Karl Liebknecht.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 14 July 1916, Page 3

Karl Liebknecht.

• A GREAT MA-V PROTEST AGAINST THE AV^R. I (By David G. Stead), j in recent years few more remarkable 'figures have loomed up on the international horizon than.'that of the great Socialist, Karl Liebkoecht. In his nativdand he has been a constant storm centre or—better still—a kind of stormy petrel, and a, perpetual source of both to the "good" Prussians who, indeed, would fain have removed altogether from this earthiy sphere had the troublesome individual not possessed such a great following among the educated classes and workers of Germany. .From the standpoint of personal bravery it would be hard indeed to find anyone more deserving of the Iron Cross, or whatever else is considered in Germany meet recognition for such conduct. For many years his picturesque figure has been seen wherever the fight for the emancipation of the people from the Prussian military yoke was thickest. A great leader and a great man in every sense of the word—the fact of-ffis being a German, should not Ulindi us to that.

(Dr. Liebknecht was the friend . of peace, and therefore the friend ot Britain. He strove for peace unceasingly, and was hated by the Prussian junkers accordingly. He was" ; a - constant thorn in the side of the military autocracy, and of tlfose ot the house of Krupp, at all times. He exposed the evil influence of Krupps on many occasions in the Reichstag, denouncing the grea 1 . armament firm, and pointing out ; those who were their agents, both in the Heichstag and amongst those who surrounded the Court of Pru&jia. He •ran had the temerity to suggest a business connection, for ulterior motives, between the Goliath among armament builder# and his Kaiser. -Many ; a time has he held forth in a similar strain'm a Chamber full of hostile representatives, whom he hail castigated with his tongQe to • such an extent as I to tuna them into a howling pack of wolves thirsting for his gore. •

Bearing all this and much more in mind, it dots not seeui surprising that means for hit> disposal were not found long since by those who had good cause" to hate him so ardently and who were in such constant fear'of the changes in public opinion that lie— by his socialistic, peaceful and generally democratic teachings—wae helping 'so much to bring about. That he was spared may be set down solely to the fear of the Government ot what* might happen even among their own conscripted, soldiers if it leaked out that he had been "removed."

Now, after the great war has run its awful course for nearly two years, a military court has been "courageous enough to consign Liebknecht to prison when they would have dearly loved to put him out of the way and settle' him onoe and for all. The effect of this decision upon the populace has alfco been conveyed to us, and. we may expect to hear yet again of Liebknecht the Bold.

In this connection it is of great interest to quote from Kari Liebknecht s protest against the vote of credit by I the Reichstag on December 2, 1914. Tha protest was not read, the President of the Reichstag having vetoed it. It was communicated to the German press but not one paper published it. The Berner Tiagwacht published it in full, and ' from that the following extracts are taken : — "The war, diesired bv none of the peoples concerned, has not broken out in behalf of the welfare of the German people or any other, v It is an,lmperialist war, a war for the capitalist domination of the world's markets and for the political domination of important regions' for the placing .of industrial and banking capital. From the point of view of rivalry in armaments, it is a preventive war provoked by the German and Austrian war parties together, in the obscurity of semi-abso-lutism and of secret diplomacy. „ "A rapid peace, one wOiich does not humiliate anybody, a peace without conquests-thin is what we must demand. Every effort in this, direction must be favourably received. The continuous and simultaneous affirmation of this desire in all the belligerent

countries can aione put a stop to the bloody massacre before the complete exhaustion of ali the people concerned. A peace based upon the international solidarity of the working class and the liberty of all peoples can alone be a lasting peace. It is in this sense the proletariats of all countries must furnish, even in. the course of this war, a Socialist effort for peace.

"But my protest is against the war, against those wlio are responsible for it, against those who direct it; it is against the capitalist policy which gai r e it birth; it is directed against the capitalist objects pursued by it. against lihe plans of annexation, against the riolation of the neutrality of Belgium and tiuxemburg, against military dictatorship, against the. total oblivion of socio I nmli political duties of which the Government and ruling and classes are. still to-day guilty. For this reason 1 reject the mlitary credits asked for.