Hitler Is Dragging Germany to Ruin
Kautsky, Karl
Hitler Is Dragging Germany to Ruin Plans Reichstag Fire on World Policy of Third Reich Paves Way for New Catastrophe—Fascist Regrime Called Colossus on Feet of Clay—Kautsky Analyzes Germany's...
...There "can • be nothing more illusory than the search for prosperity through the wastage of existing resources...
...Like fcpoleonl in 1807, the victors of 2 - P compelled a far-reaching cur^W*1^ of the vanquished opporamrt army, although they did not SfctE...
...The entire development since 1871 had made Germany feared throughout the world, in proportion as it grew stronger in technique and armament, and led to Germany's so-called "encirclement," which was merely the expression of the distrust -she inspired everywhere, the fact that no one trusted her, that all nations felt themselves threatened by her, and considered it necessary to combine against her superiority of power...
...We have had examples before in other countries of how political illiterates acquire the balance of power under a condition of equilibrium between parties...
...By this annexation ii was proposed to deprive the French once and for all of anj desire ever again to go to wai "With Germany...
...It was necessary to prove to the world that the spirit of militarism and of the Hohenzollern monarchy had ceased to dominate the German people, that the people of the German Republic, the worker*, peasants, middle classes and intellectuals, had condemned the use of force and faithlessness, and that there was no longer, therefore, any reason to fear the revival of the power of t he German people — that all other peoples could work peacefully without considering themselves threatened...
...Germany's creditors had reduced their demands from year to year until finally they had agreed to waive all additional reparation payments (1931...
...In the sphere of international policy, Germany's disarmament constituted no disadvantage...
...But how long can such a state of affairs continue...
...But when war does come as a result of these circumstances, Germany will find herself in the most unfavorable situation — in complete isolation...
...From Czechoslovakia come the "pleas" of German brethren eager to be "saved," and is there not the Austrian problem, the problem of the South German Tyrol, as well as - a Nazi movement in Switzerland, which most be supported at all cost...
...From the attepeint of pure domestic dema-npr Hitler's action was rather Suerly staged...
...When Kaiserist Germany hurled herself into war she had-behind her the accumulated wealth,of one hundred years of peace—the period of 1815 to 1914...
...The economic collapse of Nazi Germany is all the more inevitable as the effect of rising armament expenditures is aggravated by extension of the economic boycott of Germany in the world market...
...This was in no way necessitated by the life interest of the German people...
...Moreover, the power of the brutal scoundrels has been enhanced not only by the increase of their own numbers but also in the increase of their antipodes, who wish to avoid any bloodletting under and circumstances...
...That reparations had a murderous effect upon German industry was recognized on all sides long before the advent of Hitler...
...Bet the Nasi regime has embarked upon this road under muck more unfavorable renditions...
...A regime thst- supports itself exclusively upon farce is a colossus with feet of clay...
...1 0 t^I C annexation of an uni'^ fffag population but confined •hanselves to the occupation of J s n h i n e l a n d and the Saar for a ^jBher of years and the demiliB™**tion of the regions immeIjjE^ir bordering upon France...
...And, inSad, the French had always re.jpisd the presence of German amies in Alsace, and particularly M" Lorraine, which was half freach, as a threat, a thorn in their flesh...
...No German government I * 8 , the conclusion of peace had *° d*mand the removal of ^•^exceptional condition by abolilimitations imposed Bp•Germany, partly because, as *il2J*"* contended, these eondiLbC ! s c o n t m f f e B t upon inter,»Uonal disarmament...
...satisfied in the West, it will turn to the East...
...Marx called a tgmtion tir this fact by way of comment on the demand in September, 1870, of the German military leaders for the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, not because the Alsatians wanted this, fat for purely military reasons, the belief being that the possession sf Alsace-Lorraine would make it possible for the German army, immediately upon outbreak of wai With France, to march directly upon Paris...
...That this expectation was quite SBtoneous, that the, annexation el Alsace-Lorraine made a new 'jHBjmdierman war inevitable was '''"wOppt emphasised by Marx...
...Above all, it was necessary to have confidence in Germany's readiness for peace...
...C o n d i t i o n s P l a c e d t h e G e r BBr' nation, to a certain exten"t , * guardianship...
...War is brought closer every time the Nazi government repeats its play with fire and strains the patience of the other Powers to exhaustion...
...As in the case of other nations today—France and Italy, for example—Germany's colonies had been a distinct financial liability...
...The consequences of the Locarno Treaty were the entry of Germany into the League of Nations (1926) and the preparations for a disarmament conference...
...Nothing could be more erroneous than to believe that the Hitler regime will be satisfied now that it has reoccupied the Rhineland and that we need not expect any additional coups d'etat from the Third Reich...
...But despite these difficulties, at home and abroad, the policy of '"fulfillment'' had made marked progress, even though slowly* and with interruptions...
...Hie first great achievement of this policy was the Locarno Treaty of 1925, a treaty freely accepted by Germany, favorable for Germany because it brought, among other things, the removal of the occupation of German territory by troops of the victor states...
...The draconic provisions of the Versailles Treaty made the r e public unpopular in the eyes of these elements of the people, who failed to perceive the fatal role of Kaiserist militarism, which they identified with the prosperity of the fifty years of peace Europe had enjoyed from 1871...
...It is contributing much more to the weakening of Germany mid of her position in the world...
...which had been, denied them BTfsriT opponents, ^ . l e s s e e s of Versailles - Jt cannot be denied that ode of & greatest weaknesses of the fersailles Treaty was the attempt 0[ the Western Powers to make BSSfives secure against the wBrntf might of Germany by rejB^ B her power to a minimum...
...It has no real powers of resistance aad must csBnpee apae its first great political defeat, regard ma* of the military forces it may have at its disposal, Should the League ef Nations succeed hi lnlimlt a decisive defeat upon Hitler, H will facilitate the hoar eC the German people's emancipation, provided the German workers knew how to take advantage of the opportenitt...
...At any rate, he felt obliged, as soon as he came to power, to free Germany from these limitations and to begin her feverish rearmament...
...They ileMed to have "material guarantees" against a new attack by the Ijjfhj^dftary foe,'* to make it im;soasIble for him eser again to ftdeash war against 1)ranee...
...Without these limitations Germany could not have extricated herself successfully from the ruin of the war and its aftermath...
...his second address before the Emeehv6 of the International Wsrktagmen's Association, on September 9, 1870, Karl Marx pointed as* Iff futility of trying to make » nation secure from attack by its neighbors by means of enforced "material guarantees...
...Hitler himself believed in this thundering...
...Bankrupt Policies i To protect themselves against - this danger, they built a series of effective forts along the frontier which made impossible any ad•BpS* from the direction of Alsace^Bjaaa...
...Every surprise execution i of a fait accompli signifies a new I and greater war danger...
...To meet the growing disillusionment of the German masses, Nazism will continue to try to intoxicate them -by ever new "successes," and such "successes" can be achieved only in the same way...
...The remaining provisions concerning armament limitations and colonies were no burden to the German people...
...illiterates Bring Power It was these illiterates who in 1933 brought Hitler to power...
...This conception found its support, - among other things, in the brutal treatment accorded by Germany to the population of Alsace-Lorraine in the peace treaty of 1871 and t h e resistance of German governments to all efforts to establish an international court...
...Reparations were no longer an issue when Hitler came to power...
...The Change in German Foreign Policy But only a few years after the convocation of the disarmament conference hi Geneva Hitler came to power, which brought about a complete change in German foreign policy...
...The German Social Democracy has been accused of cowardice'because it did not resist by force of arms Hitler's coup d'etat in 1933...
...The advance of German troops into the demilitarized zone on March 7th was but another step on this road...
...Napoleon I tried it with respect to Prussia in the Peace of Tilsit in 1807 and |sst with defeat...
...This crisis had nothing whatever to do with the military limitations of the fected all capitalist countries, and as regards the Versailles Treaty it was not the armament limitations and loss of colonies which hurt Germany economically, but reparations...
...He dares risk war, civil war or foreign war, with each step of violence he takes, relying upon the expectation that the elements against whom he strikes will not meet his violence with violence, because they fear to unleash a blood bath...
...On the contrary, these limitations were in reality a great relief...
...Arias reason he warned against As annexationist policy...
...However great were the burden...
...The character of Nazism does not permit it to utilize aay civilized methods...
...Nor is there anything new in the policy he is pursuing in connection with this latest move: the policy of deceiving by peaceful assurances the factors against whom he seeks to maintain himself in order to place them overnight before an accomplished fact that can be removed only by ruthless bloodletting...
...The armament limitations imposed upon Germany after the impoverishment of the war were really Germany's salvation...
...Such open in overcoming the S...
...All this is not true of present-day Germany, whose intellectual life has been completely "coordinated" and made subject to the command not of some intellectual elite but of brutal ignoramuses who regard brutality as the highest expression of statecraft and have made anti-Semitism an instrument of national policy, nay, one of its most important foundations...
...Results of World Crisis All this has been smashed by Hitlerism, which had come to power as a result of tile economic crisis began, in 1989...
...Hitler Playing With Fire Those who believe thst the brown regime is now satisfied aad wants peace, the peace ef the well gorge cannot give them butter and eggs, j he must at least try to silence the ( demands of the rumbling stomachs with military "successes...
...Hitler has long followed this policy both at home and in foreign affairs...
...On this road he has been traveling consistently...
...By Karl Kautsky | | | February 27, 1933, the P^Hitier regime drew from the .e^jjjstag tire the power to con^ a n d cripple the German people m order that it might Save them without resistance...
...The World War has increased immeasurably the numbers of both types...
...Even if war or sanctions' are averted now, the disinclination of other peoples to trade with Germany will increase with every additional act of violence on the part of Hitler...
...This was the objective to which the German governments of the post-war period, for the most part, addressed themselves, although not always as energetically as was desirable...
...They could g*et be maintained for any length 3Et f a n ' . and, in part, they were *%2Sfde 4 8 t e m P ° r a r v f r o . m t n e fflWnuig...
...Political Illiterates In every nation there is a large number of political illiterates who place the responsibility for1 political and economic disorder not upon the party or government who have failed and are responsible for it but upon the new party or government called into being to cope with it, however much such party and government may have opposed the old regime...
...But strained to the breaking point, the bow may, nevertheless release the arrow...
...Every ) new "success" of Hitler's, obtained by an act of faithlessness and violation of acknowledged treaties, serves to strengthen the aversion to negotiate with such a government and to enter into any pacts with it...
...Despite this fact, however, political illiterates characterized them as the reason for Germany's misery...
...Hitler and the War Danger To this Hitler ewes in no small measure his successes...
...On the other hand,'some of the victor states made immeasurably more difficult the task of German democracy in that they failed to differentiate in any way between the old monarchy and the new republic, and forced the greatest burdens upon it—reparations, for example...
...It will never lack excuses...
...At the end...
...aTlaerch 7, 1 9 3 6 , Hitler, made Sfher attempt at incendiarism Eiholster the waning power of Btaejime...
...A regime seeks to maintain itself always by the sseaas whereby i t was established...
...lrf Ln the' final analysis, despite all militarism and Kaiserism pre-war Germany was a cultured state, with considerable political freedom, a vital intellectual .life and a growing Social Democratic opposition...
...Before very long, the Reich deserted not only the disarmament conference but also the League of Nations (October, 1933...
...But when the French were victorious in 1918, they committed HK-sume mistake made by the German militarists in 1871...
...Having entered upon the road traveled by Kaiserist Germany, it must lead inevitably to an even more-terrible collapse than the collapse Of 1918...
...There are everywhere in modern society two types of human, beings: bloodthirsty scoundrels, who shrink at no human sacrifices to attain their goal, and conscientious humanitarians, to whom human life is sacred and who hesitate to endanger or to sacrifice it...
...In this is our faith...
...This m a d a necessary .Germany's Schlieffen Plan, which was nothing else than an admis.|fSt of the bankruptcy of the policy that led to the annexation tf Alsace-Lorraine and the perpetuation of the enmity between •Nsss aad Germany...
...Hitler Is Dragging Germany to Ruin Plans Reichstag Fire on World Policy of Third Reich Paves Way for New Catastrophe—Fascist Regrime Called Colossus on Feet of Clay—Kautsky Analyzes Germany's Position in Europe—Foresees Her Complete Isolation*'and Repetition of Fate That Befell Her in 1918 — Says German Workers Will Deal Death Blow to Nazi Order...
...o r ef German Power BE, ""n German post-war gov- !3s2* before Hitler thought of JrT^f* equality for Germany S —r i n g °P t h e peace treaties...
...The rape of Russia is already being preached...
...and yet hesitate to drive hundreds and thousands of human beings to slaughter...
...may well be interpreted in a manner giving a free road to every brazen aggressor...
...On the contrary, as already stated, they were an economic relief...
...These illiterates considered the republic responsible for the consequences of the war, instead of placing the responsibility upon the Kaiser's government, driven from power together with the Kaiser by the republic...
...It requires free access to all markets and friendly relations with all peoples of the earth...
...i S S * action on the part of the o n e is always senseless, _*««arfy when there are other to achieve the removal °PPressive condition...
...It b r o u g h t Germany closer to her former enemies and freed her from the isolation into which she had been thrown by the military camarilla of the Kaiserreich...
...Under the pressure of the economic crisis the number of these political illiterates was speedily accelerated...
...ij^Efc: sabr serve to aggravate Germany's role as a disturber of psaw?*p|e new armaments upon her»*"s*aes new enemies for the German people, isolate Germany from the economic life of the world-and.-cripple her economy...
...The slogan "No More War...
...Bat of the latter we have no doubt...
...is trying to overcome this disadvantage by piling up mighty armaments...
...The Rood to Destruction Nazi Germany Is traveling the road of Kaiserist Germany to the ruin of the Germs* people...
...This will be true also in the present instance...
...His stated obWfjyp was to eliminate the rem3*e of the exceptional condition fetich the Versailles Treaty had - jkjeed the German Reich...
...ieh had led to the one^•"^enforcement of the peace §y?|*>in turn, however, was not sda k - l h ! " 1 , 7 t h e ^ t o r e in order y^eamUiate the German people, ^ i l I 0 8 6 t h e y f e a r e d * n d dis"** iSS G * r m a n s - They feared l^^eaendous power evinced by ssb»--5 * I r i n « f o u r years of j|a-BSLjpwdlict against superior • I **** f e a r e d this power because it was assumed that the Germans were actuated by insatiable lust for territory and power, that they were faithless and could not be trusted to abide by any promises...
...Its task was tremendous and important...
...These illiterates become the decisive factor and may even attain power when the masses become intoxicated with successes of national policy or are driven to despair by terrible need...
...This time it may pass over, considering the hesitation of every conscientious democratic government to unleash a mass murder...
...The Task After 1918 After 19i8 the task of every German government was to overcome the factors that had led to Germany's isolation and defeat...
...But an industrial state like Germany can find little relief in the acquisition of a couple of colonies...
...German Economic Collapse Simultaneously with German rearmament rises also the misery of her people...
...she had at least Austria-Hungary as ally, who- was swept away by the world tempest "in 1918...
...The Nazis want to meet this by the acquisition of colonies as sources of raw materials and markets for German goods...
...Like currency inflation, this extravagance may create the illusion of a passing boom, only to make the inevitable collapse more terrible...
...He took [*W apparently boM step which • K democratic German Republic Eiste him had not ventured to Sjadertake: overnight he gave the German people the military equal-fy with all other peoples of the Ejb...
...It will always continue to prepare in silence ever new breaches in the existing state of tilings and will be compelled to carry them o*ut...
...Instead of . making a virtue of necessity and making Germany's disarmament an example for all other peoples to follow, disarmament was represented in Germany only as an injustice forced upon an unwilling people, an injustice that was to be thrown off as soon as possible...
...It is not with >eaj <hsfui of satisfaction that we have coma to this conclusion, for the coll apse of the Nazi dictatorship wttl bring with it a horrible catastrophe for the entire German people, as was the case with the collapse-of the Kaiserreich in 1918...
...Added to this were the warlike Hun speeches of Kaiser Withelm II, as well as the building of a great navy unjustified by any requirements of the German people's security and generally regarded in England as a deliberate threat of aggression...
...I ifajg time he threatened to set HK Whole world on fire...
...Despite the friendship with Poland, there is still the problem of Danzig and the Polish corridor...
...It tore up the Versailles Treaty and began feverish rearmament...
...The German people can escape this danger only by perceiving it clearly and ridding themselves without delay of their present rulers, who a r e not only exploiting them, enslaving them and bringing misery upon them, but leading them to complete ruin...
...to 1914 exclusive of the Balkan war...
...On t he contrary, it put an end to the general distrust of Germany manifested from the beginning of this century and throughout the war period...
...The thing that impressed them greatly was his thundering against the armament limitations imposed on Germany...
...This made many friends for Germany among the people of other nations and enhanced her prestige fn the world...
...German Emoacipetion This regime is much lower than was that of the Kaiser...
...This was not the way to make the disarmament of Germany the starting paint for international disarmament...
...The prospect of patting an early end to Hitlerism hi by no means hopeless...
...But the more she does this the more she fills all peoples with fear, distrust and contempt and moves even the most peaceful among the nations' to the sharpest measures -ef self-protection and defense...
...Today a new war will find an extremely exhausted German people, -who have not yet repaired the wounds of the World War and their»-defeatMoreover, Kaiserist Germany still had some friends in the t world, despite her insane policy, which had estranged from her one nation after another...
...The Germany's ecssmcay...
...The short wars of 1866 and 1870-71 did pot for e moment interfere with her economic development...
...It could be solved only by good will and complete mutual trust of all participants...
...placed upon them by the Versailles Treaty, particularly by reparations, they were in no way injured by the disarmament limitations (nor by the loss of their colonies...
...This was responsible for the fact that in the World War the German Reich was confronted with a superiority of forces who brought about its collapse and who found i t necessary to so shape the peace treaties as to render Germany powerless as a military force...
...In doing so he has relied upon the hesitation of his opponents, their disinclination to start another blood bath, and success has been his justification...
...Despite all difficulties, this conference finally came into being (February, 1926...
...This development found its culmination in 1914 in the declaration of war against France and Russia, motivated by lying excuses, and the violation of the treaty guaranteeing Belgian neutrality, a treaty signed by Germany, in order to gain an ephemeral strategic advantage...
Vol. 19 • May 1936 • No. 19
