The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1916-11-30
LiEBKNECHT"S
LETTER ARRIVES
Socialist, Imprisoned as Traitor,
DenOunceS Government
Fiercely

| n lcJlef from hafl IleDknecnt, the
German Socialist leader who was SEN
fenced to four years in prison for his
speech in a public square in Berlin on
May Day, 1916, has passed the Ger
man censor without detection and
reached America the past week.
1t is his answer to the charge of
treason placed against him by the
Prussian court-martial, and in which
he states his position against war and
against the government with the
sublime courage of an inspired leader
of the working class.
He accuses the imperial German
government of treachery to the
masses Of Germany, of inhuman
cruelty to its enemies and its own
people, and charges himself with the
work of expressing the cries of tor
ture and anguish of the masses of
Germany and of other warning ma
tions.
He Predicts Upheaval
He expresses faith in the interna-
tional Socialist movement and in the
people of his own country. He pre-
diets an upheaval and future for the
international brotherhood of man.
His Indictment again his country
condensed but in substance, are as
follows:
"The German government is an in
strument for the oppression and ex-
plotation of the masses. 1t serves
only the interests Of the junkers, the
capitalists and imperialists.
at is the ruthless exponent of
world power, the strongest factor in
the race for military power, and for
this reason one of the chief instiga-
tors of this war.
at tricked the masses, and even
the Reichstag, at the outset of the
war, and seeks now to sustain the err
ror among the people (concealing the
ultimatum to Belgium, censoring the
Cars telegram of July, 1914, pub
lished in the German white book
Conducts MonstrOus War
"The government conducts a war
monstrous even by the standards of
other wars, as shown in the invasion
of Belgium and Luxembourg, ruth
less Zeppelin warfare, submarine war,
torpedoing of the Lusitania, flogging
and filming systems now in practice in
Belgium, using of prisoners as spies
and traitors, notably among the Tx
, ranians, Geogians, Polish, Irish and
Mohammedan prisoners and in par
ticular in the negotiations between
Sir Roger Easement and Vice-Secre-
tary Zimmerman to equip an Irish
brigade of English prisoners; COM
pulson of informed civilians to be-
come traitors under the slogan, Need
recognizes no law
"The German government has in
creased the misery of the Polish
masses in occupied territory, it hin
ders every political and social reform,
while keeping the political parties
powerless under the pledge of neces-
sity.
at denies agricultural improve
ments and has caused terrible distress
among the farming masses.
Feeds Public on Lies
"The German government, even at
this time, has not relinquished the
idea of conquest, and makes this the
chief obstacle to peace negotiations;
it STILES criticism and feeds the pub
lie on lies"
Then Liebknecht declares that the
slogan, Down with the government"
used in his address on May Day, sum-
married. these complaints to arouse
workmen to their class interest
against those conducting the war.
Continuing, he writes, in substance:
"The present war cannot claim to
be a war of defense or for the liberia
ton of nation, or for the benefit of
the masses.
ITO the prOletariat it measures
only the extreme concentration of po-
litical oppression and industrial ex-
ploitation and the slaughter of the
working class for the capitalists and
imperiahsts,
But One Answer
There can be but one answer by
the working class-increased activ-
ity against the capitalist government
to end exploitation and to end the war.
The Socialist whose country is the
world can have no other duty.
"The slogan, Down with war; ex-
presses the opposition to the present
war, its causes and methods and its
consequences, and is the only stand a
Socialist can take.
GAS a Socialist, ana fundamen-
tally opposed to the war, the prevail
ing militarism, and 1 have conducted
myself against them as my special
duty, because it is a vital problem of
the working class of all countries"
Socialists believe in giving your
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