The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1916. GERMAN REPRESSION OF SOCIALISTS

Taranaki Daily News, 6 July 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 6, 1916. GERMAN REPRESSION OF SOCIALISTS

The recent action of the German authorities in making a martyr of the fearless and outspoken Socialist leader, Dr. Lic-bknecht, has all the possibilities for giving rise to a movement that will seriously threaten the present form of Teutonic government. In Germany the Socialists were placed in a position of peculiar difficulty by the war. We know the methods that were used to prevent the German people from realising that the war was of Germany',; .ivn making to pander to the lust and vanity of the military class—r, war brought about as tin- result of malevolent intentions towards the rest of the world, whom it was confidently expected would be brought under the iron heel of Germany. How a nation of intelligent people coulcl be so completely fooled defies explanation. except on the one and only ground that the people have been so thoroughly drilled throughout their 'ives in submission to the authorities, and in blind obedience to the commands and expressed views of the Kaiser and his co-adjutors, iliat their will powei and self-respect have been merged into what may be called "Kaiser worship" They think this is the higliI est form of patriotism, because they have been so instructed, and from the hold this convenient doctrine has taken on the people we are bound to express admiration at the cleverness displayed in thus educating the people to be such willing and obedient slaves to the royal will. The power of Kultur is strikingly evidenced in the marvellous results obtained bv the exercise of its principles in hypnotising the people, who will only awake to their true position vhen they receive a shock. How soon that awakening will come we do not venture to predict, but signa are not wanting to indicate that the gathering together of the various essentials for producing the shock is now taking place, and the harsh treatment of Dr. Liefoknechf. may prove one of the dynamic forces to infuse life into Socialism and contribute to the freedom from tyranny of the German serfs. It should be remembered that Germany has been the recognised head centre of Socialism for niiinv years. Numerically, the Socialists inve been, since 1912, the largest party ; i; the Reichstag, where they had 110 numbers. During 1914 they conducted a Red Week, wWcli added 132,179 to

their memberships, which thus readied 1,115,<J.2i) When war came they were so completely misled and hoodwinked by the authorities that the Socialist members of the Reichstag agreed to vote for the necessary financial credits, at the time intimating that their action was dictated by national needs in face of danger from the Russian autocracy. Had they then realised that their rulers had engineered the war for their own glorification, and that the flower of German manhood was to be vainly massacred for Mich a cause, it may reasonably be assumed that their action would have been far different. They had, however, been saturated with the idea that Germany was forced into war for her own protection, and that the Kntcnte Powers were bent on the conquest and subjugation of the Fatherland. Little oy little the Socialists are realising the truth, and Dr. Liebkneeht has dared to raise his voice in protest against the continuance ->f the terrible war that is decimating (he manhood of the country and reducing the women and children to a state of hopeless misery and suffering. Those newspapers which criticised the conduct of the war were quickly suppressed, and now the Socialist leader lias been degraded and treated like a criminal, being sent to prison for alleged "attempted high treason, gross insubordination and resistance of the authorities," which may siinply be translated as •■independence." Tn no other country in the world could such a travesty of justice be'perpetrated. This sort of persecution is of just that order •which rankles deeply. Already a pamphlet has been circulated in Germany protesting against the imprisonment of Or. Liebkneeht, and the nature of that protest is worthy of note. It says: Let the assassins condemn Liebkneeht, if they dare. The judgment will awaken the empire in the trendies to such an echo that the authors will lose both their hearing and their sight." To-day's cables record the success of an anti-wai Socialist at a by-election, whereat he crushingly defeated his opponent, who was the nominee of all the oilier parties. The victor was a strong champion of Dr. Liebkneeht, and the rerdict at the polls should open the eyes of the authorities to the trend of public opinion, which presages the advent of a day of reckoning. Enthralled kit! fettered Germany is straining at hei fetters, and if the people can only obtain true news from the seat of war they should realise the need for asserting their power. We do not anticipate that the operation of throwing off their bondage will be rapidly or systematically carried out yet awhile, but the period at which tin- movement gathers impetus will be at a favorable time, when the country is fit for the change, and then the greatest menace of modern times will be removed.