Evening star., 1932-11-06

"HE German election winch VII
be held today is one of the oddes'
in all history of democratic in
i stitutions. 1t is, in reality. ar
election TO end elections. Those
who are responsible for it, Hindenburg
president of the German Republic
Papen, chancellor, and Schleicher, the
military power behind the Cabinet OF
the Barons." are deliberately seeking
by consulting the people to prevent
the people from expressing their will
Even more. they are striving to bring
discredit upon Parliament and popular
government in the hope Of preparing
the way for reaction and eventual res
toration of the monarchy.
The story of the causes of the pres
ent election is cimply told. Last Spring
when the Bruening cabinet was pat
emily succumbing to the assault of the
burg suddenly withdrew his support
from Bruening. thus compelling his
resignation. He then called Papen to
form a cabinet and dissolved the
Reichstag to prevent it from throwing
out the Papen cabinet as it certainly
would have done. since Papen and his
associates commanded barely 80 votes
in a ReichStag which counted above $50
members.
In the ensuing election the Repub-
lican coalition which had governed Ger
many since the revolution. composed
of the Social Democrats, Democrats and
Centre. was overwhelmed by the Ma
tional Socialists. The Socialists lost 10
seats. the Democrats were practically
wiped out. dropping to 3. The Centre,
by contrast with their allies, the
Bavarian Peoples Party, gained 10 seats,
but in new Reichstag of GOT members
the old Weimar bloc counted but 232,
while the National Socialists rose from
107 to 230 The Communists for their
part gained II seats, rising to 80.
Papen Profited Little.
But if the Weimar bloc was beaten.
the Papen- -Hindenburg combinations
profited little. The NationalistS, who
supported them. captured but 81 seats
and when Parliament assembled were
able in test to muster but 80 votes
against more than 500 Papen, how
ever, with the aid Of Hindenburg, dis
solved the Reichstag once more and
forced a new election. Since technically
the Reichstag was dissolved before a
vote of no-confdence was passed, the
Papen cabinet continued to rule.
Now in the forthcoming election
there is no chance that the Nationalists
I,
will get majority; on the contrary, at
most they seem unlikely to get more
than so seats. On the other hand all
reports forecast a drop of at least 80
members for the National Socialists and
the transfer of 10 or 20 from the Social
Democrats to the Communists. The
Centre and the Bavarian Peoples
Parties, the Catholic group. may con-
ceivably lose seats, but are likely
to return with so mandates. AS the
smaller splinter parties" were practi
cally annihilated at the last election
thcy will hardly figure in this
Reconciliation between the National
lists and the National Socialists-that is.
the Hitler party-is excessively unlikely
because the latter quite justly feel that
the former have stolen their thunder
and the present campaign is war to the
knlte between the two nationalistic
groups. The Social Democrats will not
coalesce with the Barons, nor. of course
will the Communists. But the Social
Democrats. the Communists. the Ma
tional Socialists and the Centre will
almost certainly stand against the
Papen cabinet. The result. therefore
must be new dissolution and a rev
election. Only thus can the Barons
stay in power
Stategy of Nationalists.
Obviously the strategy of the Ma
tlonalists is directed at wearing out
their opponents. In the end they hope
to see a split in the National Socialists
and change in the Catholic parties.
They aim at drawing to themselves the
portions of Hitler's motley following
who are at heart Nationalists and
driving the balance into the Communist
or Socialist camps Then a coalition
of the Nationalists and the Catholic
parties might provide a ma jority
But beyond this there is the larger
purpose to destroy parliamentary gov
eminent by discrediting it. Papen has
already foreshadoWed far-reaching con-
stitutional changes directed at increas-
ing the powers Of the executive and re-
ducing those of the Reichstag His
justification, SO far as he alleges any.
lies in the self-evident fact that Ger
man political parties are SO numerous
and so mutually irreconcilable that
majority government is impossible.
Once the Reichstag has been shorn
of its power the next step is sure to be
toward restoration of the old mon
archy. But this change is not by any
means on the cards at the moment.
On the contrary. Papen, who may we'll
disappear at any moment, and
Schleicher and the Nationalists, who
actually control, are likely to proceed
step at a time and restore the
machinery of monarchy before they call
in sovereign, who in all probability
will be the grandson of the Kaiser, the
elder son of the ex-Crown Prince
But the Nationalist Camarilla have
Obvious difficulties ahead of them, the
first OF which is the necessity to re-
store, if not prosperity. at least toler-
able living conditions for the masses.