REVOLUTION TALK ABOUT GERMANY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3132, 10 July 1917, Page 7

REVOLUTION TALK ABOUT GERMANY

' A FEW COLD FACTS

■•' GEFIMAN PUBLIC STILL IN DELUSION. ißy D. Thomas Curtin, in titu "Daily Mail.") iTou have seen pictures of Belgian ik Siorteea tending beneath the Ge)-' rja ",' l 1 pen,.. If you have a mental ar ' t ' o f •■ the. masses of Germany in y m6vUt teimalax rektrvo positron frHheir authori- ■ £«. |»f *• It X not a real pictore, it ie only a'tnurage, The idea that pie German people are a downtrodden feus forced their wishes to lako contiiuin S ( to u6 ° ' those because a few mou, known tas the Government, will that they shall * £°' t"J n direct contradiction to the facts o?. the case. ■ I grant that t'ho Geraaanf) are distressingly eiok o£ tho war. •a* , - a ewift and happy means of build- «% up a Toutonic world-empire it ■ has Wtt oome -up >to expectations. The maaonly of Germans, however, are not disigAtißfied with , their Government because fof this. ..,.■

, T3ut what of those violent 6peeches in She Reichstag?" you may ask. "Don't •they 6how a' dangerous discontent and iprove that the German people are against their form of government? . There aie 397 deputies in the ReichStag. Of these only 18 (less than 5 'per Sent.) ;.aie openly arrayed against the Nrai policy. They constitute the' Social .Damooratiq Minority; it is their speeches, • .wether 3vith an.occasional one from the oooial Democratic Majority, which rnako Baoh pleasant reading in certain sections jof the Allied Press. More people raad [tnese 6peeohea in. England, than in Germany, where for the most nart they are made to. empty Benches, printed' only in fthe Social Dempcratio Press, and even there in unobtriistive parliamentary type without "feature" holdings, since those janzst be reserved, as in all other papers, ifor German victories. Furthermore, they 6re seldom read by soldiers, as the military eoiEsors_are v extreinely 6harp in degetdng anything that may prove injurious to tha helmeted mind. - -. ' : The_ &>cial Democratio Majority, altEhougi). keeping an eye on electoral reform, axe solidly behind the war macJijjjns. In fact, were I not aware of ' their B?ar% affiliations I ehould have mistaken 'gome.of them with, whom I talked for jayed-In-Ehe-wool Conservatives. Most of 'them display' the • customary German {weakness of prostrating themselves ut the feet of the _ men higher up if they (show them a little personal consideration. Not a few of them "have been as jwildly- enthusiastic over a conquering (Fatherland as. the most eabre-rattling Unnker. One of them, who in peace days Hold, mo that he would oppose the war [party as long aa he livecf, confessed to Sne a£ter_three monfflts of war that'he 'and his kind were Tnrong in criticising tho form of government. "look nt UJVwoe/' he said.. "Krance is a Eenub-i 3io, and eee how we are beating her. I Three Classes of Germans. From the revolutionary point of view (the. Germans might be divided into three wlaeses. ■ To Class I belongs- the leaders, (&he eemi-deifled army officer and profesfsor, ejid the great men of business. Class II contains the bulk of tho people. Class 111 contains the' eighteen revolutionary (extremists in the Reichstag and- a email minority of the population, certainly not jmore than twenty per oent. This class was already tried to revolt, but a police laystem of revolver, and machinojgun, espionage and. preventive arrest, Ihas rendered.all attempts futile.- It io lobvionsthat there can bB no hope of a /revolution until Class 111 wins the support of Class 11. But'the latter despises '•the former, and .seeks to curry ..favour with Class I,: from which it also derives '(its Teady-made ideas. : : ■ j Wien English-sneaking people express j>ft belief that" Germans will' follow the. ((Russians. and overturn their autocracy, +hey are simply declaring what they, in jtheir" advanced' r 'j>plitical enlightenment, iwo.uld do if .they were. in the' position ef the Germane,'; In Germany not. moro than twenty per cent, of tho people aro thus' enlightened, and it is important to note that they are the least influential members of society. When you hear that the Germans are about to throw aside itheir objeotionable institutions, reruemiber that, for three generations a belief iiv-those institutions has been bred itt their very marrow." Tho Germn-n is grafted to the tree of State at the age of four, and rarely does he fail to grow more firmly into the fibre of tho wood pith eaoh succeeding -year.. ■* -.. ■ ■ . Becanse you would not caro to live iinder tho Kaiser, it does not follow that - Germans are beginning .to ' foel tbo same Ttay. Tho Germans love their coun;try, and they aro ardent" students of ils (history as revealed to them: by their proJfeSEore—men who B.lwaye write with the Siope of official approval; That is why Itheir glorious hietory, as they eeo it, is •the .history of tho houso of Hohenzoller.n f—the. axis of the .German world, tho only (world- worth while. I' 'boliovo that the <T6rman people Vill c-odnoi- or later get 'constitutional freedom, thanks to Allied guns, but I can conceive ,nothing • more jeaorilegious to tho averago German mind jthaa the merest suggestion 'that they should depose .tho.Kaioer. Hpme-mad.e Ideas. , :■ There cen bo no- hopp.of genuine, re■iform in Germany until nn overwhelming linejority rp.alise and admit the absurdity !of their present belief that their countt,iy, aiter eshausting every poseiblo means of keeping the peace, ivas forced to defend hereelf against a- ring v of jealous «n-< emies.. That decision is , tho founda-tion-stone upon which the Government ttsave reared their itholo gigantic structure of falsehood. ■ People will fight 'equally 'hard for their beliefs wheither those beliefs fto right or wrong, jand until this fmindalion-stono ia torn »Tray the combination of millions of Windly obedient industrial human ants, patting all their faith in a eot ot 1 uneorapulously ambitious leaders, will continue to bo a. firebrand in tho society srf nations. This stone is so firmly sot .that it cannot be moved until Germany is forced to admit that sho is defeated." While tho majority of Germans whino •β-t the British blockade of tho German stomach, they delight in their owu Goy«riiment'e Wookado of tlio.German mind, flf a "neutral" comes to England from Germany ho is asked by Gver3-o.no,- ho Imoeta, "How are (Wings really there?" ißeverse the proceeding and tho averago IGerman would not think of seeking inpformation. Ho would explain tho whole jsituation. Only ideas wifh tho mado-in-jGermany label aro good enough for him. ! Tho entranco of United Slates will jiave no immediate effect of doprcssion the German people. Since tho first winter of the war they have been educated to the belief that America, has ibeen doing practically all she could against them. 'During tho Sussex crisis (of a year .ago the peoplo wcro almost hinanimous for unlimited submarining whether America eamo in, or noli. At jthat. time ono of the fow editors.of Gerinany said to me: "Our Government may (yield to the United States this time, but Sooner or later.Unless.oi>r ; enemies.como ,io terms, unrestricted warfare will bo cr:'rlared. Not only do Count Kevontlov/ and tyis party, believe tbat through it wo can '■win,'but-■ our Governmont aro in tlio Wkward position of having educated more than 80 per cent, of our people to believe that our U-boats, can, defeat any combination of enemies if we uso them '.■without scruple. Wβ havo got to tho point whero it would bo a. calamity to tho spirit of resistance of our peoplo if they felt that the war is being prolonged or that they are sinking to defeat while this weapon is being held back. ,5 The. frightfulness' war is 1.110 people's ■war in Germany. "Hold put, and the Bubmarine will bring England down, 15 ■their motto. While they believe this— and they will believe it for a. long time jet—they irill not rise in revolt. A Uttle innocuous legislation may bo passed in their favour as a sop to their sacrifices, but the Hohenzollerns will not go tho ,way of the Romanoffs for the present.