Great Falls daily tribune., 1919-01-02
POLITICAL CONDITIONS IN GERMANY.

that the more conservative elements in Ger
manv have the upper hand Of the bolsheviki
radicals, and the returning soldiers of the Ger
man armies are generally with them and op-
posed to disorder and crime. It is interesting
to note the simiarities and the differences be-
tween the Russian revolution and the German
revolution The Russian bolsheviH revolution
was made in Germany and financed with German
gold Lenine and his co-conspirators were DOM
iciled in Switzerland when the Russian revolu-
ton broke out. They were busy with the con-
genial task of plotting against their host, the
Swiss government, whose hospitality sheltered
and protected them When Kerensky and the
Russian liberals and moderate socialists set up
a democratic government in Petrograd pledged
to carry on the war Germany furnished Lenine
and his associates with passports a special
train equipped with luxuries, and large bank
credit to go to Russia and do their dirty work.
They did it effectively because they found the
Russian army and the Russian people so tired OF
the war that they were Indifferent to every
thing except to get home to their farms and
families That was the chord Lenine and his
associates worked on to overthrow Kerensky.
The latter was a socialist and a sincere believer
in liberty of speech. He could not be persuaded
to use force against Lenine and his anarchlstlc
followers. But these latter had no scruples on
that point They believed in force. Assassina-
ton was in fact their favorite form of argu-
ment. The result was that Kerensky was over
thrown by force and had to fly for his life, and
the Brest treaty was made amid rejoicing IN
Germany where they felt that the gold given
Lenine was the best investment they had made
since the war began and had repaid them many
thousand fold Now they are not SO sure about
that. The revolution in Germany also fo.Ed
the German people and the German army deadly
tired Of the war and willing and anxious for
peace at any price, SO they could resume their
natural lives. They had moreover gradually
learned that they had been deceived by their
ruling classes about the war from beginning to
end. They were sick of it and appeals to their
patriotism and honor as Germans fell on deaf
ears. They were about as tired of the war
the Russian masses were. But there this
difference between them, and it is mighty one
in all that it implies. The Germans were edu-
Gated. They could and did read and SO inform
ed themselves of facts, while the Russian mass
es were ignorant Of facts and had no means that
they trusted of learning what was fact and
What was lie And that difference was a
fatal stumbling block to the bosheviki. The
German masses knew what happened in Rus
la under bolsheviki rule and wanted none of
it at home They knew that the Russians jump
ed out of the frying pan into the fire when they
Iut the bolsheviki in control of their affairs.
Therefore the bolsheviki did not make much
headWay in GERMANY though they were financ-
cd from Russia literally Thus did Lenine and
his band Of murderers repay the German govern
ment Of junkers for their gold. They paid it
back with interest by money realized from the
sale of jewels and the looting of banks in Rus
sia and sent to Germany to be used to cut the
throats Of the German arstocrats who had aid
ed them to cut the throats of the Russian aristo-
Gratis middle classes, liberals and in fact all who
were even suspected Of disappearing of their
rule of tyranny and anarchy. There was sort
Of grim poetic justice in this method of paying
their debt, though fortunately for their creditors
it did not succeed in its object.
At the present time it looks as though Ger
many would survive the revolution and perhaps
retain its national form largely as federal re-
public composed of self-governing states some
what loosely united as government on federal
lines something after the manner of the state
of the American republic in it's earlier days when
each state in the union claimed individual SOW
ereignty in most things, except national defense
End customs In the last century the federal
government in this republic has gained vastly
IN power at the expense of the states That is
natural process. Perhaps the German states