Evening star., 1926-10-10
BY FRANK II. SIMONDS.

constitutes perhaps the most success
full post-war readjustment In Europe.
In Germany as nowhere else In Flu
| rome YOU have the same sense that
often follows great thundershower
which washes the air and the country
clean and leaves after it great sense
| Of calm.
There is a new Germany: 1t has
come back far and is coming back
much further. 1t has surmounted
its domestic difficulties and 1t no
longer looks upon it's foreign situation
with despair or even with sullen re-
| sentiment. Now what Is the inner
situation politically of this new Ger
many, what Is the situation which,
owing to the multiplicity of parties
and confusion Of issues, is so difficult
| to understand abroad?
! The kew to domestic politics in Ger
many. now and for a long time to
come, can be .ound in the fact that
Germany is now perhaps 80 per cent
| republican. that Is to say. 30 per cent
| of the people either accept the re-
public because they like 1t or because
they realize that it has come to .stay)
but, on the question Of what kind of
| republic 1t shall be-progressive or re-
dictionary as we would say. Left or
Right as the European says-there is
something like an even break.
Revolution by Radicals.
The revolution was made by the
| Communists, by the anarchists, by
the extreme reds and in 1t there was
instinct the spirit of Moscow. But.
almost at the outset. the reins were
| snatched from the hands of the reds
by the Social Democrats: that Is to
say, by the more conservative and
! ane elements in the republican and
anti.monarchist camp. Control ac-
tually passed from the revolutionists
to the reformers, to the republica ms,
almost at once.
| The men and women who made the
revolution were shot or dispersed.
But there followed the men and the
political parties who made the repub-
lie. These were first the Social
Democrats. who are the great body of
radical but utterly orderly and con-
stitutional voters, members of labor
unions. workers. corresponding mark
edly with the British Labor party:
second, the Catholics. the Center
party. made up both of workingmen
and a considerable fraction of upper
class people. A third element was
supplied by the Democratic party.
4
enlightened bourgeoise, of progressive
business interests.
In this combina ation, which was
known as the Weimar bloc. because
II made the constitution at Weimar.
the Socialists were the dominating
factor in numbers and all else. and
FREDERICK Ebert. their leader, be-
came the first President of the re-
public. At its outset. then, the Ger
man Republic was horn Of red revo-
luton and thereafter dominated by
the most radical of the great parties
1t was thus suspected from the out
set. not merely by the sympathizers
Of the old regime. but by big business,
which saw vast perils in sweeping So
cial legislation. and expensive and I'LL
conceived theories.
Lost Ground at First.
In its first stages. right down to
the death Of Ebert nearly two years
ago. the republic on the whole grew
politically weaker. not because the
monarchists gained ground, but be-
cause the country itself was far more
conservative than the parties which
had made the republic and continued
to control 1t. At the same time the
continued miSfortunes abroad the oc-
|
humiliations of the people. along with
the miseries of imitation, contributed
further to diminish the prestige and
weaken the support of the republic.
In this period the Social Democrats
lost control first and then the whole
Weimar bloc failed to elect a. ma
jority of the Reichstag. In 1929 after
the Ruhr the republic had sunk to a
very low level. There was a degree
of danger that there might he an ex.
plosion on the one hand coming from
the communists or on the other from
the monarchists. and the Kapp putsch
was more than hint of what might
happen.
The actual salvation of Germany
came through the decision of Germa n
business and finance to take a hand
In the game. German big business
was in itself represented in German
politics by strong party, the Peo-
pies party, which, as the Weimar bloc
lost ground. came to hold the balance
of power between the monarchists on
the one side and the republicans on
the other. Big business saw that Ger
many would he ruined if a restora ton
were attempted. because all foreign
loans, capital. confidence, would be
abolished and new French occupations
| mlgnt take place.
Policy Of Big Business.
Thus biG business, which was for.
tunate enough to have the only great
political figure in republican Germany,
namely Gustav Stresemann, resolved
to take hand on a carefully con
ceived basis. 1t would join the Re
publicans in making peace abroad, in
a policy Of fulfillment, which was pres
emily to be expressed in the Dawes
plan, and in a policy of cancellation,
which was to eliminate in Locarno.
But in doing this II would undertake
to establish a new constellation in
German politics: that is to say, 1t
would seek to draw to itself the aid
Of those who were interested that
government. but realized that II must
be a conservative republican govern.
ment.
From that moment onward all the
real movement in German politics has
been expressed in the struggle on the
one ha nd Of the parties Of the old Wei
mar bloc to create a radical ma jority,
which should rule. and of the People g
party to create new conservative
bloc. which should dominate Both eff
forts have measurably failed, because
the actual strength of the two forces
Is almost equal.
Moreover, Stresemann, adroit politi
clan as he is-and he Is besides a
sta tesman-h encountered all forms
OF opposition. A very large part Of the
monarchists. the nationalists. refused
to accept the Dawes plan. the party,
as a whole. has rejected Locarno. On
the other hand, the Social Democrats
have rushed into the project for the
appropriation of the property of the
prince, which has offended all elements
who believe in the maintenance of the
principle of private property.
Actually Germany has been governed