Evening star., 1915-03-28

'Iruss and medicines. dyes. surgical aud
optical appliances ana scientific instru-
mentS ManN are wanted fer war.
ituSsta cannot wait. Her technical
conditions are such that she cannot
manufacture them chcaply on capital
istic profit yielding principles. So the
socia listic state and the socialist local
Self-governins organs are to maHufar-
ture them with public capital.
Government engineers and govern
ment university professors give the
initiative and the science. The local
zemstvo councils are proprietors OF
the works. These are purely state
sociaiistic undertakings. After the
war they must remain, as it would be
waste to break them up. sacrifice their
plant and lose the national advantage
Of their acquired experience.
MI the war states Will take over
wholesale private factories. Already
III England. France. Germany and Rus
Sia the war state has acquired lawful
authority to appropriate private works
which produce things necessary for
rational defense. Or the state NAV
compel factories which produce not
wanted products to turn its plant to
producing products which are wanted
This IS pure socialism, and if the public
does not recognize the fact that is be-
cause the public is immersed in the
war
In peace time the anti-sociaIist "bour-
Eeois parties in Europe would raise
revolution before consentinS to such
state measures. Now, through pa
triotlc motives, they consent, and thus
they bring grist to the red party's mill
me red party is beginning to see this
and each red party i'll its own country
becomes more and more enthusiastic
for the war. The measures taken say
the reds. prove indisputably the prac-
ficab1lIty of our socialist vision IT, in
the furry of war. without preparation
the state can run all enterprises. SO
much the easier it will be in peace
when measures can be carefully pre-
pared and subjected to public control
War is going further than some so
claliSts expected. II is causing the
compulSion of districts and individuals
to work not in the way they want but
IN the particular way which best fits
the needs of the warning states. The
German military authorities are fore
ing the civilian German to work as
they want. Here is an instance The
military authorities wanted a million
new soldiers overcoatS. They ordered
certain towns and districts to supply
them within a fixed time.
Big towns like Leipzig were required
to furnish 1000 overcoats a week, ex-
tSlls u SpetllcallOT, ana tneN were
threatened with . fine if they failed
This is the same as the requsition
system practiced heretofore only in an
enemy's occupied country. Leipzig had
not the means or the men to do the
work. 1t had to procure them. The
municipality ordered all out-of-work
tailors and men from other trades who
knew anything of tailoring to report
themselves.
Under threat of Imprisonment. il set
them hard to work turning out the
overcoats. In other parts of Germany
civilians are compulsorily at work col
1ecting copper and lead. which the state
needs for shell cases and bullets. This
accords with the notion OF state com
pusion for national defense. All thes.
measures will survive the war.
RerlinS leading socialist journal,
Norwaerts. acclaims state socilliStic
war measures not merely because th"l
necessar! for war. but hccau*c
they set precedent for peace. IL
quotes DIR. Frank, the socialist reich
stag deputy, " ho volunteered early IN
the war and WAS killed On the French
frontier.
Every man., wrote Frank, desires
that the war will he short. If il is
long, the people will suffer the more.