New-York tribune., 1919-01-18

= lawyer in Berlin. he was tried for
high treason, after the appearance of
It pamphlet deNouncing the German
mliitarS'lc system The charge was
! OF proved, but ne went to prison for
eighteen months.
More Radical Than in 1910
Shortly after MS release he visited
this country. That was in 1910. He
delivered a series Of lectures in New
, ork City and elsewhere. How mod
crate his views We're then. compared
with the recently avowed purposes Of
thc Spartaclde prototypes of the Boil
shevlki, is indicated in one passage
from an interview published then. He
was asked whether he and his party
IN Germany intended to seize all the
land and factories and turn them over
to the state, and replied:
NO. that would hr unjust: that
would be spolation. The rightful
owners should receive compensation Of
some kind until the end of their lives"
DR.. Lcbknccht achieved worldwide
prominence in the year before the war
by charging in the course of Reich
stag speech that the Kaiser. tho Grown
Prince and the leaders Of the miitaris-
tic party had joined in conspiracy
N''NN
spirit against France. His revelations
caused the arrest Of a number Of army
officers. who were convicted fhaving
accepted bribcs from the krupps. but
they received light sentences.
Forced to Serve in Army.
When the war began Liebknecht re
fused to do military duty. 1t was re-
ported that he had been executed, al
Z |, b., II "a, ,ol,c
which he had been elected from the
Kaisers own bailwick of Potsdam. But
he was later found in an engineer unit
on the Russian front, whore in Decem-
ber. 1915. he was severely in ured by
4 falling tree
While in the army Liebknccht con
tinucd mis- activities against the gov
crnmcnt, and on May Day, 1916. in an
address in Berlin. he made statements
which caused his arrest. He was tried
and sentenced to thirty months in
prison. He appealed and the next
court sentenced him to four years.
This produced great disorders among
the populace Of the German capital.
to whom Liebnecht then appeared as
y champion and a hero. During his
period Of Imprisonment he was elected
to the Relchstag from Spandau. and
after being in prison two years and
two months he was released last Octo-
Der.
The Hohenzollern overturn came
early in November. BY the time the
armistce was signed on the eleventh,
he and Rosa Luxembourg were we'll adj
vanced in their organization of the
Spartacus group in opposition to Ebert
and the moderate Socialists. In De-
ho, bny ri Inc l,o
political forum at meeting of the
various Socialist elements to discuss
national assembly.
Voted Down by Ebert Group
The Ebert -Scheidemann partsans
succeeded in voting down Lebknecht
and Rosa, who then appeared as the
advocates Of terrorism and violence
Even at that time Dr.. Lebknecht
seemed to be in favor of the proposal
to hold an election for "A national as
sembly, but Rosa vigorously opposed
this. and later won him over to her
view.
AS the chief editor of "Vorwarts," >"
the paper that was seized by the Spar
tacdes at the outbreak of their
counter revolution early this month,
Rosa Luxembourg often came into con
fict with the government. She was
twice sentenced to prison in the days
before the outbreak Of the European
war, aud aftcrward caused Il roundup
and trial of various radical leaders by
her violent opposition to military SER
vice.
When the Ebert government assumed
the rcins Of power in November
she was the leader of the most violent
faction Of radicals in Berlin, and after
Radck's visit. when Liebknecht showed
some disincination to start civil war
she took the lead in melting attacks
against government forces.
After the counter revolt was put