The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-02-15

arlan women; it guaranteed" all
these and many more things. But
one by one, these wrappers drop
ped Off, disappeared, leaving be-
hind them, finally, only the essence
Of the constitution, the guarantee
of capitalist private property and
the right of the capitalists to pro-
tect that right" with unconstitu-
tional means whenever constitu-
tiOnal means fail.
Now, at this moment, the mean
ing of the compromise embodied in
the Weimar constitution is dis
closed. But in 1888, it was not
so clear. The capitalists found
themselves in such tight place.
Cornered by the rebellion of the
German workers, that they had to
promise many things in return for
their chance to maintain the right
of exploiting the workers. These
promises looked big to the eyes of
the workers, Influenced as they
were by the social democratic de-
magogy.
THE role of social democracy was
not only that they put over the
conditions under which capitalism
could reestablish itself; they also
undertook to reorganize the forces
TO, the defense of capitalism.
Noske began it; Hoffman and Auer
seconded it in Bavaria; Severing
completed it, If there are doubts
in the mind of anyone as to whe-
Their this was the real intention
of the social democrats, let them
be diSpelled by the testimony Of
these social democrats themselves.
When Hindenburg and Papen re-
moved Severing ana Braun, the So
cial democratic heads Of the Prus-
sian government, accusing them of
leniency toward rebellious workers,
both Severing and Braun protested
against the accusation. In a me-
morandum to Hindenburg, they de-
clared that 1.-THE PrusSian govern
ment is in position with police
statistics on hand, to prove that
police interference (under their
orders-M. b has caused more
death on the left than on the right
side, and that police measures have
caused more wounded on the left
than on the right side" ("B.z. am
Mittag," July 10, 1880.
In other words: these social
democratic gentlemen, when ac-
cused of not having killed enough
rebellious workers, indignantly
shouted, THAT is not true; Stats
tics prove that we have always d.
rected our fire against these work
ers,p
In the beginning OF the cycle of
the history of the German social
democratic betrayal, the essence Of
the Weimar constitution, the re-
establishment of capitalist rule,
was hidden under scores of wrap
pers Of high sounding paragraphs.
On account of these wrappers, the
masses, in 1919, thought that with
this Weijaar constitution they had
gotten something worth while.
Otherwise they would have con-
tinued their revolution, Thus, with
this constitution social democracy
saved the day for capitalism. A
scrap Of paper did it. And those
who saw through the wrappers,
who raised the cry Of alarm. were
robbed OF tn cir leaders; they were
moved down by Noske's bullets. In
1888, however, when all the beau
tiful wrappers have disappeared
and when the essence OF the con-
stitution stands naked before the
eyes Of the masses. the rule of
capitalism faces again the revolu-
tionary wrath of these masses. No
social democratic treachery can
save 1t this time; now capitalism
pushes aside the social democrats
and calls upon fascism for protec-
ton. Now social democracy can
serve capitalism better in the guise
of a pseudo opposition than it
could as the government party.
nURING the whole historic pc
~ riod when leaf for leaf dropped
off the tree of the Weimar consti-
tuition, the social democrats fol-
lowed and defended the sf1eory of
the lesser evil Never mind this
leaf" they cried each time leaf
fell, "as long as you keep the tree,
all is we'll" Now the logic Of this
policy hss grestea the condition