The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-09-19

right wing Of the center echoed the
 blowlihe words of the enemy's propa-
 ganda and hurried with their proposals for reconciliation. explanations and demo mobilization. as if to settle the world. The Foreign Secretary (Von Kuhl- mann) who incorporated the whole tendency in his person expressed him self as saying that the war could not be decided upon the battlefield. This was true if one had in mind the war against the unfriendly home-front and
 the support given by the political war
 machine to the carrying on of the war. 1 This was false if one believed in re- conciliation and understanding and
 that Is what was proposed. The for eign secretary expressed only what the
 majority was thinking
 HAD kUHLMAN DISMISSED (Kuhlmann. who made the admission in Reichstag that the German army could not win victory, was dismissed at the instance of Ludendortf after his speech had spread through Germany and caused a great outcry for reason ; able peace proposals.)
 In this way in the Reichstag, in the
 press and in every place they haranged ! our wearied people and our soldiers 1 frlm the supreme command must de- mand in the name of the fatherland. the sacrifice of their lives on the bat | tie field.
 {, Could it be expected that under such | influences weak natures could becomS ! strong? Could it be expected that | spoiled youths who in the latter wears ! had grown up without paternsl disci-
 pline in the midst of political agitators ] and dissipation. who had earned a 1 great deal of money and who now after
 short training had joined the troops ! or that men of restless minds after 1 their reclamation was over. could be
 made into soldiers who would fight re- | signedly for king and fatherland? 1 Is it not more likely that they all
 were thinkirE onlD of the preserva- | tion of their lives? Was 1t not to be 1 supposed that these influences must tworlS disastreusly upon unfirm natures particularly in hours of stress when
 human weaknesses are to the front?
 Could it be otherwise than that all
 this should find an echo at home.
 UPSET BY BOLSHEVIK AGENT I In addition to this. Bolshevism crept ! up nearer and nearer willingly taken l up and disseminated by the Independen 1t 1 social Democrats, and permitted offi- cially to make itself at home in Der
 lin. We had warned against allow
 ing Joffee to come to Berlin. and ad- Y1sed by the commander in chief in the east had suggested that further neEo.
 tiations with him be conducted in any l one city of the occupied district | In desperate effort to gain the sup | port of Rolshevik Russia the German i government received I.enine's Ambas- sador, Joffee. His first act was to l raise the red flag over his embassy, an act that caused the Junkers to rage
 strenuously. Provided with huge pro- paganda funds he entertained iavish1y and hungry German legislators, off
 cials and leaders of Sociasist leaders flocked to his headquarters. Charges
 were printed that he had Ia f.e mum l Der of women to reinforce his efforts with their charms He openly car
 ried on plotting with the radical leaders
 and distributed quantities of propa-
 ganda
 I We soon recognized in what manner Bolshevism worked. Innumerable warn :. ings were spoken The deputy gem
 general staff handed over to responsible | quarters sin Berlin a supply of material l relating to the activities of the Bolshe-
 viks in Germany. It was unfortunat tely | not it's place to follow up the matter l further.
 ' I myself again called the atten ton of the Imperial Chancellor. the Foreign Office, and also the Office of the Tn- 1 terior to the revolutionary activities of the Russian Embassy in Berlin with it's numerous personnel and it's connec- ton with the Independent Social Demo : cracy. as well as to the revolutionary
 tendency of the latter. Nothing was ef- fected
 SHOCK PEOPLE AND ARMY | When I again pointed out to the For eign office the work of Herr Joffee and the dangers of his stay in Berlin, l was answered that he was better talk en care of in Berlin than elsewhere. There he was under their eyes But alas these eyes were blind.
 As long as Germany showed herself complaisant to Bolshevism Herr Joffee was able to shake the war efficiency 1 of the German people. in a way that the Entente. Tn spite of blockade and
 propaSanda. could never have done l With this object in view, he placed l rcih materials at the disposal of the 1 subversive element in our land The 1 full extent of his revolutionary activ- lties was of course apparent only at a 1 later date. In Magdeburg the leader l of the Independent Social Democrats l Water said
 1 since January 25. 1918. we have sys-
 tematicaily prepared the revolution, We have melted our people who were l going to the front to desert the flag. 7, These deserters we have organized.
 supplied with false papers. with money and unsigned pamphlets. We sent
 these men in every direction. especially again to the front. in order that they l might work among the soldiers there
 and undermine the front. They have induced the soldiers to surrender and so have brought about gradual but sure decay"
 SILENTLY AND INEXORABLY Side by side with this went the revolu
 tionary and bolshevik influence of the men on leave. The rankest propaganda | was worked. in railway trains. The l soldiers who were going on leave were l moved not to return to the front: those | who wers on their way to the front, | were appealed to assume passive attitude or to desert the flag and to mutiny About the end of June and the beginning of July there was much that was still invisible but silently in- exorably, working.
 l Whether one was inclined to the Left Peoples party. to the Socialist or the Bol5heviks, there was common endeavor to undermine authority; for years this had been preparing Now in the time of the states need this came up to the surface. I will not speak of the ambitious members who now robbed our weak government of the lyit vestige of res pect nor even of hos from every side there Sere those who endeavored to shake my position and trust in me be- cause I represented the support of au- thority: I am thinking only of the. or ganized work against the army officers.
 That was crime on the part of the l Socialistic party: no it was. to use the words of Tallyrand, worse than that it was a blunder. A blunder of such | e~~1. -l Il "A I---- -