New-York tribune., 1918-05-23
from the 'VoLkszeifune'
To the Editor of Tbe T,;hun


gone out of its wav on savera, occas;nns
to publish slanderous and pntrue state
ments about the .New-Yorker yolksza;
tung," the German Socialist da;,v IT,.
article by Mr.. Casimir pilenas which an.
peared IN your columns last Sunday how
ever, contains such vicious falsehoods and
mlsstatements Ito use no stronger terms1
that even the editor Of The Tribune. if he
reads his own paper with ANYTHING re-
semolng accuracy, must have recoenized
their papable untruth
MI flienas relates at some length the
story of a Mr.. Carl Wittmann. who accord
ing to the clever sIeuth's discoverv ~
capped from Germany in 1915. bringing with
him manuscripts, "Die Krse," written by
Karl Liebknecht, which he offered IN +ho
New Yorker Volkszeitung" for pubIication
AS matter of fact. Mr. Wittmann was nm
der no necessity of fleeing from, Germarv
at that time or at any other time. being
an American citizen, who came back after
a stay OF several years in Germany. very
unromantcaly, with a regularly accredited
American passport. Had Mr. c. P w
Casimir Pilenas taken the trouble of look
ing at the files of the "New-Yorker volks
zeitung" he might have found that "Die
krise in der deutschen Sozialdemokratie"
(the correct title of "Die Krise" of which
your author speaks) was not discontinued
after the fourth fifth instalment, as he
claims, but that it appeared in seventeen
regular instalments, beginning with June
and ending with October 22, 1916. in the
Sunday issues of our paper The original
mas never been reclaimed, and so it has
not been returned.
Is 1T necessary to deny the statement
that the "Volkszeitung" must consider it's
loyalty to Germany" that it "received some
herman government securities to stop pub
hshing the Lebknecht articles? We vent
ure to assume that even the readers of
The Tribune know from your own quota
tons that the "Volkszeitung." from the first
day of the European war, was as decided
and as uncompromsing in its denuncat;on
of the German government, as we'll as of
Its Socialist supporters, as any other paper
in the United States
The "Krise in der deutschen Social
demokratie" has since been published as a
pamphlet by the German Language Fedora
ton of the Socialist party, of which I am
the national secretary and of which Mr.
Whitman is still member.
Trotzky's Lecture Fees
The old story OF German money paid to
Leon Trotzky while in New York continues
to disturb the minds of professional trouble
mongers. 1t is true the Attorney General
of the State of New York. after thorouph
investigation, admitted that he had been un-
able to discover any evidence of duplicity
IN Trotzky's activity. 1t is true the "Volks-
zeltung" has shown that thirty-five lectures
were arranged for Trotzky at $40 a lecture
that about S270 was collected at large
farewell meeting to enable number Of
otker Russians to return with him. Never
theless," says Mr.. Pilenas, "the 'Volks~
zeitung' in one of its issues July II, 1917,
cynlcally commented on the article by DR..
Mll1ukOff +bo
Miliukoff had been paid much more when
lecturlng here than Trotzky had ever re-
celved-saying that $4,000 was nothing by
comparison" What the "Volkszeitung,
actually said this: "Our friend. Leon
Trotzky, must now defend himself against
the slander of the old democrat Miliukotf.
VINO claims that I. received Rs. 10000 from
German Americans. Several years ago
Milukoff came to New York for civic or
ganization and received $4,000 for one
lecture, at present money rates about Rs
10000. Comrade Trotzky, who received not
quite one-tenth of this sum paid out to
DR.. Miliukof for thirty-five international.
Socialist, anti-war lectures, will. we are
sure, have given the honorable professor
the answer he deserved" Perhaps if NJ.
Pllenas would sleuth little more thorough
ly he might even discover that Trotzky
had very little reason to love the German
! government. He was sentenced to six
months in prison by the German authorities
for his booklet, "Internationale und Krieg"
tBolsheviki and World Peace) He might
even unearth the fact that a number of
these books sent to France from Switzer-
land were confscated by the French gov
ernment until it learned of the German
prison sentence-whereupo the books were
promptly released.
The Tribune gives evidence of an en-
deavor to understand the international stu
alton in its regular translations of items
from all parts of the world, representing
the most varied points of view 1t has
often shown a certain understanding for
some phases of the Russian revolution
How utterly ridiculous it must seem to
your readers to find in your columns.
"Lenine got his post, and then he got Trotzkv
post also, first as president of the Work
mems and Soldiers Council of Petrograd
and then as Foreign Minister!" Intelli-
gence, evidently, is necessary requirement
for neither detectives nor editors.
LUDWIG LORE,
Associate Editor, "New-Yorker volkszei-
tung."
New York, May 10, 1918