the Chamber of Deputies. There are no longer the Vosges to separate the peoples; at the most there are only a few mile posts. Our spokesman concluded his remarks with the following words, which were subsequently sadly distorted by the chauvinistic press and misused for its own purposes: "In this sense, in the sense of the holy alliance of peoples, of which Heinrich Heine dreamt, I owe it to the France of the laboring masses, to the France that loves peace, to the France that desires an understanding, to the France from which the cry rings out to us, 'Long live Germany,' to close my speech with the cry, 'Long live France.'" Interest is added to this speech by the fact that, since the killing of Frank, Wendel, Suedekum, and Goehre are the only Socialist members of the Reichstag who are serving as volunteers in the army. Wendel's speech was indorsed in the Reichstag by Bernstein on behalf of the party. We quote once more from the German Party report: Bernstein declared in our name that we were not at all willing to have Wendel's statement discounted, at least the following portion of it: "To peace-loving France, to the France of the working classes, to the France who maintains the ideals of freedom, of freedom for all nations, to this France we extend as formerly our full sympathy." THE PROSECUTION OF ROSA LUXEMBURG Conditions in the Army are also discussed in the report of the Executive Committee of the party with reference to the prosecution of Rosa Luxemburg. (Rosa Luxemburg was finally sentenced to serve one year in prison on this charge, beginning in March, 1915-all appeals having been lost.) The Frankfurt prosecution of Comrade Rosa Luxemburg was the forerunner of a whole series of prosecutions following certain alleged libels of officers' corps and the Crown Prince. The accused were convicted and very severely sen tenced, while the officers were acquitted. The success which militarism won through this judgment against Social Democratic speakers and editors made the War Minister arrogant. Because of the following words occurring in a speech delivered by Comrade Luxemburg at Freiburg in regard to the mistreatment of the soldiery, the Minister of War filed immediately a demand for punishment: "As to what is transpiring at Metz, one thing, at any rate, is clear-it is, beyond doubt, one of those dramas which take place day in and day out in the German barracks, from which the groans of the victims only occasionally reach our ears." The Social Democracy was quite ready to thrash out this matter with the Minister and with the fullest publicity; 1,013 witnesses at once reported themselves as ready to testify before the court on the basis of their own bitter experiences, gained during their own military service, and daily this number grew [32,000 written cases were collected]. On the motion of the prosecuting attorney the proceeding was adjourned, but is to be reconsidered soon after the close of the present court recess, the outlook, in the meantime, being quite hopeful. The party has never before had such an opportunity of bringing into the very brightest publicity such facts as it has now gathered in regard to this worst abuse of our military system. It seems, however, that the administration does not relish the prospect of further proceedings partaking of the character; at least, so much might be inferred from the fact that the action against Meyer, the Vorwaerts editor, has already been dismissed [July, 1914]. The present war took its origin in the Balkans and is nearly connected in many ways with the previous Balkan Wars. We therefore give at some length the resolution of the special International Socialist Congress at the time of the first Balkan War, and also the action of the Servian and Bulgarian Parties at that time. In the same connection we reproduce articles bearing on the internal situation in Bulgaria after the Balkan Wars, and the phenomenal Socialist successes at the elections. And while dealing with Servia we reproduce two documents having to do with the present war, or rather with the Servian-Austrian war, out of which, after a week's interval, the present war developed. The Servian and Bulgarian documents indicate that there is a very strong anti-war party among the people of both countries, and that these two parties are in no way hostile to one another. We also give a message of the Russian to the Austrian Socialists during the Balkan Wars. |