Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-03-06
"NelD K0iserisnt"
Stirs in Gern,dy,u
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OcHo w UeTHluIly
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weakling like Prince Max Of Baden y
| President Ebert and his chancellor
Bauer are mere, figureheads and pup
pets in the hands of men like Noske
and Landsberg, who doilinate their
party absolutely.
Kaiserism the Dominant Note
"But kaiserism is unfortunately not
only rife in the Reichstag IL is equally
dominant today among the German
people. The general cry in Berlin is |:
ooh, IL we, only had kaiser again =
The Junkers, the farmers and the great
body of officials are, of course, as they
always were, stanch monarchists.
There is nothing surprising in that.
But the professional and business
classes, who for a time showed some
comprehension at least of the revolu-
tion and sympathy for the new German
republic. have likewise relapsed into
monarchism and are once more signing
for the good old days under the Ho-
henzollerns. ~
"The truth is that the majority So
cialists. by their administrative incom-
ppIPUCP anu COEEuDtlOh, huNt
democracy in Germany in the eyes of
its bourgeois supporters. And, in the
same way, they have discredited social
ism IN the eyes of the proletariat. For
the bitter truth must be confessed that
even among the German workmen
kaiserism is today once more deeply
rooted, more deeply probably than when
the kaiser was there to rule over them.
"The utter failure of the majority
Socialist minister's to realize socialistic
legislation and to raise the political and
economic level Of the working classes
has shaken their faith in socialism, and
many disillusioned workers, who cannot
help comparing the misery and distress
which is their portion under a so called
Socialist government, headed by q So
called Socialist president. with the
comparative plenty and happiness of
former times, naturally conclude that
it is better to have kaiser after all.
"We Spartacists know to our cost
how widely spread this feeling is
among the German workmen. 1t is
safe to predict that IL a plebiscite were
organized today in Germany, an over
whelming majority of the German
people would vote in favor of the res
t ltion of kaiserism."
Spartacism Tragic Failure
These are the words of Spartacist,
and Spartacist would be the last per-
son in the world to make such a con-
fession If 1t were not true, for it i'm
plies that his party forms an impotent
minority that can never hope to govern
Germany except by terrorism. The
story of Spartacism is one of the great
disappointments of the German revolu-
ton. The course of this revolution was
from the first fatally warped by the alb
sence of party with genuine demo.
cratic ideals capable of establishing a
republic. on western lines. The Sparta
cists might have been this party, for
they were the real authors of the revo-
luton and the only Germans whose
hatred of kaiserism was fanatically
sincere, and not merely opportun.stic
camouhage.
But Liebknecht and his followers al
lied themselves with the Russian Boil
sheviks and espoused Lenine's creed,
and by preaching world terrorism hope
lessly outlawed themselves in Germany
and forfeited the sympathies they orig
inally enjoyed in the allied countries
because of their courageous attitude
during the war.
Many Of the leaders of the Spartacist
movement are sincere and amable
idealists who really represent the best
type of German--as Karl Liebknccht
himself undoubtedly did-and whom one
would be naturally inclined to prefer
to the unprincipled opportunists now
ruling Germany, but they are hopelessly
entangled in Lenine's corrupt and sin
lister intrigues, and their advent to
power in Germany would consequently
involve very real menace of an alliance
with Bolshevik Russia against western
civilization. Their violent, dOctrinary
policy. has immensely furthered the re-
vival of kaiserism by furnishing the
Prussian militarists with plausible pre-
texts for instituting II reactionary reign
of terror, and by frightening the Allies
Government in spite of it's evident
duplicity and militaristic character.
Oppose Extradition Of Kaiser
So powerful has the spirit of kai-
serism grown in Germany lately that
even German revolutionists whose
hatred of the Hohenzollerns is above
suspicion seek to dssuade the Allies
from insisting on the extradition of the
kaiser and his military accomplices,
because they believe such action will
precipitate monarchist restoration and
be the death warrant Of the German re-
public, such as it is.
Edward Bernstein is a revolutionary
veteran who has spent his life in COM
batting kaiserism. He has nothing in
common with socialistic agents Of the
Hohenzolerns like Scheidemann and
Noske. And yet in reply to my re-
quest for an interview, he sent me the
following signed statement for pubica-
tion,ln the EVENING PUBLIC LEDGER:
"rhe Entente's action in demanding
the cxtradition of the exkaiser from
Holland and the delivery of the German