The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-06-17
Germans Want
Change; Enough
Of Bloodshed
Bv CARL D. GROAT

BERLIN (By Mail)-Will Ger
many go bolshevist? 4 That is ques-
tion one hears frequently in the Unit .
ed States, along with an expressed
doubt that such an outcome will re-
suit from her present condition.
The answer here is the same--lt
doubtful if Germany goes to the
extremes to which Russian bolshevists
did, but that further changes in the
social, political and industrial struc,
ture can and may be effected is grant
ed by the keenest observers.
But, by and large, the German has
been too long accustomed to taking
orders, to leading an ordered, quiet
life, to suddenly burst out into the
extreme of bolshevism On the 9th
er hand, however, ,%-ere is a possi-
bility that socialism more far
reaching than anything this country
has SO far experienced, will come to
pass.
The radicals, verging on bolshev-
ism, want to see capitalism done away
with, and which will make the gulf
between classes less marked than
now. However, they believe in eff
fecting this gradually and without
bloodshed and rioting. They do not
claim that the soviet system must
necessarily be installed, but they do
contend that the old order of things
ought to end, and they complain that
too much of the "kaiserlich system"
has been retained.
: Industry has undergone some
[ changes since the srevolution, but
these reorganizatons do not reach
into the political system. For In
stance. in each factory or mercantile
establishment there is a "Betriebsrat
or council, which decides the indus
J trial problems Of that particular place
The betriebsrat is a sort of umor
= within a union. The various trades
l. still have their general unions, bu
[ in addition these councils govern
g each particular establishment Withou
: regard to the crafts employed.
s. The councils do not participate II
= politics directly, but it is conceivable
i that from this system there may late
arise a plan more or less like tn
Russian workmen's and soldiers
councils or soviets,
However, the general feeling her
4 is that eventually peace will come
= and that with the re-establishmen
of normal times, Germany will los
much of the ferment which ha
marked her recent days, and that sh
~ ~ will gladly get back to work on
,f sane basis.
- But the sanity of this basis, as tf
~ vorkineman here sees it, lies in gi'
ING him a greater share in the GOO
things of life than he has ever hs
before, with fewer working hours ar
r. better pay than he had under Il
ne regime of pre-war days. He isn't e
u pecially anxious as to the meth'
oe whereby this comes, though it is ia
Il to say that, as a mass, the Germt
'fS people are tired of war, and thin
"S smacking of war, and don't want
oe have to resort to bloodshed to obta
''N their aims.
Over against what the workingm
an and the intellectual or radical m
ed think, of course there lies the cI'
on which wants to cling to the doctrlr
IA and customs of the past, Natural
lg- this class wants to avoid bolshevlsm
iv- in the commonly accepted version
the that institution. And, its effo
tes manifestly tend toward keeping
ary check, a revolutionary spirit II
da- could conceivably wipe out the CT
us talistic system.
ION In a nutshell, however, the SIT
ton as it appears to careful stude
hat is this: Germany wanss new d
xa- industrially and otherwise and is te
hat ing toward it all the time; but
AK majority want it without the e
ain nomic stagnation and general turn
ted that marked bolshevism's birth
The Russia.