KARL LIERKNECHT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 57, 2 December 1918, Page 5

KARL LIERKNECHT

GERMANY'S BOLSHEVIK LEADER PERSONAL SKETCH v "3ly protest is against the war, against the violation of the neutrality of Belgium, _ and Luxemburg, against military dictation, and against the complete neglect of social and political duties of which the Government and the dominant class are guilty to-day." Thus spoke Karl Liebknecht in the Eeichstag some time in the earlier days of the v/ar. Today, Liebknecht is the declared protagonist of Bolshevik a'ule (Russian brand), for Germany. In Germany, Bolshevism is spelt "Spartacus," and it is the Spartacus group to which Liebknecht has allied himself as leader. The following sketch was "written of Liebknecht when he earned world-wide respect for his courageous stand against the German autocracy, and suffered imprisonment accordingly:— Comparatively young, Karl Liebknecht was born in Leipzig on August 13, 1871. He w of medium height, with the slightly bowed shoulders of the student. He is a doctor of law, member of the German Bar, and was a town councillor before he entered • tho German Parliament. His revolutionary tendencies are inherited from hi* father Wilhelm; who, fo 1 " h" Part in the Baden insurrection of 1848-9, had to take refuge in Switzerland and England, returning to Germany in 1862.. Two years later AVilhelm Liebknecht was elected to the North Gorman Parliament. He voted against war credits even as his son had done, and while undergoing two years' imprisonment for an article attacking Bismarck in the • Demokratisches Wochenblatt," he was elected to the Eeichstag and was a. member for nearly twenty-five years.. During his editorship of "Vorwaerts," .in 1895, he was- sentenced to four years' imprisonment for lese inajeste. Liebknecht made his reputation as a barrister in 1905 by his defeuco in the famous Ivomgsberg trial of German Socharged with conspiracy on beMf of the Russian revolutionists, and he followed this up with a fierce antirnilitanst propaganda. For, like Bebel, he knew .that no good would be done with Prussia nntil tho military fetish was destroyed. His roward was eighteen months imprisonment. "But they could not suppress a man liko Karl Liebknecht by putting him in prison any more than they could suppress his father in that ,-way (writes. A...G. Gardiner iu his sketches of the War Lords). When ho came out, Berlin celebrated tho fact by electing Mm to the holy of holies of junkerdom, tho Diet itself." Dr. Karl Liobknecht's policy is expressed in ! these words taken from a ' speech made in the Eeichstag more than threo years ago:— "This war, which none of the peoples involved desired, was not started for the benefit of the German or any other people. It is an Imperialist war, a war for capitalist domination of- the world. This war is not a defensive war for Germany. Its historical character and tho succeeding events make it impossible for us to trust a capitalist Government when it declares that it is 'for the defeuco of the country that it asks for credits. A peace made as soon as possible, and which will humiliate no one, is what must be demanded. All efforts' in that direction should bo supported." It is by iron discipline that the German Socialist Party lins been built up, and as this party decided to support tho credits they disowned Liebknecht's speech and action, and a vote of censure was passed on him in February, 1915, by 82 votes to 15. Meanwhile the Government had not been inactive. They could not prosecute Liebknecht without the authority of the Reichstag, so he was called to the colours. Employed first as a sen-

try on lines of communication, it was thought this work was not sufficiently punitive, so on the plea of shortsightedness ho was put on navvying and road repairing. Since then, however, Licbknocht has served a term of imprisonment, and was only released on the eve of tho armistice.

Just before the war Liebknecht sprang on tho Reichstag a sensational exposure of the corruption practised by ICrupps— an exposure which led'to the trial and sentence of high officials.