>[pg 212]</span> +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.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_56_56"> +<span class="label">[56]</span></a> +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."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"December 16th. The Central Congress of Germany's +Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils convened today in the +<i>Abgeordnetenhaus</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"After organization, which is effected with a show of +parliamentary form, Richard Müller, chairman of the executive +committee of the <i>Vollzugsrat</i>, 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Chairman Leinert interrupts Müller's speech with an +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" id="page213"></a>[pg 213]</span> +announcement that a <i>Genosse</i> 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 <i>bourgeoisie</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"A half dozen officer-delegates present join in the protests +against the demands. Loud cries of '<i>raus die Offiziere!</i>' +(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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i>.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.'<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> +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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_57_57"> +<span class="label">[57]</span></a> +Neither Liebknecht nor Luxemburg had been chosen as delegate, although +desperate efforts were made to have them elected.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"'Two-thirds of the people there are there because they +have to come or lose their jobs. One has to eat, you know.'</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">"I learned later in the day that many of the paraders had +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page214" id="page214"></a>[pg 214]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The incompetence—to use no stronger word—of the +<i>Vollzugsrat</i> was again demonstrated today, as well as its +careless financial methods.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" id="page215"></a>[pg 215]</span> +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.<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_58_58"> +<span class="label">[58]</span></a> +This may appear to be an extravagant comparison, but it is so near the +truth that I let it stand.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The Congress was enabled by a bolt of the Independents +to accomplish another valuable bit of work, viz., the appointment +of a new central <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" id="page216"></a>[pg 216]</span> +excuse if it continues to shilly-shally along and fails to exhibit +some backbone.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"German government in miniature! The same mentality +that places guards before public buildings and orders them +not to use their weapons! <i>Sancta simplicitas!</i>"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i>. 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">It has been related how, in the days preceding the actual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" id="page217"></a>[pg 217]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" id="page218"></a>[pg 218]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Spartacans and radical Independents took the part of the +Marines. Richard Müller, Ledebour, Däumig and other +members of the defunct original <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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 <i>Die Freiheit</i>, +the party's official organ. The head and forefront of +the Majority cabinet members' offending was their order to +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" id="page219"></a>[pg 219]</span> +the War Minister to use force in upholding the government's +authority, and radical revolutionists condemn force +when it is employed against themselves.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">On the evening of the same day the Independents in the +cabinet submitted eight formulated questions to the <i>Vollzugsrat</i>, +in which this body was asked to define its attitude as +to various matters. The <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"Does the <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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?"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The executive council's answer was:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i> approves."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Vollzugsrat</i> itself presented a question. It asked:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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?"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page220" id="page220"></a>[pg 220]</span> +The Independents, for whom Dittmann spoke, hereupon +declared that they retired from the government. Thus they +avoided the necessity of answering the <i>Vollzugsrat's</i> 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 <i>Vollzugsrat</i>. +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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 +<i>Volkswacht</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Majority Socialists staged a big demonstration on +Sunday, December 29th, in favor of the new government. +Thousands of the <i>bourgeoisie</i> joined in a great parade, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" id="page221"></a>[pg 221]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> 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.<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_59_59"> +<span class="label">[59]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_60_60"> +<span class="label">[60]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The authority of the national government was small in +any event, and was openly flouted and opposed in some +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" id="page222"></a>[pg 222]</span> +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 <i>Vorwärts</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" id="page223"></a>[pg 223]</span> +Minister of War had no validity in Brunswick. General +Scheuch, the Minister of War, resigned in disgust.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">A less happy New Year for men responsible for the affairs +of a great state was doubtless never recorded.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" id="page225"></a>[pg 225]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h3>Liebknecht Tries to Overthrow the Government; Is Arrested and Killed.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>imperium in +imperio</i>.</p> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Vollzugsrat</i> 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. <i>Vorwärts</i> +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 <i>Rosta</i>, the Bolshevik +propaganda-central for Germany. The <i>Vollzugsrat</i> removed +Eichhorn from office.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Genossen</i>, refused +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page226" id="page226"></a>[pg 226]</span> +to comply with the order for his removal. The more +ignorant of his followers—and this embraced a great proportion—saw +in the <i>Vollzugsrat's</i> action the first move in +that counter-revolution whose specter had so artfully been +kept before their eyes by their leaders.</p> + +<p class="indent">It is a current saying in England that when an Englishman +has a grievance, he writes to the <i>Times</i> about it. When +a German has a grievance, he organizes a parade and +marches through the city carrying banners and transparencies, +and shouting <i>hoch</i>! (hurrah!) for his friends and +<i>nieder</i>! (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Liebknecht addressed the paraders. Counter-revolution, +he declared, was already showing its head. The Ebert-Scheidemann +government must be overthrown and the real +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" id="page227"></a>[pg 227]</span> +friends of the revolution must not shrink from using violence +if violence were necessary. Others spoke in a similar +vein.</p> + +<p class="indent">Conditions appeared propitious for the <i>coup</i> that had been +preparing for a month. Late Sunday evening armed Spartacans +occupied the plants of the <i>Vorwärts</i>, <i>Tageblatt</i>, +the Ullstein Company (publishers of <i>Die Morgenpost</i> and +<i>Berliner Zeitung-am-Mittag</i>), the <i>Lokal-Anzeiger</i> and the +Wolff Bureau.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Spartacans in the <i>Vorwärts</i> plant published on Monday +morning <i>Der rote Vorwärts</i> (the Red <i>Vorwärts</i>). 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 <i>Kreuz-Zeitung</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Vollzugsrat</i> rose to the occasion like a <i>bourgeois</i> +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 <i>Genossen</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" id="page228"></a>[pg 228]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" id="page229"></a>[pg 229]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The rattle of machine-guns and the crack of rifles kept +Berliners awake nearly all night. The hardest fighting was +at the <i>Tageblatt</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The government further addressed a proclamation to the +people, addressing them this time as <i>Mitbürger</i> (fellow-citizens), +instead of <i>Genossen</i>. 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. <i>Die +Freiheit</i> and <i>Der rote Vorwärts</i> assailed the government; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page230" id="page230"></a>[pg 230]</span> +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 <i>Tageblatt</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Vorwärts</i> +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 <i>Vorwärts</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The fall of the <i>Vorwärts</i> 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 <i>en masse</i> 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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" id="page231"></a>[pg 231]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_61_61"> +<span class="label">[61]</span></a> +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 <i>Times</i> 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 +<i>Die Freiheit</i>, <i>Die Republik</i>, Liebknecht's <i>Die rote Fahne</i>, 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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page232" id="page232"></a>[pg 232]</span> +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 <i>Genosse</i> +had nothing to fear from a Socialist government, remained +and was arrested.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"You can now hardly avoid having Ledebour locked up."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The man addressed shrugged his shoulders reflectively +and answered:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"But he is acting from ideal motives," he said.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Rechthaberei</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page233" id="page233"></a>[pg 233]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page234" id="page234"></a>[pg 234]</span> +The Luxemburg woman was struck repeatedly and Liebknecht +received a blow on the head which caused a bloody +wound.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The impression was profound. The <i>Deutsche Tageszeitung</i>, +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 +<i>bourgeois</i> comment, and even <i>Vorwärts</i> 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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>coup</i>. Their losses are not definitely +known, but they were estimated at approximately two hundred +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page235" id="page235"></a>[pg 235]</span> +dead and nearly a thousand wounded. The losses of the +government troops were negligible.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The decree said further:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Genossen</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>coup</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> lamented +past glories; the Majority Socialists were under a +crossfire from both sides. The Conservative <i>Kreuz-Zeitung</i> +wrote:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"January 18th: What feelings are awakened on this day +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page236" id="page236"></a>[pg 236]</span> +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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The <i>Kreuz-Zeitung's</i> diagnosis was correct, but it had +required a national post-mortem to establish it.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" id="page237"></a>[pg 237]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h3>The National Assembly.</h3> + +<p class="indent">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 +(<i>Deutsch-nationale Volkspartei</i>). The right wing of the National-Liberals, +under the leadership of Dr. Stresemann, +became the German People's Party (<i>Deutsche Volkspartei</i>). +The left wing of the old party, under the leadership of +Baron von Richthofen joined with the former Progressives +(<i>Fortschrittliche Volkspartei</i>) to form the German Democratic +Party (<i>Deutsch-demokratische Partei</i>). The Clericals +retained their party solidarity but christened themselves +German Christian Party (<i>Deutsch-Christliche Partei</i>). 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page238" id="page238"></a>[pg 238]</span> +monarchy. The two Socialist parties were, of course, advocates +of a republic and bitter opponents of monarchs and +monarchies.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Democratic Party came into existence mainly +through the efforts of Theodor Wolff, the brilliant editor +of the Berlin <i>Tageblatt</i>. 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 <i>bourgeois</i> newspaper had been +so often suppressed as the <i>Tageblatt</i>, 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 <i>poseur</i> Maximilian Harden-Witkowski.</p> + +<p class="indent">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<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> joined with <i>bourgeois</i> political +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" id="page239"></a>[pg 239]</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_62_62"> +<span class="label">[62]</span></a> +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, +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> Socialist or a Socialistic <i>bourgeois</i> 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 +<i>bourgeois</i> parties of the Left, and the proletarians were +already for the most part adherents of one of the Socialist +factions.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">One feature of the campaign illustrated strikingly what +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page240" id="page240"></a>[pg 240]</span> +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 <i>bourgeois +Hallesche Zeitung's</i> paper supply was cut in half in order +that the new Socialist <i>Volkszeitung</i> might be established, and +its protest was dismissed by the Soldiers' Council with the +statement that the <i>Volkszeitung</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" id="page241"></a>[pg 241]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page242" id="page242"></a>[pg 242]</span> +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" (<i>die Wilden</i>), 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Kultur</i>, of days before a simple, industrious +people had been converted to a belief in their mission +to impose the ideals of <i>Preussen-Deutschland</i> upon the +world with "the mailed fist" and "in shining armor." It is +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" id="page243"></a>[pg 243]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>coup</i> +for the first week of February.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" id="page244"></a>[pg 244]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Genossen</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" id="page245"></a>[pg 245]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<i>vaterlandslose Gesellen</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Ebert belongs to that class which the French call the <i>petite +bourgeoisie</i>, the lower middle class. He possesses all the +solid, domestic virtues of this class, and is a living exemplification +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page246" id="page246"></a>[pg 246]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page247" id="page247"></a>[pg 247]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page248" id="page248"></a>[pg 248]</span> +How shall we socialize when there is nothing to socialize? +asked thoughtful men. The answer was obvious. <i>Gegen +den Tod ist kein Kraut gewachsen</i> (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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_63_63"> +<span class="label">[63]</span></a> +Introduction to the second edition of the Manifesto of 1849, quoted in +chapter iii.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page249" id="page249"></a>[pg 249]</span> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_64_64"> +<span class="label">[64]</span></a> +<i>Encyclopedia Britannica</i>, title "Germany."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent">"Does 'absolute majority' mean a majority of the whole +number of delegates?" asked some learned delegate.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">And while the National Assembly droned thus wearily +on, clouds were again gathering over Berlin and other cities +in the troubled young republic.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" id="page251"></a>[pg 251]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h3>The Spartacans Rise Again.</h3> + +<p class="indent">Article xxvi of the armistice of November 11th declared:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"The Allies and the United States have in view the +provisioning of Germany during the armistice to the extent +deemed necessary."<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_65_65"> +<span class="label">[65]</span></a> +Les Alliés et les États-Unis envisagent le ravitaillement de l'Allemagne, +pendant l'armistice, dans la mesure reconnue nécessaire.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page252" id="page252"></a>[pg 252]</span> +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Daily News</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> + +<p class="indent">So far, so good. This was a step in the right direction. But +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page253" id="page253"></a>[pg 253]</span> +it had to be qualified. This was done in the next paragraph:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page254" id="page254"></a>[pg 254]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page255" id="page255"></a>[pg 255]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page256" id="page256"></a>[pg 256]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page257" id="page257"></a>[pg 257]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page258" id="page258"></a>[pg 258]</span> +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 <i>bourgeois</i> minister. He decreed:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"All persons found with arms in their hands, resisting +government troops, will be summarily executed."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><i>Die Freiheit</i> and <i>Die Republik</i> denounced the members +of the government as murderers. The office of the Spartacans' +<i>Die rote Fahne</i> had been occupied by government +troops on the day of the outbreak of the Bolshevik uprising. +The <i>bourgeois</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The uprising collapsed rapidly after the Spartacans had +been driven from their main strongholds. They maintained +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page259" id="page259"></a>[pg 259]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Independent Social-Democratic Party went over to +the Spartacans officially, bag and baggage.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" id="page260"></a>[pg 260]</span> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"The leaders of the Socialists of the Right (Majority) +have renewed their pact with the <i>bourgeois</i> classes and deserted +the interests of the proletariat. They are carrying on +a befogging policy with the words 'democracy' and 'Socialism.'</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The program declared a new proletarian battling organization +necessary, and continued:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"In all capitalistic lands the Soviet system is growing out +of the same economic conditions and becoming the bearer +of the proletarian world-revolution.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"In order to attain this end the party will employ all +political and economic means of battle, including parliaments."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page261" id="page261"></a>[pg 261]</span> +With this preface, these "immediate demands" of the +party were set forth:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"1. Inclusion of the Soviet system in the constitution: +the Soviets to have a deciding voice in municipal, state and +industrial legislation.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page262" id="page262"></a>[pg 262]</span> +rooms of the possessing class shall be placed at the disposition +of the homeless. Fundamental reform of public-health +systems.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"8. A public monopoly of newspaper advertisements shall +be created for the benefit of municipalities.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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 <i>Internationale</i> on the basis of revolutionary social +policy in the spirit of the international conferences of +Zimmerwald and Kienthal."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The essential kinship of the Independents and Spartacans +will be more clearly apparent from a comparison of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page263" id="page263"></a>[pg 263]</span> +the latters' demands, as published on April 14th in <i>Die rote +Fahne</i>, then appearing in Leipsic. They follow:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Unconditional acceptance of the demands of the Spartacus +Party's program.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_66_66"> +<span class="label">[66]</span></a> +<i>Vide</i> chapter xi.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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 <i>bourgeoisie</i> +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 <i>bourgeois</i> press, including particularly +the Majority Socialist press."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" id="page264"></a>[pg 264]</span> +German Bolsheviki received material reinforcements at a +time when they would have been powerless without them.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Spartacans had lost their armed battle against the +government, but they had won a more important bloodless +conflict.</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" id="page265"></a>[pg 265]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h3>Red or White Internationalism Which?</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" id="page266"></a>[pg 266]</span> +to the agitation of leaders who promised that +division of property contemplated by Communist Socialism.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Independent Socialists had "made the revolution." +They claimed the right to determine its development. The +<i>bourgeoisie</i>, 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 <i>Genossen</i>. They even believed +(<i>horribile dictu!</i>) 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page267" id="page267"></a>[pg 267]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Then, on March 19th, the French Colonel Vix sent a note +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page268" id="page268"></a>[pg 268]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page269" id="page269"></a>[pg 269]</span> +that importation is seriously hampered. The event is on +the knees of the gods.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The <i>bona fides</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>irredentas</i>, 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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" id="page270"></a>[pg 270]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" id="page271"></a>[pg 271]</span> +and it has been gravely puzzled by this state of affairs. +It considers it a paradox that Internationalism exists +among presumably well educated persons.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">Shall this Internationalism be Red or White?</p> +</blockquote> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" id="page273"></a>[pg 273]</span></p> + +<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2> + +<h3>The Weimar Constitution</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Einheitsstaat</i>, 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" (<i>Gebiete des Reichs</i>): Prussia (consisting +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" id="page274"></a>[pg 274]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">With the erection by the National Assembly of the +<i>Staatenausschuss</i>, or Committee of the States,<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_67_67"> +<span class="label">[67]</span></a> +<i>Vide</i> p. 245.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page275" id="page275"></a>[pg 275]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The new constitution's preamble reads:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"The German people, united in its races<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> 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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_68_68"> +<span class="label">[68]</span></a> +<i>Das Deutsche Volk, einig in seinen Stämmen.</i> There is no adequate +English translation of <i>Stämme</i> (plural of <i>Stamm</i>), except the word "tribes," +which, of course, is in place only when speaking of uncivilized peoples.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page276" id="page276"></a>[pg 276]</span> +Article 1 reads:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"The German state<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a> is a republic. The power of the state +comes from the people."</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_69_69"> +<span class="label">[69]</span></a> +<i>Das Deutsche Reich ist eine Republik.</i> Revolutionary though they were, +the constitution-makers could not bring themselves to discard the old name +<i>Reich</i>, 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 <i>Reich</i>—a solution generally accepted in Europe.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_70_70"> +<span class="label">[70]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Reservatrechte</i> or special rights reserved +by several states under the monarchy<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a> are done away +with. The federal government assumes the exclusive right +of legislation concerning foreign relations, post, telegraphs, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" id="page277"></a>[pg 277]</span> +and telephones, coinage, immigration and emigration, and +customs duties.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_71_71"> +<span class="label">[71]</span></a> +<i>Vide</i> p. 21.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page278" id="page278"></a>[pg 278]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page279" id="page279"></a>[pg 279]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Two articles of the constitution, however, render all these +powers more or less illusory. Article 50 provides:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">It is readily apparent that the President's powers are +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page280" id="page280"></a>[pg 280]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">There is a provision for a standing committee on foreign +affairs, which may hold sessions at any time and holds office +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page281" id="page281"></a>[pg 281]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Federal Council was, under the monarchy, the chief +bulwark of the princes, whose representatives, not the +people's, its members were.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> In the new Reichsrat, the successor +of the Federal Council, the various lands are represented +"by members of their governments."<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_72_72"> +<span class="label">[72]</span></a> +<i>Vide</i> p. 22.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_73_73"> +<span class="label">[73]</span></a> +Weimar constitution, art. 63.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a> The +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page282" id="page282"></a>[pg 282]</span> +Reichsrat consists of sixty-six members, apportioned as follows:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_74_74"> +<span class="label">[74]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">The fifth section of the constitution containing articles +68 to 77 inclusive, is devoted to the legislative functions of +the Reich. Article 68 reads:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"Bills are proposed by the government of the Reich<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> or by +the members of the Reichstag.</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_75_75"> +<span class="label">[75]</span></a> +"The government of the Reich" or "the Reich government" means the +Chancellor and all the ministers of his cabinet.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"The laws of the Reich are enacted by the Reichstag."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_76_76"> +<span class="label">[76]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page283" id="page283"></a>[pg 283]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" id="page284"></a>[pg 284]</span> +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.<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a> 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.<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> 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.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a></p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_77_77"> +<span class="label">[77]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_78_78"> +<span class="label">[78]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_79_79"> +<span class="label">[79]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The second "main division" of the constitution deals with +the "fundamental rights and fundamental duties of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" id="page285"></a>[pg 285]</span> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">The individual; social life; religion and religious societies; +education and school; economic life.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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."<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> 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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_80_80"> +<span class="label">[80]</span></a> +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.)</p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_81_81"> +<span class="label">[81]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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."<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> 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." +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page286" id="page286"></a>[pg 286]</span> +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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_82_82"> +<span class="label">[82]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent">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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>Frau</i> (Mrs.) instead of <i>Fräulein</i> (Miss). This, +too, was defeated.</p> + +<p class="indent">Other articles due to Socialist advocacy, some of a principal +nature, others merely doctrinaire, are:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">Providing that legal rights may not be refused to any +association because it has a political, politico-social or religious +aim;</p> + +<p class="indent">Providing that "no person is obliged to state his religious +belief";</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page287" id="page287"></a>[pg 287]</span> +Disestablishing the state church;</p> + +<p class="indent">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;</p> + +<p class="indent">Providing that "the cultivation and use of land is a duty +which the owner owes to the community.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> 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";</p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_83_83"> +<span class="label">[83]</span></a> +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.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"Property imposes obligations. Its enjoyment shall be at +the same time a service for the common weal";</p> + +<p class="indent">Directing the dissolution of entailed estates;</p> + +<p class="indent">Declaring that civil servants "are servants of the whole +people, not of a party."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"Property can be expropriated only for the common welfare +and by legal methods. Expropriation is to be made upon +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page288" id="page288"></a>[pg 288]</span> +just compensation, <i>so far as a law of the Reich does not prescribe +otherwise</i>." (Italics by the author.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">Article 156 reads:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">There are still two Socialistic articles to be considered. +One, article 157, says:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"Labor enjoys the especial protection of the Reich."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent"><i>Die Arbeitskraft</i>, 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">From the very outset, as has been pointed out repeatedly in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page289" id="page289"></a>[pg 289]</span> +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 <i>Räterepublik</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 (<i>Betriebsarbeiterräte</i>), as +well as in district workmen's councils (<i>Bezirksarbeiterräte</i>), +and in a national workmen's council (<i>Reichsarbeiterrat</i>). +The district and national councils combine with the +representatives of the employers "and other interested circles +of the people" to form district economic councils (<i>Bezirkswirtschaftsräte</i>), +and a national economic council (<i>Reichswirtschaftsrat</i>). +"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."</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" id="page290"></a>[pg 290]</span> +Article 165 continues:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Powers of control and administration can be conferred +upon the workmen's and economic councils over matters +lying in their sphere of action."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">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 <i>bourgeois</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page291" id="page291"></a>[pg 291]</span> +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.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">(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.)</p> +</blockquote> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page292" id="page292"></a>[pg 292]</span></p> + +<p><i>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</i> League of Nations +<i>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</i>:</p> + +<p class="indent">A word should be added in explanation of the way in which certain technical +terms have been translated.</p> + +<p class="indent">It is no longer fitting, for example, to translate <i>Reich</i> 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Another difficulty arises when <i>Reichs</i>- is used as a qualifier. Is the <i>Reichsrat</i>, +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."</p> + +<p class="indent">The term <i>Reichsregierung</i> 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 <i>Regierung</i> must be +distinguished from the <i>Ministerium</i>. 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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" id="page293"></a>[pg 293]</span> +anyone who wishes to obtain a thorough comprehension of such a document.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="right">W. B. M.<br /> +A. N. H.</p> + +<p>January 5, 1920.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>Glossary.</h2> + +<table border="1" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" width="100%" summary="glossary"> +<tr> +<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">German</span></td> <td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Translation</span></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reich</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>Commonwealth</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichs-</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>of the Commonwealth, national</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichsarbeiterrat</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>National Workers' Council</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichsgericht</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>National Judicial Court</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichskanzler</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>National Chancellor</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichsminister</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>National Minister</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichsministerium, pl.,-ien</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>National Department</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichsprasident</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>President of the Commonwealth, National President</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichsrat</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>National Council</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichsregierung</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>National Cabinet</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichstag</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>National Assembly</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichsverwaltungsgericht</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>National Administration Court</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Reichswirtschaftsrat</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>National Economic Council</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Land</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>State (as integral part of the Commonwealth)</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Landes-</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>of the State, State</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Landesregierung</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>State Cabinet</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Landtag</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>State Assembly</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Wahlprufungsgericht</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>Electoral Commission</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Staat</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>country, state (one of the family of nations);<br /> +referring to Germany, it designates the Commonwealth<br /> +and separate States as a single political entity.</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">Staatsgerichtshof</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>Supreme Judicial Court</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">staatlich</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>political</i></td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td class="tdl">freistaatlich</td> +<td class="tdl"><i>republican</i></td> +</tr> +</table> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page294" id="page294"></a>[pg 294]</span></p> + +<h2>The Constitution of the German +Commonwealth</h2> + +<h2><i>PREAMBLE</i></h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>CHAPTER I<br /> +Structure and Functions of the Commonwealth.</h2> + +<h2><i>SECTION I</i><br /> +COMMONWEALTH AND STATES</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 1</h3> + +<p class="indent">The German Commonwealth is a republic.</p> + +<p class="indent">Political authority is derived from the People.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 2</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 3</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 4</h3> + +<p class="indent">The generally recognized principles of the law of nations are accepted as an +integral part of the law of the German Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" id="page295"></a>[pg 295]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 5</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 6</h3> + +<p class="indent">The Commonwealth has exclusive jurisdiction over:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">1. Foreign relations;</p> + +<p class="indent">2. Colonial affairs;</p> + +<p class="indent">3. Citizenship, freedom of travel and residence, immigration and emigration, +and extradition;</p> + +<p class="indent">4. Organization for national defense;</p> + +<p class="indent">5. Coinage;</p> + +<p class="indent">6. Customs, including the consolidation of customs and trade districts and +the free interchange of goods;</p> + +<p class="indent">7. Posts and telegraphs, including telephones.</p> +</blockquote> + +<h3>ARTICLE 7</h3> + +<p class="indent">The Commonwealth has jurisdiction over:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">1. Civil law;</p> + +<p class="indent">2. Criminal law;</p> + +<p class="indent">3. Judicial procedure, including penal administration, and official cooperation +between the administrative authorities;</p> + +<p class="indent">4. Passports and the supervision of aliens;</p> + +<p class="indent">5. Poor relief and vagrancy;</p> + +<p class="indent">6. The press, associations and public meetings;</p> + +<p class="indent">7. Problems of population; protection of maternity, infancy, childhood +and adolescence;</p> + +<p class="indent">8. Public health, veterinary practice, protection of plants from disease +and pests;</p> + +<p class="indent">9. The rights of labor, social insurance, the protection of wage-earners +and other employees, and employment bureaus;</p> + +<p class="indent">10. The establishment of national organizations for vocational representation;</p> + +<p class="indent">11. Provision for war-veterans and their surviving dependents;</p> + +<p class="indent">12. The law of expropriation;</p> + +<p class="indent">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;</p> + +<p class="indent">14. Trade, weights and measures, the issue of paper money, banking, and +stock and produce exchanges;</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page296" id="page296"></a>[pg 296]</span> +15. Commerce in foodstuffs and in other necessaries of daily life, and in +luxuries;</p> + +<p class="indent">16. Industry and mining;</p> + +<p class="indent">17. Insurance;</p> + +<p class="indent">18. Ocean navigation, and deep-sea and coast fisheries;</p> + +<p class="indent">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;</p> + +<p class="indent">20. Theaters and cinematographs.</p> +</blockquote> + +<h3>ARTICLE 8</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 9</h3> + +<p class="indent">Whenever it is necessary to establish uniform rules, the Commonwealth has +jurisdiction over:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">1. The promotion of social welfare;</p> + +<p class="indent">2. The protection of public order and safety.</p> +</blockquote> + +<h3>ARTICLE 10</h3> + +<p class="indent">The Commonwealth may prescribe by law fundamental principles concerning:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">1. The rights and duties of religious associations;</p> + +<p class="indent">2. Education, including higher education and libraries for scientific use;</p> + +<p class="indent">3. The law of officers of all public bodies;</p> + +<p class="indent">4. The land law, the distribution of land, settlements and homesteads, +restrictions on landed property, housing, and the distribution of +population;</p> + +<p class="indent">5. Disposal of the dead.</p> +</blockquote> + +<h3>ARTICLE 11</h3> + +<p class="indent">The Commonwealth may prescribe by law fundamental principles concerning +the validity and mode of collection of State taxes, in order to prevent:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">1. Injury to the revenues or to the trade relations of the Commonwealth;</p> + +<p class="indent">2. Double taxation;</p> + +<p class="indent">3. The imposition of excessive burdens, or burdens in restraint of trade +on the use of the means and agencies of public communication;</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page297" id="page297"></a>[pg 297]</span> +4. Tax discriminations against the products of other States in favor of +domestic products in interstate and local commerce; or</p> + +<p class="indent">5. Export bounties;</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">or in order to protect important social interests.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 12</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 13</h3> + +<p class="indent">The laws of the Commonwealth are supreme over the laws of the States which +conflict with them.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 14</h3> + +<p class="indent">The laws of the Commonwealth will be executed by the State authorities, +unless otherwise provided by national law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 15</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Cabinet supervises the conduct of affairs over which the Commonwealth +has jurisdiction.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 16</h3> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page298" id="page298"></a>[pg 298]</span> +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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 17</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 18</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">With the consent of the States directly affected, it requires only an ordinary +law of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">After the consent of the population has been ascertained the National Cabinet +shall introduce into the National Assembly a bill suitable for enactment.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page299" id="page299"></a>[pg 299]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 19</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The President of the Commonwealth executes judgments of the Supreme +Judicial Court.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><i>SECTION II</i><br /> +THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 20</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Assembly is composed of the delegates of the German People.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 21</h3> + +<p class="indent">The delegates are representatives of the whole People. They are subject only +to their own consciences and are not bound by any instructions.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 22</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The details will be regulated by the national election law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 23</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The National Assembly convenes at the latest on the thirtieth day after the +election.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 24</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The National Assembly determines the close of its session and the day of +reassembling.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page300" id="page300"></a>[pg 300]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 25</h3> + +<p class="indent">The President of the Commonwealth may dissolve the National Assembly, but +only once for the same cause.</p> + +<p class="indent">The new election occurs at the latest on the sixtieth day after such dissolution.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 26</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Assembly chooses its President, Vice-President and its Secretaries. +It regulates its own procedure.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 27</h3> + +<p class="indent">During the interval between sessions, or while elections are taking place, the +President and Vice-President of the preceding session conduct its affairs.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 28</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 29</h3> + +<p class="indent">The proceedings of the National Assembly are public. At the request of fifty +members the public may be excluded by a two-thirds vote.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 30</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 31</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">This Electoral Commission pronounces judgment after public hearings through +a quorum of three members of the National Assembly and two judicial members.</p> + +<p class="indent">Proceedings apart from the hearings before the Electoral Commission will +be conducted by a National Commissioner appointed by the President of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page301" id="page301"></a>[pg 301]</span> +Commonwealth. In other respects the procedure will be regulated by the Electoral +Commission.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 32</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The quorum to do business will be regulated by the rules of procedure.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 33</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Assembly and its committees may require the presence of the +National Chancellor and of any National Minister.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">They are subject to the authority of the presiding officer in matters of order.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 34</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 35</h3> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page302" id="page302"></a>[pg 302]</span> +sittings are not public, unless the committee by a two-thirds vote otherwise +provides.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">These committees have the rights of committees of investigation.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 36</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 37</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 38</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 39</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">If they become candidates for election to these bodies, the necessary leave +shall be granted them to prepare for their election.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page303" id="page303"></a>[pg 303]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 40</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><i>SECTION III</i><br /> +THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT AND THE NATIONAL CABINET</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 41</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National President is chosen by the whole German People.</p> + +<p class="indent">Every German who has completed his thirty-fifth year is eligible for election.</p> + +<p class="indent">The details will be regulated by a national law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 42</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National President, on assuming his office, takes before the National +Assembly the following oath:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">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.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="indent">The addition of a religious affirmation is permitted.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 43</h3> + +<p class="indent">The term of the National President is seven years. He is eligible for reelection.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The National President shall not be subject to criminal prosecution without +the consent of the National Assembly.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 44</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National President may not at the same time be a member of the +National Assembly.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page304" id="page304"></a>[pg 304]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 45</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">War is declared and peace concluded by national law.</p> + +<p class="indent">Alliances and treaties with foreign States, relating to subjects within the +jurisdiction of the Commonwealth, require the consent of the National Assembly.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 46</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 47</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National President has supreme command over all the armed forces of +the Commonwealth.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 48</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The details will be regulated by a national law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 49</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National President exercises the right of pardon for the Commonwealth. +National amnesties require a national law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 50</h3> + +<p class="indent">All orders and directions of the National President, including those concerning +the armed forces, require for their validity the countersignature of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" id="page305"></a>[pg 305]</span> +National Chancellor or of the appropriate National Minister. By the countersignature +responsibility is assumed.</p> + +<h3>Article 51</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The same procedure shall be followed in case of a premature vacancy of the +Presidency until the completion of the new election.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 52</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Cabinet consists of the National Chancellor and the National +Ministers.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 53</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Chancellor and, on his proposal, the National Ministers are +appointed and dismissed by the National President.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 54</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 55</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 56</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 57</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page306" id="page306"></a>[pg 306]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 58</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Cabinet will make its decisions by majority vote. In case of a +tie the vote of the presiding officer will be decisive.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 59</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><i>SECTION IV</i><br /> +THE NATIONAL COUNCIL</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 60</h3> + +<p class="indent">A National Council will be organized to represent the German States in +national legislation and administration.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 61</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">[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.]<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a> +<a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a></p> +</blockquote> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a> +<a href="#FNanchor_84_84"> +<span class="label">[84]</span></a> +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:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">"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:</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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:—</p> + +<p class="indent">"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."</p> + +<p class="indent">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:</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"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.</p> + +<p class="indent">"The present declaration shall be approved by the competent German legislative +authority, within the fortnight following the entry into force of the +Peace Treaty.</p> + +<p class="indent">"Given at Versailles, September 22, 1919, in the presence of the undersigned +representatives of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers."</p> +</blockquote> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page307" id="page307"></a>[pg 307]</span> +The number of votes is determined anew by the National Council after every +general census.</p> + +<h3>Article 62</h3> + +<p class="indent">In committees formed by the National Council from its own members no +State will have more than one vote.</p> + +<h3>Article 63</h3> + +<p class="indent">The States will be represented in the National Council by members of their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page308" id="page308"></a>[pg 308]</span> +Cabinets. Half of the Prussian votes, however, will be at the disposal of the +Prussian provincial administrations in accordance with a State law.</p> + +<p class="indent">The States have the right to send as many representatives to the National +Council as they have votes.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 64</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Cabinet must summon the National Council on demand by +one-third of its members.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 65</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 66</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Cabinet, as well as every member of the National Council, is +entitled to make proposals in the National Council.</p> + +<p class="indent">The National Council regulates its order of business through rules of procedure.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Decisions are taken by a majority of those present.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 67</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><i>SECTION V</i><br /> +NATIONAL LEGISLATION</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 68</h3> + +<p class="indent">Bills are introduced by the National Cabinet or by members of the National +Assembly.</p> + +<p class="indent">National laws are enacted by the National Assembly.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page309" id="page309"></a>[pg 309]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 69</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 70</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National President shall compile the laws which have been constitutionally +enacted and within one month publish them in the National Bulletin of +Laws.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 71</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 72</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 73</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The procedure in connection with the popular referendum and initiative will +be regulated by national law.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page310" id="page310"></a>[pg 310]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 74</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Council has the right to object to laws passed by the National +Assembly.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 75</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 76</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 77</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page311" id="page311"></a>[pg 311]</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><i>SECTION VI</i><br/> +THE NATIONAL ADMINISTRATION</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 78</h3> + +<p class="indent">The conduct of relations with foreign countries is exclusively a function of +the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="indent">The States, in matters subject to their jurisdiction, may conclude treaties +with foreign countries; such treaties require the assent of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 79</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 80</h3> + +<p class="indent">Colonial policy is exclusively a function of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 81</h3> + +<p class="indent">All German merchant ships constitute a unified merchant marine.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 82</h3> + +<p class="indent">Germany forms a customs and trade area surrounded by a common customs +boundary.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Foreign territories or parts of territories may be incorporated in the customs +area by international treaties or agreements.</p> + +<p class="indent">Portions of territory may be excluded from the customs area in accordance +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page312" id="page312"></a>[pg 312]</span> +with special requirements. In the case of free ports this exclusion may be discontinued +only by an amendment to the Constitution.</p> + +<p class="indent">Districts excluded from the customs area may be included within a foreign +customs area by international treaties or agreements.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 83</h3> + +<p class="indent">Customs duties and taxes on articles of consumption are administered by the +national authorities.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 84</h3> + +<p class="indent">The Commonwealth has authority to regulate by law:</p> + +<p class="indent">1. The organization of the State tax administrations so far as is required +for the uniform and impartial execution of the national tax laws;</p> + +<p class="indent">2. The organization and functions of the authorities charged with the +supervision of the execution of the national tax laws;</p> + +<p class="indent">3. The accounting with the States;</p> + +<p class="indent">4. The reimbursement of the costs of administration in connection with the +execution of the national tax laws.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 85</h3> + +<p class="indent">All revenues and expenditures of the Commonwealth must be estimated for +each fiscal year and entered in the budget.</p> + +<p class="indent">The budget is adopted by law before the beginning of the fiscal year.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The National Assembly may not increase appropriations in the budget bill or +insert new items without the consent of the National Council.</p> + +<p class="indent">The consent of the National Council may be dispensed with in accordance +with the provisions of Article 74.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 86</h3> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page313" id="page313"></a>[pg 313]</span> +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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 87</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 88</h3> + +<p class="indent">The postal and telegraph services, together with the telephone service, are +exclusively functions of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="indent">The postage stamps are uniform for the whole Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Commonwealth alone concludes treaties relating to communication with +foreign countries.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 89</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The rights of the States to acquire private railroads shall be transferred +to the Commonwealth on its demand.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 90</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 91</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page314" id="page314"></a>[pg 314]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 92</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 93</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 94</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Each railroad administration must consent to connection with other roads at +the expense of the latter.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 95</h3> + +<p class="indent">Railroads serving as means of general public communication which are not +operated by the Commonwealth are subject to supervision by the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The supervision of rates is designed to secure non-discriminatory and moderate +railroad charges.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page315" id="page315"></a>[pg 315]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 96</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 97</h3> + +<p class="indent">It is the duty of the Commonwealth to acquire ownership of and to operate +all waterways serving as means of general public communication.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">In taking over the waterways the Commonwealth acquires the right of expropriation, +control of rates, and the police power over waterways and navigation.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 98</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 99</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The provisions of the preceding paragraph apply to the charges imposed for +artificial waterways and for accommodations in connection therewith and in +harbors.</p> + +<p class="indent">The total costs of a waterway, a river basin, or a system of waterways may be +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page316" id="page316"></a>[pg 316]</span> +taken into consideration in determining navigation tolls in the field of inland +water transportation.</p> + +<p class="indent">These provisions apply also to the floating of timber on navigable waterways.</p> + +<p class="indent">Only the Commonwealth imposes on foreign ships and their cargoes other or +higher charges than on German ships and their cargoes.</p> + +<p class="indent">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].</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 100</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 101</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><i>SECTION VII</i><br /> +THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 102</h3> + +<p class="indent">Judges are independent and subject only to the law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 103</h3> + +<p class="indent">Ordinary jurisdiction will be exercised by the National Judicial Court and +the courts of the States.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 104</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Temporary suspension from office in accordance with law is not affected by +this Article.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page317" id="page317"></a>[pg 317]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">These provisions do not apply to judges of commercial tribunals, lay associates, +and jurymen.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 105</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 106</h3> + +<p class="indent">Military jurisdiction is abolished except in time of war and on board war-vessels. +Details will be regulated by national law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 107</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 108</h3> + +<p class="indent">In accordance with a national law a Supreme Judicial Court will be established +for the German Commonwealth.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>CHAPTER II<br /> +Fundamental Rights and Duties of Germans.</h2> + +<h2><i>SECTION I</i><br /> +THE INDIVIDUAL</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 109</h3> + +<p class="indent">All Germans are equal before the law.</p> + +<p class="indent">Men and women have fundamentally the same civil rights and duties.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Titles may be conferred only when they designate an office or profession; +academic degrees are not affected by this provision.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page318" id="page318"></a>[pg 318]</span> +Orders and honorary insignia may not be conferred by the state.</p> + +<p class="indent">No German may accept a title or order from a foreign Government.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 110</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Every German has the same rights and duties in each State of the Commonwealth +as the citizens of that State.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 111</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 112</h3> + +<p class="indent">Every German has the right to emigrate to foreign countries. Emigration +may be limited only by national law.</p> + +<p class="indent">All German citizens, both within and without the territory of the Commonwealth, +have a right to its protection with respect to foreign countries.</p> + +<p class="indent">No German may be surrendered to a foreign Government for prosecution or +punishment.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 113</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 114</h3> + +<p class="indent">Personal liberty is inviolable. An interference with or abridgment of personal +liberty through official action is permissible only by authority of law.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 115</h3> + +<p class="indent">The house of every German is his sanctuary and is inviolable. Exceptions are +permissible only by authority of law.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page319" id="page319"></a>[pg 319]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 116</h3> + +<p class="indent">An act can be punishable only if the penalty was fixed by law before the act +was committed.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 117</h3> + +<p class="indent">The secrecy of postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communications is inviolable. +Exceptions may be permitted only by national law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 118</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><i>SECTION II</i><br /> +COMMUNITY LIFE</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 119</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Motherhood has a claim to the protection and care of the State.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 120</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 121</h3> + +<p class="indent">Illegitimate children shall be provided by law with the same opportunities +for their physical, mental, and moral development as legitimate children.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page320" id="page320"></a>[pg 320]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 122</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Compulsory protective measures may be ordered only by authority of the law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 123</h3> + +<p class="indent">All Germans have the right of meeting peaceably and unarmed without notice +or special permission.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 124</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 125</h3> + +<p class="indent">The liberty and secrecy of the suffrage are guaranteed. Details will be regulated +by the election laws.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 126</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 127</h3> + +<p class="indent">Municipalities and unions of municipalities have the right of self-government +within the limits of the laws.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 128</h3> + +<p class="indent">All citizens without distinction are eligible for public office in accordance with +the laws and according to their ability and services.</p> + +<p class="indent">All discriminations against women in the civil service are abolished.</p> + +<p class="indent">The principles of the official relation shall be regulated by national law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 129</h3> + +<p class="indent">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. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page321" id="page321"></a>[pg 321]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 130</h3> + +<p class="indent">The civil officers are servants of the whole community, not of a part of it.</p> + +<p class="indent">To all civil officers freedom of political opinion and of association are assured.</p> + +<p class="indent">The civil officers receive special representation in their official capacity in +accordance with more precise provisions of national law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 131</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Detailed regulations will be made by the appropriate law-making authority.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 132</h3> + +<p class="indent">Every German, in accordance with the laws, has the duty of accepting honorary +offices.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 133</h3> + +<p class="indent">All citizens are obliged, in accordance with the laws, to render personal +services to the state and the municipality.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page322" id="page322"></a>[pg 322]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 134</h3> + +<p class="indent">All citizens, without distinction, contribute according to their means to the +support of all public burdens, as may be provided by law.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><i>SECTION III</i><br /> +RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 135</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 136</h3> + +<p class="indent">Civil and political rights and duties are neither conditioned upon nor limited +by the exercise of religious liberty.</p> + +<p class="indent">The enjoyment of civil and political rights as well as eligibility to public +office is independent of religious belief.</p> + +<p class="indent">No one is under any obligation to reveal his religious convictions.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 137</h3> + +<p class="indent">There is no state church.</p> + +<p class="indent">Freedom of association in religious societies is guaranteed. The combination +of religious societies within the Commonwealth is not subject to any limitations.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Religious societies may be incorporated in accordance with the general provisions +of the civil law.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page323" id="page323"></a>[pg 323]</span> +The associations, which have as their aim the cultivation of a system of ethics, +have the same privileges as the religious societies.</p> + +<p class="indent">The issuance of further regulations necessary for carrying out these provisions +comes under the jurisdiction of the States.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 138</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The property of religious societies and unions and other rights to their cultural, +educational, and charitable institutions, foundations, and other possessions +are guaranteed.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 139</h3> + +<p class="indent">Sundays and legal holidays remain under the protection of law as days of +rest and spiritual edification.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 140</h3> + +<p class="indent">The members of the armed forces shall be granted the necessary leave for +the performance of their religious duties.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 141</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><i>SECTION IV</i><br /> +EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 142</h3> + +<p class="indent">Art, science and the teaching thereof are free. The state guarantees their protection +and takes part in fostering them.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 143</h3> + +<p class="indent">The education of the young shall be provided for through public institutions. +In their establishment the Commonwealth, States and municipalities co-operate.</p> + +<p class="indent">The training of teachers shall be regulated in a uniform manner for the +Commonwealth according to the generally recognized principles of higher +education.</p> + +<p class="indent">The teachers in the public schools have the rights and duties of state officers.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page324" id="page324"></a>[pg 324]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 144</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 145</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 146</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 147</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page325" id="page325"></a>[pg 325]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Private preparatory schools shall be abolished.</p> + +<p class="indent">The existing law remains in effect with respect to private schools which do +not serve as substitutes for public schools.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 148</h3> + +<p class="indent">All schools shall inculcate moral education, civic sentiment, and personal and +vocational efficiency in the spirit of German national culture and of international +conciliation.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the instruction in public schools care shall be taken not to hurt the feelings +of those of differing opinion.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The common school system, including university extension work, shall be +cherished by the Commonwealth, States and municipalities.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 149</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">The theological faculties in the universities will be continued.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 150</h3> + +<p class="indent">The artistic, historical and natural monuments and scenery enjoy the protection +and care of the state.</p> + +<p class="indent">The prevention of the removal of German art treasures from the country is a +function of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page326" id="page326"></a>[pg 326]</span></p> + +<hr /> + +<h2><i>SECTION V</i><br /> +ECONOMIC LIFE</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 151</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Legal compulsion is permissible only for safeguarding threatened rights or in +the service of predominant requirements of the common welfare.</p> + +<p class="indent">The freedom of trade and industry is guaranteed in accordance with the +national laws.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 152</h3> + +<p class="indent">Freedom of contract prevails in economic relations in accordance with the laws.</p> + +<p class="indent">Usury is forbidden. Legal practices which conflict with good morals are void.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 153</h3> + +<p class="indent">The right of private property is guaranteed by the Constitution. Its nature +and limits are defined by law.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Property-rights imply property-duties. Exercise thereof shall at the same time +serve the general welfare.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 154</h3> + +<p class="indent">The right of inheritance is guaranteed in accordance with the civil law.</p> + +<p class="indent">The share of the state in inheritances is determined in accordance with the +laws.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 155</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page327" id="page327"></a>[pg 327]</span> +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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 156</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 157</h3> + +<p class="indent">Labor is under the special protection of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="indent">The Commonwealth will adopt a uniform labor law.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 158</h3> + +<p class="indent">Intellectual labor, the rights of the author, the inventor and the artist enjoy +the protection and care of the Commonwealth.</p> + +<p class="indent">The products of German scholarship, art, and technical science shall also be +recognized and protected abroad through international agreement.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 159</h3> + +<p class="indent">The right of combination for the protection and promotion of labor and +economic conditions is guaranteed to everybody and to all professions. All +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page328" id="page328"></a>[pg 328]</span> +agreements and measures which attempt to limit or restrain this liberty are +unlawful.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 160</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 161</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 162</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 163</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 164</h3> + +<p class="indent">The independent agricultural, industrial, and commercial middle class shall be +fostered by legislation and administration, and shall be protected against oppression +and exploitation.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 165</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page329" id="page329"></a>[pg 329]</span> +National Workers' Council, for the purpose of looking after their social and +economic interests.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Supervisory and administrative functions may be delegated to the workers' +councils and to the economic councils within their respective areas.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h2>TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS</h2> + +<h3>ARTICLE 166</h3> + +<p class="indent">Until the establishment of the National Administrative Court, the National +Judicial Court takes its place in the organization of the Electoral Commission.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 167</h3> + +<p class="indent">The provisions of Article 18, Paragraphs 3 to 6, become effective two years +after the promulgation of the national Constitution.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 168</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 169</h3> + +<p class="indent">The National Cabinet will determine when the provisions of Article 83, +Paragraph 1, shall become effective.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page330" id="page330"></a>[pg 330]</span> +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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 170</h3> + +<p class="indent">The Postal and Telegraphic Administrations of Bavaria and Wurtemberg +will be taken over by the Commonwealth not later than April 1, 1921.</p> + +<p class="indent">If no understanding has been reached over the terms thereof by October 1, +1920, the matter will be decided by the Supreme Judicial Court.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 171</h3> + +<p class="indent">The state railroads, canals and aids to navigation will be taken over by the +Commonwealth not later than April 1, 1921.</p> + +<p class="indent">If no understanding has been reached over the terms thereof by October 1, +1920, the matter will be decided by the Supreme Judicial Court.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 172</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 173</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 174</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 175</h3> + +<p class="indent">The provisions of Article 109 do not apply to orders and decorations conferred +for services in the war-years 1914-1919.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page331" id="page331"></a>[pg 331]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 176</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 177</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 178</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">Official regulations, legally issued on the authority of laws heretofore in +effect, retain their validity until superseded by other regulations or legislation.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 179</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 180</h3> + +<p class="indent">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.</p> + +<p class="indent"><span class="pagenum"><a name="page332" id="page332"></a>[pg 332]</span></p> + +<h3>ARTICLE 181</h3> + +<p class="indent">The German People have ordained and established this Constitution by their +National Convention. It goes into effect upon the day of its promulgation.</p> + +<p><span class="smcap">Schwarzburg</span>, August 11, 1919</p> + +<p class="indent">[<i>Signed</i>]</p> + +<p class="indent">The National President: <span class="smcap">Ebert</span>.</p> + +<p class="indent">The National Cabinet: <span class="smcap">Bauer</span>, <span class="smcap">Erzberger</span>, <span class="smcap">Hermann Müller</span>, <span class="smcap">Dr. David</span>, +<span class="smcap">Noske</span>, <span class="smcap">Schmidt</span>, <span class="smcap">Schlicke</span>, <span class="smcap">Giesberts</span>, <span class="smcap">Dr. Mayer</span>, <span class="smcap">Dr. Bell</span>.</p> + +<p class="center">FINIS</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<h2>Errata</h2> + +<blockquote> +<p class="indent">Page 48, line 11: For "diregarded" read "disregarded."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 76, line 13: For "this expression" read "their expression."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 84, line 5: For "and this" read "and thus."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 90, lines 33 and 34: For "Michälis" read "Michaelis."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 94, line 18: For "Michälis" read "Michaelis."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 107, line 1: For "Michälis" read "Michaelis."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 116, line 1: For "Michälis" read "Michaelis."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 195, lines 5 and 12: For "<i>étape</i>" read "<i>étappe</i>."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 209, line 19: For "<i>étape</i>" read "<i>étappe</i>."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 232, line 24: For "by their acts, but rather by their motives" +read "by their acts instead of by their motives."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 240, line 24: For "Hamburg" read "Harburg."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 248, line 28: For "intransigent" read "intransigeant."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 257, line 17: For "governments' troops disposition" read +"government troops' disposition."</p> + +<p class="indent">Page 259, line 10: For "Bosheviki" read "Bolsheviki."</p> +</blockquote> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<p class="center">Printed in the United States of America</p> + +<hr class="hr2"/> + +<div class="tnote"> +<h2>Transcriber Notes:</h2> + +<hr /> + +<p class="indent">The errors noted in the Errata have been corrected.</p> + +<p class="indent">Errors in punctuations and inconsistent hyphenation were not corrected +unless otherwise noted. For instance, sometimes Wurtemberg is used instead of Württemberg.</p> + +<p class="indent">In the table of contents, "<i>Inter</i>-many's" was replaced with "<i>Internationale</i>—Germany's".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 33, "epecially" was replaced with "especially".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 34, "occured" was replaced with "occurred".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 41, "arbitary" was replaced with "arbitrary".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 53, "Wilheim" was replaced with "Wilhelm".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 65, "ninteen" was replaced with "nineteen".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 91, "Dittman" was replaced with "Dittmann".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 105, "agressively" was replaced with "aggressively".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 107, "beween" was replaced with "between".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 115, "situtation" was replaced with "situation".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 121, "possiblities" was replaced with "possibilities".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 125, "cooperate" was replaced with "coöperate".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 128, there is reference to the "Narodini Listy," although some other sources refer to it as "Narodni List".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 136, "panic-striken" was replaced with "panic-stricken".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 137, "cantagion" was replaced with "contagion".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 157, "hoplessness" was replaced with "hopelessness".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 165, in footnote 36, a quotation mark was put before "class-conscious"</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 168, "abdiction" was replaced with "abdication".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 244, "Februry" was replaced with "February".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 255, "Februry" was replaced with "February".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 266, the comma after "Republican Germany" was replaced with a +period.</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 282, in footnote 76, "sems" was replaced with "seems".</p> + +<p class="indent">On page 328, "agricultral" was replaced with "agricultural".</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's And the Kaiser abdicates, by S. Miles Bouton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AND THE KAISER ABDICATES *** + +***** This file should be named 39563-h.htm or 39563-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/5/6/39563/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at + www.gutenberg.org/license. + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 809 +North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email +contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the +Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For forty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + |