Part 10 (1/2)
With regard to the text of the above proclamation, there are variations to be noted. In the _Vorwarts_ it runs ”within and without our frontiers” in the second paragraph; the text as I have given it is taken from the _Leipziger Volkszeitung_. In the fifth paragraph the Nuremberg _Frankische Tagespost_ gives ”capitalistic” for ”fatalistic.”
A few extracts from Socialist newspapers will suffice to ill.u.s.trate the complete change of front which happened in three days:
”We Social Democrats in this solemn hour are at one with the whole German nation, without distinction of party or creed, in accepting the fight forced upon us by Russian barbarism, and we are ready to fight till the last drop of blood for Germany's national independence, fame and greatness.” _Der Folksfreund_ (Karlsruhe), August 1st.
”We desired peace and we have done everything humanly possible to secure that end. But when war is forced upon us by Russian Czarism, then, whatever the final decision may be, we must drop all cla.s.s distinctions and differences of every kind, to form a single, determined people, prepared to defend Germany's independence and greatness against the enemy--even to the last drop of blood.” _Volksstimme_ (Mannheim), July 31st.
”A defeat would mean collapse, annihilation and horrors most dreadful for all of us.[72] Our imaginations revolt at such a possibility. Our representatives in the Reichstag have unanimously declared on innumerable occasions that the Social Democrats could not leave their Fatherland in the lurch when the hour of destiny strikes; the workmen will now redeem the promise given by their representatives. The 'Fatherlandless fellows'[73] will do their duty, and in doing it, will allow themselves to be surpa.s.sed in no wise by the patriots,” _Munchener Post_, August 1st.
[Footnote 72: These sentiments did not occur to this journalist when Germany began a ruthless war of invasion on Belgium.--Author.]
[Footnote 73: A phrase of contempt employed by the Kaiser when speaking of the Social Democrats in 1889, and which became proverbial.]
”Whatever our opponents have done to us, at this moment we all feel the duty to fight against Russian knout-rule. Our women and children shall not be sacrificed to Russian b.e.s.t.i.a.lity, nor the German people become a booty for the Cossacks.” _Die Volksstimme_ (Chemnitz), August 2nd.
It is possible that even at the end of the war no explanation will be forthcoming for this astounding change of att.i.tude. Some have suggested that the Russian or Slavonic danger caused it. Yet just these journals, and this party, had maintained, so long as any degree of free speech was permitted, that Austria had provoked the danger, and they were fully aware that the German Government had from first to last approved of and openly a.s.sisted in provoking, nay challenging, Russia on a question which involved the latter's prestige and diplomatic existence.
Bethmann-Hollweg gave the alleged Russian mobilization as the immediate cause of the war, but doubtless the Social Democrats knew full well that for several days before Russia's mobilization was announced, Germany had been secretly mobilizing her army. From July 26th till July 30th German papers contained many reports that Russia was mobilizing; they may have been true or not, but the diplomatic correspondence published by Austria and discussed on page 63 shows conclusively that the Central Powers were baiting Russia into taking that step, and when the greatest Slavonic power had made the desired move, Germany replied with an ultimatum which brought about the war, so ardently desired by the great majority of Germany's warlike tribes.
Britishers who sympathize with German Social Democracy may advance the plea: If Germany's military preparations were secret, how could the Social Democrats know of these proceedings? The answer is direct and simple: Every individual Social Democrat--and men, women, and children, they number some twenty millions--has for years past been a spy and informer in the interests of the _Umsturzpartei_ (overthrow-party). All the happenings of the workshop, barracks, farmyard, shop and office have been systematically reported to the local Press, and local committees of the Democratic Party; the ammunitions thus obtained have been just as systematically employed to fire insidious paragraphs and Press articles at governments, local authorities, employers, officers, and even the employers of servant-girls. Of late years it has been dangerous to have a difference even with a maid-servant; a few days later the inevitable insidious, anonymous attack would certainly appear in one or other of the S.D. journals.
One instance will suffice to ill.u.s.trate the everyday routine of the cla.s.s-war (_Kla.s.senkampf_) in which the whole energies of the Social Democrats have been absorbed for a quarter of a century. An acquaintance of the author's, Major Schub, in the 19th Infantry Regiment, stationed in Erlangen, dared some years ago to send his orderly with a she-goat to a peasant in the district who kept the indispensable he-goat. Two days later he was pilloried in a Furth paper for calling upon a private soldier to fulfil such a degrading office. German workmen do not read the _Vorwarts_ (its circulation is well under 100,000), but they read one or other of the seventy purveyors of filth and cla.s.s hatred which form the stock-in-trade of the Social Democratic Party.
The author of this work, knew as early as July 25th, that reserve officers had been warned to hold themselves in readiness; on succeeding days he saw tangible evidence that mobilization was proceeding stealthily, and it would be ridiculous for him to claim greater knowledge than the hundred and eleven S.D. members of the Reichstag, and the seventy-seven editors of their party papers--especially when these have an army of millions of spies at their command.
In order to obtain a correct judgment of the motives which actuated German Social Democrats in their complete support of the German Government it is necessary to consult the works published by them during the war. Karl Kautsky writes:[74] ”That which under these circ.u.mstances, was most immediate and pressing in determining the att.i.tude to war, not only for the ma.s.ses, but also many of our leaders, was the fear of a hostile invasion, the urgent necessity to keep the enemy out of our territory, no matter what the causes, object or results of the war may be. This fear was never greater and more justified than on this occasion; never have the devastating results of invasion been more terrible. Belgium and East Prussia speak plainly.
[Footnote 74: ”Die Internationalitat und der Krieg.” Berlin, 1915; p.
32.]
”The increased size of the armies greatly extends the unavoidable desolation of war, and in addition to this a second strongly-working popular motive decides the att.i.tude of a nation to war, viz., the interest of the entire people in the fate of an army in which every family is represented.”
It thus becomes evident that no motives of justice, right or wrong, or politics played any part in the decision arrived at, but merely a great fear which impelled the Social Democrats to consider first and foremost how to save their own skins.
All protest meetings were cancelled on August 1st, and the Press restricted itself to chronicling rumours and events. The sitting of the Reichstag was awaited with impatience as that was expected to bring more light on the crisis. The effect which Bethmann-Hollweg produced upon his hearers was to convince them that Russia alone was to blame. ”The question of supporting the war by voting a loan was all the easier for us to decide, because the provocation had come, not from France or England, but from Russia. I admit openly that while I was travelling to Berlin to the Reichstag I had very little time to hunt for precedents in the party's history to determine my vote. For me the force of circ.u.mstances alone was decisive; the material interests of the working cla.s.ses and the entire nation; common sense and the realization of a practical policy.”[75]
[Footnote 75: ”Die Kriegssitzung des deutschen Reichstags” (”The War Sitting of the Reichstag”), by Karl Hildenbrand, Member for Stuttgart.
Published 1915; p. 13.]
”At the time of voting on August 4th, we were not in a position to take England into consideration, because at the moment she had not yet declared war. But by England's intervention our att.i.tude on August 4th has been still more emphatically justified.”[76]
[Footnote 76: Ibid., p. 16.]
This statement is a gross distortion of the truth. It is true that England had not yet declared war, but Sir Edward Grey had made England's att.i.tude quite clear on the previous day. His speech had been published in the Berlin papers. Furthermore, the Chancellor informed the Reichstag that England's position was perfectly clear, although he suppressed the fact that Germany had begun preparations for war with this country five days before, by ordering civilians to leave Heligoland, and despatching the _Konigin Luise_ to lay mines on our coasts.
In any case, the action of the Social Democrats on that occasion is an example of unfaithfulness to principles. Accepting the invasion fear as a ground for voting a loan for a war of defence, there is still no evident reason why they should vote funds for a war of aggression against Belgium. On the surface, there is no explanation for their cheers when Bethmann-Hollweg announced the invasion of two neutral States by Germany's armies.
Had they been tricked into supporting an alleged defensive war, there was still time to protest against German hordes overrunning two weak neighbouring countries. In spite of their terror that they personally might suffer through the horrors of war, their vaunted humanitarianism led to no outcry against those same horrors being wilfully and ruthlessly forced upon their Belgian _Genossen_.
The only anxiety which the speech of their chosen spokesman, Herr Haase, betrays, is the anxiety to avoid responsibility. ”In the name of my party I am empowered to make the following declaration: We are standing in an hour of solemn destiny. The consequences of the imperialistic policy--which brought about an era of armaments and made international difficulties more acute--have now fallen upon Europe like a storm-flood.