Huge Gestapo Proves Germans Anti-Nazi, Entitled to Place in Europe Federation
Sollmann, Wilhelm
Huge Gestapo Proves Germans Anti-Nazi, Entitled to Place in Europe Federation By Wilhelm Sollmann Former German AMefcfer of Inferior rfSE NEW LEADER invites me to write an article about I ...
...be removed or quieted by public pro-tast^More disquieting are the way in which questions-are framed for the purpose «* tripping up the inexperienced and nfrvous young men appearing before the Tribunals...
...Britain Gives Conscientious Objectors Fair Trial Despite War Crises &if, Reginald Qtovet fONDON (Passed by the Censor iji...
...r.t.' testimony dovetails with the inhning written here describing events on the...
...That is a| principle not only „f international morality but of international reason...
...sd.r * r' jav.^1...
...White the party machine was busy sending out slates of its candidates, and carrying on whispering campaigns against genuine sailors, a group of seamen issued a black and red ballot with the red hammer arid sickle marked opposite the Communists running for office...
...If imperialism, national ism,-eeoWXisic robbery, and political subjugation are triumphant, BJt'eoly Social Democracy but any type [of democracy/ *iB at doomed: Neither Attlee nor Blum no| any other-Social Democrat will have influence in such a case...
...And«|t is most probable that there will be a protracted conflict, J I- ¦ '¦' ' * • 1 j; IJaEAT BRITAIN, and France are fighting for the ex-"^iatence of their empires...
...Will Germany be permit-- 77...
...That is-.true...
...ISSiaTssatS**!} The more Europe is wrecked, the mere jHW^^ serious becomes the problem of post-war ajHsss reconstruction...
...Herr Hitler has started this far," says A*tfee...
...Closer acquaintance with the actaal situation, -however, will suggest that it is premature to' draw such a conclusion...
...been removed from the register of objectors, which meant they: were Jable to be called tip for military service...
...In 'this war, though the call-up has only irached the twenty-five years of age, there are already some thirty thousand...
...The following is a sample of the debating points raised: - Tribunal Member: 'Is it your view, that the country should not be defended...
...Here post-war reconstruction is discussed by Witt elm Sollmann...
...The remarks of Chamberlain and Daladier were1 very - vague...
...in which the law is interpreted and carried, out...
...He said that he disagreed with objectors but since he was fighting for freedom of conscience he believed in their right to object...
...a* rVfORB intense becomes the manenrer...
...r'J -n.,;^i%M...
...Objector: "I feel that Christ would provide more adequate protection, -for the country, Sir...
...Ray "promised" the draft of a democratic constitution...
...That such replies should be necessary is a measure of the extent to which much of the examination at the Tribunals is irrelevant to their job of judging the sincerity of the objectors...
...to receive appeals for reconsideration from those objectors who, hav-,• S served three or more months in jail, fare then entitled -to ask for a review of their cases...
...A strike fund was >.,*et up= from a $5.00 membership levy by . the convention...
...It has a • declining1 birthrate...
...The terms of the fundT'were strict, _ since the, seanlen fought previous strikes with-¦'''oW'iasTi' aiii and plunged heavily into debt...
...Where is there any historical example of_ an early compromise between empires in their life and death struggle ? [ . Incidentally, Italy's and Japans' active and unsatisfied imperialisms, Russia's fear and expansion, the unrest in the .colonial empires, and the uncertainty in the Near Bast , make more complex than ever the possibilities for the development of this war, its methods, its territories, and its diplomatic games...
...f\NE must not judge the issue on one case, of course...
...to grant them complete exemption...
...non-combatant service in the armed forces, or aemption conditional upon their taking specified civilian employment...
...The opening up of the war has brought a noticeable hardening of the Government's attitude to objectors, and a press campaign is beginning demanding the suppression of organisations opposing the war...
...A letter from the Communist clique's own attorney, with whom they saddled the union— at a princely salary of $12,000 per year plus all expenses—reveals the strike fund was legallyuntouchable...
...Who was responsible for the great migration, for the crusades, for the thirty years' war, for the Napoleonic -battlefields, for the slaughter from 1914 to 1918, for the international anarchy afterwards...
...All their abortive efforts to "get" at it were stymied...
...ocean front and telling how the CPj took 'Otet one of this nation's key - anions...
...One objector, at a local tribunal, came of...
...The machinery, up to the present, has worked with a varying degree of fairness, and due tribute must be paid to those who have sought to maintain the right of objectors though . they themselves do not agree with them...
...The Communist clique successfully perpetuated their stooges in office by insinuating themselves into the'forma-, tion of the National Maritime Union—seagoing arm of Lewis' C.I.O...
...They were then arrested as deserters^when they did not answer the summons to join a regiment/ Two of the men subsequently accepted non-combatant duty in the forces...
...That statement by Major Attlee is completely true...
...Nevertheless, the seamen elected only a few of them to office...
...and "Have you gone so far as to kill a wasp or a black beetle...
...Other tribunals have shown a different spirit...
...Germany is a nation-of 80 (or M or 100—who knows...
...others owe their present high position to the fact that they championed objectors, and the anti-war case last time...
...They would then be summoned before- a Tribunal, appointed by...
...the Germans atone will pay everything—will not be accepted by anyone aJJKtr the present war...
...million inhabitants...
...I'HE 1938 elections naturally crystallized the seamen in opposition to the Communist bureaucracy and their repeated labeling of workers who actually worked for a living...
...On the strength of the rights given to objectors, advocates of Britain's cause have claimed that there is complete freedom of opinion and conscience in war-time Britain...
...These young men seem to be objects of much amusement, to Some Tribunal members, who, it should be noted, themselves possess views even more antiquated and fantastic than those of the most fanatical of the sects in question.v The fact that a young objector belongs to "Jehovah's Witnesses" and spent his\spare time delivering tracts seemed to arouse the utmost scorn and contempt in the Tribunal members...
...Machinery exists it appeal against the decision of the licsl tribunals...
...He replied: "Take spiritual cover, sir...
...1 It is...
...Reichsmmister of the Interior in both Strese-mann cabinets...
...a. grave delusion to consider people of the Reich inferior and to believe "the" Germans .like regimentation and tyranny....' .-.„ • - Hitler would not need so many prisons, concentration camps, secret police, storm troopers, block guards, courts) spies and censor's if there were not in Germany a love of freedom as strorigjas that anywhere else...
...If these latter still refused to serve, iey would be liable to arrest as deserters...
...The third, a Christadelphian, refused to don a uniform, was court-martialled and sentenced to 60 days detention...
...However, neither C. R. Attlee nor anyone else can give the German-—by which I mean the opponents of Hitlerism inside Germany—any advice on how to get rid of the despotism...
...ii l J...
...restive continent—all that potato to th necessity of a new order...
...1918) overcame their rulers only after the.defeat and the disintegration: of the latters'' armies...
...Yet the Socialist who feels an obligation to resist wars waged for imperialist purposes has no other course save that of objection, and it is usually the Socialist objector who holds to his position with the most tenacity and determination...
...7 ~ ted to rehabilitate itself only to the image Hitlef of the old monarchy or the present militarism...
...and another Tribunal has hra set up...
...A.fonser national purchasing agent for the' ?*aUonal Maritime Union, Peter J. j tones, has been offering testimony in Washington i :™# week which corroborates every line Writ-*« here by Lawrence McRyn So detailedly «d the CP agents work their absorption of *e NMU that "they even threw whofe 'ship »jy*ries overboard so that members 'of the **r would have nothing to read but Com-tottist literature, limes told the Csogres-*toal Committee last week...
...Huge Gestapo Proves Germans Anti-Nazi, Entitled to Place in Europe Federation By Wilhelm Sollmann Former German AMefcfer of Inferior rfSE NEW LEADER invites me to write an article about I peace program of the British Lab|r|Party presented a^aV Attlee, MP* That u most difficult) ffts' in complete agreement with met spirit and the principles of our British friend...
...preferences, for example, to objectors as "these miserable creatures" hardly encourages belief in the ability of the Tri-> banal member making the remark to give an unprejudiced decision...
...II WHILE the seafaring unionists listened to the Stalinists' cries for "democracy" and "the" right to be heard," they skillfully laid their fdon't redVbait" smokescreen...
...the last war there were some 16,000 r* conscientious objectors in Britain...
...Unfortunately, no nation in the world has given proof that it' is possible to overthrow u firmly established dictatorship by an intern*!' revolution.'' The Russians (1917), the French (1814, 1815, 1870), the Austrians (1918), the Germans...
...IJE (Hitler) can only continue it (the war) if the German people continue to support him...
...In the main, the real rank and file membership was victorious in choosing their own leaders...
...instance, in their statements they completely omitted one problem clearly stressed by Attlee: The question not of redistribution of the Colonial empires but of their complete change under a new system of European Federation...
...We are at the beginning of the greatest drama in history...
...Elections were called for after the constitution was ratified...
...So far, neither a belligerent or a neutral government or a parliament has proclaimed a European Federation or any other truly European solution as the goal of the war...
...The ballot invited the members to exercise their democratic right and vote for those they wanted...
...the full need for such unity...
...His sentence was reduced to 14 days...
...Those Social - * ists who hold that their duty to international Socialism makes willing participation in what they regard as an "imperialist war" impossible, are turned down by many Tribunals as not being genuine conscientious objectors...
...Of course, that does] not release other nations from the obligation to help Germany fai overcoming economic and financial difficulties after the war...
...T-ia a German, I accept it...
...CP dt Sea-1...
...The Communists eyed this plum enviously for' months...
...K N So far none of the Socialist objectors .have been arrested...
...The followers of democracy everywhere in the world have the task not only of defending the very existence of democratic constitutions but of proving' that democratic principles work in domestic and foreign policy...
...At present, Russians and Italians have been enduring or even supporting dictatorships for decades...
...became a crime:, to utter any honest criticism of any policy" offered in the "new" and "democratic" National Maritime Union, Legitimate objections to excessive expenses on the financial statements were labeled "redbaiting" as were protests against continual collections for Communist causes, button buying,, can shaking, enforced subsidization of the Daily Worker and other party "organs...
...3,738 kid been registered as C.O.'s on condition they undertook specified civilian work...
...Our Social Democratic training prevents us from placing the guilt for today's difficulties on one nation or one man...
...iT1 ing on all fronts, physical and diplo\yTajf^Jf matte, so rapid that the world may waU j&\\a/f$L expect to awaken tomorrow sol learn V-^aJi that Holland and Belgium have been ' i*»^t\ wiped out that Eneland has been invaded jlj VVy for the first time in hundreds of years, 7—~ fl W end that new war chiefs have succeeded '/J J y old ones, forgotten though only a few ^ hours deposed...
...It ( V^^awV^ toefllghts at the right V y0rf\Z .¦•¦eat one of the * . Li.' ¦M*t important cogs in MOITI» jP** the Comintern's apparatus here...
...rSHn impossible now to develop details "of a negotiated Attlee's truly international and European principles >-_fpevalent at the end of the war.-tlfcrfe wfll be- not a -(getated but a negotiated peace...
...the objectors had been before the "V Tribunals...
...King was elected —-After Hitler...
...24, 1940, some 8,33$ ff...
...His was the only vote cast, at that conference on the side of the...
...The planned week's convention dragged into its fourth week before the seamen had a document sufficiently democratic to function and work under...
...to February...
...It should be noted that many of those'given conditional exemption are likely jpefuse to accept the decision and will also be liable' to arrest...
...The folly of 1919: "The Boche paiesa...
...Tribunal Members...
...f)40 had been registered for non-combatant duty in the armed forces, and B79 had...
...Three arrests In each case the men went up for medical examination after rejection by the Tribunal, that is, they obeyed the first army order...
...As long as mankind is...
...he suffered some indignities and discomforts but refused to put an army uniform...
...unable to create national and international solidarity, barbarous instincts and barbarous men will emerge again and again...
...I also agree with him...
...Herr Sollmann's background is familiar to readers of The New Leader...
...The Germans must have the same right of self-determination as...
...I'HE most difficult case of all is that of some Socialist objector...
...Some of the local tribunals have carried out their task in the most liberal manner, and their decisions have, in the main, been fair and just—as far IS any man's decisions on another's conscience can be fair and just...
...The fund reached well over $165,000...
...Jerome King, consistent anti-Communist, repeatedly forestalled their efforts, eventually calling for a $2.00 debt retirement fund levy to bring the union clear of debt and keep the comrades' claws out of the strike fund...
...COME of the applicants belong to obscure religious sects, remnants of the grow-, ing pains of a vigorous and democratic Noncomformity...
...But when, the assembly convened, the delegates from ships and shore found a draft constitution more vicious and dictatorial than any conceived by the old organizations...
...If" -The procedure finally adopted was to' ask objectors to register when their afe group was called, not on the military register but as conscientious objectors...
...itlj France's insecurity, Germany's dynamic drive to ~0» East, Italy's fear of being bottled up in the MediterraneaT Scandinavia's fate between rival empires, the policy of Ml bery in the Balkans, the problems of the Baltic, Polish, an Czech people, claims of thirty minorities everywhere oi the unhappy-and...
...His successors, Roy B. (Horse-face—the Bishop) Hudson, Thomas Ray and others of the Communist tribe succeeded in penetrating the old-line unions after Dimitroff uttered the Trojan horse polky...
...The «*«*ding article in the series will appear next week...
...Announcing that it wished to avoid the persecution tot genuine objectors, so marked in the last war, the Government set up machinery designed to give legal status and rights to objectors...
...The kind of questions put at this Tribunal to test the sincerity of the applicants can ..be seen from the following examples: "How do you successfully consume a vegetable without killing it...
...AS the Dies commit- J B tee continues to ^^^^^^TT| ;tom up the links be- 'Hf...
...France is a nation of 40 million inhabitants...
...Or will German Socialists rosily be given the opportunity, by a world tired of war, to build the Fourth Reich Into a stable European center instead of a whirling mass of military energy catapulting bornins wars from itself at regular historic intervals...
...7 Attlee rejects revenge against the Retch and refuses to base European security on the dismemberment of Germany, ajarever, he demands that "there must be [restitution -made ifthe victims of aggression...
...On the face of it, these arrangements seem like a reasonable attempt to ffieet the needs of conscientious objectors...
...I'HE few passing months since the strike's * termination served to reveal this to many of the membership...
...During'the latter part of 1937 and the first half of 1938, nearly thirty thousand members paid the stri.ke levy...
...i / tveen the CP, Harry K i Bridges, an% important A «°vernment oflBcials, ff*0| ACS1 \t t«s series of articles, V ^V/L- \" PE which this is the lIV^ * ¦•tend, becomes more «% « than merely an expose ' \ J^/L •f the Stalinites' cap- tO^^V jS*^^ taring of the Amer- '/Y^— "»n seamen's union...
...the Czechs, the Poles, tad the Austrians...
...A dozen sach remarks could be quoted, showing a partiality incompatible with fair judge-Bent Bullies and bigoted old men car...
...However, are we not, in all European countries, very far from success in convincing the governments and peoples of...
...With this* shrewdly planted'psychosis it...
...The ill-will of some'difiy structive men...
...At the Tory Party conference in early April ablegate—wearing an officer's uniform—was howled down when he tried to speak in.defense of objectors...
...In fact,'everything turns on the way...
...Conscription was introduced some months before war began...
...Sf But there never would have been a Hitler, Sta-nn, Mussolini or General Franofi had there not been ^th'e crisis of our modern civilization, caused by its frustrated attempt to solve the most urgent economic, social,- and spiritual problems...
...They went on record in the meetings against all slates...
...These elections were canceled when the party" found their agents were not eligible for the ballot...
...They will, it is argued, take up arms for Socialism, so they cannot have a conscientious objection to war, though they may have to this war...
...The British Labor Party demands a European Federation Social Democracy and other friends of international peac should acclaim this program of political and economic wort federation as a step to world peace...
...The real seamen set about altering this...
...To argue that a Socialist is insincere in his objection today is to condemn those men as insincere in the last war...
...The Appeals Tribunal sitting in London includes among its members a High Court judge, a Liberal Historian and a former Trade Union OfficiaT.Nknighted for his services to the working class...
...of these, 1,078 had been given unconditional exemption...
...On the other hand, the German nation, hiring been unable to overthrow Hitlerism in time, must take responsibility for the material destruction caused by Hitler's aggression...
...The party bureaucracy instantly attempted to brand this as "ship-owner disruption...
...Many of the present-day leaders of the British Labor Movement were objectors in the last war...
...HitlerismJ as Tine prototype ino*"climax of German imperialism, fights?for ifc existence, j.- Where is the prospect for an early peajte...
...Following two outlaw strikes, the 5th column cadre in the American merchant marine captured the unions and promised the membership the right to elect their own leaders...
...freedom of conscience, and the Tories went on to demand the suppression of all anti-war and peace forces in Britain...
...the Government, ¦which would decide whether to remove jthem from the register of objectors...
...When he returned to the barracks after serving hys 14 days the soldiers, so the press reported, cheered him when W was seen to be still wearing civilian clothes.' He is to be court-martialled agamy and unless the efforts to secure bis release are successful will, it seems, go through the same ordeal again...
...Heckling and haggling began...
...As a German, I should like to emphasize-one point not mentioned by Major Attlee and widely overlooked in the United States...
...1 • * If TP...
...That is - France's' fear of Germany and the desire <sl the French for security...
...But, it would be fatuous .optimism to underestimate the vindictiveness of some sections of British Toryism...
...organization was issued by Thomas Ray...
...The inability of young, simple but sincere Christians not versed in the subtleties of theological disputation, and unable to answer biblical text for text, often becomes a reason for rejecting their claim to be treated as genuine conscientious objectors...
...With all possible respect to the reference, He has not done so, has He...
...Agents in Maritime Union Raided $165,000 Strike Fund By ?cuu^ieHce Molly* Last week's article described how Stalin's 5th column on the American waterfront, long under the direction of George Mink— Cheka agent and convicted military spy— laid waste the efforts of the seamen to organize...
...The worst type of "red-baiting," however,- was any objection to the complete . staff of Communist Party office workers in charge of the financial records,, I Any well taken objection to an^ abortive strike or a loose clause in an agreement was immediately branded the work of a "Trotskyist," "labor spy," or "employers' stooge" if the argument or exception didn't come from party sources...
...The Germans face the task, unparalleled in history, of overcoming the most powerful dictatorship ever encountered...
...This didn't block the Moscow agents' quest for workers' fold...
...No nation alone—probably not even Europe alone—will be able to compensate [for the immense ^sanction caused by a long fight...
...It is Utopian to believe that this problem could be settled by an agreement between the two countries directly involved...
...The fact that he is the leader of the German people does not relieve them of their responsibilities to one another and to the world...
...No dictator, no aggressor, no, conqueror was -ever possible without certain historical conditions...
...MAJOR ATTLEE'S program is excellent.' He is correct * * when he states, "Europe must federate or perish...
...Nobody can deny that under such circumstances France, even as a neighbor of a democratic Germany, would have some uneasy feelings...
...The convention call for the new...
...best when asked: "What would you do in an air raid...
Vol. 23 • May 1940 • No. 19
