Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-07-03
Through German Eyes
From the London Times.

There are still people in Germany who be-
lieve that military dictatorship under Luden-
dorf or Hindenburg is practical. Colonel Bau-
err. late OF the general staff, has just published
pamphlet on The Deusion of Peace OF I'm
derstanding' His object the preface states.
is TO lead all Germans without distinction of
party, along path by which the ruin designed
for the nation may be avoided" The method is
to praise Ludendorff and Hindenburg and to
blame Prince Max of Baden and the socialists
for the collapse of Germany.
Prince Max of Baden and the ma jorty So
cialists have always maintained that the hand
Of the government was forced in the end of
last September, because Ludendorff and Hin
denburg declared that the German front would
collapse unless an armistice were obtained
within "a hours. Their case, in short, is that
it not until the army had declared itself
beaten that the government surrendered.
Colonel Bauer endeavors to refute this, and
to rehabilitate the generals. He quotes the
hitherto unpublished text of memorandum by
LudendorH read at meeting of the party lead
ers of the Reichstag on October 2. 1918 Ac-
cording to this document, Ludendorff urged
that neither the army nor the civilians must
do anything that would show weakness.......
On the contrary, both must stand hrmer than
ever Whilst overtures for peace are being
made, there must be united front 50 that the
enemy may realize that, unless they offer an
acceptable peace, there is a resoute determin-
alton to continue the war"
HSSOlul1lS 10 DdueI, neither 11lllueHDuIS HOT
Ludendorff regarded the army as beaten. But
they foresaw that civilian weakness and the
civilian "delusion about good peace" would
before long corrupt the army, and they were
therefore anxious to get armistice whilst the
army was still unbeaten and powerful.
The moral of the pamphlet is-Trust the
army and its leaders, and not the present gov
eminent of Germany.
The Frankfurter Zetung has a cautious but
the whole sympathetic article the COM
munistc rule in Hungary. The repeated ru-
mors as to the fall of Bella Kun come from
sensational newspapers in Vienna" and are not
to be trusted. For the present the communs-
tic government seems to be the only with
chance of continued existence The dictator
ship secures that counter-revolutonar are
promptly dealt with but the recent liberation
of hostages shows that Bella Kuhn feels fairly
secure. The army is we'll organized. and the
successes against Roumania and Czecho- Slo-
vakia have stimulated Hungarian patriotism so
that many who dislike the government tolerate
it because of its success.
1t is more doubtful as to whether or not this
experiment in communism is likely to be sue
cessful. 1t is much better than boshevism, as
it includes in the working classes" intellectual
workers and many of the bourgeoisie. 1t press
es most hardly on property owners and the
only serious trouble it has had to face is with
the peasant proprietors who passionate in
dividualists Communism has taken over gov
eminent under the worst possible conditions,
and any system might we'll fail At present it
is interesting as the Opposite pole of the cap
italism ruling at Versailles"; both are too lop-
sided to be secure.
The Cologne Gazette declares that the indie
pendent socialists are bitterly disappointed be-
cause the suffrage has not given prole-
tarat majority. They are proposing, therefore,
to change the basis of the suffrage so as to Sc
cure the absolute rule of the proletariat. 1t
quotes a writer in the Freiheit as saying that
ito bring about the necessary proletarat die
tatorship, based on the system of workers
councils, there must be form of suffrage Sc
curing the unlimited power of the working
classes to establish sociazation." The vote
now includes amongst productive workers"
| technical experts, architects, teachers, artists
and similar persons who are contaminated by
capitalism. 1t must, therefore, be reinforced.
In the first place, all those who are out of
work must be included. Next all adherents of
the socialists must be included, whether these
be producers or not, as they belong subjective
ly, although not effectively. to the working
classes" On the other hand, those hostile to
socialism must be excluded from the suffrage
as for example. those who belong to antiso-
cialist bodies. who have spoken or written
against socialists or socialism.
If the proposal be genuine, it shows that the
extremists taking the old Prussan de-
vice of doctorng the electorate