The Washington herald., 1918-03-10

Turkey to permit subject peoples to
decide their own destinies can be con-
sidered by the war lords. For this,
too. would imply defeat. Hence, when
the subject is mentioned, they invari-
ably reply, and win continue to say
until the end, that the principle OF
self-determination n admitted must be
applied generally, not only TO the ter
ritory OF the central powers; must be
carried out in Ireland IL in Alsace. In
India IL in Bohemia, in Egypt and
Morocco, II In Posen and the German
colonies
The real war aim of the dominating
caste In Germany Is to get out Of the
war with whole skins and with their
power unimpaired. II they stick to
these territorial points, It 10 because
they feel convinced that to give way
would mean their ruin. =
What are the internal forces that
have thrown into panic the war lords
and their bureaucratic associates?
They are complex, but, my imforma-
ton makes clear. vastly more power
full than is realized by the allied
publics. There is in Austria and Ger
many a Bolshevik party that is work
ing for the social revolution. 1t has
secured an enormous hold upon the
people In Austria and Hungary, and
the repressive measures adopted in
Germany have only resulted in spread
ing the contagion through the Father
land. The Austrian and German
strikes were fomented. not by the So
cialist parties, but by the revolution
lists, and the Socialist leaders asso-
ciated themselves with the strikes
merely to turn them into safe chan
nels and stifie them at the earliest DOS
sible moment.
In addition to the revolutionary agi-
tators. who by word Of mouth and
anonymous pamphlets are spreading
the gospel by Lenine and Trotsky all
over Germany, the Socialist parties are
seeking to evolve a genuinely liberal
stage. From the point of view of the
autocracy. this is only one shade bet
ter than Bolshevik propaganda. II the
Bolsheviks have their way. the auto
Gratis and their satellites will be exiled
or jailed, II the Socialists gain power,
the wings Of the Hertlings and Lud-
endorffs will be clipped.
The result OF the Trotsky campaign
among German and Austrian civilians
10 seen in the spread of strikes but,
80 far. all details Of troubles in the
armies and fleets have been concealed
from the outside world. It is, how
ever, the spread Of democratic and
social revolutionary propa ganda in the
army that Is causing most worry in
the highest German circles,
A militarist state depends for its
stability upon the army. But IL trouble
breaks out among the people, the use
OF soldiers against them is a delicate
matter. Protopopoff discovered this in
Petrograd a year ago, when he ordered
two regiments, out OF the 5000 reSi-
ments under the orders Of the Gar.
to disperse street demonstrations In
the capital. The two regiments fra
ternized with the mobs and killed their
ofncers. and the whole fabric of Rus
sian militarism fell to pieces.
The lesson has not been lost upon
the German autocrats. 1t Is easy to
bring soldiers with machine guns 10
Berlin. But what will happen il one
platoon of soldiers refuses to fire on
a mob containing perhaps the mothers
and sisters of the conscripts, and kills
its lieutenant instead? The very
thought makes the Kaiser and Luden-
dorh tremble. A tiny mutiny might
be suppressed; but what IL the soldiers
sent to suppress it mutiny too? The
heads of the German state are not
fools. and they know the frame of
mind that Is spreading through the
army. There is good reason to be-
lieve that one OF the principal argu-
ments used by the politicians against
the plan for a general offensive in the
West was the feeling in the army. 1t
Is not a mutiny in battle that they
fear, but growth OF rage and despair
to a point where the soldiers could not
be depended upon to suppress trouble
at home. And when that point has
been reached. the German military
state Is doomed.
The subterranean revolutionary
party in the central powers is well
organized. and powerful, as its action
in commencing strikes in Austria.
Hungary and Germany. that spread
all over these countries has recently
proved. The .revolutionists are not
Z yet strong enough to go further. for
the influence of the old labor parties
is thrown against them. Like Sin
Feln in Ireland, however, their
strength Is that they are quietly win