The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-02-03
DESCRIBE MURDER
OF TWO LEADERS
BY MILITARISTS
How Socialists Betrayed
German Revolution
BY WILHELM PECK (Berlin).

ISNOIullOHdIy pIOleldIidly 1OlIlI dOSS
Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Lieb-
lInecht, were foully murdered in Ber-
lin in the most bestial manner by
cavalry officers. 1t was attempted at
first to represent the vile murder as
a sort of lynch justice carried out by
workers against the two leaders of
the revolutionary movement. But the
events which led up to the murder
were too obvious to enable the traces
of the murderers and of their con-
federates to be wiped out by means of
this fraud.
1t was Ebert, Scheidemann, Wells
and their consorts who, from the very
first days of the government of the
social democratic Council of Peoples
Deputies, through their press, by
means of leaflets and meetings in
cited the soldiers and the workers
against Karl Liebknecht and Rosa
Luxembourg, and who, according to
their own admissions, received large
sums of money from the bourgeoisie
in order to carry on their incitement
against the Communist leaders. 1t
was these same leaders who told the
troops returning from the front that
there prevailed in Berlin the most saw
age terror, plunderings and robbery
under the leadership Of Karl Lieb-
knecht and Rosa Luxembourg and that
it was the task of the soldiers to re-
store order in Berlin.
Urge Murder.
The social democratic Council of
Peoples Deputies permitted scream
ing placards to appear in the streets
of Berlin, openly calling for the muir
der of the two Communist leaders.
1t entrusted Noske, who designated
himself as bloodhound" with the
organizing of a band of murderers;
it made the Eden Hotel in the west
of Britain the headquarters of the
Cavalry Guard in order to carry out
the bloody crushing of the revolution
AIRY workers of Berlin.
The social democratic central or
gan, the ''Vorwarts," after the crush
ing of the Spartacus revolt and two
days before the murder of the two
Communist leaders, published poem
by a Arthur Zickler, a verse of which
reads:
MANY hundreds of dead lie in row!
Proletariansi
Karl, Rosa, Radek and Company
Are not among them!
Proletarians ~
Two days later the murder took
place.
Both of our comrades We're fully
aware of the danger threatening them.
But they were so much in the midst
of the fight that the workers were
then waging to maintain the few mis-
cradle achievements of the November
upheaval, that they were not in any
circumstances prepared to yield to
the requests and entreaties of their
nearest comrades to go into hiding
for a time in order not to be within
the reach of every hired assassin.
When the armed onslaught of the
white guardists on the Berlin prole-
tariat set in on the 18th of January,
and Leo Jogisches had already been
arrested, Karl Lieblnecht and Rosa
Luxembourg were compelled by the
rest of the members of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party
to keep away from the editorial Of
fees of the "Rote Fahne" Joint con-
situations and editorial work were
carried out in private houses. And
when, after the victory of the white
guardists over the Berlin working
class, murder and treachery ragged
through the streets of Berlin and
house searches for weapons set in, it
was decided to bring the two COM
rades to friends in the west of Ber-
lin, as it could be assumed that dom
iciliary searches would not take place
at once in this bourgeois quarter.
The Betrayal.
BY a piece of treachery which has
not yet been cleared up, the white
guardists became aware on the very
next day of the new place of resi-
dence of Rosa Luxembourg and Karl
Liebknecht. When the writer of this
article, at about 9 o'clock in the eve
ming of January 18th, went to visit
the two comrades, the house was al
ready occupied by the military. Karl
Liebknecht was already arrested and
taken away. Rosa Luxembourg was
still in the dwelling and guarded by
several soldiers. After a short time
number of soldiers led by two civ
ilians came to search the house. They
compelled Rosa Luxembourg, who lay
in bed owing to severe headache, to
get up and dress, and after short
time she and | were led out in the
street, compelled to get into motor
car, which after a short journey ar
rived at the Eden Hotel. A number
of officers and soldiers stood at the
entrance who greeted our arrival with
yells and abuse and acted especially
towards Rosa Luxembourg in the viii
est manner. She was Immediately
conveyed to the first blood of the
hftel where a certain Captain Papst
Submitted her to cross-examination
J was compelled to remain below in