The New York herald., 1921-06-19
POURS WAR BLAME
ON KATER'S HEAD
Karl Kautsky. Socialist His
tOrian. Explains and De-
fends First Position.
LET'S GERMANS OUT
Asserts That William Was
Without Understanding
of His Conduct.
LET'S GERMANS OUT
BOTCH MADE OF RUSSIA
War Lord Accused of Misjudg.
ing England and Italy
i'm Crisis.

in Crisis.
syeeiol Gable to THE NEW YORK HrsALp.
Copyright, 1891, by THE New YORK HErALD
New York Hersid Bureau,
Berlin. juno 1s.
New impulse has been given to the
debate in Germany over the question
who Began the WARP" by an article
by Karl Kautsky, independent Social
ist historian, who edited the Foreign
Office documents while the radicals
were still in power and wrote the most
important condemnation of the Kaiser
that has appeared in Germany since
the revolution.
An outsider can hardly understand
how pressing question this matter
OF responsibility for the war has be-
come to the Germans. At every new
difference with the Entente the con-
servatives come to the fore with their
one stubborn argument that the worst
paragraph in the Versailles treaty is
the one which establishes that the
Germans deliberately provoked and
desired the war. Without this para
graph, they argue. the Germans
could not morally be bound to fulfil
the remainder Of the treaty. And it
was one of the guiding policies OF the
Wilhelmstrasse under DR.. Walter
Sirnons to try to change the world
opinion about Germany's culpability.
Not the conservatives alone, but such
men as DIR. Paul Rohrbach and Count
Max Montgelas. who have been leaders
In the democratic movement. are among
the spokesmen for this "revise the world
opinion movement. Their aim is not
to free Germany of responsibility but
Of guilt That is, they draw a distinc-
tion between bad judgment having re-
suited in the war and the deliberate
intention of having forced 1t.
Kautsky Backs Down.
In view OF this discussion. which to
Germans appears to be the most impor-
tant they can bring to the worlds no.
tice. the evidence of q radical historian
like Karl Kautsky is regarded as having
supreme authority. And in recent po-
ntical meetings the conservatives have
made a great play of the fact that
hautSky ElfnSeu TeNlScu iliS opiuioH
about the kaiser's war guilt
Kautsky has been on trip to Georgia.
hence his contentious had to be defended
by his Socialist colleagues. But now
that he has returned he takes the stand
IN his own behalf. What he offers,
while 1t is technical refutation OF the
charges that he changed his opinion.
remains one Of the strongest statements
&c the credit of those who draw the
distinction between responsibility ana
provocation.
Ksutsky's answer to Prof. Delbrueck
contains the statement: IT can make a
confession that there was a time when
7 did the German Government an IN
Justice. L was greatly astonished when
I came TO examine the Foreign once
documents. My original contention
proved 10 be- untenable."
But in the same pamphlet he says
"All of Prof. Delbruecl1's critical attacks
do not move me to change a single woro
of what have written
In an article In the Freihctt he now
tries to bring these apparent contradic-
tens into harmony. kautslsy's earlier
opinion. he states, was that Germany
must have known what she was about
when she lent uneqvivocai support to
Austria. go he concluded that Germany
desired the war and deliberately pro-
voked It.
"Fut the Foreign Office documents
he now explains. showed that william
II. was wholly without a clear conscious
ness Of the most obvious consequences
of his conduct He provoked Russia In
the strongest manner in supporting the
Austrian ultimatum and trusted that the
Russian colossus would retire In the face
Of the Central Powers without drawing
the sword and so the peace OF Europe
would be preserved.
One OF the kaiser's BLUFFS.
"He supported himself In this bluff by
calculating that italy and even Ru-
mania would aid Austria In war or
conquest and that England would remain
auiet while France was being destroyed,
and so Russia would retreat, he thought
No moderately sober individual could
have shared these expectations. but Will
lam conducted himself in July, 1914,
quite es he did on an earlier occasion
when without much thought he insulted
and provoked great power and then
collapsed when that power made ges-
ture indicative Of war In reply
"tIe collapsed also In July, 1914, when
the inevitable fruits OF his deeds be-
came apparent and Germany was
threatened with war against the entire
world He would gladly have retreated,
but this tirns he came too late TO a
decision He failed TO whistle Austria
back, for the criminal idiots who made
the Austrian policy in the Ballplatz
NSsre rejoicing over the fact that at last
they were to get their war against
Serbia.
"They were not able to accompany
william on his leaps from defiant in
consideration to timid despair. They re-
rnained true 10 their narrow minded
ureencies. In the meantime Williams
policy resulted In mobilization by the
whole world because each side feared an
attack from the other. Williams stu
pidity thcreupon reached its climax.
while the others modified but did not
declare war so as not to destroy the last
hopes for maintaining peace he believed
the mobilization OF the others forced him
not only to mobilize but 20 declare war.
And so he brought war TO pass.
This conception is the one obtained
from documents. and one which have
already expounded. But to repeat II. I
declare that the archives convinced me
that 7 hitherto had done the German
Government an Injustice for had
wrongly assumed that Il went ahead
Systematically, deliberately with full
consciousness Of what II was doing,
whereas In reality we find the policy OF
opportunism based on Impressions OF the
moment without question as 10 the even
tual consequences and with reliance on
good luck. And then when things went