THE MOSCOW CONFERENCE:
Schumacher, Dr. Kurt
The Moscow Conference: Dismemberment of the Reich and Security By Dr. Kurt Schumacher Chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. THE Moscow Conference will tackle the problem of the...
...It has only limited possibilities, and even in the event of a complete change of Russian foreign policy, it could not get very far...
...The right wing of the Christian Democratic Union and certain big-business circles, to which property is more important than the lives of millions of their fellow citizens or the peace of Europe and of the World, are more than ready .to prostitute themselves to the interests of a bloc of western powers...
...This problem 01s borders—especially those to the East—has high political importance- We Social Democrats are very much alive to the disastrous effects of German nationalism...
...There Is only one recognised Social Democratic Party in Germany...
...in converting him to socialism and pacifism...
...This is not side-stepping of responsibility...
...Nazi and Japanese dreams of meeting in Central Asia are realized," the paper commented...
...It is not a federative concept but actually a particularistic one...
...The results attained there will make possible within Germany positive internal and external policies...
...Before Hitler came to power, he was editor, in-chief of the "Schwaebische Tagwacht" in Stuttgart, and one of the Social Democrats In the Reichstag...
...This is true, first of all, of our economic difficulties...
...Here the die will be cast which will determine what is to become sif this torn and exhausted continent...
...This is necescary, first of all, in the interest of British and, especially, American tax-payers...
...It has as its explicit pinpose the Internationalization of Europe...
...This concept of the constitutional position of each separate region is rejected by the Social Democratic Party...
...There he made one of the most celebrated speeches against Hitler, declaring that Nszlsm wss "an sppesl to the vile boost in man...
...Therefore these boundaries must be revised in the interest of economic efficiency...
...We gather confidence, however, from the fact that our interests and purposes coincide with those of the nation and, in fact, with the aims of progressive and peace-loving people everywhere...
...not a federation of independent German lands, but a united nation...
...It remains for the victors to say whether this center shall grow—so that the ideas of freedom, of humanity and of respect for individual personality can become the pillars of German culture...
...It is too poor for operation under the old forms of capitalism...
...Ws regard Germany, economically and politically, as a unified whole- We are ready to recognize the regional governments, to decentralize the administration, to give the local governments as much responsibility ss possible...
...THE Moscow Conference will tackle the problem of the organitatioi of Germany and of Europe...
...The voices of those German democrata and Socialists who have suffered long and painfully must be heard...
...2—The Ruhr and Rhineland should remain parts of Germany...
...In general the Ideas of the victors seem to be limited to superimposing their own social patterns on their respective zones...
...For the same reason it is lio portant that the millions of refugees who have been driven from what were formerly the eastern regions of Germany should be allowed to return to their homes...
...For the Social Democrats, who fought against Hitler both before and after he came to power, the important point is whether it will be possible to realise international, human and democratic Socialism...
...There is nothing to indicate that it will become as lusty an organization as the Communist parties of France, Italy or the countries to the east...
...Even if it is acknowledged that this tendency does not contain any active threat for the immediately foreseeable future, it may at some time become an important element in a possible conflict between occupying powers...
...Demands for other sections of territory are also made...
...They involved the conquest of foreign peoples...
...The conference in Moscow will show whether the victors can utilize their victory in the interest of peace and security...
...In this article, from Hanover, Schumacher dellnea his psrty's program ss follows: 1—The German-Poliah demarcation-line set in Potsdam should not constitute the Hnal border between the two nations...
...iermsn Social Democracy cannot see its mission ss limited to the creation of s nstlonal govsr.iment having a more sf less important position in relation to other states...
...After the liberation he become president the Social Democratic Party of Germany...
...Here the main problem is the fate of Europe...
...It is in view of this struggle that tho matter of borders takes on such importance...
...This idea of international cooperation rules out any thought of bloc building against either the West or the East There are plenty of groups among us which would gladly force us into this policy of factional grouping...
...The real Communist Party of this region is limited to the beneficiaries of the only •lightly disguised dictatorial regime...
...The Siberian Soviet paper Irkutsk fravda admitted that 3,000,000 Axis prisoners of war are building railways and highways in Siberia...
...The demands made by the various smaller nations are actually nonsensicsl...
...But if we are to be auecesssful, we must be given a basis for our effort...
...We Social Democrats are conscious of the fact that our problem Is difficult, If not insoluble...
...It may be that the eastern victor had a plan, but it did not rise above the concept of reparations...
...We Social Democrats know—to our sorrow—¦ that we are the only powerful group in Germany which constitutes an active center for foreign policy...
...great troubles of Gsrmsny would lx< essier to bear if they were nil in" evitable- Bitterness results from the fact that much of our suffering is unnecessary...
...In the western zones of Germany Communism is, in the main, the expression of a protest against the mistakes of the occupying forces...
...It is silly to talk about Germany ana to forget Europe...
...It is impossible for them to be usefully employed in the reduced and shrunken Germany into which they have been crowded...
...It would be too dangerous to give centralised capitalism another chance...
...The great majority of the German people desire a strong and independent Poland We know how terribly that nartion suffered under the depredations of the Third Reich, and we agree that the utmost possible material and moral reparations should be made...
...It would make of the separate German states—Saxony or Bavaria, for example - sovereign powers...
...There ho remained for nearly twelve yeara...
...But ultimately the fate of the country must be settled, not by the consensus of the provincial governments, but by the will of the penpls as represented in the Reichstag...
...Afterwsrds, Schumacher began to orgsnise sn underground movement, but he was soon Jailed in a concentration ramp...
...Thf...
...What Hitler did in the name of nationalism ami cynical brutality, civilized statesmen cannot repeat in the name of peace and democracy...
...In this connection it is to be noted that the present illegal organizations of the right are less dangerous than the respectable nationalism of the conservative parties...
...The sum of what has been taken from Germany is already impressive...
...It goes without saying that no Social Democrat wishes to restore the boundaries of the Third Reich...
...What happened in the Fast, the robbing and driving out of the entire population, is just too much for any German—right or left—to accept without resentment...
...The basic question is: Shall Germany be subjected to an excessive drain for the benefit of nations which were injured by the Hitler regime, or shall Europe be reorganized from the ground up...
...For in the long run a nation of 70,000,000 people will remain a power to be reckoned with...
...We have fought it in the past and shall continue to fight it...
...When the most urgent problems have bees solved, the separate provinces are to decide whether they, wish to continue as members of a German federation...
...5—The German Communists' influence ia slight...
...Si hums, her was born SI years sgo in Kulm, Western Prussia (now Poland...
...The Nazis tried again and agsin to convert him, promising him ezcellent Jobs snd Isrge funds, but always he refused...
...3—Germany must be unified...
...This party Is not dependent on any occupying force...
...If the body of the nation is torn limb from limb, the rise of a new wave of jingoism is inevitable...
...It has Its headquarters In Hannover and is looking forward to the ' day when greater organisational freedom will permit it to move to Berlin...
...But the present lines, especially those to the Kaat, show how impossible it is to restore ii workable scheme for Europe as long as we continue the sort of thinking which has been characteristic up to now...
...But the Poles are not in a position to people and utilize the territory which has been allotted to them...
...For eventually the entire continent will require a central—and preferably socialistform of planning...
...PORTRAIT OF AN ANTI-NAZI HERO If Germany is to emerge from the ashes of a disastrous war and to take «»h plsre in the community of nations, its re-emergence and reconstruction must be limit solidly on a democratic basis...
...Even the Germans who wish to escape the present fate of their country by fleeing to other lands will in the future become irredenti and will add to the bitterness of international conflictIt Is a mistaken notion of security which seeks safety by the dismemberment of the Rhineland and the Ruhr district...
...On this account, we Social Democrats regard ourselves as the genuine patriots of the new world rommunity...
...His wsr experiences were instruments...
...Only a sovereign and responsible nation can satisfy the demands of international life...
...Even in the Eastern Zone, where the Communists have organized the so-called Socialist Unity Party, they are of slight importance...
...It cannot furnish rent, Interest and profits...
...We have invited Kurt Schumacher to stste the position of the Germsn Social Democratic Party on the forthcoming Moscow Conference...
...With its present boundaries Germany cannot feed itself and is dependent upon the charity of the two great western Allied governments...
...4—Germany should not be relegsted to the role of a power either In the Western, or In the Eastern bloc...
...The victorious powers came to Germany without any plan for making something out of this country economically, psychologically and politically...
...It cou!d lead only to revolution snd counterrevolution...
...Anyone who will add up the territory annexed in the , East, the reparations taken from production during 1940—those from the Eastern Zone alone amounted to more than 4,000,000,000 marks—the demands for further handing over of raw materials and finished products and the forced labor of millions of prisoners of war, will see that satisfaction of these claims would require the resources of all of Europe...
...The strength of the conservative parties in this section does not indicate wide approval of the programs of these parties but, rather, a protest of Social Democrats against the SED...
...It is taken for granted that certain matters of economic and foreign policy shall be placed temporarily in the hands of a central government...
...For Germany this has had catastrophic results- The Anglo-Saxons, it is true, have carried this process in a tentative way in consciousness of the fact the future will bring changes...
...But the internationalization of these regions should lead to ths internationalization of > all Europe...
...It recognizes the justification of the demand for reparations...
...Germany is the central European problem- On her soil and in the development of her institutions the battle of opposing giants will be joined...
...But beyond that it has the conviction that all the countries which together constitute the complex of this continent owe the same duty to the common welfare as does Germany...
...A Social Democratic Party can exist in this son* If it Is allowed to function in complete freedom...
...In World War I he lost an arm...
...In the West there is no excuse for rectification of borders...
...Hitler weakened Germany's case by blurring the limits of German territory...
...The problem of the political structure of the German states is central...
...Our devotion to this point of view is not a criticism of other systems in other lands...
...Probably never in history, has so much power been concentrated in the hands of the victors as will be wielded by the treaty-makers in MoscowArid their responsibility will be proportionate to their power...
...To us annexation seems the worst form of reparations...
Vol. 30 • March 1947 • No. 10
