Part 5 (1/2)
A thing like this is worth memory to-day, in view of what has happened at Louvain and Aerschot and other scenes of Belgian outrage. The germ of Prussian barbarism must have been in the race, but Stieber and his kind have fostered it and caused its growth to the extent that has made of Germany a name of shame among the nations of the earth.
CHAPTER TEN.
AGENTS PROVOCATEURS.
This subject of political work, apart from espionage proper on the part of German agents, is a delicate one, for proof is not only hard to come by, but direct proof is practically non-existent, owing to the nature of the work. The most that can be done is to take cases of political work which, on the face of them, are such that no honest citizen would attempt: by a process of mental elimination one may arrive at the source of such work, though the result of the process is little more than conjecture. Still, half a dozen or so of results, all pointing the same conclusion, are of value, and, in spite of the absence of definite proof, police-court and criminal-court trials and the like, there can be no reasonable doubt that the work of the _agent provocateur_ goes on, and that the central office at Berlin pays in order to keep it going.
Harking back once more to Stieber, it will be remembered that, at the outset of his career, he took service in a mercantile firm, and identified himself with German Socialism of the revolutionary kind. He learned at first hand the power which Socialism has among the working cla.s.ses; he learned that, with very little reality behind the promises, it is easy to make a workman do nearly anything, if only the promises as regards the future of the working cla.s.s are large enough. He came to his own as a master in espionage and treachery--by betraying the men to whom he posed as a leader--at almost the first beginnings of the German Socialistic movement, and he watched that movement grow as the years went on. He saw that working men had a pa.s.sion for organising in defence of their rights, and that they could be led by nearly any appeal which proclaimed their rights, no matter how extravagant the proclamation might be.
Further, he saw that in Germany, under the Empire, workmen's rights would never win them anything--repression was too efficiently conducted, and there was no good in the workmen's movement for him; so he joined in with the forces that unto to-day (1914) govern Germany and suppress all that makes for real democratic government. Stieber was an opportunist, and knew well which side would best reward him.
Later on in his career he gained opportunities of studying the social conditions involved in the political const.i.tutions of other countries; after 1870 the const.i.tution of France interested him, and, studying it as he studied all things, with a view to the furtherance of his plans, he saw that much nominal power was placed in the hands of the people-- illiteracy and ignorance were no bars to the free expression of opinions, and, further, a man might agitate and stir up discontent among the working people to his heart's content, compared with what might be done in Germany, and there was no aristocracy nor any bureaucracy to say him nay. Now, said Stieber, if these workmen could be stirred up in a way that would make them distrustful of the governing cla.s.ses: if cla.s.s could be set against cla.s.s, unions formed, and the men led to strike and paralyse industry at a given time--say, at a time when Germany wanted to make war--the benefits accruing would be immense; but not to France.
We have no definite proof that modern Syndicalism and its evils arose out of Stieber's efforts. We have certain evidence, and certain coincidences, that are nearly as good as definite proof. For instance, there is no actual proof of this contention in the fact that the incident of the _Panther_ and Agadir, which so nearly precipitated the whole of Europe into war, was practically coincident with one of the worst strikes that the history of British industry can show; but there is proof that, for years past, German agitators have been teaching both British and French workmen the way to organise ”in defence of their rights,” and have been advocating Syndicalism and the weapon of the general strike as a panacea for all evils to which the cla.s.ses subject the ma.s.ses.
With the economic aspect of the question we are not concerned for the purpose of this book, and lest we be misunderstood let us pay tribute to the fine loyalty of the leaders of labour in this country; to such men as Will Crooks, who have helped to bring the nation into line in the hour of national peril, and are men worthy of all honour and all praise.
We are concerned more with certain coincidental happenings, like that of Agadir and our own great strike, and certain other happenings which point to the same conclusion--that Germany has tried, by means of industrial unrest, disaffection, and other means, to weaken the hands of potential enemies in the hours when strength was most needed.
First of all, it must be noted that the two chief essentials to the mobilisation of troops for war, and the placing of a navy on a war footing, are an efficient railway and transport system, and the a.s.surance of an adequate coal supply. We may call it a coincidence, and no more, that the two industries which have made most progress towards Syndicalism and the use of the general strike, both in England and France, are those of transport and coal-mining. The first piece of evidence may be regarded as coincidence pure and simple, and it is only when the coincidences mount up that they may be accepted as evidence of weight.
In order to render effective the railways of the country, which as far as France is concerned are on strategic plans toward the western frontier, Germany has increased its establishment of railway engineers to fifty-four military companies. That is to say, no matter what sympathetic action might have been taken by German railwaymen in case of an international strike, the German railways could still have run with full staffs, and every man was trained to his place on the lines that would be concerned in the mobilisation and placing of troops on the western frontier of the country, to act against France. No Syndicalist movement could shake German power--the defensive action was too strong for that. Further, the railways of the state system, organised with a view to mobilisation of troops rather than peace requirements, are controlled not by capitalists, nor by political figures, but each by a colonel of the German Army, at the head of his military division of railway engineers, and the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of these railway engineers are qualified railwaymen; their military duties consist in the efficient performance of railway work. For it is no use forging a weapon that will, in time of need, prove as dangerous to the holder as to the one it is aimed against.
As a final guard against trouble of this kind, Stieber laid down as a definite rule in 1884:
”That no native of Alsace-Lorraine, even though performing his military service in Germany, should be either recruited or admitted in any capacity whatever for employment on the said railways.”
As to general offensive action, the first sign thereof lies in the vote, in February of 1893, of a credit of 80,000 thalers ”to defray the expense of foreign publications useful to the policy of the Empire,”
combined with the appearance, in France, of the famous ”Mesnard pamphlet” five months later. The pamphlet in question was a deliberate incitement to the men employed on French railways to take matters into their own hands and carry Republicanism on to sheer anarchy. ”If you want your employees to be attentive and polite to the public,” says the author, ”try to give those employees a somewhat better idea of whom it is they toil and sweat to benefit. At present all that we know is that our work is not done precisely for the love of the thing, nor does it result in any improvement for ourselves. This being so, our sole object is to keep our situations and get through with our tasks. As far as the public are concerned, we take no notice of them, while they for their part behave in the most abusive manner toward us...
”The employees should elect their chiefs themselves in accordance with the principle of universal suffrage... It would be merely logical if the employees had the right to choose who should give them orders, and to turn out those who proved unjust or incapable...
”The last resource of railway workers in search of justice is a strike.
A strike is a legitimate weapon, and the fact cannot be contested. If it is suppressed, its suppression const.i.tutes an abuse of the rights of the stronger party. With the organisation which the syndicate cannot fail to have in a short time, we shall have arrived at a position at which we can contemplate the possibility of a general strike of all the railways and of similar inst.i.tutions if necessary. It is highly important that everybody should think over this problem. No partial strikes, but patience and then a general strike...”
Then, fearing lest mobilisation of the Army of France should defeat the ends to which this pamphlet was designed, its authors went on to say that railwaymen would not be forced to mobilise to prevent a strike.
”We know our duty as patriots, and we know when we must be soldiers; but if you gentlemen, you officers, do not know it, then leave us alone to manage our own affairs, or we shall call in the Prussians.”
These extracts from the pamphlet itself show its general tenor, but though one may search through all its pages there will be found no definite and legitimate ground for the proclamation of the general strike which ”Mesnard” advocates so stirringly. The whole publication, which must certainly rank among the ”foreign publications useful to the policy of the [German] Empire,” is an attempt to stir up cla.s.s hatred, to get the men to mobilise against military service at a given word of command, and to paralyse the railway services of France when German aggression should consider such a step necessary. For the evidence has become too strong for us to take this as mere coincidence, nor did the French Government regard it as such. Even the railwaymen's unions of France repudiated the doc.u.ment, and one of the heads of a trade union in France stated openly as his opinion that it was the work of Germany and an attempt at the establishment of German influence. The pamphlet itself, which was widely circulated among railwaymen until government action stopped its distribution, came from Geneva, one of the headquarter stations of the German secret service, and the residence of one of the most highly placed officials in the espionage system.
The direct effect of the Mesnard pamphlet was small, but evidently the policy that it outlined was found worth following. The first great demand of the Syndicalists on behalf of the railwaymen of France was made at the time that the Dreyfus trial was causing definite friction between France and Germany in official circles. On this occasion a general strike was actually declared, but it was a fiasco. Yet again, railway troubles in France grew ever greater as relations grew strained between the two countries toward the dawn of the second decade of this century. The Agadir incident was coincident not only with labour troubles in England, for if the railways of France could have been paralysed at the time of a declaration of war by Germany, the result would have been equivalent to a decisive German victory over French troops in the field.
Inquiry into Syndicalist work in France and England alike will show that the funds of the Syndicalists have benefited, if they have not been mainly supported, by German contributions. Then, again, if one examines the career of the average fiery, anarchistic orator, who declaims against law and order, and does his best to stir up men irrespective of national rights, it will be found in many cases that the orator in question is in some way connected with Germany. He may not be a German, but he is in such a position that German influence is at least possible--and Stieber himself was apparently heart and soul with revolutionary German workmen, while in reality he was busy betraying his a.s.sociates to the secret police whom he subsequently governed. The working man himself is disinterested, and believes that he is acting for the best in his own behalf, and in that of all oppressed humanity. But his leaders cannot always be regarded in an equally charitable light.
German efforts do not stop here. Almost simultaneously with the outbreak of hostilities a placard was distributed broadcast in Ireland, with a view to ensuring the desired action on the part of the ”revolting province.” The placard in question has been attributed to the few Fenians still remaining in Ireland; but such an aspersion on the character of these men is the rankest injustice, for even the most rabid of the anti-English in Ireland have realised that a world-war transcends domestic affairs, and Irishmen of all shades of opinion have shown themselves ready to fight the battles of freedom against Prussian militarism. The placard in question is decidedly a ”foreign publication useful to the policy of the [German] Empire,” and it reads as follows:
Irishmen--FOOLS!
Have you forgotten that England is your only enemy?
Have you forgotten Kathleen-ni-Houlihan, that you are willing to shed your blood to win England's battles?