Evening star., 1920-04-04
GERMAN REVOLT REAL:
FIRST WAS MERE SHAM
Twin Bug gbears of Prussianism and Boil
sheviism Reflected in Latest Uprising.
Mr.. Simonds Explains.

by ofhcerS. without semblance of
trial. Such honest and constructive
dered by those representing the old
order
Real Revolt Stamped Out.
Thus. in a brief time real revolu-
ton was stamped out in Germany
and. while the power renal ined NOM
!nally in the hands of Ebert and the
majority socialists, actually this
power was illusory. because il had
been acquired by voluntary assign
ment by the old order and maintained
by the guns and pistols of the army,
still commanded by men of the older
regime. 1t remained for the social
democrats to perform their task Of
deceiving the allies and obtaining
terms which could not be got by the
imperial and military elements. This
duty performed. the moment would
come to throw Off the mask. And ia
the nature of things. since its mill
tary support was vested in an army
loyal to the reactionary elements. the
Ebert government could not hope 40
resist. even IL it had the will and
the courage. both of which were lack
ing.
But the Ebert government was un-
able to perform its mission. The al
lies were not led to modify their de-
mands upon Germany by reason OF
the apparent change in German con-
troll; they We're unwilling to give.
even to a Germany which called
itself democratic, terms which would
have conformed to German calcula-
tIons. Instead, the treaty of Ner-
sailles imposed upon Germany a sem
tence more severe than any Germans
had foreseen. Thus the maneuver
of November. 1918. the abdication OF
the kaiser, the transfer of power to
the social democrats. however sue
CpGSfnI il in, ha fol- nf
domestic politics. had failed absolute
ly in the foreign field.
Moreover. day by day and week by
week, the Ebert government declined in
popular esteenl. it became more and
more unpopular: indeed. more and more
contemplate. since. SO far from obtain
ing concessions from the allies. it was
met with ever-increasing demands
which eliminated in the summons to
surrender the war criminals. Nothing
more could then be hoped from the al
lies. whether the government should be
liberal or reactionary: the popular dis
gust at the Ebert regime was mounting
dangerously. and there was real danger
lest the real revolutionaries. the men
and the parties which had revolted I'm
November. 1918, and been repressed
after great and bloody disorders, might
start a new insurrection.
Rise of kapp.
In this situation kapp. himself a no
body. but plainly acting in the name OF
the old military and reactionary ele-
ments, executed a coup d'etat. Forth
with the Ebert government fled to Leip-
zig. the army passed from the hands OF
Noske to those officers of the old order
The Baltic soldiers occupied Berlin.
For the moment the counter revolution
was swiftly and completely successful.
But at this stage a new and unforeseen
element intervened. The Ebert govern
mont ipvoked the Uyea ron of tho pepara1
strike and the country, the laboring
masses, responded to a man: suddenly
the whole economic life of the country
was paralyzed.
government to use this weapon re-
mains unexplained. The actual ma
neuver recalled exactly the course OF
Kerensky. who. having agreed to sup
port Kornilof in a similar venture in
Russia, in 1917. suddenly repudiated
his agreement. threw himself into the
arms of the extreme radicals. of Lenin
and Trotsky. and thus insured the
collapse. of Korniloff, the swiftly
following fall of Kerensky and the ul-
innate triumph of the bolshevists. led
by LeIin and Trotshy, who forthwith
inaugurated a real revolution in Rus
sia. the progress of which has not yet
been interrupted.
Whatever was the motive of the
Ebert government. its tactics were i'm
mediately successful In a very few
DAYS it became clear that the reac-
tionary revolution was doomed, be-
cause the laboring classes were not
only hostile to it, but so well organ
lied that by the use of a general
strike. they could force an immediate
capitulation. This capitulation came
within the briefest time, Kapp and
his associates retired. the military ele-
ments which had been brought to
Berlin. retired. The road was open Tor
the return of the Ebert government.
Turned to Real Radicals.
But the situation now took new
turn. Ebert had turned to the real
radicals. to the independent socialists
for aid to defeat the counter revolu-
tion and it had been supplied. as
Lenin gave aid to Kerensky against
Korniloff, but the independent social
lists were in no mood to accept Ebert
on the old terms. To them Ebert was
traitor. who had consented to the
murder of Liebknecht and Rosa Lux
emburg, to the merciless repression OF
the original revolution. He was the
creature and agent of the reaction
aries and this fact had been clearly
demonstrated by the course or the
Ebert government in the first mo-
ments of the Kapp uprising. as by the
ease with which the Noske military
organization had been disposed OF by
the old militarists.
The general strike had been invoked
against the Kapp group. but 1t re-
mained available for use against the
Ebert group. Kapp had quit prompt
ly. but the independent socialists. the
mass of the laboring classes. seemed
now determined to continue the
struggle until all chance of repeu-
ton of the recent uprising was rem
dered impossible. What the inde-
pendent socialists now sought was to
use the power that had come to their
hands to force the creation of a cabi-
net which should be beyond the con-
troll of the old gang and to bring
about a dispersal of the Noske mill
tary forces which in the recent
emergency had shown themselves the
ready tools of the old Prussian mill
tary clique.
1t is essential that Americans should
now perceive the truth. as contrasted
with the propaganda-prepa fiction
about the German situation. The first
was a sham. The men who
figured as its leaders were soon iden-
titled by their works as the willing
or the helpless tools of the Prussian
oligarchy, which had procured the
war and had been responsible not
only for the conflict itself. but for the
very circumstances in it which made
1t unlike all previous conflicts in the
period of modern history.
Copyright. 1920. Mcclure Newspaper SyndicateD
r. DECATTC