New-York tribune., 1919-02-05
Recli1nil1atiOns
Mark Socialists
Berne Meetin 2
French and Teutons in Hot
Word Duel Over Attitude
of Germans During War
Wells Attacks Nj. Thomas
Eisners Blames Prussian
Officers, Bankers and
Manufacturers for War

BERNE, Feb "A violent rhetorical
Guel between French and German
Socialists, with many reciprocal re-
proachcs and accusations, marked the
second sitting last night of the Inter-
national Labor and Socialist Con-
terence. The French side of the de-
bate was in the hands of Pierre
Renaudcl, Albert Thomas and NJ
Mistral
Otto Wells. former military COM
mander Of Berlin. defended the Ger
man position. and said the German
Socialists already has settled the ques-
ton Of responsibility for the war by
having taken all power from the
princes and kings. Wells accused
Great Britain of having killed 100000
German women, children and old men
by the "hungcr blockade" He said
the exclusion Of the German Socialists
would impede the reconstruction of the
Int ternatiOnale.
Kurt Eisner. Bavarian Premier, was
the first speaker on the programme
to-day.
Eisner insisted on unity of German
socialism.
1--WE have become new men in Ger
many" he said. "The result of the
elections is not approval of the war
policy of the maj jority party. It is
appreciation of a desire to unite"
Prussians Blamed for War
Eisner confessed that it was clear
where responsibility for the war rested.
1T was with the Prussian officers,
supported by German captains of in
duACry and bankers" he said. "The
majority Socialists must not come here
as penitents, but simply to say whether
they have recognized they have COM
mitted an error"
Eisner said he had not understood
the address of Herr Wells. He fercely
attacked the Majority Socialists
throughout his speech.
'The fact that they have behind them
100000 electors" said Eisner, "does
not prove that they are right, because
truth does not consist of mathemati-
cal operation. The Majority Socialists
declare that they expelled the dynasty
and the former governments, but they
supported them tor four years. If they
90 not confess their error they admit
themselves guilty Of contradiction. The
German revolution was not the work of
the military, but a movement of the
German masses"
AT the session last night two resolu-
tions we're before the meeting One
introduced by the Socialist Bureau,
provided that discussion of the society
Of nations begin Immediately. The
other, introduced by M. Thomas, pro-
vlded that debate on responsibility for
the war should come first.
Blames Russian Menace
Herr Wells argued that the German
Social Democrats should not be charged
with responsibility for the war as none
of them had been members of the gov
ernment when the war began. Ger
many, he said, had made war because
OF the menace of Russia. Carl Kaut-
sky, he added, had been charged with
the task of searching the imperial
archives to ascertain the causes of the
war. Wells said he hoped that similar
work would be done in the Allied
archives
M. Thomas recalled the attitude of
the German Socialists at the outbreak
OF the war. He called attention also
to their approval of the treaties of
Brest-Litovsk and Bucharest. He de-
clared that the Maj jority Socialists in
Germany had approved the great often
sive of 1918.
Wells thereupon attacked M. Thomas,
and charged that he had driven Russia
back into the war by the assurance he
gave Premier Kerensky. He said the
by not attending the Brest-Litovsk con-
ference. The German Socialist said
that NJ. Thomas had made no protest
against the conditions Of the armistce
(which are running Germany" so that
the silence of the German Socialists
when the German government took a
similar attitude toward the Allies ought
to be understood.
NJ. Renaudel then entered into the
debate, and recalled the words of Chan
cellor Won Bethmann- Hollweg that
NECESSITY knows no law" as proof that
the German Socialists must have known
OF Germany's crimes.
M. Renaudel said he regretted that
DR.. Karl Liebknecht had become Boil
shevik, but that was because Lieb-
knecht had lost confidence in the Ger
man Socialists
His blood falls upon you," NJ. Renau,
del declared
Points to Bolshevist Menace
M. Thomas, the French Solicalist and
former member of the War Council, Of
fered motion at the Socialist confer
ence yesterday placing at the head Of
the programme questions of the respon-
sibility for the war and the future Of
socialism.
The motion follows:
"The Berne Socialist Conference. con-
siderng that cataclysm deliberately
looscd by few men has inflicted upon
the world namelcss calamities and
threatens to harrow up civilization it,
self, and considering, on the other
hand, that all hopes Of just and last
ing peace depend upon the possibility
Of founding a society of nations; that
there can be no society of nations with
out trust, and that international pub
lie faith would remain forever com
promised if the governments which
have violated it could escape punish
ment for their crimes, and if Socialist
chiefs who made themselves accom-
pllccs of these governments were not
branded outcasts by the lnternationale
has decided to inscribe at the head of
its agenda the question of govern
mental esponsibilities in the causes
OF the war, that of violation of neu-
tralities which had been placed under
the guarantees of Europe and that Of
the responsibility Of Socialists in
volved.