MUDDLED PEACE TALK.

Hokitika Guardian, 15 September 1917, Page 4

MUDDLED PEACE TALK.

THE TRUE AIMS OF HUN SOCIALISTS.

(By D Thomas Curtin, Author of “The Land ot Deepening Shadow.’)

It is easy to become muddled in a steady stream of vague peace talk. Friends may forget the great factors in tire war and begin to argue with one. another over details. Those uho look to the German Social Democrats to act as a lever to briny about a peace acceptable to the Allies should keep two pom's in mind. .In the first place, the.->e men, who entered the war m a spirit of unity and conquest, must undergo a complete change of opinion from that which they cherished when they believed that Germany was winning hands down. Secondly, they must then force their new opinion upon the ma joritv of their countrymen. Inasmuch as the first stage lias not been reached it is useless to discuss the second.

The prominence given since early in the war in Allied and neutral countries to Liebknecht. and a few kindred spirits who are violently at odds with their Govern meat, and would try to right a wrong even to the material detriment of their own country, has led to a false idea of German .Social Democracy in general. I have talked earnestly with a large number of Reichstag Social Democrats, both of the Majority and of the Minority, and almost without exception I found them intensely practical men who combined business ability _ with a deep knowledge of economics, and who are above all patriotic, law-respect-ing citizens. Though ■ some of them deeply regret that their Go vernment has got German} 7 into such a mess— or could not keep Germany out of such a mess, as they prefer to put it—they are not going' to make matters worse by internal dissensions which would jeopardise their own and their country's prosperity. In Great Britain and America many of them would be Liberals and a few Conservatives. but in German} 7 , with its social caste of parties, they are forced to become Social Democrats in order to gratify their political ambitions.

While encouraging the Russians to talk platitudes and dream, they look realities in the face. I have heard some of them talk of the Russian as a gor.d-natured, simple fellow who would benefit by the German development of his land. I found them quite in agreement with the statement made to me in an interview by the able Pan-Ger-man great industrialist member Of the Reichstag, Dr Streseinanri, that “no matter what the outcome of the war Russia cannot emancipate herself from German industrial infill once.’’

“just” to enemies. 'flic German Social Democrats would oppose paying indemnities as vigorously as the rest of the Germans. Even such an extreme member of the Minority as the hater of militarism, who suggested that I should go to Potsdam to see the return of the Prussian Guard, gave me the following views:— “We wish to be just to our enemies, and we do not wish any ot their territory. But we must safeguard the future of Germany. In all wars throughout history the winner has recouped financially chiicr through direct indemnity or tinougii commercial expansion as a resuit of the war. I believe that neither shie should pay the other in this wav. A drawn war, so lar as the west is concerned, means a great burden on all the belligerents tor many years.

“ The country whose people will make the greatest sacrifices to throw oft this burden as soon as possible will be triumphant in the peaceful conquests of the markets of the worid. Our people are more loyal to the idea of the State and will bear more patiently such sacri-fices-man the individualistic English, to whom a drawn war will mean a long and disastrous period of unrest. We are certain of the indmuia! control of the Near East. We should not interfere with the political independence of the Near Eastern countries, but we recognise that it is to their advantage as well as our own that the)' be directed by a etrong policy which will enable German science to develop this region so richly endowed by nature.” , German politicians of all parties . are keeping international politics clearly in miiuh When I asked Dr Sudekum, Social Democratic mem-' her of the Reichstag for Nuremberg, Bavaria, whether he believed that if the wisdom and spirit of Bismarck could have continued Germany, would have heaped up such a coalition against her, he made a gesture of despair. What was Bismarck’s policy ? ” he asked. “ Could anybody more firmly believe than Bismarck that the first essential to German greatness is a strong Austria-Hungary? How could he have acted differently from our present leaders, who, like all far-seeing Germans, realise that the first step to weaken Germany is to weaken Austria-Hungary ? Therefore when Russia took this step we did what the great Chancellor himself must have done—we stood in arms with our ally. We did this not merely because of our pledge, but because nothing could be clearer than that it is almost as important for us to preserve our ally as to keep the soil ot our beloved Fatherland free of the invader.”

I SHELLS THE GBEATEST ARGUMENT. ; 1 One of the most pressing problems ]to be settled by the war is that of 1 Alsace-Lorraine. I have never disf cussed the matter with any German, in politics or out, who failed to ridicule the very suggestion that these provinces shall be given up. The Social Democrats, like the rest of the Germans, understood the importance of iron ore, coal and potash in industrial and commercial Ger-

many. Alsace-Lorraine is material prosperity not mere sentiment to them. And it is well to recognise that no patched up peace, nothing but the complete defeat of Germany, will restore this land to France.

Will nothing, then, bring about revolutionary changes in Germany ? Possibly. The Reichstag has changed from a body in which no dissenting voice could be heard against the war to a body 4 per cent of whose members are now opposed to William Hohenzollern and Company. I have personally seen Germany change frem a nation L: which practically everybody favoured the war to a nation in which about 20 per cent of the people prefer a Government. more in conformity with Western ideas. But the great middle class have not yet begun to be converted. Who will convert them ? Certainly not the submissive type of Reichstag Social Democrat who jumped to his leet one sweltering, summer day in 1916 and shut ail the windows when; in reply to his question as to why the Americans wrongly looked upon the peacelul Kaiser as a War Lord, I quietly suggested that the Kaiser be some time photographed in some non-military apparel. There will be. no revolution through the medium of a moral change from within as regards tlie deep-rooted questions of the war. The change will come, if at a.l, when the majority of Germans become convinced that the game is up and begin to ask their duels embarrassing questions. Only outside arguments will bring about such a condition, and the greatest of these is shells.