The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-02-19
In 1919, the austrian Workers
Had State POuUer Within Reach
HOlU Did They Lose Their POIOeT, Step BY Step,
To the Characterization?
5: Has general disorder ar

he asks: Has general disorder ar
rived?"
And here are the memoirs Of Pain
leve. In May, 1917, the units on the
Somme were holding open-air meet
ings, demanding that the war be
stopped Immediately, and stating
their readiness to follow the reyolu-
tionary example Of the Russian army.
In Scissors in 1917, two regiments
| occupied the railway station and
eeized trains, to move on Paris and
/ dissolve Parliament. On July 7th
the situation at the front was so seri-
Gus that Marshal Petain demanded
the restorat - of field court-martial.
Along the whole front between Sois-
sons and Paris, only two divisions in
| the whole army were considered to
be more or less reliable.
| From the admissions Of another Of
/ the inperial'st wa--lordS. Churchill,
We find that "on both sides Of the
Straits of Dover unrest and disorder
| had commenced"
In a single week" we read in the
memoirs Of Churchill, I'VE received
information from various points Of
more than 80 cases Of INSTRUMENTATION
among the troops. In some cases
considerable bodies Of soldiers refused
to recognize any authority for several
days"
Things went so far that SovietS Of
soldiers deputies were organized and
there were open mutinies in army
units Cat Luton and at Calais, where
the mutineers held the town in their
hands, etc)
Revolutionary Situation.
Was this not revolutionary stu
ction which should have been utilized
by the Labor Party? Was net this
the situation which had been fore
cast by all the international con-
gTesseS Of the Second international
before the war? At the congress Of
Stuttgart, the socialist parties stated
that in case of war they must take
advantage Of It ''to inflame the
masses Of the people and hasten or
the fall Of capitalist class rule" Was
this so or not, comrades? What really
proletarian party could allow these
masses to let their weapons out Of
thei" hands, to hand themselves oveI
to the mercy Of the bourgeoisie? But
It was precisely to disarm the masse;
that the social-democrats exerted al
their efforts Even in the overthrow
Of the monarchy in the central en-
pires. they Jagged behind the masses
resisting like a bullock being led tt
SLAUGHTER
Wanted to Save Monarchy.
1t is a historic fact that such lee d.
ers Of German ocial-democracy a.
Ebert were even against a republic
End wanted to save the HohenzollerI
dynasty, at the very time when hun.
dreds Of thousands of Berlin worker,
we're in the streets demanding tht
formation Of Soviets. It is historic
fact that in Germany the social-dem.
ocratS defended the monarchy to tht
last moment, and only agreed to {
bourgeois republic under the pressure
ri the Entente, which put forward
this demand as condition fer peact
negotiations. Scheidemann openl,
speaks of this in his memoirs.
II the social-democratS had not &C
lively struggled AGAINST the pro
'etarian revolution in Central EurOp.
in 1918, the world would now bear {
different aspect, There would nov
be no crisis, no unemployment, NJ
fascism, no capitalist offensive. Th,
oIninOuS flames of the war In tE,a Ia
East woIld not be menacing tn
workers. Of all countries with the
danger Of a new world war.
ITO Be Continued.)