CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
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 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
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"THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 TO THE PEOPLE" 
 
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 NBW YORE • BOSTON • CHICAGO ' 
 DALLAS ■ ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 
 
 MACMILLAN & CO., Limited » 
 
 LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
 UELBOURNB 
 
 THE MACMILLAN CO. OP CANADA, Ltd. 
 
 TORONTO 
 
ii 
 
 The Future Belongs 
 to the People" 
 
 BY 
 
 KARL LIEBKNECHT 
 
 (Speeches made since the beginning of the War) 
 
 EDITED AND TRANSLATED BY 
 S. ZIMAND 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
 
 By WALTER WEYL 
 
 ^eto |?orfe 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1918 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
COPYBIGHT, igi8 
 
 Bv THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 Set ap and Electiotyped. Published, November 26, 191S 
 
 Press of J. J. Little & Ives Co., New York 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Preface by Walter E. Weyi, 9 
 
 Introduction 14 
 
 The Man Liebknecht 21 
 
 The First Days 25 
 
 Liebknecht's Visit to Belgium 27 
 
 Did Not Cheer the Kaiser 29 
 
 Liebknecht Disapproves of the Majority Socialists of 
 
 Germany .... 30 
 
 The Reichstag Meeting of Dec. 2, 1914 31 
 
 Liebknecht Condemned by His Party 34 
 
 A New Year's Greeting to England 36 
 
 Speech Delivered at the War Meeting of the Prussian 
 
 Assembly, Mar. 2, 1915 ... 40 
 
 In Defence of Rosa Luxemburg 53 
 
 Liebknecht Called to Army Service 61 
 
 Liebknecht Questions the Government 62 
 
 Liebknecht Expelled from Social Democratic Party . 74 
 
 Reichstag Discussion about the Censorship • ■ • 7S 
 
 Justice in Germany in War Time 76 
 
 The Situation in Austria 98 
 
 Education in Germany in War Time 100 
 
 5 
 
6 CONTENTS 
 
 EA<as 
 
 LlEBKNECHT PROTESTS AT BeING PREVENTED FROM DIS- 
 CUSSING THE Submarine Warfare 113 
 
 Reichstag Meeting or March 23, 1916 115 
 
 Liebknecht's Comments on the Imperial Chancellor's 
 
 Speech, April 5, 1916 116 
 
 Reichstag Meeting, April 7, 1916 118 
 
 Liebknecht's Remarks on the German War Loan, 
 
 Reichstag Meeting, April 8, 1916 123 
 
 Liebknecht's May Day Manifesto 126 
 
 Liebknecht's May Day 1916 Speech 128 
 
 Liebknecht's Reply to His Judges 137 
 
 Liebknecht's Trial and Release 143 
 
"The aim of my life is the overthrow of monarchy. 
 As my father, who appeared before this court ex- 
 actly thirty-five years ago to defend himself against 
 the charge of treason, was ultimately pronounced 
 victor, so I believe the day is not far distant when 
 the principles which I represent will be recognized 
 as patriotic, as honorable, as true." 
 
 Karl Liebknecht. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The philosophy of Karl Liebknecht as revealed 
 in these pages leaves but a narrow ledge' for heroes 
 to stand on. To him the significant thing in history 
 is, and has always been, the stirring of the masses 
 of men at the bottom, their unconscious writhings, 
 their awakenings, their conscious struggles and finally 
 their gigantic, fearsome upthrust, which overturns 
 all the little groups of clever men who have lived by 
 holding these masses down. In these conflicts, kings, 
 priests, leaders, heroes count for no more than flags 
 or flying pennants. All great leaders, Cassar, Maho- 
 met, Luther, Napoleon, are instruments of popular 
 movements, or at best manuscripts upon which the 
 messages of their class and age have been written. 
 
 To Liebknecht aU that Carlyle has said about 
 heroes is contrary to ideology and inversion of the 
 truth. "As I take it," writes Carlyle, "Universal 
 History, the history of what man has accomplished 
 in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great 
 Men who have worked there. They were the leaders 
 of men, these great ones; the modellers, patterns, and 
 in a wide sense creators, of whatsoever the general 
 mass of men contrived to do or to attain ; all things 
 that we see standing and accomplished in the world 
 are properly the outward material result, the prac- 
 
 9 
 
lo PREFACE 
 
 tical realization and embodiment of Thoughts that 
 dwelt in the Great Men sent into the world : the soul 
 of the whole world's history, it may justly be con- 
 sidered, were the history of these." 
 
 Look at what is happening in Germany to-day 
 and test, as best we may, these two confronting 
 theories concerning the influence of great men upon 
 history. As I write Germany is in the throes of 
 revolution. The immensely powerful HohenzoUern 
 monarchy has fallen, the brave, stubborn, modern- 
 witted, money-bolstered aristocracy is shattered, and 
 a proscribed poor man, Karl Liebknecht, is loudly 
 acclaimed. Was it one man, a Foch, a Wilson, a 
 Lenin or a Liebknecht that overturned this mighty 
 structure, or was it the movement of a hundred mil- 
 lion men and women, armed and unarmed, on the 
 battle-field and in the factory, in France and Eng- 
 land and Russia and Germany? What could Lieb- 
 knecht alone have done with all his ringing eloquence 
 and all his superb, I almost said, sublime heroism? 
 Clearly we must rule Carlyle out of the controversy 
 and agree with Liebknecht, the Socialist, that Lieb- 
 knecht, the hero, had little to do with this vast sub- 
 version. ' 
 
 Yet, as Carlyle says, "One comfort is, that Great 
 Men, taken up in any way, are profitable company. 
 We cannot look, however imperfectly, upon any 
 great man, without gaining something by him." 
 
 At this safe distance no one could be more "profit- 
 able company" than Karl Liebknecht as he stands up 
 boldly against all that is powerful, respectable and 
 
PREFACE II 
 
 formidable in Germany and challenges it at the utter 
 risk of life and reputation. Such courage as his is 
 almost inconceivable; for us poor conforming or at 
 best feebly protesting little people it is quite impos- 
 sible. To die among thousands, even to die alone, 
 if you think you hear the plaudits of your nation or 
 your class, is a thing many of us have learned to do, 
 but to stand up against a vindictive irrational war 
 spirit, such as ruled Germany, to stand up alone, to 
 be contemned not only by your enemies but by those 
 who called themselves your comrades and friends,^ 
 to be met by polite derision and by actual threats 
 of violence, to be called a madman, to be called a 
 traitor, to be misunderstood and doubted ; to be met 
 in occasional moments of dejection even by doubts in 
 your own mind, and still to hold your own bravely 
 and with cool passion, day after day'and day after 
 day, in circumstances growing daily more difficult, 
 and finally to go to prison gladly, triumphantly — 
 that is courage surpassing the courage of the rest 
 of us. It is easier to die even by torture than to 
 persist in this opposition to forces physical and 
 mental not only confronting but surrounding and 
 even permeating us. 
 
 We have agreed with Liebknecht that great events 
 are not the doings of great men but merely the large 
 theater in which these great men play their little 
 parts. And yet, does not the hero, subordinate as 
 he is to the wider movement of the play, exert a 
 somewhat stronger influence than many followers 
 of Marx seem willing to admit? Masses of men are 
 
12 PREFACE 
 
 moved to vital historic decisions in part by economic 
 motives, but these motives must first be converted 
 into emotion, and the hero, however his own 
 actions are motived, is one of the vital factors pro- 
 ducing that emotion. We shall perhaps never know 
 to what extent the present rising of the German peo- 
 ple against their once invincible rulers was oc- 
 casioned, though not caused, by their vision of Karl 
 Liebknecht, standing there alone against all the 
 judges, rulers, legislators and respectables of Ger- 
 many, and even against his fellow socialists. The 
 heroism of Liebknecht was at least a point and center 
 of coalescence. 
 
 The course of events has vindicated Karl Lieb- 
 knecht. But it might well have been otherwise. Had 
 Germany won the war and established a clanging 
 pax Germanica through the ruin of Europe, Lieb- 
 knecht's heroism might never have been recognized. 
 He might have rusted in prison and been released 
 to obscurity and thereafter lived a futile life derided 
 as a blind fanatic. The force of circumstances, the 
 obscure action of the hundreds of millions, rescued 
 Liebknecht and raised him to the highest pinnacle 
 of heroism. It stamped upon our minds for all time 
 the picture of this brave man standing alone sur- 
 rounded by cruel, confidently smiling foes. 
 
 I said "alone." Yet this is not fair to a very small 
 group of German minority socialists, who stood by 
 Liebknecht and by whom Liebknecht stood. Among 
 them were Rosa Luxemburg, Franz Mehring, Hugo 
 Haase, George Ledebour, and others, to whom, 
 
PREFACE 13 
 
 were real heroism always decorated, would be given 
 a higher order of "Pour le Merite." But among all 
 these Karl Liebknecht stands preeminent. 
 
 "And for all that mind you," concludes the French 
 soldier Bertrand, in "Under Fire," "there is one 
 figure that has risen above the war and will blaze 
 with the beauty and strength of his courage." 
 
 Barbusse continues : "I listened leaning on a stick 
 towards him, drinking in the voice that came in the 
 twilight silence from the lips that so rarely spoke. 
 He cried with a clear voice, 'Liebknecht.' " 
 
 Walter Weyl. 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 
 
 "The future belongs to the people." The time 
 was October 24, 1918; the place, Berlin, the center 
 of Germany; the speaker. Doctor Karl Liebknecht. 
 A remarkable change had indeed come over the Em- 
 pire. As far as the eye could reach, a great shout- 
 ing, surging crowd had gathered before the Reich- 
 stag buildings, a crowd such as might have fore- 
 gathered in times past on almost any day of national 
 festivity, to do honor to his Imperial Majesty, 
 Kaiser WiUielm. They were indeed shouting fran- 
 tically on this occasion, but with other sentiments, 
 shouting not for the Kaiser, but for abdication, while 
 applauding frantically for another, a bitter foe of 
 the Kaiser, a man who had been sent to jail for high 
 treason, had been deprived of his seat in the Reich- 
 stag, had been dubbed, even by those in his own 
 party, an enemy of his kind — Karl Liebknecht. And 
 who, witnessing the flower-laden carriage of the 
 great popular hero, but would admit that a new day 
 was at last dawning in that land of autocracy, a day 
 ushered in by the guns and men of Foch? 
 
 The events leading to that ovation of the twenty- 
 fourth of October are of interest. 
 
 From the earliest days of its organization, soon 
 after the middle of the nineteenth century, the Ger- 
 
 14 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 15 
 
 man Social Democracy had taken a stand against 
 militarism. During the Franco-Prussian War, two 
 of its chief representatives, Wilhelm Liebknecht (the 
 father of Karl Liebknecht) and August Bebel, had 
 refused to vote for the war budget. In 191 2, dur- 
 ing the Balkan crisis, the German Socialists had 
 attended in force the great gathering of the Interna- 
 tional Socialist Conference at Basle, protesting in 
 vigorous tones against the war, and many there were 
 on that occasion who declared that even if danger 
 of world war had not been entirely eliminated, the 
 Social Democrats of Germany, the strongest of the 
 International movement, were prepared to meet any 
 emergency that might arise. In the Reichstag elec- 
 tions, these Social Democrats had cast four and a 
 quarter millions of votes, while the labor unions, 
 which in Germany worked hand and hand with the 
 Social-Democratic Party, numbered no less than two 
 and a half millions. The Socialist movement had 
 the support of hundreds of newspapers, possessed 
 a strong and well-disciplined organization and large 
 financial resources, and was remarkably rich in po- 
 litical experience. In efficiency of organization it 
 ranked second only to the Catholic Church. 
 
 It was true that the German Social Democrats as 
 yet had gained little real influence on the interna- 
 tional policy of the Empire, and despite their power- 
 ful organization and their influence, they were in a 
 position before the war to use only moral pressure 
 on the- government. Yet to many it seemed extreme- 
 ly unlikely that the German government would dare 
 
1 6 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 
 
 instigate a world conflagration when opposed at 
 home by this powerful "internal enemy." 
 
 The war came. Immediately after war's declara- 
 tion, the Imperial Chancellor called a meeting of the 
 Reichstag on August 5, 19 14, for the purpose of ap- 
 proving the war budget. The day before this gath- 
 ering was held, he called together the leaders of the 
 various parties, so the story runs, among them the 
 Social Democrats, and transmitted to them a con- 
 fidential communication. He had from a reliable 
 source, he declared, information that a secret under- 
 standing existed between the French and the Belgian 
 governments whereby the latter government had 
 agreed, in case of emergency, that it would give the 
 French army passage through Belgium for the pur- 
 pose of invading Germany. It was because of this 
 agreement, the Chancellor declared, that the neu- 
 trality of Belgium had to be violated. In addition 
 to this information, the Chancellor told the as- 
 sembled legislators that the Russian army had in- 
 vaded German soil and had even then overrun two 
 of the Prussian provinces. 
 
 These statements produced the desired effect, con- 
 vincing the majority of the Social Democratic lead- 
 ers that their only course was to support the Kaiser 
 and his government. The government knew how to 
 fool them, knew what to use in order to get their 
 support, and the Kaiser and his government were 
 victorious. 
 
 Every cable message during those days that 
 reached America from Germany emphasized the 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 17 
 
 thought that there were no longer any parties in 
 Germany, that the Social Democrats had decided to 
 give up their agitation and work only for victory. 
 To many radicals in America who had pinned their 
 faith to the internationalism of the German Social 
 Democracy, these reports seemed well-nigh unbe- 
 lievable. The Socialist leaders must have been put 
 in jail, some argued. 
 
 Then more news came to confirm the reports, 
 and the papers came. Socialist papers, and Socialist 
 papers even of Germany, and all contained the same 
 unbelievable truth. Some said then, "Well, the Gov- 
 ernment has taken over their papers and that is how 
 this news can be explained." But fact after fact 
 came out which made even the most doubtful admit 
 that the cables had been based on truth. The strong 
 and great structure built by a generation lay pros- 
 trate on the ground. 
 
 In those days of disillusion, I remember well a 
 conversation among a few of us concerning the plight 
 of the Social Democracy. "The German govern- 
 ment knew their Socialists well, and knew how best 
 to reach them," declared one of our group. "There 
 is one man in Germany, however, whom we shouldn't 
 despair of, even now. If he is still alive, I cannot 
 but believe that he will soon raise his voice against 
 the course pursued by the German government and 
 by his own party, and show the world that even in 
 the land of utter darkness there still shines one 
 light." 
 
 Liebknecht's record was open. For a score of 
 
1 8 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 
 
 years he had fought militarism tooth and nail. Could 
 he now embrace it? Temporarily, it seemed that he 
 had. He opposed the majority of his fellow-Sodal- 
 ists in the early days of August when they voted to 
 support the war budget. But his efforts were unsuc- 
 cessful. The majority decreed that the Social Demo- 
 crats must support the war, and party discipline de- 
 manded that the minority abide by the decision of 
 the majority. Party discipline was strong, at first 
 too strong for Liebknecht. He yielded. Against 
 his better judgment he voted, on August 5, for the 
 budget. He voted, but he rebelled in spirit, and the 
 next month, both at the home of a Socialist Alder- 
 man, F. M. Wibaut, of Amsterdam, and at the resi- 
 dence of Lieutenant Henry DeMan, in Brussels, he 
 declared that he could not himself understand what 
 had possessed him when he gave his vote in the 
 Reichstag to the war budget. 
 
 He soon extricated himself from his former al- 
 legiances, however, and the noble spirit of courage 
 which he afterwards displayed has but few prece- 
 dents in modern history. In order to portray to the 
 reader the real picture of the seemingly insurpassable 
 obstacles against which he fought, and the courage 
 and idealism which he displayed, I have collected 
 and translated his speeches and his important utter- 
 ances since the beginning of the war and here present 
 them in detail for the first time to American readers. 
 
 Liebknecht had many opportunities for making 
 himself heard. He was a Deputy of the Reichstag 
 from Potsdam-Osthavelland, an assemblyman to the 
 
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 19 
 
 Prussian Landtag from Berlin and Councilman to 
 the Stadverordneten Versammlung of Berlin. With- 
 in and without these assemblies he used his pen and 
 his voice alike. It was in the Prussian Assembly, 
 where from the very begining he had four compan- 
 ions who shared his point of view, that he delivered 
 his longer addresses. 
 
 His tactics in the Reichstag, where for some time 
 he stood almost alone, were somewhat different. 
 Here, instead of delivering speeches, he used the 
 question with telling effect, as a means of bringing 
 out the truth on his side and of showing the empti- 
 ness of his opponents' claims. The government re- 
 sorted to every conceivable means to silence him, but 
 without success. Failing, they called him to military 
 service, and put him in the uniform of a German 
 soldier. This act put a temporary end to his out- 
 side public addresses, but he could still deliver his 
 scathing indictments in the Reichstag and in the Prus- 
 sian Assembly. 
 
 On May i, 1916, he appeared at a public gather- 
 ing in Berlin in civilian dress, and delivered the 
 speech which sent him to jail. Why did he deliver 
 that May Day address? Why did he not continue 
 to reach the public over the heads of the legislators 
 from his seats in the two Parliaments? It is indeed 
 possible that he thought that the moment for the 
 Revolution had struck. For it is an address of revo- 
 lution, and seemed calculated to bring about an up- 
 rising of the workers. Perhaps he was under the 
 impression that his addresses and the terrible pres- 
 
20 TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE 
 
 sure outside Germany had sufficiently awakened the 
 German people, and that they needed but a word to 
 bring them into action. Whatever the reason, the 
 speech was a magnificent one ; it required a courage 
 which only a Liebknecht possessed. 
 
 When Ralph Waldo Emerson visited Henry 
 Thoreau in his prison cell and asked, "What are you 
 doing here, Henry?" Thoreau replied, "What are 
 you doing outside when all people with ideals are 
 inside?" That sentence well describes the Germany 
 of yesterday. Liebknecht was in prison, but even in 
 his lonesome cell he still inspired the "gathering 
 hosts and helped to make men free." 
 
 I wish to express my sincerest gratitude to my 
 friends, Bertram Benedict and Dr. Wm. E. Bohn, 
 for help and criticism. 
 
 S. ZiMAND. 
 November 2i 1918 
 
THE MAN LIEBKNECHT 
 
 Karl Liebknecht Is a worthy son of a great 
 sire. His father, Wilhelm Liebknecht, for years a 
 member of the Reichstag, was the author of numer- 
 ous pamphlets on Socialism and economics and was 
 one of the first founders of the Socialist Party in Ger- 
 many. Karl Liebknecht was born in Leipzig on Au- 
 gust 13th, 1 87 1, the same year in which his father 
 was arrested on the charge of high treason. His 
 mother was wont to say that she bequeathed to her 
 son all the sorrow that was hers during that period, 
 all the courage and all the strength which she had 
 to summon to her aid to live through those days; 
 and with her bequest went all the sorrow for the 
 sufferings of humanity, and all the courage and the 
 strength to battle for the cause of the people, which 
 were back of the father's trial. 
 
 And thirty-five years later, Karl Liebknecht un- 
 derwent the same ordeal as his father — himself 
 faced the accusation of high treason in the highest 
 courts of his native land. 
 
 Liebknecht studied first at Leipzig and then in 
 Berlin, attending the university in each city. As a 
 student he began his career of social enlightenment 
 by organizing literary societies for the study of 
 social problems. Liebknecht got his doctor's degree 
 
 21 
 
22 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 in Political Economy and Law at the University or 
 Wiirzburg. From 1889 he practised law in Berlin. 
 Later he became active in the Socialist movement in 
 Berlin. In 1902 he was elected Councilman to the 
 Stadverordneten Versammlung (Common Council) 
 of Berlin. In October, 1907, he was tried for high 
 treason before the Imperial Court of Germany at 
 Leipzig for his book on "Militarism." The sub- 
 stance of this book which aroused the ire of the Ger- 
 man authorities was first set forth in a lecture before 
 a group of young people in 1906, for it is Lieb- 
 knecht's belief that in the hands of the younger gen- 
 eration of Germany lies the hope of salvation; let 
 them be impregnated, he would say, with the right 
 social ideals before militaristic training has an op- 
 portunity to do its work, and there will be little dan- 
 ger of domination by the war lords, or of the fruition 
 of the war lords' aims. 
 
 His trial was most interesting. It was said upon 
 excellent authority that the Kaiser himself was con- 
 nected by secret wire with the court room. Lieb- 
 knecht bore himself triumphantly throughout; there 
 was never a moment of wavering, never any evi- 
 dence of any quality contrary to the gigantic and 
 fearless strength which characterizes the man. Lieb- 
 knecht is himself a very able lawyer, and though he 
 had noted lawyers to represent him (including Hugo 
 Haase, at present a leader of the Minority Socialist 
 Party in the Reichstag), he supplemented their 
 speeches with additional analyses of his own. 
 
 Liebknecht took up the question, "What is high 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 23 
 
 treason?" He turned the tables upon Olshausen, 
 ^ho was conducting the trial against him, by a quota- 
 tion from a work of Olshausen himself which con- 
 tradicted the stand the latter was taking in the Lieb- 
 knecht trial. The Socialist leader's address to the 
 judges was one of the boldest attacks ever made, 
 either up to that time or up to the present, against 
 German militarism. "The aim of my life," he de- 
 clared, "is the overthrow of monarchy. As my 
 father, who appeared before this court exactly thirty- 
 five years ago to defend himself against the charge 
 of treason, was ultimately pronounced victor, so I 
 believe the day is not far distant when the principles 
 which I represent will be recognized as patriotic, as 
 honorable, as true." 
 
 Liebknecht's brave stand on this occasion was 
 rewarded by a sentence of a year and a half in a 
 military prison. While serving his sentence he was 
 elected by the people of Berlin to represent them in 
 the assembly of Prussia. In the Landtag Liebknecht 
 recommenced his fight against militarism. It was 
 there that he prophetically pronounced the word 
 "Republic" for the first time. On one occasion there 
 was a debate upon the building of a new opera 
 house. "The opera house for which we are asked to 
 vote the necessary funds," he exclaimed, "should.last 
 for many generations. We trust that it will last long 
 after it has lost its character as a Royal Opera 
 House." 
 
 In 19 10 Liebknecht visited America to give a 
 series of lectures, and the United States made a 
 
24 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 strong impression upon him. He used to tell me 
 that he felt truly homesick for America and had a 
 genuine desire to repeat the visit. 
 
 In 19 1 2 he was elected representative to the 
 Reichstag by the people of Potsdam-Osthavelland, 
 under the very window of the Kaiser. The an- 
 nouncement of his success was met with wild demon- 
 strations of delight. The sentiments of the surging 
 crowds before the office of the Berlin Vorwdrts 
 when the result of the election was made public were 
 voiced by a young workingman, when he exclaimed, 
 "The new voice of freedom will be heard from now 
 on in the Reichstag." In the Reichstag Liebknecht 
 hurled with renewed zeal his invectives against the 
 huge armaments and militarism of Germany. 
 
 Liebknecht the man is of the kindest nature and 
 frankest personality. There is to be seen in his 
 make-up no grain of pretentiousness, of false pride 
 — indeed, he usually lunches quite happily upon a 
 sandwich in the train, too busy to find any other time 
 for his meal. His home life is ideal. His present 
 wife — his first died in 1 9 1 2 — is a Russian by birth, 
 a graduate of the University of Heidelberg, and an 
 ideal companion and helpmate. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 25 
 
 THE FIRST DAYS 
 
 On August 3rd and 4th, 19 14, the Social-Demo- 
 cratic members of the Reichstag called a special 
 meeting in order to decide what stand the party 
 should take on the War. 
 
 At the first vote taken, ninety-four members were 
 for voting for the budget and only fourteen against. 
 At the last there were only three who held out to 
 the end — Liebknecht, Ledebour, and Haase. 
 
 The officials of the party tried to give the im- 
 pression that there were no differences of opinion 
 in the party, but Liebknecht wrote the following 
 letter, which was published in the Burger Zeitung, 
 Bremen, September 18, 19 14. 
 
 "I understand that several members of the So- 
 cialist Party have written all manner of statements 
 to the press with regard to the deliberations of the 
 Socialist Party in the Reichstag on August 3rd and 
 4th. 
 
 "According to these reports, there were no serious 
 differences of opinion in our party in regard to the 
 political situation and our own position, and decisions 
 to assent to war credits are alleged to have been 
 arrived at unanimously. In order to prevent the dis- 
 semination of an inadmissible fiction I feel it to be 
 my duty to put on record the fact that the issues in- 
 
26 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 volved gave rise to diametrically opposite views 
 within our party parliament, and these opposing 
 views found expression with a violence hitherto un- 
 known in our deliberations. 
 
 "It is also entirely untrue to say that assent to the 
 war credits was given unanimously." 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 27 
 
 LIEBKNECHT'S VISIT TO BELGIUM 
 
 On September i6th, 19 14, Liebknecht went to 
 Belgium to inform himself about the situation, and 
 here is what Camille Huysmans, the secretary of the 
 International Socialist Bureau, writes about Lieb- 
 knecht's visit to Belgium : 
 
 To P. Renaudel, Editor of L'Humanite. 
 
 "My dear Renaudel, — Liebknecht came to Bel- 
 gium on September i6th, 19 14. He met several 
 friends, and he came to see me at Brussels, at the 
 Maison du Peuple, in the afternoon. I asked him 
 into my office and we had a conversation which 
 lasted more than two hours. I took him to dinner 
 at a restaurant in the town, and we again talked at 
 length. I invited other friends to meet him, among 
 them our comrade Vandersmirsen. The next morn- 
 ing we went out in two motor cars. We passed 
 through several districts. We tried to see Louvain, 
 but the military authorities would not allow us to 
 do so. 
 
 "At Tirlemont, through the mistake of an officer, 
 we were caught in some shrapnel fire, and we had 
 to remain through the engagement. I showed Lieb- 
 knecht what actually took place. He questioned the 
 
28 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 Belgians. He talked with the German soldiers. He 
 was thus able to form his own opinion on the spot. 
 
 "To sum up: Liebknecht, when he came, knew 
 nothing of what had happened in Belgium. He went 
 away convinced that the Belgians had not been sold 
 to Great Britain, that they had not organized bands 
 of francs-tireurs, that they had not assassinated 
 the German wounded, and that the German execu- 
 tions in Belgium were unjustifiable. 
 
 "He came to Belgium honorably and honestly to 
 gain information. Anything else is calumny. Those 
 Belgians who regarded the reception by me of a 
 German as an act of treason grasped him effusively 
 by the hand when they learned that he came to find 
 out and to speak the truth. 
 
 "Yours, 
 
 "Camille Huysmans." 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 29 
 
 DID NOT CHEER THE KAISER 
 
 Berlin, October 24, 19 14. 
 
 Editor, Berliner Tageblatt. 
 
 Berlin. 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 In your report of the meeting of the Prussian As- 
 sembly on the 22nd of the month you say that during 
 the reading by Dr. Delbriick of the greetings of the 
 Kaiser the whole house stood (that means, the 
 Social-Democrats also). That does not correspond 
 with the truth. The Social-Democratic members of 
 the Assembly, who were in their places, remained 
 seated. 
 
 With reference to the closing speech of the Presi- 
 dent your report reads that the whole House ap- 
 plauded and took part in the cheers for the Kaiser. 
 That also is not true. Five members ( Hof er, Adolf 
 Hoffmann, Paul Hoffmann, Liebknecht and Strobel, 
 — S. Z.) of the Social-Democratic representation in 
 the Landtag (that means half) left the room when 
 this speech of the President was delivered. 
 
 I would ask you to print the above correction ac- 
 cording to paragraph II of the Press Law. 
 Respectfully, 
 
 Karl Liebknecht. 
 
30 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 LIEBKNECHT DISAPPROVES OF MAJOR- 
 ITY SOCIALISTS OF GERMANY 
 
 The Swiss Socialist paper Volksrecht published in 
 November, 19 14, the following statement, signed by 
 Karl Liebknecht, Rosa Luxemburg, Franz Mehring 
 and Clara Zetkin. 
 
 "In the Socialist press of the neutral countries of 
 Sweden, Italy and Switzerland, Comrades Dr. Suede- 
 kum and Richard Fischer have attempted to portray 
 the attitude of the German Social-Democrats to- 
 wards the present War in the light of their own 
 ideas. We feel ourselves forced therefore to ex- 
 plain through the same mediums that we, and cer- 
 tainly many other German Social-Democrats, look 
 on the War, its causes and its character, as well as 
 on the role of the Social-Democrats at the present 
 time, from a standpoint which in no way corresponds 
 to that of Dr. Suedekum and Herr Fischer. At the 
 present time the state of martial law makes it im- 
 possible for us to give public expression to our 
 views." 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 31 
 
 REICHSTAG MEETING, DECEMBER 2, 1914, 
 
 AND LIEBKNECHT'S DOCUMENT EX- 
 
 PLAINING WHY HE VOTED "NO" 
 
 At the second War Session of the Reichstag, Dec. 
 2, 1914, Karl Liebknecht not only voted against the 
 War Budget — the only member of the Reichstag so 
 to vote — ^but also handed in an explanation of his 
 vote, which the President of the Reichstag refused 
 to allow to be read, nor was it printed in the Parlia- 
 mentary report. The President banned it on the 
 pretext that it would entail calls to order. The docu- 
 ment was sent to the German Press, but not one 
 paper published it. 
 
 The full text of the protest was received by way 
 of Switzerland. It runs as follows : 
 
 "My vote against the War Credit Bill of to-day is 
 based on the following considerations. This War, 
 desired by none of the people concerned, has not 
 broken out in behalf of the welfare of the German 
 people or any other. It is an Imperialist Wa r, awar 
 o ver impor tant t erritories of exploitation for capital - 
 ists and financiers. From the point of view of 
 nvairy m armaments, it is a war provoked by the 
 German and Austrian war parties together, in the 
 obscurity of semi-feudalism and of secret diplomacy, 
 to gain an advantage over their opponents. At the 
 
32 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 same time the war is a Bonapartist effort to disrupt 
 and split the growing movement of the working class. 
 
 "The German cry: 'Against CzarismI' is invented 
 for the occasion — just as the present British and 
 French watchwords are invented — to exploit the 
 noblest inclinations and the revolutionary traditions 
 and ideals of the people in stirring up hatred of oth- 
 er peoples. 
 
 "Germany, the accomplice of Czarism, the model 
 of reaction until this very day, has no standing as the 
 liberator of the peoples. The liberation of both the 
 Russian and the German people must be their own 
 work. 
 
 "The war is no war of German defense. Its his- 
 torical basis and its course at the start make unac- 
 ceptable the pretense of the capitalist government 
 that the purpose for which it demands credits is the 
 defense of the Fatherland. 
 
 "A speedy peace, a peace without conquests, this 
 is what we must demand. Every effort in this direc- 
 tion must be supported. Only by strengthening joint- 
 ly and continuously the currents in all the belligerent 
 countries which have such a peace as their object 
 can this bloody slaughter be brought to an end. 
 
 " Only a peace based upon the internatio nal sn\u 
 darity of the working class and on the liberty oi-all 
 the people s, £^an_b£-ja iastin g peac e. T herefore, it 
 is the duty of the proletariats ofall countnesto^ carry 
 on during the^war a comm on^Socialistic work in f a- 
 vfljLoflpeace. 
 
 "I support the relief credits with this reservation: 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 33 
 
 I vote willingly for everything which may relieve the 
 hard fate of our brothers on the battlefield as well 
 as that of the wounded and sick, for whom I feel 
 the deepest compassion. But as a protest against 
 the jvar, against those who are responsible for it 
 and who have caused it, against those who direct it, 
 against the capitalist purposes for which it is being 
 used, against plans of annexation, against the vio- 
 lation of the neutrality of Belgium and Luxemburg, 
 against unlimited rule of martial law, against the 
 total oblivion of social and political duties of which 
 the Government and classes are still guilty, I vote 
 against the war credits demanded. 
 
 Karl Liebknecht. 
 Berlin, December 2, 1914. 
 
34 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 KARL LIEBKNECHT CONDEMNED BY HIS 
 
 PARTY FOR VOTING "NO" ON DE- 
 
 CEMBER2, 1914, AND HIS ANSWER 
 
 In December, 19 14, the Social-Democratic repre- 
 sentation of the Reichstag censured Karl Liebknecht 
 for voting "No" in the open meeting of the Reich- 
 stag. 
 
 At a meeting on February 2, 1915, the Reichstag 
 Socialists adopted a resolution condemning his stand 
 and repudiating alleged misleading information he 
 had spread about the Party, To this Liebknecht 
 answered in the Forwdrts of February 5, 1915, as 
 follows : 
 
 Berlin, February 5, 19 15. 
 Editor Forwdrts, 
 
 Berlin. 
 Dear Comrade : — 
 
 Concerning the resolution adopted by the Social- 
 Democratic Deputies of the Reichstag I wish to re- 
 mark: (i) I voted against the war credits because 
 the vote for the war credits is in my opinion in sharp 
 contradiction not only to the interests of the pro- 
 letariat, but also to the resolutions of the Social- 
 Democratic Party and of the International Socialist 
 Convention. And the Social-Democratic Deputies 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 35 
 
 in the Reichstag are not justified in recommending a 
 violation of the Program and party decisions. 
 
 In a letter of Dec. 3, 19 14, addressed to the 
 Chairman of the Social-Democratic Deputies of the 
 Reichstag I made my stand clear. 
 
 (2) Misleading information about the Party I 
 have not given out. The Social-Democratic Deputies 
 in the Reichstag, who are not the proper authorities 
 for such decisions, voted down my motion to post- 
 pone making any decision on this point until a thor- 
 ough discussion had taken place. 
 
 Karl Liebknecht. 
 
36 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 A NEW YEAR'S GREETING TO ENGLAND 
 
 I AM pleased to be able to write a message of 
 brotherhood to British Socialists at a time when the 
 ruling classes of Germany and Great Britain are try- 
 ing by all means in their power to incite bloodthirsty 
 hatred between the two peoples. But it is painful for 
 me to write these lines at a time when our radiant 
 hope of previous days — the Socialist International — 
 lies destroyed on the ground with a thousand expec- 
 tations, when even many Socialists in the belligerent 
 countries^ — for Germany is not an exception — have 
 in this most rapacious of all wars of robbery willing- 
 ly put on the yoke of the chariot of Imperialism, just 
 when the evils of capitalism were becoming more ap- 
 parent than ever. I am, however, particularly proud 
 and happy to send my greetings to you, to the British 
 Independent Labour Party, who, with our Russian 
 and Servian comrades, have saved the honor of 
 Socialism amidst the madness of national slaughter. 
 
 Confusion reigns among the rank and file of the 
 Socialist Army and many blame Socialist principles 
 for our present failure. It is not our principles 
 which have failed, however, but the representatives 
 of those principles. It is not a question of changing 
 our principles, it is a question of applying them to 
 life, of carrying them into action. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 37 
 
 All the phrases of "national defense" and the 
 "liberation of the people" with which Imperialism 
 decorafes its instruments of murder are but deceiv- 
 ing tinsel. Each Socialist Party has its enemy, the 
 common enemy of the International, in its own coun- 
 try. There it has to fight it. The liberation of each 
 nation must be its own work. 
 
 Only blindness can order the continuation of the 
 slaughter until the "enemy" is crushed. The well- 
 being of all nations is inseparably connected; the 
 struggle of the organized working class can only be 
 carried out internationally. 
 
 Those who are seven times wise and whose weak 
 souls are easily carried away by the whirls of diplo- 
 matic winds and lost in the gulfs of jingoism, say 
 that the labor movement will no longer be interna- 
 tional. 
 
 The world war which has smashed the Interna- 
 tional must, however, be realized as a powerful ser- 
 mon making clear the need for a new International, 
 an International of another kind, with a different 
 force from that which the capitalist powers so easily 
 scattered on August 4, 19 14. 
 
 Only in the cooperation of the working masses of 
 all countries, in times of war as in times of peace, 
 does the salvation of humanity lie. Nowhere have 
 the masses desired this war. Nowhere do they 
 desire it. Why should they, then, with a loathing 
 for war in their hearts, murder each other to the 
 finish? It would be a sign of weakness, it is said, 
 for any one people to suggest peace ; well, let all the 
 
38 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 people suggest it together. The nation which speaks 
 first will not show weakness but strength. It will 
 win the glory and gratitude of posterity. It is the 
 duty of every Socialist at the present time to be a 
 prophet of international brotherhood, realizing that 
 every word he speaks in favor of socialism and 
 peace, every action he performs for these ideals en- 
 flame similar words and actions in other countries, 
 until the flames of the desire for peace shall flare 
 high over all Europe. The example which you and 
 our Russian and Servian comrades have given to 
 the world will have an emulating effect wherever 
 Socialists have been ensnared by the designs of the 
 ruling classes, and I am sure the mass of the British 
 workers will soon rally to the International Labor 
 Party. Already among the German workers there 
 is far greater opposition to the war than is generally 
 supposed, and the louder the echo of the cry for 
 peace in other countries the more vehemently and 
 energetically will they work for peace here. Thus 
 shall the working classes of all the belligerent coun- 
 tries become conscious of the necessity to fight for a 
 peace consistent with the principles of Socialism, a 
 peace without conquest and without humiliation, a 
 peace based not on hatred but on fraternity, not on 
 force but on freedom, a peace which, because of its 
 justice, may be everlasting. In this way, even during 
 the war, the International can be revived and can 
 atone for its previous mistakes. Thus it must re- 
 vive, a different International, increased not only in 
 numerical strength but in revolutionary fervor, in 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 39 
 
 clearness of vision and in preparedness to overcome 
 the danger of absolutism, of secret diplomacy, and 
 of capitalist conspiracies against peace. 
 
 Workers of the World, unite I 
 
 Unite in a war against warl 
 
 With Socialist greetings, 
 
 RARL LlEBKNECHT. 
 
 Berlin, December, 19 14. 
 
40 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE WAR MEET- 
 
 ING OF THE PRUSSIAN ASSEMBLY, 
 
 TUESDAY, MARCH 2, 19 15 
 
 The Censor forbade the printing of the follow- 
 ing speech in Germany It is a clear analysis of the 
 franchise question. Dr. Liebknecht also blames the 
 personal regime and rule of Bureaucracy for the 
 War. According to the Vorwdrts reports, when 
 Liebknecht began to speak the Free Conservatives, 
 most of the National Liberals and the Centrum left 
 the chamber in a demonstrative manner. 
 
 Present: The Minister of the Interior: Discussion 
 about the Prussian electoral reform, care for those 
 disabled by war, and democratization of external 
 politics. 
 
 Taking part in the discussion: Dr. Busse (Cons.), 
 V. Papenheim (Cons.) , Dr. v. Zedlitz and Neukirch 
 (Free Cons.), v. Loebell (Secretary of Interior), 
 Dr. Friedberg *(Natl. Lib.), Cassel (Progressive 
 People's Party), Dr. Liebknecht (Soc-Dem.). 
 
 Dr. Liebknecht (Social-Democrat) : Gentlemen, 
 first I wish to protest against the fact that Russian 
 workingmen are treated differently from the civilians 
 of other enemy countries. Such differential treat- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 41 
 
 ment cannot be justified — indeed, must be con- 
 demned as sharply as possible. 
 
 As to the care to be taken of those disabled by 
 war, I can only support the heart-felt words which 
 came from all parts of this house on this question 
 and echoed in our hearts, that we demand action on 
 this matter without delay and do everything possible 
 to keep these unfortunate people from all need and 
 misery. But I do not wish to mistake what exper- 
 ience teaches us — ^that we have every right to take 
 words uttered in days such as we are passing through 
 with a great deal of criticism and suspicion. On 
 that account I would not like to throw all the words 
 uttered to-day in the scales as solid weight. We will 
 see if, in the future, deeds will follow. 
 
 The great zeal with which this all-important ques- 
 tion, which arouses all human emotions, was dis- 
 cussed, has for me a special significance because these 
 debates serve to hide the complete silence of the 
 bourgeois parties on the decisive and important 
 suffrage question. ("Very true" from the Soc- 
 Dem.) 
 
 Gentlemen, you can be assured that those who are 
 in the field and the unfortunate invalids in the hos- 
 pitals will be convinced that everything necessary 
 is done in this important question only when we make 
 it possible for them at the settlement of the question 
 to be guaranteed necessary influence in legislation 
 and administration. (Approval from the Soc- 
 Dem.) They will not rely on the good will of the 
 ruling parties, and if the good words which were 
 
42 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 spoken with relation to the care to be taken of the 
 war invalids do not go hand in hand with willingness 
 to give to the mass of the people more rights, to 
 make possible a democratization of Prussia, then 
 they preach to deaf ears even if the words sound so 
 very friendly. ("Very true" from Soc-Dem.) 
 
 Gentlemen, the 27th of February of this year will 
 become a historical day for Prussia. It was a criti- 
 cal day. In the Budget Committee the Minister re- 
 fused to give any assurance, even of a general na- 
 ture, about a future suffrage reform ; and to-day also 
 we heard nothing about it. The Progressive Party 
 expects, according to the speech delivered by Assem- 
 blyman Pachnicke, suffrage reform after the war; 
 they expect at least the secret and the direct vote. 
 The Centrum appeals to its "clear and unmovable" 
 position on the suffrage question, which no one 
 knows (Assemblyman Strobel, Soc-Dem., "Very 
 good !") , and explains its present silence by the party 
 truce. The National Liberals put the question of 
 suffrage reform behind the task of winning the war. 
 The Free Conservatives, through Frhr. v. Zedlitz, 
 give a straightforward jrefusal, which Frhr. v. 
 Zedlitz underlined three times last night in the 
 Post. ("Very true" from the Free Conserva- 
 tives.) I hear again a "Very true" from the midst 
 of the Free Conservatives, and emphasize it again 
 thus — according to them the war has brought out 
 strong counter-reaction against any democratization 
 and Frhr. v. Zedlitz must surely know it, be- 
 cause he warms himself behind the political stove. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 43 
 
 He considers the discussion of the election reform 
 as superfluous, a discussion which endangers the 
 party truce and which over-balances the discus- 
 sions about the Budget; and he scoffs at the idea 
 about a general fraternization on the foundation 
 of the introduction of the suffrage law for the 
 Reichstag in Prussia. ("Hear! hear!" from the 
 Soc-Dem.) The German Conservative Party was 
 silent and by its silence showed that it approved 
 the provolcing refusal of Frhr. v. Zedlitz. ("Very 
 true!" from the Soc-Dem.) To-day also was 
 this approval repeated in an unmistakable sense. 
 That clears the situation, gentlemen, — clears it de- 
 lightfully. Clearness is especially necessary at this 
 time. ("Very true!" from the Soc-Dem.) It never 
 was so necessary as to-day, when the word "party 
 truce" and the false conceptions of class harmonies, 
 of unity and unanimity of the people and other beau- 
 tiful descriptive words about a free German people 
 of the future becloud many a mind. Gentlemen, we 
 are glad that this fog was blown away. The naked 
 truth is : In Prussia everything remains as it was be- 
 fore. Gentlemen, on October Z2nd of last year our 
 warning with reference to the election reform was 
 received by this house partly with cold silence and 
 partly with indignant murmur. It was astounding 
 to the gentlemen that the representatives of the third 
 class of Prussian helot voters dared, at this time, to 
 raise the demand of the people. The government 
 was silent then. On February 9th the same per- 
 formance, and now the Committee's deliberations 
 
44 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 and the debates of to-day which clarify the situation 
 so well 1 Evejything remains as it was before — ^that 
 is the significance of the day for Prussia. From the 
 papers we already knew that, gentlemen. Already 
 in September, 19 14, upon the victory of the German 
 troops, so many swelled up as "German friends of 
 the people." An apotheosis of Militarism, an apoth- 
 eosis of Monarchism, an apotheosis of the three- 
 class system of voting and of all "Prussian egotism" 
 we found in the reactionary papers, — in the papers 
 not only of the Conservative Parties but even in 
 those of the so-called Liberal Parties. ("Very true I" 
 from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 Gentlemen, in 1866 it was said: The schoolmas- 
 ter, the Prussian schoolmaster was victorious. To- 
 day it is said: the Prussian system of voting is vic- 
 torious in this war or will be victorious in this war. 
 ("Very true I" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 What progress! It will be said, as it was said: 
 The Prussian three-class system of voting was vic- 
 torious over democracy, — ^by which Russia is nat- 
 urally left out of consideration as a good friend of 
 the past and surely as a good friend of the future. 
 The conclusion will be drawn which was drawn in 
 such an open way by Frhr. v. Zedlitz. But I should 
 like to advise you in your own interests not to forget 
 that if this war, especially in the first months, awak- 
 ened a strong enthusiasm in the German people, you 
 must thank above all the fact that it was to be against 
 Czarism — against the Russian reaction, — ("Very 
 true I" from Soc.-Dem.), against barbarism, unright- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 45 
 
 eousness; that it was thought to be a struggle for the 
 freedom of Europe. ("Very truel" from the Soc- 
 Dem.) 
 
 And, gentlemen, do not forget the disastrous in- 
 fluence the backward conditions in Prussia and in 
 Germany, which conditions were combated by us, 
 had on the attitude of the Neutrals against Germany 
 in this war I ( "Very true 1" from the Soc.-Dem. ) 
 
 Gentlemen, in spite of all the characteristic and 
 true Prussian manifestations since the first months of 
 the war, about which I just spoke, we had even up to 
 now political dreamers. Gentlemen, those will now 
 be enlightened about the situation, wherever they 
 are, and that is of great value. The darkest pessim- 
 ists were right in their prophecies. These debates 
 have furnished water for our mills. The Conserva- 
 tive parties of this house stand with their old ani- 
 mosity against any democratization. From the Cen- 
 trum nothing is to be hoped. The National Liberals 
 provide a special chapter. Their ideal with respect 
 to the electoral reform has been long similar to that 
 of Frhr. v. Zedlitz, namely, not democratization, but 
 future plutocratization of the electoral reform. 
 ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 So everything is as it was before 1 The National 
 Liberals put out of their present thoughts the strug- 
 gle for peoples' rights, because success is to them, 
 as they say, more important. Gentlemen, that is ex- 
 plainable. These gentlemen know, in fact, for what 
 this war is fought. For their electorate this war is 
 such a tremendously important political and eco- 
 
46 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 nomic business that the people's rights, bad or good, 
 have to be retarded. Gentlemen, the mine fields of 
 Briey and Longwy, the mine fields of West Poland, 
 the colonies which promise important profits and 
 some other nice things are really no bad investments 
 for German capital. The people can wait. ("Very 
 truel" from the Soc.-Dem.) And Mr. Pachnicke, 
 the boldest representative of democracy in the 
 bourgeois parties of this house, is already satis- 
 fied in advance — sure enough, only for the present, 
 as he says — with the secret and direct votel But 
 even the moderate optimism of Mr. Pachnicke and 
 Mr. Cassel that a majority is available in this house 
 with reference to that patch-work reform, was very 
 roughly stripped of its mask in the Budget Commis- 
 sion by a conservative interruption. Even here 
 everything shall be as it was before 1 And even for 
 this patch-work reform Mr. Pachnicke wants to wait 
 until after the war. Gentlemen, we are not so mod- 
 est. ("Very truel" from the Soc-Dem.) We see 
 all other classes in the war, and especially through 
 the war, pursue unrestrained and without any com- 
 punction their class interests. We know that this 
 war serves or will serve, if it will go according to 
 the desire of the ruling class — the great capitalistic 
 interests^ — the interest of the ruling classes in a par- 
 ticular way. Shall only the masses of the people 
 wait until after the war? The technical restoration 
 of the law is a trifle. ("Very true I" from the Soc- 
 Dem.) 
 
 Gentlemen, do we have any cause to postpone our 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 47 
 
 demand for democratization in a time of martial 
 law, the press censorship, the suspension of the mis- 
 erable right of assembly, in a time of the darkest 
 reaction, including the spy system in Prussia under 
 the name of Burgfrieden (civic truce) in a form of 
 military dictatorship celebrates its triumph, in a time 
 when the people are more than ever without any 
 rights, in a time when by the war not only the danger 
 to all of the capitalistic economic order is made more 
 striking than ever, but when political pressure lies 
 harder than ever on the people. In such a time, 
 there is no occasion for us to postpone our demands 
 for democratization. ("Very truel" from the Soc- 
 Dem.) Never did the class character of the present 
 society of the Prussian state reveal itself so rude and 
 unmasked as right now. Nor do we have any occasion 
 to postpone our demands for democratization at 
 a time when the dangerous reaction of the inner 
 autocracy upon the external policy shows itself so 
 awful and dangerous, at a time which is really clam- 
 oring for the democratization of exterior politics. 
 ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 Gentlemen, Mr. Assemblyman Dr. Pachnicke said 
 the war has given new support to the demand for 
 electoral reform. Frhr. v. Zedlitz shouted a shrill 
 denial of these words. ("Hear! Hear!" from the 
 Soc.-Dem.) A word which lighted up the situa- 
 tion as a lightning flash, a word for which I and 
 my friends thank him, a word of redemption which 
 can be a call of alarm for the. further interior Prus- 
 sian-German development. In fact, the war has 
 
48 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 given new support, not to a patch-work reform in the 
 sense of which Mr. Pachnicke speaks, but to a re- 
 form of the Prussian state in body and soul. I mean 
 in equal franchise and administration from below 
 up to the highest ranks. And that not only on ac- 
 count of the warlike attitude of the German people, 
 as Mr. Pachnicke thought. From entirely different 
 grounds. There never before appeared so clearly 
 on the surface the glaring contrast between the heavy 
 duties of the majority of the people and the privi- 
 leged character of the state and the Administration, 
 as in these days; the contrast between the equal 
 duties as cannon fodder and the political inequalities 
 in the state. ("Very truel" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 And further, gentlemen, in half-absolutism, in 
 secret diplomacy, in personal regime and all that, 
 we see one of the most important immediate causes 
 for the breaking out of this war, which of course is 
 conditioned and made possible by international cap- 
 italism. ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 Gentlemen, if the imperialistic endeavors of high 
 capitalism brought about severe dangers to peace, 
 there is needed more than ever control of the ex- 
 terior politics by the masses of the people ("Very 
 truel" from the Soc.-Dem.), a control which is de- 
 nied by the constitution and administration prevail- 
 ing in Prussia and Germany to-day. I know that the 
 democratization of the exterior policy in other states 
 also, where the democratization of the interior policy 
 has progressed, is much to be desired and our friends 
 in England, our friends in France, to whom we stand 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 49 
 
 as near as ever before, as far as they are conducting 
 Socialistic propaganda ("Very truel" from the Soc- 
 Dem.), have raised the demand before and also 
 now for greater democratization of international 
 politics. Gentlemen, only democratization can erect 
 a wall against imperialistic and adventurous politics. 
 Gentlemen, the millions of victims who are butchered 
 in this war, are butchered especially because the mass 
 of the people were deprived of any rights in the 
 countries concerned! ("Very true!" from the Soc- 
 Dem.) All of us, no matter how many differences 
 of opinion may exist now in our small circle, are all 
 agreed that the mass of the people did not want the 
 war in any of the countries concerned. ("Very true !" 
 from the Soc.-Dem. ) And if that is true, it follows 
 that a democratic control of exterior politics carried 
 out in all states would have prevented the war. 
 ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) From that 
 follows the right and duty, especially now when 
 Europe is buried in blood and murder, and sets on 
 fire its culture and the flower of its humanity, to 
 raise the demand for democratization of external 
 politics, which can come only from democratic inter- 
 nal politics which can be nourished in the soil of a 
 state democratic from head to foot. ("Very truel" 
 from the Soc-Dem.) 
 
 Gentlemen, I welcome the destruction of illusions 
 which existed in large circles of the people about the 
 willingness of the ruling classes and the government 
 to grant an equal franchise law. A clear outlook is 
 especially necessary; the mist is now blown away. 
 
50 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 and this clearness is not preached only — and you 
 should not forget it — ^to those who are guarding 
 and supporting the Fatherland in their civilian 
 clothes and have experienced the need of these 
 days, but also to those who are standing in the battle- 
 field and who are expecting to hear different news 
 from home, and who, when they read the papers 
 about the debates of the Budget Commission of Sat- 
 urday and debates of to-day — I am absolutely con- 
 vinced on this point — will clinch their fists furiously 
 in their pockets and hurl curses at those who awak- 
 ened in them hopes and illusions, who deceived them 
 about the truth, — hamely that this war is not carried 
 on for the mass of the German people; about the 
 truth, that the mass of the people will be left after the 
 war without rights, as they were before the war, 
 unless they look out for their rights themselves. 
 
 Gentlemen, the war preaches with a brazen tongue 
 the necessity for Democracy; and to you all, who 
 think that you can rebuke in such a sharp way the de- 
 mands of the people, the idea must emerge, through 
 the shell of your careless hostility and provoking and 
 people-betraying demonstrations, that the interior 
 political conditions of Germany will form themselves 
 even now during the war. 
 
 Gentlemen, the proletariat is in exactly the same 
 position as the poor starving wretch of the old tragi- 
 comedy, who, dressed in distinguished garments, for 
 one day of illusions, pretended to be a prince. After 
 the present revelations, the dream, the hero dream 
 that every one is to be recognized as a free German 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 51 
 
 citizen, as an equal German citizen, this dream will 
 vanish even to the last illusionist, — he will awaken 
 from the illusion of this monstrous three-fourths of a 
 year. He will get sober, and full of bitterness, draw 
 conclusions for his political attitude even during the 
 war. 
 
 Gentlemen, the only salvation for the mass of the 
 people is the struggle that has not changed to-day 
 from yesterday. Not by yielding and not by adapt- 
 ing itself to conditions, and not by submissiveness, 
 but only in struggle will the people find its right. 
 (Assemblyman Hoffman, Soc.-Dem., "Very true!") 
 
 The class struggle alone is the salvation of the 
 proletariat and we hope that we will carry on very 
 soon the class struggle in open international inter- 
 course with the proletariat of all countries, even with 
 those with whom we are at war. In this international 
 class struggle rests not only hope for the democra- 
 tization, for the political and economic emancipation, 
 of the working class, but also the one hope for the 
 mass of the people concerned even during the war. 
 Their one prospect and hope for the termination of 
 the horrible killing of peoples is in the struggle for a 
 peace in a socialistic sense. 
 
 Gentlemen, the equal franchise you rudely denied 
 for the duration of the war. Even after the war you 
 don't want to grant such franchise. Laughable patch- 
 work reform Is all that one of you, the representative 
 of the influential Progressive Party {Fortschritlichen 
 Volkspartei), expects at the most; the majority says 
 even here "No." Gentlemen, that means to the mass 
 
52 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 of the people the fist! ("Very true !" from the Soc- 
 Dem.) Against that I place the cry: away with the 
 hypocrisy of the Burgfrieden (civil truce) 1 For- 
 ward to the class struggle! Forward to the inter- 
 national class struggle for the emancipation of Ihe 
 working class and against the war! ("Bravo !" from 
 the Soc-Dem.) 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 53 
 
 IN DEFENCE OF ROSA LUXEMBURG 
 
 Dr. Rosa Luxemburg, with whom the following 
 speech of Dr. Liebknecht deals, was tried in 19 14 
 because at a public meeting she attacked militarism 
 and the tragedies which were happening in the 
 German barracks: brutal treatments, abuses and 
 suicides of German soldiers. At her trial nine hun- 
 dred and twenty-two men from all parts of Germany 
 were ready to testify to something like thirty thou- 
 sand separate instances of brutal treatment of sol- 
 diers. 
 
 Dr. Rosa Luxemburg was born in Russian Poland, 
 of Jewish parents, and studied in Switzerland. She 
 went later to Germany in order to become active 
 in Social-Democratic propaganda. Being a for- 
 eigner, she would have been immediately exiled by 
 the authorities, had she not married a Mr. Luxem- 
 burg — with whom she never lived — and in that way 
 became a German citizen. 
 
 Dr. Rosa Luxemburg, or "Die Rote Rosa" (The 
 Red Rose) as the Junkers call her, is one of the very 
 brilliant speakers of the Social-Democratic Party of 
 Germany and very few in the party equal her in de- 
 bate. She has written various books on scientific so- 
 cialism. 
 
54 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 Assembly Session, March 9, 19 15. 
 
 Third reading of the Budget for the fiscal year 
 1915, with the proposed law regarding the determi- 
 nation of the budget, with a special chapter in refer- 
 ence to the administration of justice. Taking part 
 in the discussion of this special chapter, Dr. K. Lieb- 
 knecht, Minister of Justice Dr. Beseler and v. Pap- 
 penheim (Conservative), who by his motion that 
 the discussion on this chapter should be closed, made 
 it impossible for Liebknecht to answer the Secretary 
 of Justice. 
 
 Dr. Liebknecht: Gentlemen, a few days ago, 
 continuing an old tradition of this house, which re- 
 mained true to itself, even in this respect, you de- 
 prived me of the floor; to-day you will have to en- 
 dure what I shall tell you, — ^what I really think. 
 
 As is known to you, my party friend, Rosa 
 Luxemburg, was condemned to one year in prison 
 for an alleged appeal to the soldiers for insubordina- 
 tion. This decision was approved a few months ago 
 by the Supreme Court. In January of this year the 
 execution of the sentence was postponed until March 
 31st on account of her illness. She spent a few 
 weeks in a hospital at Schoneberg and was dismissed 
 from it not cured, on condition that she follow a 
 certain course of treatment. On February i8th she 
 was suddenly arrested at Siidende by two officers 
 of the Criminal Department, brought to the Berlin 
 Police Department, and then to Division 7, that is. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 55 
 
 to the political division, and not to the criminal di- 
 vision. Thence she was transported in the green 
 wagon, together with common criminals, to the wo- 
 men's prison in the Barminstrasse, for the fulfillment 
 of her one year's prison sentence. 
 
 This incident unmasks with the precision of physi- 
 cal experiment the real nature of the so-called Burg- 
 frieden {dvWttMce). ("Very true.") Because this 
 fundamentally political, this party political sentence 
 is executed now, we do not complain. Let those com- 
 plain who believe in the civil truce. (Stroebel, "Very 
 true.") I know that my friend Luxemberg will 
 see in the execution of this sentence a proof that she 
 has fulfilled her duty, even in these times, of work- 
 ing for the interest of the people in the socialistic 
 way. But gentlemen, this is remarkable, and this 
 fact I wish most to emphasize — she was arested for 
 the execution of the sentence, in spite of the fact 
 that the execution of the sentence was postponed 
 until March 31, without giving her an opportunity 
 voluntarily to begin her term after the authorities 
 thought that the reasons for the postponement of 
 the execution of the sentence did not exist any longer. 
 She was taken away without being given an oppor- 
 tunity voluntarily to begin her sentence. The 
 method of this execution is open to much criticism. 
 This transportation in the green wagon and the de- 
 tails which I have just mentioned deserve the sever- 
 est reproach against those officials who are respon- 
 sible for this action. ("Very true" by the Soc- 
 Dem.) 
 
56 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 Of special political significance is the reason 
 for this execution. The Deutsche Tageszeitung 
 brought out a notice, even before there appeared any 
 communication in our party press, of the arrest of my 
 party friend, which was surely inspired, and prob- 
 ably originated from a well-informed source, and in 
 which it was said in unmistakable language, that this 
 trial was started because Madame Dr. Luxemburg 
 arranged political meetings ("Hear, hear I" from 
 the Socialists),'" because she was active politically 
 ("Hear, hear!" from the Soc.-Dem.). Surely the 
 arrest was not really a military measure, surely it 
 was an execution of a sentence; but the means de- 
 scribed were used, and put in execution from motives 
 which put on it the seal of partisan political per- 
 secution in the most objectionable form. Very re- 
 markable it is, as I know, that this happened after 
 the Berlin secret police told the Commander of the 
 Province of the appearance of Madame Luxemburg 
 at a few meetings. ("Hear, hearl" from the Soc.- 
 Dem.) The Commander in the Province, as the 
 highest military authority in the province of Bran- 
 denburg, advised the District Attorney, who is in 
 these days subordinate to him, to begin action against 
 Madame Luxemburg, to begin action against her on 
 account of holding meetings, on account of her poli- 
 tical activity. ("Hear, hear!" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 Now let me give an illustration of how promptly 
 the espionage system, which was in this case at the 
 service of the Justice officials and so in confidential 
 cooperation with the military dictatorship, functions. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 57 
 
 On February loth, Madame Luxemburg spoke at a 
 party meeting in Charlottenburg. On the 13th of 
 February the order was given at Frankfort-on-the- 
 Main to sirrest her. During this interval of three 
 days, or rather of two days, because the meeting 
 took place on the evening of February lOth, the spy 
 who must have been present at the meeting (and in 
 whose behalf, as an officer of the Department of Jus- 
 tice, you will now approve the Budget) , reported the 
 meeting to the Police Headquarters, which reported 
 to the Supreme Command, and from the Supreme 
 Command the report was forwarded to Frankfort- 
 on-the-Main, from which the order for arrest was 
 given. So promptly does the machinery of the Prus- 
 sian State function for the political suppression of 
 the people, even in these days of the party truce. In 
 this field the mechanism of the Prussian State did 
 prove itself remarkable. 
 
 It should not be said that Madame Dr. Luxem- 
 burg was arrested because after she held meetings 
 she could not be located. Gentlemen, I know that 
 only by using all her strength, ill as she was, could 
 she fulfill her duty to the interests of the German 
 people, to the interests of the entire international 
 proletariat. But, gentlemen, who wants to make us 
 believe that this action was taken without any con- 
 nection with what she did? ("Very true," from the 
 Soc.-Dem.) The political aspect of what she said 
 was the determining factor for the authorities which 
 "do not recognize parties any longer." If she had 
 only joined in buying the usual market commodity 
 
58 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 labeled "Patriotism," then not only would she have 
 been spared from this remarkable attack but prob- 
 ably amnesty would have been forced upon her. 
 ("Very true," from the Soc.-Dem.) But, gentle- 
 men, she tried by summoning all her strength, to act 
 in the proletarian and socialistic cause against the 
 frenzied slaughter of peoples. This does not suit the 
 dominant power, and that is why the arrest took 
 place. 
 
 But the worst feature is that it was not sufficient 
 to arrest my friend Luxemburg in this way, but that 
 they also tried to stigmatize her honor by stating 
 that she had shown intentions of flight. 
 
 Gentlemen, Madame Dr. Luxemburg wanted to 
 travel to a friend in Holland, and for this purpose 
 she asked for a foreign passport from the police in 
 her district, who were naturally informed about her 
 sentence, and then she addressed herself to the Ber- 
 lin police headquarters, also well informed about her 
 sentence, before the permission for a passport could 
 be had; as suspicion was aroused at the Berlin police 
 headquarters, she addressed herself, one day before 
 she was arrested, with my help, to the District At- 
 torney of Frankfort-on-the-Main, — ^the official who 
 was to have executed the sentence, and had asked 
 from him permission to take the trip to Holland. 
 The order to make this motion to the District Attor- 
 ney was given to her lawyer in Frankfort on the 
 afternoon of February 17th. Gentlemen, I do not 
 need to tell you that a woman such as Madame Dr. 
 Luxemburg does not belong to the class who try to 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 59 
 
 escape from a sentence, — ^that a woman such as 
 Madame Dr. Luxemburg is brave enough to look 
 her enemies in the eye and would not think of leaving 
 Germany in times like these, where there is being 
 waged such an important part of the struggle against 
 international reaction, — against imperialism. It is 
 necessary to be a real Prussian police spirit in order 
 not to understand that. 
 
 Considering the facts of which I just spoke, con- 
 sidering the possibilities of passing the frontier in 
 these times without the will of the authorities, the 
 talk about escaping can be characterized only as an 
 attempt to stigmatize the honor of this really perse- 
 cuted woman, exactly after the Russian method, 
 which is not satisfied to punish politically disagree- 
 able subjects, but tries also to insult their hqnor as 
 much as possible. In fact, it happened that the mili- 
 tary authorities arranged that Madame Luxemburg 
 should not be able to be active outside of Germany 
 in a manner not to the liking of the German ruling 
 powers. Why don't you say so openly and honestly, 
 instead of hiding behind such obscure phrases? Just 
 as we have only one counterpart for your denial of 
 the suffrage reform, for the continuance of the ex- 
 ceptional laws, for your refusal of any interior re- 
 form, namely the political ignorance and animosity 
 against the people of the Government of the Czar, 
 so this action against my friend Luxemburg is a 
 counterpart to the arrest of the Russian Duma Depu- 
 ties, our admired and excellent friends in the struggle 
 for the freedom of the people and for the restora- 
 
6o THE FUTURE BELONGB 
 
 tion of the peoples' peace, trying in common with 
 us to serve, — each in his own country, — in universal 
 opposition against its own government, for the bene- 
 fit of its own people and the good of the other peo- 
 ple, the good of the international proletariat, the 
 good of humanity. And so sure as it is that the 
 arrest of the Duma deputies in Russia opened the 
 eyes of hundreds of thousands of blind ones, so 
 sure are we that the action against our comrade 
 Luxemburg will awaken many a dreamer ("Very 
 true" from Soc.-Dem.), and that they will demand 
 a struggle for a free Prussia and a struggle for the 
 ending of the mass murder of the people. ("Bravo 1" 
 from the Soc-Dem.) 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 6i 
 
 LIEBKNECHT CALLED TO ARMY SERVICE 
 
 On March 23, 19 15, Liebknecht was ordered to 
 place himself at the disposal of the German military 
 authorities. 
 
 From this day on he was under military law as a 
 member of a Landsturm regiment. 
 
62 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 LIEBKNECHT QUESTIONS THE GOVERN- 
 MENT 
 
 Beginning with August 20, 1915, Liebknecht be- 
 gan putting his questions in the Reichstag which so 
 much embarrassed the German Government. 
 
 In England this form of parliamentary control of 
 the Government is very common. In Germany this 
 form is very seldom used. The possibility of put- 
 ting supplementary questions gives this method a 
 particularly great usefulness where there is so little 
 parliamentary criticism as in Germany. 
 
 Reichstag Meeting, Aug. 20, 1915, 2 P. M. 
 
 At the table of the Federal Government are pres- 
 ent : Ministers Delbriick, Helfferich, and Lisco. 
 
 The first order of business is a question by Dr. 
 Karl Liebknecht. 
 
 Dr. Karl Liebknecht: (reads his question amid 
 great commotion in the House) "Is the Govern- 
 ment, in case of corresponding readiness of the othei; 
 belligerents, ready, on the basis of the renunciation 
 of annexations of every kind, to enter into imme- 
 diate peace negotiations?" 
 
 Secretary of State v. Jagow: "I Ijelieve I 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 63 
 
 shall meet the wishes of the great majority of the 
 House if I decline to answer the question of the 
 member, Dr. Liebknecht, at the present time as in- 
 opportune." (Great applause, especially at the right 
 side of the House.) 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: "That is concealing the 
 capitalistic policy of conquest (great uproar). The 
 answer of the Secretary of State is a confession of a 
 policy of annexation (repeated great uproar). The 
 people want peace" (continual uproar and laughter) . 
 
 Reichstag Meeting, Dec. 15, 19 15 
 
 The energy which Liebknecht displayed at this 
 meeting was remarkable considering that he had not 
 completely recovered from the injury which he had 
 received in October, 191 5, at the front. 
 
 Twenty-third meeting of the Reichstag, Dec. 14, 
 1915, 2 P. M. 
 
 Present at the Federal Council table: Ministers v. 
 
 Jagow and Helfferich. 
 The first point on the order of the day — Questions 
 
 by Dr. K. Liebknecht (Soc.-Dem.).. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: 
 
 First Question 
 
 (I-a) Is the Government prepared, if the other 
 belligerents are also ready and prepared, to enter 
 
64 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 peace negotiations on the basis of the renunciation 
 of annexations? This question I withdraw since on 
 Thursday, Dec. 9, 191 5 (Liebknecht refers here to 
 Bethman-HoUweg's speech in the Reichstag on Dec. 
 9, 19 1 5, in which the Imperial Chancellor answered 
 the majority Socialist's peace interpellation, S. Z.), 
 the Imperial Chancellor answered this question in 
 the negative. The Government wants a war of con- 
 quest, not peace I 
 
 (I-b) On what other basis is the Government 
 ready to enter immediately upon peace negotia- 
 tions ? 
 
 (Foreign Minister von Jagow by mistake begins 
 to read the answer to another question (laughter). 
 Then the following answer is given to question I-b : 
 
 In view of the debate of the 9th of December I 
 decline to answer this question. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht asks the floor for a supple- 
 mentary question : What will be the attitude of the 
 Government towards peace proposals from neutral 
 countries as asked now by the Social-Democrats of 
 Switzerland through the Swiss Government. . . . 
 (Great commotion.) 
 
 President Dr. Kaempf: This is not a supple- 
 mentary question. It is ruled out of order. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht reads his 
 
 Second Question 
 
 II. Is the Government ready to lay before the 
 nation the official documents and semi-official docu- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 65 
 
 ments relating to the secret negotiations which pre- 
 ceded the declaration of war, especially 
 
 (a) The diplomatic history of the Austrian Ulti- 
 matum to Serbia of July 23, 19 14, including the of- 
 ficial and semi-official negotiations between the Ger- 
 man and Austrian Governments after the crime ot 
 Sarajevo? 
 
 (b) The history of the German entry into Lux- 
 emburg and Belgium? 
 
 (c) Is the Government ready to create as soon as 
 possible a parliamentary commission for the exam- 
 ination of these documents and reveal the responsible 
 parties? 
 
 Foreign Minister von JagIow: The available 
 material about the origin of the war has been pub- 
 lished already. The Government intends to pub- 
 lish other important documents relating to diplo- 
 matic negotiation, in so far as they appear to be 
 necessary for the enlightenment of public opinion 
 (my italics, S.Z.), but refuses to set up a parlia- 
 mentary committee dealing with the examination of 
 these documents. The parties responsible are our 
 enemies. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht asks the floor for a supple- 
 mentary question (great merriment) : Is the Gov- 
 ernment ready to lay immediately before us the 
 entire official documentary material dealing with the 
 war? 
 
 Foreign Minister von Jagow: I have nothing 
 to add to my answer. 
 
66 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: A supplementary question 
 (great merriment). Is it known to the Imperial 
 Chancellor that according to a remark made on Dec. 
 5, 19 14, by the former neutral Italian Prime Minis- 
 ter Giolitti, Austria planned as early as 19 13 an 
 attack against Serbia {Italics S.Z.) (Great indig- 
 nation and shouts.) 
 
 President Dr. Kaempf: This is a new ques- 
 tion. We will proceed to your next question. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: According to paragraph 
 31 of our order of business I have asked the floor 
 to supplement my former question. 
 
 President Dr. Kaempf: You have already 
 asked two supplementary questions. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht : The order of business does 
 not limit me to any definite number. Amid great 
 commotion in the House Dr. Liebknecht reads an- 
 other supplementary question: "Why did the Im- 
 perial Chancellor conceal from the Reichstag earlier 
 and at the meeting of August 4, 19 14, the Belgium 
 Ultimatum ?" 
 
 President Dr. Kaempf: This also is not a sup- 
 plementary question, but a new question. Do you 
 have another supplementary question? Now we 
 come to your next question. 
 
 Third Question 
 
 III (a) Is it known to the Government that the 
 mass of German people demand for themselves the 
 right to decide about the external policy of Ger- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 67 
 
 many, that they demand abolition of secret diplo- 
 macy in favor of permanent public control of 
 foreign policy and its general democratization? 
 {Italics, S. Z.) 
 
 (b) Is the Government prepared to bring in the 
 course of the present session of the Reichstag a bill 
 which will fulfill the demand above mentioned and 
 submit the decisions on questions of war and peace 
 to the people's representatives ? 
 
 Minister of Exterior v. Jagow : The Govern- 
 ment is not willing {Italics, S.Z.) to correspond 
 with the wishes of Dr. Liebknecht and to propose 
 such a change in the Constitution. With this answer 
 the rest of the question is also answered. 
 
 Fourth Question 
 
 Does the Government know in what economic 
 distress the masses of the German people labor on 
 account of the war and on account of the desire in 
 capitalistic circles for profits and the impotence of 
 the Government in dealing with the situation? Is 
 the Government now ready to check this economic 
 distress by improving the general welfare with- 
 out further delay and by putting aside all special 
 interests, and taking the necessary steps to provide 
 for the population the necessary means of living 
 (food, clothing, shelter, heat and light) ; especially 
 by regulating production according to the general 
 welfare? And by commandeering products and 
 by the uniform distribution of foodstuffs in such a 
 
68 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 way that the needy may get sufficient food free or at 
 low cost? 
 
 Minister Director Dr. Lewald: The Im- 
 perial Chancellor declines to answer the question. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: A supplementary question 
 (great merriment). Does the Government recog- 
 nize that according to experiments up to this time 
 general commandeering of products. . . . 
 
 President Dr. Kaempf: This is not a supple- 
 mentary question but a new question. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht : I ask the floor for another 
 supplementary question (great commotion and mer- 
 riment). Will the Government put into operation 
 as soon as possible the decisions of the Budget Com- 
 mission in line with these demands? 
 
 Minister Dir^tor Lewald : In the name of 
 the Imperial Chancellor I refuse to answer this sup- 
 plementary question. 
 
 / 
 Fifth Question 
 
 (a) What meaning does the Government ascribe 
 to the expression "new internal political orienta- 
 tion?" {N euorientierung der inneren Politik.) 
 
 (b) Does the Government have a concrete pro- 
 gram concerning this new internal political orienta- 
 tion? 
 
 (c) What is this program in detail? 
 
 (d) When does the Government intend to effect 
 this program? 
 
 (e) Does the Government intend during the 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 69 
 
 present session or later to introduce the reforms 
 necessary to the democratization of the constitu- 
 tion, democratization of the legislative powers and 
 democratization of the adml'nistration of the German 
 Empire and the states which compose the Empire? 
 Particularly will the Government reform the fran- 
 chise laws governing the legislative and administra- 
 tive bodies and democratization of the constitution 
 of the army ? 
 
 Minister Director Lewald: The Imperial 
 Chancellor refuses to answer this question also. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: A supplementary question. 
 ( Great commotion. ) What is the stand of the Gov- 
 ernment on the Prussian Franchise Reform? 
 (Great merriment at the right side of the House.) 
 This is a question which is of importance to the 
 entire German people. That is the way Government 
 and Reichstag treat with the life and death problems 
 of the German people. The people will know now 
 where they standi (Continued commotion.) 
 
 President Dr. Kaempf: This is not a supple- 
 mentary question, but a new question. With that we 
 are finished with the short questions. 
 
 Reichstag meeting January 11, 1916, 2 P. M. At the 
 table of the Federal Council are present : Min- 
 isters Helfferich and Delbriick. 
 
 The first order of business: Questions by Member 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht. - 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht reads his first question: 
 
70 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 "Is it known to the Imperial Chancellor that dur- 
 ing the present war in the United Turkish Empire 
 the Armenian people were driven from their homes 
 and slaughtered by the hundred thousands? What 
 negotiations has the Imperial Chancellor undertaken 
 with the United Turkish Government in order to 
 bring about the necessary punishment, to alleviate 
 the situation of the rest of the Armenian population 
 in Turkey and to make the repetition of such horrors 
 impossible ? 
 
 To answer this question the floor is given to : 
 
 Privy Council Frhr, v. Stumm: It is known 
 to the Imperial Chancellor that Inflammatory dem- 
 onstrations took place In Armenia on account of 
 which the Turkish Government was forced to deport 
 the Armenian population of certain districts and to 
 assign them new living places. About the reaction 
 on the population taking place on account of these 
 measures an exchange of ideas between us and the 
 Turkish Government Is now occurring. More de- 
 tails cannot be communicated. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: A supplementary question. 
 Is It known to the Imperial Chancellor that Profes- 
 sor Lepsius spoke of an absolute extermination of 
 the Armenians and that for these horrors the Chris- 
 tian population of Turkey considers the German 
 Government responsible? 
 
 At this point great uproar broke out In the House 
 and made it Impossible for Dr. Liebknecht to finish 
 his questions. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 71 
 
 Shouts from the House : This is a new question I 
 Finish 1 
 
 President Dr. Kaempf : This is a new question 
 for which I cannot give the floor. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: Mr. President, before you 
 have heard the whole question, you are not in a posi- 
 tion to judge (laughter in the House) if it is a new 
 question or not. At any rate I wish to assert that 
 the President reached this conclusion that it is a 
 new question not from his own impulses (shouts in 
 the House: Oho!) but because from parts of the 
 House it was called to his attention. 
 
 President Dr. Kaempf : I ask you not to criti- 
 cize the way I preside (applause). We come now 
 to the following question: 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: Will the Government be 
 ready very soon to place before the Reichstag for 
 action data concerning the situation of the population 
 in the territory occupied by Germany ? Further data 
 concerning the measures taken for the people in the 
 occupied territory, concerning the means of living, 
 (food, clothing, shelter) , concerning their health con- 
 dition, their rights, their numbers? Then data con- 
 cerning the kind and reason of the punishments de- 
 creed and reprisal measures taken against the people 
 in this territory by the German authorities, the num- 
 ber of people executed, military requisitions of prop- 
 erty and methods followed in such operations? And 
 the extent of the contributions levied upon them, 
 especially on the Belgian people?" 
 
 To answer these questions the floor is given to : 
 
72 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 Minister Director Lewald: The Imperial 
 Chancellor declines to put before the Reichstag the 
 material desired by Dr. Liebknecht. But he will 
 give information about the activities of the civil 
 authorities in the occupied territory on the request of 
 the committee of the Reichstag. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: A supplementary question. 
 How many places and buildings were destroyed by 
 the German authorities since the beginning of the 
 war for the purpose of reprisal — how many persons 
 were arrested and killed for the same purpose? 
 
 President Dr, Kaempf : This is a new question. 
 It is ruled out of order. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht reads the third question: Is 
 the Government ready to lay before the Reichstag 
 without delay material concerning 
 
 ( a ) Measures taken by the German military and 
 civic authorities on the basis of the state of martial 
 law for the suppression of the right of assemblage 
 and of personal liberty (prohibiting meetings, dis- 
 solving societies, interference in private correspond- 
 ence, arrests, searching of homes, etc.), particularly 
 the number of those put in military and police 
 (cachot) arrest without trial, during the war? Also 
 the reason for and length of these arrests? 
 
 (b) The number, extent and causes of punish- 
 ments inflicted during the war upon members of the 
 army and also the number of convicts in the military 
 prisons since the beginning of the war? 
 
 Minister Director Lewald: The Imperial 
 Chancellor declines to put before the Reichstag the 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 73 
 
 material asked by Dr. Liebknecht. (Dr. Liebknecht 
 shouts: That also is very characteristic.) 
 
 President Dr. Kaempf : This word of Dr. Lieb- 
 knecht is ruled out of order as not permissible. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: A supplementary question. 
 Does the Imperial Chancellor know that in Germany 
 the Military Authorities and Police Authorities have 
 established nearly everywhere dark chambers 
 (laughter), in which places the correspondence of 
 people who are politically disagreeable, among 
 whom are Deputies of the Reichstag or Assembly, is 
 opened secretly? . . . (Great uproar. The bell of 
 the President 1) 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: I wish to protest against 
 this autocratic suppression of the order of business 
 by the President and Reichstag. 
 
 This finishes Liebknecht's questions. 
 
74 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 LIEBKNECHT EXPELLED FROM THE 
 SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC PARTY 
 
 On January 13, 1916, by a vote of sixty to twenty- 
 five, the Socialist Central Committee expelled Dr. 
 Karl Liebknecht from membership in the Socialist 
 Party for continuous "gross infractions of party dis- 
 cipline." The majority Social-Democrats took that 
 measure against Liebknecht for having greatly em- 
 barrassed the Government with his questions two 
 days before in the Reichstag. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 75 
 
 REICHSTAG DISCUSSION ABOUT THE 
 CENSORSHIP 
 
 January 19, 1916 
 
 LlEBKNECHT was unable to obtain the floor at the 
 general discussion. In a personal remark after the 
 discussion was closed he made the following char- 
 acteristic remarks: 
 
 "Repeatedly members of this House told me that 
 I work in the service of the enemy, that I am a 
 traitor. ("Very true," from the left side of the 
 House.) I wish to answer this by saying that I pre- 
 fer being insulted by you as a traitor or anjrthing else, 
 to being praised for speaking according to your taste, 
 as some members of the Social-Democratic group of 
 this House have done lately (merriment). Gentle- 
 men, by your attitude you show me that you wish to 
 suppress truth and right." 
 
76 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 JUSTICE IN GERMANY IN WAR TIME 
 
 Twentieth Meeting of the Assembly, Friday, March 
 3, 1916, II o'clock morning session. 
 
 On the Ministerial Bench: Freiherr v. Schorlemer, 
 V. Loebell and Beseler. 
 
 The order of the day: Continuation of the dis- 
 cussion on second reading of the budget of the 
 Department of Justice. 
 
 Taking part in the discussion: Assemblymen: 
 Delbriick (Conservative), Reinhard (Centrum), 
 Minister of Justice Beseler, Assemblymen Liepmann 
 (National Liberal), Kanzow (Progressive Peoples 
 Party), Nissen (Dane), v. Trampczynski (Pole) 
 and Dr. K, Liebknecht. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: It must be regretted that 
 we have no statistics concerning certain social phe- 
 nomena which mirror justice under war conditions of 
 to-day. Thus there are lacking statistics of the num- 
 ber of bankrupts, whose places of business could not 
 be opened on account of lack of actual supplies; 
 statistics concerning evictions; concerning suits 
 against stores which sell on credit; statistics concern- 
 ing firms which have gone out of business and statis- 
 tics concerning business events and corporations reg- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 77 
 
 istratlons, from which it might have been possible to 
 see to what colossal degree small concerns have been 
 ruined by the war. There is no information con- 
 cerning the shif tings on the real-estate market; con- 
 cerning new societies formed specially for the pur- 
 pose of exacting high interest from the people. Again, 
 we have no accurate information as to what propor- 
 tion of existing societies increased their capital, — 
 some of whose increases went high into the millions. 
 ("Hear, hear I" from the Soc.-Dem.) Statistics 
 of the war measures would show that they are noth- 
 ing but patchwork, and that economic war-damages 
 can be prevented only when we strike at the root 
 of capitalism. The war-necessity measures are suf- 
 ficient only to prevent the population from resorting, 
 as best they can, against frightful economic in- 
 juries. ("Very truel" from the Soc.-Dem.) Such 
 statistics would give us an X-ray of the terrific injury 
 and destruction which the war has caused and con- 
 tinually causes the economic body of capitalism; an 
 X-ray picture of the capitalistic elephantiasis which 
 the war has brought into being (laughter from the 
 right side of the House) in most branches of big 
 business, and a picture of the tearing apart of the 
 middle class and the accelerated proletarization 
 of the masses. ("Very truel" from the Soc.- 
 Dem.) Such a picture would show us the truth 
 of the well-known phrase: "Socialism whither we 
 are tending." The extent of crime is not indicated, 
 only by cases brought to court. There exists to-day 
 surely a greater divergence than ever before between 
 
78 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 real criminality and that brought before justice. 
 With reference to the crimes which come to justice 
 statistics are lacking, and apart from that, the ac- 
 cused is kept secretly hidden from the population, 
 first by the tendency, increasing more and more, to 
 exclude the public from trials and then by the cen- 
 sor, — which makes it impossible for the public to get 
 a clear picture of criminal justice. Thus the Vor- 
 warts is forbidden to report without permission of 
 the censor an5rthing concerning arrests made ("Hear, 
 hear!" by the Soc.-Dem.). To report political mat- 
 ters which could cause excitement is absolutely for- 
 bidden to the Vorwdrts. Thus a while ago the 
 Vorwdrts could not write a syllable of the im- 
 minent discharge from prison of Madame Dr. Rosa 
 Luxemburg ("Hear, hear!" from the Soc.-Dem.), 
 and could only, later on, report the resulting dis- 
 charge. It seems that the authorities were conscious 
 of the fact that the announcement of her imminent 
 discharge would bring out a great mass of the popu- 
 lation to express their sympathies for Madame Dr. 
 Luxemburg. In spite of the prohibiting order of 
 the censor there were, as is known, a great number 
 of men and women who received and welcomed 
 Madame Luxemburg. Further it was reported that 
 March 22nd was the date fixed for the trial against 
 the Internationale magazine (Rosa Luxemburg 
 and Franz Mehring endeavored to publish in 
 Germany a Socialist monthly under the title of The 
 International, to voice the views of the Anti-War 
 section of the German Social-Democratic Party. The 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 79 
 
 magazine was suppressed and the editors jailed. 
 S. Z.), in which Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin and 
 Franz Mehring were accused. Of that also the 
 Vorwdrts could not mention a single syllable. 
 ("Hear, hearl" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 Furthermore, it has become a rule of the censor 
 that no report is permitted of trials which refer in 
 any way to peace demonstrations and to riots on ac- 
 count of lack of food, so that the population shall not 
 get an idea in what numbers such trials are taking 
 place. Statistics in regard to sentences imposed on 
 account of frauds involving military supplies would 
 be important, — ^which are happening very often; 
 statistics in regard to sentences on account of bribery 
 in order to obtain contracts for military supplies, 
 offenses which flourished especially at the beginning 
 of the war. Of great value would be statistics in 
 regard to cases in which the state interfered on ac- 
 count of furnishing war material to enemy states. 
 As you know, in the period of the war, a semi- 
 official warning was issued against the inclina- 
 tion in big business circles even during the war to 
 furnish the enemy war material in a roundabout way 
 through the neutral states. ("Hear, hear!" from 
 the Soc.-Dem.) The official notification accentuated 
 the fact that this roundabout subterfuge through neu- 
 tral countries is so plain that there cannot be any 
 doubt that the capitalistic circles concerned were 
 entirely conscious of the far-reaching effect of their 
 action. ("Hear, hearl" from the Soc.-Dem.) A 
 very noted senator in Liibeck (Liibeck is one of 
 
8o THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 three German Republics, S. Z.), for instance, has 
 been for a long time under arrest for treason, be- 
 cause he put his Swedish copper mines at the dispo- 
 sition of the Russians. ("Hear, hear I" from the 
 Soc-Dem.) These cases must have increased, oth- 
 erwise the official warning would be unexplainable. 
 You know how international business is related, espe- 
 cially Big Business. The kinship exists, even if in 
 changed form, and naturally continues even now. 
 You know that this kinship, especially in the field of 
 the armament industry, — (bell of the President). 
 
 Assemblyman Adolf Hoffman: "Now comes 
 the holy of holies !" 
 
 Vice-President Dr. Krause: "I cannot see 
 what that has to do with the administration of jus- 
 tice and its responsibilities. We cannot now go into 
 a discussion of the censor and the capitalistic mis- 
 chief, as you call it." 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: I demand statistics which 
 will show in how many cases indictments were 
 brought on account of such offenses. When in this 
 connection I point out the international kinship of 
 capitalism, in war contracts supplying German can- 
 nons to foreign countries, I believe I am speaking 
 to the point which is now open for discussion. In 
 reality German soldiers were shot^by Krupp cannon 
 which were furnished to foreign countries. (Most 
 of the Belgium cannons were Krupp cannons. S. Z.) 
 (Lively "Hear, hear!" from the Soc-Dem.) 
 
 Vice-President Dr. Krause: "The connection 
 of this with the Department of Justjce is difficult for 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 8i 
 
 any logically-thinking man to find. I call you to the 
 question. ("Bravo I" at the right side of the House.) 
 Assemblyman Di^ Liebknecht: We are also 
 without comprehensive statistics in regard to the in- 
 mates of our prisons. We obtained in Committee 
 only a few communications, according to which the 
 number of irmiates of the prisons of the Department 
 of Justice had diminished, in so far as the men are 
 concerned, but the number of sentences imposed on 
 women increased. ("Hear, hear!" from the Soc- 
 Dem.) Later it was communicated to us that in 
 the prisons of our Department of Justice there are 
 an extraordinary number of sentenced soldiers, 
 whom the authorities had to take there, because the 
 military and fort prisons are entirely overfilled. 
 ("Hear, hear!" from the Soc.-Dem.) In the 
 Prisons of the Prussian Department of* Justice 
 there are at present 5000 prisoners. And prisons 
 which are under the control of the Minister 
 of the Interior are certainly being strongly de- 
 manded by military prisoners. It is a fact, however, 
 in very many cases, that sentenced soldiers are not 
 entering upon their sentences immediately, but are 
 serving in the army. The decrease in the number of 
 prison inmates can also for the greatest part be at- 
 tributed to the pardons granted. In many cases it 
 was decided, that even without granting a pardon 
 there should be a postponement in the execution of 
 the sentence, even an interruption in the fulfillment 
 of the sentence, in order that the soldiers concerned 
 could be brought to the barracks or into the trenches. 
 
82 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 ("Hear, hear!" from the Soc.-Dem.) Referring to 
 the question of the release of prisoners, the ex-con- 
 vict in the army was discussed in Committee. Ac- 
 cording to my experience, it is in war that the ex- 
 convicts, those who were ostracized in civil life, have 
 particularly shown, in the most excellent way, the 
 qualities of human fellowship. But the danger must 
 not be overlooked. It consists in this — ^that people of 
 criminal inclination, whose temptations are greater in 
 the dangers which are facing them, are in the army 
 in great numbers. ("Very true!" from the Soc.- 
 Dem.) Our great responsibility towards the de- 
 fenseless population in the occupied territories must 
 therefore give us special concern. German papers 
 commented bitterly when prisons were opened in for- 
 eign countries in order that the inhabitants could en- 
 ter the army. But to a certain degree that hap- 
 pened also here in Germany. I do not want to 
 assert that the majority of excesses which happened 
 in the occupied territories against the civil popula- 
 tion, the cruelties which carry a special personal 
 stamp, and which surpass the real war cruelties, are 
 committed particularly by discharged convicts — at 
 all events the question deserves special attention. It 
 is important to note, further, that our civil justice 
 takes in to-day only a very small part of the male 
 population, as those who are called to the colors 
 are under the jurisdiction of the courts martial. 
 There are courts martial also for the civil popu- 
 lation, as you know, especially in the provinces of the 
 frontier. Statistics are also lacking as to the doings 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 83 
 
 of these military courts. From the decrease of pris- 
 oners we cannot draw a favorable conclusion as to 
 the criminality of to-day. The source of crime flows 
 without interruption. The entire activity of justice 
 is a circulus vitiosus,* a faulty short conclusion. 
 Neglect leads to crime, penalty to the increase of 
 social weakness, to demoralization, to new crime, 
 new sentence and so on. Crime is a constitutional 
 disease of bourgeois society. (Laughter at the 
 right side of the House.) What is the condition 
 at the roots of crimes during war? The first 
 root is the strengthening of the social causes of crime, 
 the distress of the population, the increase in the 
 cost of living, the ruin of the family. In order to 
 examine the social roots of war criminality, the re- 
 port of the Trade Council Inspectors would be im- 
 portant — which unfortunately we do not receive dur- 
 ing the war. But by banishing these facts in a dark 
 chamber, they are not kept from the world. When 
 the material in regard to the secret social history 
 of the war will finally be presented, humanity will be 
 terrified at the horrors which have shown themselves. 
 ("Very truel" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 I come now to the second root of war criminality. 
 Mr. Kanzow (Assemblyman of the Progressive Peo- 
 ple's Party) called Right one of the holiest gods 
 of the people. To-day Right is in a state of siege. 
 How is the principle of Right compatible with the 
 principle of Might; how can the idea of Right live 
 in the atmosphere of war psychology, which means 
 a destruction of the fundamentals of all that is right? 
 
84 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 The conception : "Might goes before Right," "Ne- 
 cessity Knows no Law," must pull down all safe- 
 guards of law. ("Very true !" from the Soc-Dem.) 
 The question as to how the Ten Commandments 
 stand to-day we hardly need to open. ( "Very true !" 
 from the Soc-Dem.) To-day it is not: "Love thy 
 neighbor," but kill thy neighbor! (The bell of the 
 President.) 
 
 Vice-President Dr. Krause: By such method 
 you could throw the entire world into the circle of 
 your examination. ("Very true," and laughter at 
 the right side of the House.) 
 
 Assemblyman Adolf Hoffman (Soc-Dem.) : 
 "Justice has nothing to do with right!" 
 
 Assemblyman Dr. Liebknec/ht : How would it 
 be possible to speak about criminology without con- 
 sidering it as a social phenomenon? ("Very true!" 
 from the Soc-Dem.) When we wish to speak 
 about criminality during war we certainly must con- 
 sider the special social phenomena of the war which 
 lead to crime ! Justice is indeed not only the concern 
 of the employees of the Department of Justice, but 
 the affair of the entire people. ("Very true!" from 
 the Soc-Dem.) It is generally recognized to-day 
 that crime is to be considered a social disease. That 
 war psychology is responsible for preliminaries for 
 the increase of crime is clear. Many a sharp word 
 could be said on this point, many a lash with the whip 
 could be given to the bourgeoisie society, but because 
 the President does not wish it, I will have to be silent 
 about that which should also be said. When As- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 85 
 
 semblyman Schenk von Schweinsburg said recently 
 that the war should not end very soon, lest after the 
 war we shall again face such conditions as in 1870 
 — ^then I say, that from the present war no moral 
 regeneration can grow ; from blood no innocence can 
 grow; from might no right can grow. The Apoc- 
 alyptic rider rides even over righteousness and tram- 
 ples the seed of righteousness. 
 
 The crime among the young is an especially seri- 
 ous phenomenon which can be recognized in its entire 
 importance only in connection with the increased 
 death rates of the young and the death rates of chil- 
 dren, and with the increased commitments to the 
 reformatory. According to the investigation of the 
 Zentrale fiir Jugendfiirsorge (Headquarters of the 
 Welfare Society for the Youth), criminality among 
 youths between twelve and fourteen years has in- 
 creased almost twice, ("Hear, hear!" from the 
 Soc-Dem.) This increase touches also the youth 
 of fourteen to sixteen and naturally increases with 
 the duration of the war. Offenses on account of 
 need and offenses on account of neglect of youth 
 play an improtant role. ("Hear, hear!" from the 
 Soc-Dem.) Statistics would be important which 
 would show the relation between criminality and the 
 increase in the cost of living and the increase of 
 the calls to the army. The ruin of the family, in- 
 sufficient education, need of better housing, the par- 
 tial abolition of laws protecting youth, all help to in- 
 crease criminality among the youth. To-day the 
 youth of the proletariat is in the position de- 
 
86 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 scribed in the melancholy song: Maikofer fliege, 
 dein Vater ist itn Kriege. (May-bug fly, your father 
 is in the war.) ("Very true !" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 The state took its protecting hand away from the 
 children ; it is replaced by the reformatory and crim- 
 inal justice, in order to meet these phenomena of hu- 
 man misery. ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 Added to that are the moral causes, the contradic- 
 tion of the entire present state of affairs of Christian 
 morality as preached in peace time ; the entire morale 
 of bourgeoisie society is overturned. ("Very true!" 
 from the Soc.-Dem.) How the old are singing, the 
 young are twittering ! The neglect of the youth is a 
 natural result of neglect of the entire human race in 
 this war, the neglect of our entire culture. ("Very 
 true I" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 Now commissioned oflGicers are put into the schools 
 to drum morality into the youth; outside of the 
 schools also a strong militarization of the youth 
 will take place. All kinds of demands for extreme 
 reaction shoot luxuriantly into blossom. In fact there 
 was recently demanded the restriction of free emi- 
 gration of the youth from place to place. ("Hear, 
 hear!" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 Vice-President Dr. Krause: All your last re- 
 proaches are not referring to the administration 
 of the Department of Justice. I call you for the 
 second time to the question, and call your attention 
 to the resulting consequences, according to the order 
 of business. 
 
 Assemblyman Dr. K. Liebknecht: In time of 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 87 
 
 peace it was possible to discuss thoroughly in this 
 connection the causes of criminality. Now they try 
 to muzzle me. ("Very truel" calls from the Soc- 
 Dem. "Even in Parliament 1") That is plainly 
 impossible. (The bell of the President.) 
 
 Vice-President Dr. Krause : I refuse to permit 
 any criticism of the way I preside. Certainly the 
 discussion on the budget is the suitable place for dis- 
 cussing all those social matters, but not in the sec- 
 tion on the Department of Justice's administration. 
 This belongs to the general discussion. 
 
 Assemblyman Dr. K. Liebknecht : I made my 
 remarks in close connection with the deliberation of 
 the method for decreasing criminality among youth. 
 It is not possible to discuss criminality without dis- 
 cussing the complex social conditions on which it 
 grows. The Minister of Justice is deeply interested 
 in those methods which must be considered in de- 
 creasing crimes. ("Very truel" from the Soc- 
 Dem.) 
 
 Another branch of material and spiritual misery is 
 the increase of crime among women. The Presi- 
 dent would not permit me to go into details to show 
 that just as crimes among the young go together with 
 reform schools, so criminology among women goes 
 hand in hand with prostitution. To discuss this 
 matter in great detail is, according to the instructions 
 of the President, not suitable for this place. In 
 criminality among women, offenses because of mis- 
 ery and offenses because of neglect play an important 
 role, especially miscarriages. The campaign of our 
 
88 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 Department of Justice against birth control is a par- 
 ticular chapter of special importance which demands 
 also sharp criticism. Birth control is fought par- 
 ticularly on account of its danger to the military 
 strength of the people. We find that our criminal 
 law, especially of late, has taken sharp measures 
 against abortion, in order to protect our army 
 strength. The women who are very often in most 
 difficult distress, are forced to give birth to future 
 defenders of the Fatherland. I must protest "against 
 this kind of procedure from the Department of Jus- 
 tice which defends bayoneting the womb of the 
 mother. (Great laughter at right side of the 
 House.) Previously not so much attention was 
 given to the welfare of the youth, to the remedy 
 for crimes among the young. All these matters at- 
 tracted great interest only when they began to be 
 considered from the point of view of Militarism, in 
 the light of the army strength of the people. That is 
 how irritability is to be explained when those ques- 
 tions are touched. Sentences on offenses on account 
 of neglect and offenses on account of want in their 
 severity present a great contrast to the mild sen- 
 tences against the profiteers of the necessities of life, 
 those vampires on the strength of the people. ("Very 
 truel" from the Soc.-Dem.) This justice function- 
 ing strongly against the unfortunate ones, who 
 through social misery fell under the wheels of the 
 law, and the milder sentences on those dangerous 
 hyenas of the battlefield, gentlemen of high position, 
 gentlemen from wealthy strata, show most clearly 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 89 
 
 that the class character of the present society 
 is not abolished during the war, but is aggra- 
 vated, if that were at all possible. All this jn spite 
 of the party truce and in spite of the phrase "I know 
 no parties any longer." (Liebknecht refers here to 
 the phrase of the Kaiser. S. Z.) Also political 
 justice did not cease to any extent during the war. I 
 wish to remind you of the way the schutzhaft 
 (That is, confinement in prison till the end of the 
 war. S. Z.) is treated now as a sentence without 
 trial, without verdict, as a punishment without any 
 guaranties under the code of criminal procedure. 
 The relation between the military dictatorship and 
 justice also needs examination. Upon the searching 
 of houses, which casts on our justice the deepest 
 shadow, the so-called Schutzhaft follows. Those 
 who are in the Schutzhaft cannot defend themselves 
 in any way. The word Schutzhaft taken literally 
 means a "safe place," exactly the contrary of what it 
 really is. Those in Schutzhaft are not even in a 
 position to get the advice of counsel. Here in Berlin 
 the authorities having jurisdiction over the Schutz- 
 haft are treating the lawyers very roughly and ex- 
 cluding them more and more. An attempt of Attor- 
 ney Weinberg to obtain the interference of the Bar 
 Association of Berlin against this undeserved treat- 
 ment was unfortunately put down by the Bar Asso- 
 ciation. Hundreds and hundreds are or have been 
 in the Schutzhaft for months, yes, ever since the 
 beginning of the war. A special light is thrown 
 upon this situation by some political trials also. 
 
90 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 In the criminal trials against Westkamp and com- 
 rades in Diisseldorf the defendants were first taken 
 under the Schutzhaft, then under preventative ar- 
 rest. In court the warrant of arrest was withdrawn, 
 but in spite of that, they were again taken from the 
 court room to prison, in Schutzhaft. ("Hear, hear!" 
 from the Soc.-Dem.) The result was that the ap- 
 peals had to be given up, in order not to extend their 
 arrest, I do not know how long. My comrade Cas- 
 ton in Diisseldorf was taken in preventative arrest 
 one month before trial began. The order for this 
 arrest was rescinded, but he was held in Schutzhaft 
 until the beginning of the trial, and although he was 
 acquitted, he was taken back and interned in Schutz- 
 haft again. ("Hear, hear I" from the Soc-Dem. 
 Shouts "The Russian Way!") Now look at the 
 Prussia which was selected in this war to liberate 
 the Russian people from czarism. (Uproar on the 
 right. "Very true I" from the Soc.-Dem. Shouts 
 from the Soc.-Dem. "Liberation is necessary 
 herel") 
 
 There is the case of Caston, in which the Imperial 
 Chancellor was asked for redress, but naturally in 
 vain, because the sword of justice is now in the 
 hands of the military powers, its scales also, and 
 behind the figure of Justice grins Militarism. ("Very 
 truel" from the Soc.-Dem. Laughter from the 
 right.) 
 
 The beginning of political trials under the party 
 truce is as follows: The military authorities hand 
 over any kind of work, book or other kind of ma- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 91 
 
 terial to the prosecuting attorney, with the instruc- 
 tion to interfere. A very invidious role for our 
 Justice 1 Justitia Fundamentum Regnorum (Jus- 
 tice is the foundation of states). No, — Militar- 
 ismus Fundamentum Regnorum! (Militarism is 
 the foundation of states 1) Our Justice does not 
 know parties any longer, wherever there are not 
 any parties, where they capitulated before the mili- 
 tary dictatorship. But she knows very well parties 
 when they have remained in opposition. There is a 
 very fine distinction in recognizing and considering 
 only a certain wing in the Social Democracy as a 
 party, which for this wing is considered a great 
 honor. ("Very true 1" from the Soc.-Dem. Laugh- 
 ter on the right. ) This was expressed practically in 
 the trial against my comrade Walcher for distribut- 
 ing leaflets, of which the District Attorney of District 
 Court I In Berlin said in the indictment that the leaf- 
 lets were directed particularly against the majority 
 wing of the Social-Democratic representation in the 
 Reichstag. The majority wing and their policy are 
 for the Department of Justice a particularly holy 
 object, and on different occasions expressing doubt 
 as to this policy or hindering the same was worked 
 up in trials by the District Attorney as a kind of new 
 crime. The indictment against the said Walcher 
 reads : "At the same time the leaflet contains at the 
 end an appeal to those workmen who are not in ac- 
 cord with the policy accepted by the majority wing 
 of the Social-Democratic representation In the Reich- 
 stag, by violence to alienate supporters of the ma- 
 
92 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 jority Social-Democratic Party. To say that the 
 public peace is endangered by such action; I need not 
 explain." ("Hear, hear I" from the Soc-Dem.) 
 We can be only very thankful to you when by such 
 methods you clarify over and over again the "Party 
 truce" (Burfffrieden) , and in that way admit the 
 correctness of our policy; in that way you naturally 
 attain only the contrary of what you wish to attain. 
 
 The editor of the Vorwdrts (Dr. Meyer) was 
 indicted on account of his book against the actions 
 of responsible and irresponsible inciters to annexa- 
 tion and on account of another work, "who is re- 
 sponsible FOR THE WAR," where he says what every 
 one could say in Germany until July 29, 1914, and 
 what was also said by your parties. In this pamph- 
 let those who are responsible for the kindling of the 
 world war were pointed out. Dr. Meyer, it is true, 
 was acquitted, against the motion of the District 
 Attorney. 
 
 The paragraphs about agitation, disturbance of 
 the peace, high treason, etc., are interpreted more 
 and more loosely. Placing one class in a less favor- 
 able light than another is now considered as inciting 
 to discontent. Every energetic peace move is prose- 
 cuted according to the criminal code. At the 
 Police Headquarters in Berlin a special commis- 
 sion was appointed to try those who are ar- 
 rested on account of peace propaganda. ("Hear, 
 hear I" from the Soc-Dem.) This, surely enough, is 
 not only a German but an international phenomendn. 
 Like Comrade Castor, a number of Social-Democrats 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 93 
 
 in Italy were also indicted on account of distributing 
 the Zimmerwald peace manifesto. In Italy the Zim- 
 merwald peace manifesto was declared not punish- 
 able, but in Diisseldorf it was punishable. 
 
 Furthermore, a number of persons were prose- 
 cuted on account of distributing the peace manifesto 
 adopted in Bern at the International Women's 
 Conference. Among others Clara Zetkin was ar- 
 rested for the distribution of the manifesto men- 
 tioned. She was arrested for treason because she 
 engaged in peace propaganda. The French Social- 
 ist Louise Soumonneau was arrested for that also, 
 but acquitted. In Germany the proceedings are still 
 pending, and so far as I can judge, there does not 
 exist any inclination to follow the good example of 
 France. But the fact that an Internationale of 
 enemies of peace get together, with the help of the 
 Department of Justice, to fight the peace propaganda 
 shows the condition of the Christian foundation of 
 our present culture. ("Very true!" from the Soc- 
 Dem. ) If defending the peace idea, if the proclama- 
 tion of the international proletariat class struggle 
 against war, is treason, then it is an honor to be re- 
 proached as a traitor. ("Very true I" from the Soc- 
 Dem. ) For us, who see our country in the Interna- 
 tionale of the proletariat, it is impossible thus to be 
 deceived by the Department of Justice. But the ad- 
 ministration of the Department of Justice should con- 
 sider if it is not the highest insult to our present order 
 of society to consider work for peace and against the 
 murdering of the people as treason 1 The Adminis- 
 
94 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 tration of the Department of Justice, it seems, felt no 
 breath of this Christian spirit. Equal rights for all 
 in our time? Peace propagandists are prosecuted, 
 war instigators not. War propaganda is considered 
 as a special political duty. Why are not capitalists 
 prosecuted and authorities who, under the threat of 
 sending the working people to the trenches, prevent 
 them from putting forward demands to improve 
 their condition, prevent them in that way from going 
 on strike ? Why are not those prosecuted for provo- 
 cation who withhold from the people the rights 
 promised to them at the outbreak of the war, and 
 who are accusing the women of waste and gluttony? 
 Why are not food profiteers prosecuted? 
 
 They who conspire to violate an agreement are 
 committing treason. ("Very truel" from the Soc- 
 Dem.) High treason has come to be, in a certain 
 sense, a noble crime. There are certain places in 
 Germany to-day, especially in prison campS, where 
 high treason is conceived, high treason other than 
 that just mentioned by me. (Liebknecht refers here 
 to plots about the Irish Revolution in the German 
 prison camps. S. Z.) In 1904 German citizens 
 were indicted for high treason against czarism. To- 
 day those who breed revolutions are high traitors. 
 (Great disturbance. Shouts — "That's the limit!") 
 
 Vice-President Dr. Krause : For the unworthy 
 expression that the Government breeds high treason, 
 I call you to order. According to our rules I could 
 ask the House if you should speak any further. 
 (Cries of dissent from the Soc.-Dem.) I shall not 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 95 
 
 do so yet, but if you continue in that way I will have 
 to do it. 
 
 Assemblyman Dr. Liebknecht: On account of 
 writing and publishing a poem, death sentence was 
 pronounced, which later on was commuted to five 
 years' imprisonment. There exists a country, where 
 conditions are even worse than in Germany, and that 
 is not Russia, but Austria. Only here and there a 
 cry of distress comes through to the civilized coun- 
 tries. (Continual disturbance.) If in capitalistic 
 society justice is the veil of force, the war has torn 
 aside this veil and the legend of the Christian state, 
 just like the legend of the constitutional state, 
 vanished over the entire world. One of the 
 most important and proudest philosophies of 
 bourgeois society is crushed under the blows of 
 the world war; that can be said also about interna- 
 tional law. Even a member of this House (pre- 
 sumably he means Prof. Liszt, teacher of Law in the 
 University of Berlin. S. Z. ) revised his handbook on 
 international law, in order to defend as not contrary 
 to international law all German methods used in car- 
 rying on this war. Just as science, art, religion 
 and humanity, broke down in this volcanic erup- 
 tion, so justice broke down too. In the Budget Com- 
 mittee the Minister of Justice promised to prohibit 
 German law students from studying law in cities of 
 the neutral countries where there is a strong senti- 
 ment against the German. If that system were ap- 
 plied to all higher institutions of learning, in which 
 ao unfriendly view against Germany is manifested, 
 
96 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 then the whole world would be closed to German 
 students. We protest against drawing such chau- 
 vinistic conclusions from the occurrences at Geneva 
 and Lausanne, and we protest that the extent of race 
 hatred, under which the whole world is suffering at 
 present, is exaggerated. ("Very true!" from the 
 Soc.-Dem.) The clemency decrees were so much 
 praised here that we must think that to-day even 
 clemency itself is used for war purposes. (Great 
 disturbance.) On account of these considerations 
 the clemency decrees must be examined very critic- 
 ally. 
 
 What future prospects has our Justice? The 
 source of war criminality will flourish more and 
 more, the longer the war lasts ; and will not the low- 
 ering of the entire standard of living through enor- 
 mous pressure, lead to this — ^that the whip of need 
 should be even after the war one of the long-re- 
 maining acquisitions of our great time? ("Very 
 true I" from the Soc.-Dem.) Will not the war 
 ethics, the stirred-up inclinations to acts of violence, 
 that "Necessity knows no law" and "Might goes be- 
 fore right," produce effects of which we shall be 
 afraid? The passions which were unshackled by 
 our present order of society cannot be gotten rid of 
 so quickly. Sodom and Gomorrha are not yet de- 
 stroyed and with the sharpening of the class struggle 
 political justice and reaction will also grow sharper. 
 Those are the prospects for the future. There is in 
 prospect for the future of humanity in Europe a 
 morale, physical and economic, bled white. For us 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 97 
 
 It follows inevitably from this side of our social life 
 that we should put all our strength into the inter- 
 national class struggle against the war, in order to 
 enforce peace by the will of the people. ("Very 
 true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) The cries of dis- 
 tress from the prisons and penitentiaries and 
 places of misery which cannot reach the public will 
 sound one fine day more clearly in the ears of those 
 who now stop their ears and will help to wake up 
 humanity to the only holy struggle known by us 
 Social-Democrats, — for peace against war, against 
 the capitalistic order of society, for Socialism! 
 (Lively applause from the Soc.-Dem. Great dis- 
 turbance.) 
 
 (After this masterful exposition by Liebknecht of 
 the condition of justice in Germany, the Minister of 
 Justice of Prussia, Beseler, took the floor for some 
 general statements, ending by saying: "I refuse to 
 give an answer to Dr. Liebknecht.") 
 
98 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 THE SITUATION IN AUSTRIA 
 
 (At the same meeting Assemblymen Nissen 
 (Dane) and v. Trampcynski (Pole) protested 
 against the prosecution of their nationalities by the 
 authorities of the Department of Justice. To them 
 the Minister of Justice gave no definite reply. This 
 situation gave Liebknecht another chance and he took 
 the floor again to add his protest and by a few re- 
 marks to show the conditions existing in Austria, 
 Germany's ally. 
 
 Dr. Liebknecht: The disciplining of a nation- 
 ality living in Prussia fits exactly into the general 
 picture which I just sketched. Such a "liberation'" 
 of our Danish compatriots I took as certain. The 
 Minister of Justice limited himself to general re- 
 marks about my speech, saying that I resorted to in- 
 sults. In that way he thought to provide himself a 
 comfortable retreat. I have no desire, after such 
 words, to concern myself any longer with the Min- 
 ister of Justice. Only at one point I shall have to 
 add something, and that Is in relation to his denial 
 of my remarks about the conditions in Austria. 
 The Minister of Justice represented that my facts 
 had been invented. But in Austria courts-mar- 
 tial are carrying out a true regime of terror, 
 such as was not carried on in the worst days in Rus- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 99 
 
 sia. (lively "Hear, hear!" from the Soc-Dem. — 
 continued noise from the majority parties.) I have 
 the material in my hands. ("Hear, hear!" from the 
 Soc-Dem.) In Austria there is no possibility of 
 discussing those things from the tribune of a Parlia- 
 ment. (Continued noise and shouts from the ma- 
 jority parties to finish the debate.) 
 
 Assemblyman Strobel (Soc-Dem.) : You make 
 yourselves accomplices of those bloody sentences. 
 (Again continued noise.) 
 
 Dr. Liebknecht, continuing: In a few months 
 hundreds of years of hard labor were decreed and 
 also the death sentence which I mentioned before, 
 and which was pronounced' by a military court on 
 account of the poem I spoke of before. (Lively 
 "Hear, hear!" from the Soc-Dem. Commotion 
 among the majority.) One of my party comrades 
 was sentenced to death on account of a so-called se- 
 ditious speech, 
 
 (A few other sentences of the speech remain un- 
 heard on account of the noise among the majority 
 parties in the House. That closes the debate. The 
 Budget is approved.) 
 
loo THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 EDUCATION IN GERMANY DURING WAR 
 
 Meeting of the Prussian Assembly 
 
 March i6th, 19 16, 11 o'Clock Morning Session 
 On the Ministerial Bench: V. Trott zu Solz (Min- 
 ister of Religion and Education) . 
 The subject of discussion was: The Education and 
 Religion Budget, and as a special topic: The 
 Higher Schools of Prussia. 
 Taking part in the discussion : Dr. Karl Liebknecht 
 (Social Democrat), Wilderman (Centrum), 
 Frhr. v. Zedlitz (Free Conservative), Minis- 
 ter (Progressive People's Party). 
 
 In this discussion Liebknecht exposes the method 
 and system of teaching in the higher schools of Ger- 
 many and gives full play to his great courage. "The 
 ideal classical education lies in the spirit of independ- 
 ence and humanity," he exclaimed. And, address- 
 ing himself to this reactionary parliament, he added : 
 "Your ideal of classical education is 'the ideal of the 
 bayonet, of the bombshell, of poison gas and gre- 
 nades, which are hurled down on peaceful cities, and 
 the ideal of submarine warfare.' " 
 
 He also proves that an educational system can- 
 not be separated from social conditions and de- 
 mands, along with a reform of the entire school sys- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE loi 
 
 tem, particularly that promotion from the primary 
 school to the high school shall not be considered 
 any longer an act of charity but a right to be de- 
 manded for every able pupil. 
 
 His remarks brought out a cyclone of protest. 
 Liebknecht was twice recalled to the subject and 
 thrice to order, and as the President inquired of the 
 House after the third call to order if it wished to 
 listen td the speaker any longer, the entire house, 
 with the exception of the small group of Social-Dem- 
 ocrats, voted that he be denied the floor. In this 
 way they avoided listening to Liebknecht's indict- 
 ments. 
 
 Dr. Liebknecht : The real character of capital- 
 istic society is shown in inequality of education, espe- 
 cially the inequality of the Prussian state with its 
 three-class system of voting, in the three-class system 
 of education: primary schools, higher schools, uni- 
 versities. The educational system cannot be sepa- 
 rated from social conditions. In order to acquire 
 education, time and economic opportunities are neces- 
 sary. Education in the capitalistic order of society 
 is not an aim in itself. Utilitarianism dominates our 
 education. The higher schools serve as preparatory 
 institutes for higher official positions, whereas the pri- 
 mary schools teach the fundamentals which serve to 
 make tools for capitalistic society. Social misfortunes 
 come to the surface now more than ever before : over- 
 crowding of the classes, insufficient rooms, scarcity of 
 teachers, frequent change of teachers, undernourish- 
 
102 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 ment and overfatigue of the children, and child la- 
 bor. Especially does undernourishment weaken the 
 health of the proletariat and thus hinder even the 
 limited educational work of the primary school. But 
 more than ever before the primary school is used 
 to-day in order to make firm the position of the rul- 
 ing classes, to capture the souls of the young pro- 
 letariat for the ruling class, for Militarism. When 
 we think of all that, we recognize how urgently the 
 proletariat must work for a fundamental reform of 
 the entire school system. 
 
 Neglect of youth through the war cannot be de- 
 nied, exists in spite of all camouflage. There is not 
 enough rain in the heavens to wash away this sin 
 from the bourgeois form of society. Improvement 
 of this condition can be obtained only by sharp criti- 
 cism. When one sees that, — as happened to people 
 at the Berlin Police Headquarters, — ^young working 
 girls 1 6 and 17 years old, who were arrested for 
 some reason, are told: "You should he put against 
 the wall and shot down" ("Hear, hear !" from the 
 Soc.-Dem.) — then it must be recognized that we 
 really do not live in an age where class differences 
 do not exist and where the entire people stands 
 united, but that, on the contrary, dissimilarities are 
 intensified now in the most inciting way. Where is, 
 in face of this fact, the sensitive German nature about 
 which there is so much discussion here? 
 
 Very desirable would be statistics as to how few 
 children of the proletariat on account of existing in- 
 stitutions have obtained opportunity to reach a higher 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 103 
 
 school education; then the unimportance of these 
 few will be recognized, when compared with the 
 millions and millions to whom the road to all the 
 splendor and magnificence which the human spirit 
 can receive, is closed. The amendments proposed 
 (he refers to amendments which will make it easier 
 for able pupils of the primary school to attend the 
 higher schools in larger numbers than had been the 
 case; another amendment introduced by Dr. Porscb 
 (Centrum) proposed that the so-called Rektorat- 
 Schools, which are for procuring a higher education 
 for moneyless pupils, should be supported — 5. Z. ) , 
 are merely patchwork experiment, because what is 
 proposed will be to the advantage only of the poor 
 bourgeosie, but not of the proletariat. Don't you 
 really sense what it means, when they try to make the 
 pathway to higher education an act of grace, whereas 
 in reality it is an original human right? The mass of 
 the people will feel that instead of their rights there 
 is given to them Bettelsuppen (coarse soup made 
 of black bread) . Certainly only to such proletarian 
 children will those privileges be accorded, whose 
 souls, which make them independent, are already 
 broken, who are robbed of their class consciousness 
 and who become accessories of capitalist society. 
 And at the same time these laughable experiments 
 are presented to the people with a self-sufficiency 
 which makes it possible for them to recognize very 
 well the insincerity of the ruling classes. In closing 
 educational opportunities we see a brutal waste of 
 spiritual energies, a waste of human strength in the 
 
104 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 treadmill of mechanical labor, the denial of human 
 economy. It is as plain as law that the children of 
 the proletariat are held down by darkness of the soul. 
 Touching is the description of Dante who walks with 
 Virgil through the forest of the spirits which have 
 not sinned, but have suffered because they did not 
 receive baptism ; to-day it is because they are deprived 
 of money! ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 Considering the magnitude of the World War you 
 and also the Christian parties do not think of saving 
 these starving ones, damned by Capitalism. You try 
 to give an impression that something is being done. 
 
 By these Amendments you try to give an impres- 
 sion of wishing to throw open the road to education 
 to the people also, but that is because Capitalism re- 
 quires educated soldiers. You similarly replace the 
 human losses in the war by giving commissions to 
 non-commissioned officers because the dregs of the 
 proletariat are required for service. The tendencies 
 of the amendment show how necessary it is to de- 
 stroy the demagogism and the deceit which took 
 form in them. (President Graf Schwerin-Lowitz 
 calls the speaker to order. ) After their experiences 
 in war time the proletariat will not allow itself to 
 be duped. 
 
 Assemblyman v. d. Osten said, that the uniform 
 system of education leads towards differentiation. 
 But the truth is that capitalism makes the great mass 
 of the people uniform in the most brutal way and 
 differentiates the people only in classes, and makes 
 impossible the real differentiation among the classes 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 105 
 
 of the people and through the whole people. ( "Very 
 true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) 
 
 Assemblyman Oelze spoke here yesterday in glow- 
 ing terms of education, science and ideals. But in- 
 struction in history has been for a long time sys- 
 tematically used to inculcate certain political senti- 
 ments in the pupils. The higher schools especially 
 have been for years places to exercise this practice 
 and in these higher schools hatred against England 
 was systematically developed, which seed has now 
 sprouted in such glorious fashion. The propaganda 
 of the Navy Society in the higher schools demon- 
 strates strikingly the whole spirit of the system of 
 teaching. The world's history has been ad usum del- 
 phim turned into a political fiction. Not political 
 truth, not objective knowledge, but the opposite are 
 the main features of what you teach. In German 
 teaching the, soul of youth should have a chance to 
 develop freely. But what are the themes put to our 
 children? They are set to write patriotic editorials, 
 and certain phases of war patriotism are taught them. 
 In that way we sow the seeds of falsehood. This 
 procedure following advice from above is a cancer- 
 ous disease for the entire school system. You will 
 not obtain any advantages, even among the students 
 of the higher schools who come from the bourgeois 
 class. This most awkward method of strengthening 
 your class rule will work against you. 
 
 And instruction in religion? By means of the 
 most skillful dialect and by pedagogical methods was 
 bridged over the chasm between religion and war, 
 
io6 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 between Christianity and mass-murder. ("Very- 
 true I" from the Soc.-Dem.) The curtain of the 
 temple Is torn. But what spiritual embarrassment 
 comes to our children, when they hear of the Lord, 
 who is the Lord of all people, that is, — if I may use 
 this word in this connection, — an international God, 
 a God of the entire humanity, when this God of 
 charity is claimed by each nation for itself and for 
 the war! I asked my child, who had to learn the 
 catechism by heart (instruction in religion is obli- 
 gatory in Prussia. S. Z. ) , if the teacher always said : 
 "Love thy neighbor as thyself 1" The child an- 
 swered: "No, we should not love the Russians, 
 Frenchmen and Englishmen!" (Hear, hear!" from 
 the Soc.-Dem.) How is that reconcilable? The 
 most beautiful pedagogy is that which reacts not 
 through words, but through vision and good example. 
 But what shall children who are Instructed In re- 
 ligion say to the occurrences of the present? Here 
 religion naturally cannot become, as Christianity de- 
 mands, an element penetrating the entire life and 
 determining each action, but something entirely dif- 
 ferent. From this contrast you cannot escape and 
 least of all when not the religion of brotherly 
 love but that of Baal Is the religion of the world 
 and when even the children understand that in this 
 war the main point Is the Interest of capitalist so- 
 ciety. 
 
 One can pray again and again and still remain an 
 inciter of war. To-day an attempt Is made to influ- 
 ence the children of the working people toward the 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 107 
 
 conception of life of the ruling class, of the capitalist 
 class, of the class of exploiters (shouts from the 
 right part of the House) toward the conception of 
 life of war and mass killing. And how is higher 
 education inculcated in the occupied territories? 
 When the first school was reopened in Belgrade, a 
 paper published there by the Austrians stated that 
 Servia committed a great sin when it fought against 
 Austria. (He could not go any further.) 
 
 President Graf Schwerin-Lowitz: The Serv- 
 ian schools have nothing to do with the Budget." I 
 recall you to the subject. 
 
 LlEBKNECHT (continuing) : The higher schools 
 are also used as practical helpers in the service of the 
 present war. A systematic propaganda is conducted 
 in them for the war loans, and gold is collected in 
 them. This militarization of the schools has been 
 characterized even by some parts of the bourgeoisie 
 as a questionable act. In the schools they have al- 
 ready started to educate the human beings up to 
 being war machines. The schools are converted into 
 training stables for the war. The physical upbuild- 
 ing of the youth is encouraged now to attract new 
 material for the Moloch, Militarism. Strengthen- 
 ing especially human health has thus as its aim the 
 destruction of human life. Tdo not want to ex- 
 amine here how war psychology can reconcile itself 
 to the foundations of our entire education. 
 
 Now I can speak only about the higher schools. 
 Mr. Oelze demanded yesterday that Militarism 
 should be introduced to greater extent in the higher 
 
io8 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 schools, that Militarism should be the all-prevailing 
 spirit. He (Mr. Oelze) defined Militarism as com- 
 plete subordination to discipline. According to our 
 conception Militarism means the opposite of imposed 
 discipline. ("Very true 1" from the Soc-Dem.) More- 
 over, the military spirit has penetrated the school sys- 
 tem to such a high degree that I don't know what else 
 is left for Mr. Oelze to ask for. In committee it was 
 said also in the bourgeois section that unilateral 
 military education leads to brutalizing the youth. 
 But that does not frighten you, when your holy of 
 holies. Militarism, is helped. You want liberty only 
 for the ruling classes and oppression for the great 
 masses. ("Very true!" from the Soc-Dem.) You 
 abhor the free mind because it will mean the twilight 
 of the gods of the ruling classes. Classical educa- 
 tion of to-day is only a parody on real classic edu- 
 cation. Classics surely do not consist in driving 
 home languages and some other knowledge of facts, 
 but their essence is the spirit of humanism, the spirit 
 of independence, of clear vision, of criticism, of 
 everything which is felt to be harmful. This is the 
 real freedom of the spirit. The ideal of the bayo- 
 net, of the bombshell, of poison gas and grenades 
 which are hurled down on peaceful cities, the ideal 
 of submarine warfare, that Is something quite dif- 
 ferent. (Uneasiness and laughter from the Right 
 parties of the House.) This Is the truth which I op- 
 pose to your endeavors to mask the reality of things. 
 According to an edict of Governor von Schwerin 
 of Frankfort -a -O., it was ordered that the 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 109 
 
 feeling for general fraternization, for the broth- 
 erhood of the people, for the international peace en- 
 thusiasm should be stamped out. ("Hear, hear!" 
 from the Soc.-Dem.) Our enemies' deeds of shame 
 against the Germans must not be excused, but only 
 hatred and revolt must be aroused from those acts. 
 We declare that to be a misuse of the schools of 
 the worst kind. That is your spirit of humanism. 
 Mr. V. Canyre spoke about softening the bones of 
 ideas (osteomalacia), against which such a propa- 
 ganda musC work in the school. But if it is true 
 that the duty to tell the truth is the aim of all edu- 
 cation, then something entirely different must be 
 taught. In school must be taught, how this war 
 arose, not only that the abominable murder of 
 Sarajevo was an incident to inspire horror, but also 
 the fact that the crime of Sarajevo was looked upon 
 in many circles as a gift from Heaven, serving them 
 as a war pretext. (He could not continue. The 
 parties of the Right side of the House broke out in 
 cat-calls which became louder and louder. The As- 
 semblymen had raised themselves from their seats in 
 great excitement and left the room with continual 
 shouts: "Put him out, put him out." Assembly- 
 man Liebknecht shouts to them: "Go out! You 
 flee before the truth, you can't hear the truth!" 
 
 President Graf Schwerin-Lowitz (who has 
 rung the bell for a long time in vain) : I call you to 
 order for the second time, and I call your attention 
 to the fact that in case you are called to order for 
 
no THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 a third time I shall ask the House if it wishes to listen 
 to you further. 
 
 Assemblyman Liebknecht: I have told you 
 only what I heard with my own ears. 
 
 The aim of humanistic education is that of com- 
 plete freedom, a high, ideal aim. Out of this spirit, 
 great pedagogues such as Pestalozzi demanded the 
 unity of the school system. The school of to-day 
 serves only purposes of expediency. This is 
 true also of the universities. The spirit of Mili- 
 tarism corrodes the foundation of our entire edu- 
 cational system. Art and science also are restrained 
 (President Graf Schwerin-Lowitz : Please speak 
 about the higher institutions of learning. ) The same 
 phenomenon can be noticed also in the higher school 
 system. While it is the task of primary schools to 
 make the youth of the proletariat tools for the cap- 
 italistic order of society, it is the task of the higher 
 schools to prepare the youth of the ruling classes for 
 the great work which they have to perform in present 
 society. In the discussion of the question of the ad- 
 mission of foreigners to the schools, Mr. v. Savingy 
 declared in the committee meeting that the admis- 
 sion of foreigners to German schools before (this 
 war) was in order to gain sympathy in foreign coun- 
 tries and in that way to obtain indirectly political 
 and economic advantages. This is true German 
 idealism which comes to light here. 
 
 On the same level can be placed the present in- 
 struction about tfie conditions in the Orient in the 
 higher schools. It is being taught to greater effect 
 
TO THE PEOPLE iii 
 
 than before. Thus the higher schools also are con- 
 verted into an instrument of propaganda for eco- 
 nomic purposes, which are back of this war. 
 
 This war, which has destroyed so much, has also 
 destroyed the last vestige of the bourgeois ideal of 
 education, and to the surface came the viewpoint of 
 the pure utilitarianism in education. The technical 
 quality of. teaching is also very much damaged by the 
 war. Just as the Thirty Years' War acted in ravag- 
 ing and destroying in the educational field, the pres- 
 ent war is acting. (Assemblyman Hoffman, Soc- 
 Dem. : "Very true !") The new method in teaching 
 history is a sign of barbarism, a sign of the fight 
 to death being fought by the educational ideal of the 
 bourgeoisie. I spoke before about the poem of Schil- 
 ler in which it is said: "Only a miracle can carry 
 you into the beautiful wonderland." To the pro- 
 letariat, for the unsaved souls, this word cannot be 
 applied. No miracle and no blessing from above 
 can bring the proletariat into the wonderland, in 
 which all the treasures and magnificence of the hu- 
 man soul are to be found. And when Dante's world- 
 epic speaks about those unsaved souls who live with- 
 out hope and longing, that is also not true of the pro- 
 letariat. It does not live without hopes, but full of 
 confidence. But the liberation of the working class 
 cannot come from such motions as put by you to-day. 
 
 President Schwerin-Lowitz : I call you to the 
 question for the second time and call your attention 
 to the consequences which may occur according to 
 the rule of business. 
 
112 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 Assemblyman Liebknecht: I speak about the 
 motion, about the chance of those who are well off 
 to attend high schools and colleges. This spiritual 
 liberation can also be the deed of the working class 
 and it is our duty to say to the working class also 
 on this occasion: To action! Those in the trenches, 
 as well as those here at home, should put down 
 their arms and turn against the common enemy, 
 which takes from them light and air (great dis- 
 turbance on the right side of the House). 
 
 President Graf Schwerin-Lowitz : I call you 
 to order for the third time and ask herewith whether 
 the' House wishes to hear the speaker any further. 
 (Stormy applause at the right. The Assemblymen 
 are rushing with great speed into the House. Only 
 the! Social-Democrats vote tiy listen further to the 
 speaker. Assemblyman Liebknecht leaves the speak- 
 er's desk amid stormy shouts from the Assembly- 
 men of the Right. Assemblyman Adolf Hoffman ( ad- 
 dressing himself to the right side of the House) : 
 "When it comes to yelling, you are the masters." 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 113 
 
 LIEBKNECHT PROTESTS AT BEING PRE- 
 VENTED FROM DISCUSSING THE SUB- 
 MARINE WARFARE 
 
 Reichstag, March 22, 19 16 
 
 President Kaempf presides. 
 
 For discussion: First reading of the Budget in 
 connection with the taxation bill. 
 
 President Kaempf: In accordance with an 
 understanding between the representatives of the dif- 
 ferent parties in the Reichstag the submarine war- 
 fare will be excluded from this discussion until fur- 
 ther decisions of the Seniorenconvent. (Committee 
 composed of the Party Leaders to discuss the business 
 of the Reichstag before it is discussed in open 
 session. S. Z.) The discussion of this question will 
 take place in the meetings of the Budget Committee 
 in the first days of next week. 
 
 Member Dr. K. Liebknecht (not belonging to 
 any party in the Reichstag, questions the order of 
 business) : I consider it my duty to dispute the de- 
 cision (laughter). This is a question which con- 
 cerns most vitally the present public interests. 
 Everything is done under cover and we are brought 
 to discuss only accomplished facts. (Great commo- 
 tion and shouts so that the following words of the 
 
114 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 speaker can't be understood very clearly.) Very 
 soon it will be Tirpitz redivivus. The people have 
 a right to hear the Parliament on this important 
 question immediately. The people have a right to 
 demand that nothing shall be hidden from them. 
 
 President Kaempf: Please make your remarks 
 in a parliamentary fashion, and don't present general 
 political considerations when you speak to the ques- 
 tion of the order of business. 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: In the Prussian Assembly 
 everything is done under cover. The same methods 
 of concealing matters obtain as here. (Stormy in- 
 terruptions and calls : "This does not belong to the 
 discussion about the order of business.) I wish to 
 protest against such a policy injurious to the people, 
 against the continuation of secret diplomacy in Par- 
 liament. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 115 
 
 REICHSTAG MEETING, MARCH 23, 1916 
 
 Discussion of the Budget and taxation bill. 
 
 Different persons spoke. 
 
 Dr. Liebknecht asks to be recognized on the mo- 
 tion of closing the discussion. 
 
 Dr. Liebknecht (speaks to the question) : I am 
 sorry that under this motion, which was directed in 
 the first place against me, I will be unable to say that 
 I certainly refuse all taxes to the Government of mar- 
 tial law, the government of War uber Alles. (Ex- 
 citement at the right side of the House.) 
 
 President Kaempf: I must ask you to confine 
 yourself to this discussion of the order of business. 
 
 Member Dr. Liebknecht: I assert that even 
 in the Prussian Assembly there exists more freedom 
 of speech than in this House. (Laughter and ex- 
 citement.) 
 
 President Kaempf : If you don't obey my orders 
 I will be forced not to let you talk any further to the 
 question. 
 
 Member Dr. Liebknecht: It is also made im- 
 possible for me to look into the dark chamber of 
 our German war policies and military dictatorship. 
 
 President Kaempf : I can't give you the floor for 
 this question any longer. 
 
ii6 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 LIEBKNECHT'S COMMENTS ON THE 
 IMPERIAL CHANCELLOR'S SPEECH 
 
 Reichstag Meeting, April ?, 19 16 
 
 On April 5, 19 16, Karl Liebknecht made some 
 sharp comments on certain passages of the Imperial 
 Chancellor's speech. Asserting that Germany's aims 
 were peaceful, the Chancellor said that Germany 
 wanted the "strength of quiet development" before 
 the war. "We could have had all we wanted by 
 peaceful labor. Our enemies chose war." Lieb- 
 knecht retorted: "Lies, it was you who chose war." 
 (Uproar followed, with cries of "Scoundrel 1" 
 "Blackguard!" "Out with himl" The President at 
 once called Liebknecht to order.) 
 
 Later Bethman-HoUweg made reference to the 
 necessity of guarantees against Belgium becoming 
 again a vassal of France and England. "Here also 
 Germany cannot give over to Latinization the long- 
 oppressed Flemish race." Liebknecht interjected, 
 "Hypocrisy 1" "We desire to have neighbors who 
 will not again unite against us in order to throttle 
 us, but with whom we can work to our mutual ad- 
 vantage," said the Chancellor. "Whereupon you 
 suddenly fall upon them and strangle them — ^the in- 
 vasion of Belgium," said Liebknecht coolly. This 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 117 
 
 sally caused another uproar, Liebknecht shouting out 
 "Invasion" whenever he got the chance. 
 
 Towards the close of his speech the Imperial 
 Chancellor declared that the peace which ends this 
 war must be a lasting peace. It must not contain in 
 it the seeds of new wars, but the seeds of a final 
 peaceful regulation of European affairs. "Begin by 
 making the German people free!" shouted Lieb- 
 knecht. "Germany is only fighting in self-defense," 
 remarked the Chancellor. "Can any one believe that 
 Germany is thirsting for territory?" "Yes, cer- 
 tainly," roared Liebknecht as loudly as possible. 
 Thereupon the uproar redoubled. The President 
 had to call the Reichstag to order to prevent per- 
 sonal violence to Liebknecht. 
 
ii8 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 REICHSTAG MEETING, APRIL 7, 19 16 
 
 Vice-President Paasche in the chair. 
 
 On April 7,ji9i6, Liebknecht declared — in the 
 Reichstag during the discussion of the military esti- 
 mates — that he had documents showing an agree- 
 ment between Herr Zimmerman, the Under Foreign 
 Secretary, and Sir Roger Casement, by which Brit- 
 ish prisoners were to be drilled to fight against Eng- 
 land. After some further remarks about Moham- 
 medan prisoners of war being pressed into service 
 for Germany, Liebknecht was prevented from speak- 
 ing amid shouts of "Traitor I" from all parts of the 
 Chamber. 
 
 Liebknecht was able to speak later about the resig- 
 nation of Von Tirpitz, but was prevented from dis- 
 cussing the submarine campaign. Here is what he 
 said about the resignation of Von Tirpitz : 
 
 "After the War had begun with the cry 'Against 
 Czarism' the aim was soon shifted westward." 
 (Vice-President Paasche: "To say that the war be- 
 gan with one or the other object is to insult the Gov- 
 ernment, I call you to order* and ask you not to 
 dwell at any length on our war policy.) 
 
 Dr. Liebknecht : "After the war aims had been 
 shifted westward — (the Vice-President: "I repeat 
 my request") . I must touch on this question if I am 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 119 
 
 to discuss the opposing currents In the Government 
 which brought about the change in the Admiralty. 
 The manner in which the conflict was taken up in the 
 Prussian Diet, the way in which the sharpening of 
 the war against England was demanded in the Reich- 
 stag on account of the Baralong affair, and the scenes 
 in the Prussian Diet before the change of oflBce,- 
 throw an interesting light on the differences within 
 the Government and in capitalist circles. A memo- 
 randum was to be published on the subject of armed 
 Pritish merchantmen. It was kept back for some 
 length of time. In this one saw an acknowl- 
 edgment by the Government of the demand for 
 a sharper submarine warfare. The attack in the 
 Prussian Diet was made premeditatedly, in order to 
 show the strong opposition to certain members of the 
 Government (the Vice-President interrupted the 
 speaker) on pressure from the Prussian Diet. (The 
 Vice-President again requested the speaker to keep 
 to the point.) You must not suppress a most im- 
 portant political question." (General commotion. 
 The Vice-President again requested the speaker to 
 keep to the point.) 
 
 "I did keep to the point. I shall now discuss the 
 memorandum oa the question of armed merchant- 
 men, for which the Admiralty is responsible. It is 
 so composed that those who do not read it care- 
 fully with all the supplements must be misled. The 
 memorandum attempts to prove that British mer- 
 chantmen are armed in order to attack German sub- 
 marines. (The Vice-President again forbade a dis- 
 
120 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 cussion of the submarine question, and called Dr. 
 Liebknecht to order^ With such a ruling I am un- 
 able — (The Vice-President: "I ask the member not 
 to criticise me.") So I am obliged to say nothing on 
 what politically is most material !" 
 
 A few days after this scene in the Reichstag Herr 
 Daumig, the editor of the Socialist organ Vor- 
 wdrts, sent a Hungarian journalist with a letter of 
 introduction to Dr. Liebknecht for an interview. 
 The censor condensed the interview, and it only 
 reached Budapest by messenger. The following ex- 
 tracts are from the suppressed portion printed in a 
 Budapest (paper) pamphlet: 
 
 Dr. Liebknecht was greatly surprised at the visit, 
 as he had been "quite neglected by reporters nowa- 
 days because what I say is generally considered 'dead 
 copy' by the censor." 
 
 The correspondent explains that it is a mistake to 
 suppose that Herr Liebknecht is as unpopular in 
 Germany as he appears to be inside the Reichstag. 
 He showed him correspondence from parts of Ger- 
 many, a pile received in two days amounting to hun- 
 dreds and hundreds of letters, ninety per cent of 
 which are of an encouraging and congratulatory 
 character. The remaining ten per cent are scurrilous 
 anonymous attacks, and these he puts in a separate 
 bundle, which he compares with great pride and sat- 
 isfaction with the heap of more flattering epistles. 
 
 He is overjoyed at the idea that he is, after all, 
 not alone, as he appears to be, and that although 
 he is persecuted by his fellow-members of the Reich- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 121 
 
 stag, he is recompensed by the hearty congratula- 
 tions of the people. What he wanted to say in the 
 Reichstag when he was muzzled and expelled was 
 said by two members, and he is quite satisfied on that 
 point. 
 
 "Herr Davidson," said Liebknecht, "referred to 
 the two cases I wanted to mention, and he drew just 
 as vivid a picture of the spirit prevailing in the army 
 and of the illegal persecutions as I should have done 
 if I had been allowed. 
 
 "I wanted to call attention to the case of Dr. 
 Nicolai, the world-famous professor at the Univer- 
 sity of Berlin, who attended the Empress before the 
 war, and who was persecuted some time ago by the 
 military authorities for what were termed indiscreet 
 utterances. He was appointed to the directorship of 
 two military hospitals at the beginning of the war 
 at Graudentz, but some one reported him to the 
 military authorities and he was discharged. On 
 March ist he was again sent away from Berlin, this 
 time to Danzig, and was ordered to be sworn in as 
 a soldier. He refused to obey, and as a consequence 
 the world-famous professor was degraded to the 
 status of a private. Orders were given that he was 
 not to be allowed to provide his own food, and he 
 was ordered to submit aU his scientific literary work 
 to the military authorities for approval. 
 
 "The same thing happened to another scientist, 
 who wrote in a letter: 'I am sorry for and disap- 
 prove of the cruelties committed in Belgium, and. 
 
122 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 as a good Christian, I regret and disapprove of the 
 terrors of this war." 
 
 "I know for a fact that the higher command uses 
 German soldiers to spy on other German soldiers, a 
 system which brands soldiers and commanders alike." 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 123 
 
 LIEBKNECHT'S REMARKS ON THE GER- 
 MAN WAR LOAN 
 
 {Reichstag Meeting, April 8, 1916) 
 
 Dr. Liebknecht: "Gentlemen, the principal work 
 of the Secretary of the Treasury, whose salary we 
 are asked to vote for, was his activity for the war 
 loan during the last year. I intend to examine criti- 
 cally those activities (great merriment). The new 
 loan has brought 1,400,000,000 marks less than 
 the preceding one, but still a grand total of 10,000,- 
 000,000 marks. We should investigate carefully 
 from what funds the money invested in the war 
 loan comes. Does this money invested in the war loan 
 come from private or public funds. (Cries of pro- 
 test from all sides of the House. Many Deputies 
 rise from their seats in excitement. Continued cries : 
 "This is the limit ! Shall we allow him to go so far?" 
 Cries of "Treason." "The fellow belongs in an in- 
 sane asylum.") 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht clenches his fists and shouts a 
 few words which cannot be understood. Great up- 
 roar again. Shouts of "Finish! Finish!" A few 
 members of the Reichstag call out loualy: "Mr. 
 President, you must preserve our rights 1" "Down," 
 
124 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 from the platform! The Secretary of the Treasury 
 tries to calm a few members of the House. 
 
 President Dr. Kaempf : According to the order 
 of business the floor cannot be taken from a member 
 of the House until he is called to order three times. 
 
 Member Dr. Muller Meiningen (Progress- 
 ive Party) : "Then he will betray us three times." 
 (Stormy applause in the House in which the gal- 
 leries join.) 
 
 Dr. K. Liebknecht: In regard to our loans, it 
 has been said that our system of inbreeding — that 
 the practice of obtaining loans on a former loan in 
 order to invest the capital thus obtained in another 
 new war loan is a sort of "perpetuum mobile." In 
 a certain sense the loans may be compared to a 
 merry-go-round. To a large extent it means simply 
 the centralization of public wealth in the Treasury. 
 (Great uproar and cries of "Finish" and "Trea- 
 son.") I have the right to criticise. The truth must 
 be spoken and you shall not hinder me. (Great up- 
 roar. Member Hubrich goes to Dr. Liebknecht and 
 snatches Liebknecht's ngtes from his hands, and 
 throws them on the floor. Stormy applause in the 
 House in which the galleries join. Liebknecht raises 
 his clenched fists and shouts. He then addresses him- 
 self to the President in an agitated tone. He is twice 
 called to order by the President. Around the speak- 
 ers' tribune are small and excited groups gesticu- 
 lating. Member Dr. Muller Meiningen goes to the 
 tribune and in a violent tone hurls indignant re- 
 proaches at Liebknecht. The minority Social-Demo- 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 125 
 
 crats of the Reichstag — Henke, Dittmann and Zu- 
 beil — rush to the tribune and put themselves in front 
 of Liebknecht, other members of the House try to 
 calm down the excited ones. The majority Social- 
 Democrat Keil shouts : "Put the fellow out and then 
 all will be finished." The whole House is in great 
 excitement and uproar, notwithstanding the continual 
 clang of the presidential bell. Finally the President 
 is able to restore order, and declares that the chair 
 finds that there is no quorum. The meeting is ad- 
 journed.) 
 
126 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 LIEBKNECHT'S MAY DAY MANIFESTO 
 
 This May Day Manifesto called the people of 
 Berlin to the May Day Demonstration of 191 6. He 
 was sentenced to jail for expressions in this May 
 Day Speech. 
 
 "Poverty and misery, need and starvation, are 
 ruling in Germany, Belgium, Poland and Servia, 
 whose blood the vampire of imperialism is sucking 
 and which resemble vast cemeteries. The entire 
 world, the much-praised European civilization, is 
 falling into ruins through the anarchy which has been 
 let loose by the world war. 
 
 "Those who profit from the war want war with 
 the United States. To-morrow, perhaps, they may 
 order us to aim lethal weapons against new groups 
 of brethren, against our fellow-workers in the United 
 States, and fight America, too. Consider well this 
 fact: As long as the German people does not arise 
 and use force directed by its own will, the assassina- 
 tion of the people will continue. Let thousands of 
 voices shout 'Down with the shameless extermina- 
 tion of nations I Down with those responsible for 
 these crimes I' Our enemy is not the English, French, 
 nor Russian people, but the great German landed 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 127 
 
 proprietors, the German capitalists and their execu- 
 tive committee. 
 
 "Forward, let us fight the government; let us fight 
 these mortal enemies of all freedom. Let us fight 
 for everything which means the future triumph of 
 the working-classes, the future of humanity and civ- 
 ilization. 
 
 "Workers, comrades, and you, women of the peo- 
 ple, let not this festival of May, the second during 
 the war, pass without protest against the Imperialist 
 Slaughter. On the first of May let millions of voices 
 cry, 'Down with the shameful crime of the extermina- 
 tion of peoples !' Down with those responsible for 
 the War!'" 
 
128 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 LIEBKNECHT'S MAY DAY, 19 16, SPEECH 
 
 Delivered at the Pots darner platz, Berlin, May i, 
 
 1916 
 
 (Report by one present at the demonstration) 
 
 BeIilin, May i. Very early in the morning, with 
 three other comrades, I reached Hortensienstrasse, 
 where Comrade Liebknecht lives. We enter No. 14, 
 climb up the stairs, ring his bell. Comrade Lieb- 
 knecht opens the door himself. He is thin, his hair 
 looks unusually black and his face is deathly pale. 
 He walks like a dead man, walking with grim steps. 
 He leaves us and soon returns with his wife ; she is a 
 Russian. She nods welcome to us all. Suddenly a 
 terrible fear comes to me. No one has spoken a 
 word, yet we all feel that we are in the presence of 
 a supreme moment. From Comrade Liebknecht's 
 grim silence we judge that he is about to hurl pru- 
 dence, to the four winds and defy the Government. 
 
 He hands out, one to each of us, a copy of the 
 speech which he will deliver. So far not one word 
 has been spoken. While we are hurriedly reading 
 his speechj. which is to be delivered within a few 
 hours, he remarks, "I have several thousand of 
 these printed." 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 129 
 
 We have finished reading the prospectus which 
 will make history and send, him to prison. Then we 
 go into conference. We have been with him just an 
 hour. We leave him. 
 
 Shortly after 2 P. M. of the same May day, 
 I have taken a hasty lunch at the Central Hotel. 
 As I near the door I hear the footsteps of the great 
 multitudes. As far as I can see, all the streets and 
 side streets are full of surging, silently moving hu- 
 man beings; all moving in the direction where the 
 May Day demonstration is to take place. These 
 are men and women, mostly women. The men 
 among them are mostly over fifty. Suddenly it be- 
 comes apparent to me that there are more children 
 in the crowds than men and women together. As 
 they march I notice that I cannot see one in the 
 crowd who has a smile on her or his face. Along*the 
 route no one is cheering them. I had never seen 
 such immense crowds in the streets of Berlin. Not 
 even during the Agadir crisis had the streets of Ber- 
 lin held such multitudes. The crowds move as 
 though they are part of a funeral procession. They 
 are all sad, very sad. I recognize a group of com- 
 rades in the crowd. I rush in and join them. Mund 
 halt en (keep your mouth shut) is the unwritten rule, 
 and every one seems to observe it strictly. 
 
 Some one has turned the head of the procession 
 into Unter den Linden. We do not know why; very 
 few of us have noticed it, anyhow. We suddenly 
 see a platoon of mounted guards dashing through 
 the crowd, but they are riding on the sidewalk. The 
 
130 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 part of the procession that had been marching on 
 the sidewalk rushes to the middle of the street in 
 order to escape being trampled upon by the 
 mounted guards. Another group of mounted guards 
 rides past hurriedly, and still another follows. The 
 people in the procession all about me do not seem to 
 notice them. Not even a whisper one hears. Their 
 footsteps have a strange sound to my ears. On 
 reaching the palace grounds I see in the distance five 
 persons. From their elbows up they tower over the 
 heads of the multitude surrounding them. I leave 
 my friends and elbow my way through the thick 
 crowd. I explain my impolite advance on the ground 
 that I am a reporter on a party (Socialist) paper. 
 I finally reach the spot where Comrade Liebknecht 
 and other comrades are standing. The crowds are 
 close where they are standing, and I cannot make out 
 whether they are standing on a raised platform or 
 in a motor car. I am about twenty or twenty-five 
 feet from the doctor. 
 
 Suddenly one of the comrades near Dr. Liebknecht 
 raises his hand and at once proceeds to speak. The 
 multitude is anxious to hear him. Every one is 
 sounding "Hush" in order to obtain silence and thus 
 making more noise. Dr. Liebknecht uncovers his 
 head; some one near by offers to relieve him of his 
 hat. Deathly silence reigns all about the grounds. 
 The interior of a cathedral cannot be more silent. 
 The doctor begins: "Comrades and friends." They 
 start to cheer him. He holds up his hand forbid- 
 dingly, then he resumes: "Some years ago a witty 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 131 
 
 Socialist observed that in Prussia we Germans have 
 three cardinal rights, which are : we can be soldiers, 
 we can pay taxes and we can keep our tongues be- 
 tween our teeth. The Socialist who made this ob- 
 servation made it with a grim humor, but to-day the 
 humor of it must be disconnected from it — it is all 
 too grim. Especially in these days this observation 
 is too true. To-day we are sharing these three great 
 Prussian State privileges in full. Every German citi- 
 zen is g^ven the full privilege to carry a rifle in any 
 manner. Even the Boy Scout has been incited to 
 play the ridiculous role of a soldier. They have thus 
 planted the spirit of hate deep in his youthful soul. 
 Meanwhile the old Landsturmer is forced to per- 
 form forced labor in invaded countries, in spite of 
 the fact that under the laws of the Imperial Con- 
 stitution he cannot be called out for any other pur- 
 pose than for the defense of the Fatherland. 
 
 "As for his second privilege — his right to pay 
 taxes — in this respect the German citizen is, up to 
 the present time, far ahead of his brothers in for- 
 eign lands whom he is engaged in exterminating. 
 And yet more privileges of this kind are awaiting 
 him in the days to come — after the end of the war. 
 The high taxes which the German people have so 
 far paid are insignificant compared to the great bur- 
 dens which they must carry after the war, and for 
 which their masters are daily preparing them with 
 such touching delicacy of patriotic sentiment through 
 the medium of the official press. 
 
 "The new Germany has the unquestionable right 
 
132 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 to hold its tongue between its teeth. Recently our 
 ofEcial press has been flooded by authoritative and 
 Pharisaic exhortations to soldiers' wives that they 
 must, for God's sake, not complain so much about 
 the scarcity of food. Keep your mouth shut tight 
 when hungry. Keep your mouth shut tight when 
 your children are hungry, keep your mouth shut 
 when your children want milk, keep your mouth shut 
 when your children cry for bread, keep your mouth 
 shut and write no letters to the front." 
 
 Outside of Germany these phrases might sound 
 like the stock phrases of a professional agitator, but 
 not so In Germany, at least not in those days. I care- 
 fully watched for the effect of these remarks all 
 about me, and I saw no dry eyes. 
 
 Amid tense silence the doctor continued: "In a 
 recent issue the mouthpiece of the Pharisees, the 
 "Muenchener Neueste Nachrichten," complains thus 
 (reading from a clipping) : 
 
 " 'Our soldiers do not always receive from their 
 dear ones at home the best encouragement to hold 
 on. A soldier on furlough who, before obtaining 
 leave, had performed for his Fatherland unflinch- 
 ingly, went through many hardships with good hu- 
 mor, but after a visit home returned to the front 
 with a sad face, worrying day and night about his 
 dear ones and the pretended scarcity at home.' 
 
 " 'Pretended' scarcity certainly is palatable, espe- 
 cially when one is reminded of the fact that our 
 police is weighing the bread, that butter is out of 
 the market, that fat, meat and margarine have 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 133 
 
 reached a price that is beyond the probable reach 
 of the workingman ! 
 
 "Another well-nourished Pharisee exhorts in the 
 columns of the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung 
 by asking, 'Where is scarcity to be found?' and no 
 doubt after having partaken of a good dinner he 
 preaches with these words : 'We must teach ourselves 
 at home how to manage to get along in our homes 
 with as little as possible. But of course in large 
 families with children the small earnings of the 
 breadwinner being now totally absent, this sum must 
 be replaced by the creation of a relief fund so that 
 there may not be any serious want.' Exactly, but 
 under no circumstances must the people complain of 
 hunger. It annoys the soldier terribly and cripples 
 his fighting power. Therefore do not write com- 
 plaining letters to the front. In other words, you 
 wives of soldiers, hide the truth from your hus- 
 bands; in fact, lie to them. 
 
 "The old proverb says, 'The mouth speaketh out 
 of the fullness of the heart,' and if her children's 
 stomach is empty it is hard for the wife not to men- 
 tion to her far-away soldier husband that it is hard 
 to provide for his children with food while he is 
 offering his life for his country. But if it is not found 
 possible for your masters to prevail upon you to 
 'keep your tongue between your teeth,' then they re- 
 sort to a more practical means. They have a very 
 simple means of stopping these annoying complaints. 
 The Prussian censor is now supervising these letters 
 of wives at home to their husbands at the front. 
 
134 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 They simply do not allow this objectionable corre- 
 spondence to go through. Poor and unfortunate 
 German soldier I He deserves pity! At the com- 
 mand of the militarist Government he has gone into 
 the enemy country, and at the command of the Gov- 
 ernment he must steal from other nations. He is 
 required to perform difficult services. The sufferings 
 that he endures are past description. About him 
 ever3rwhere shells and bombs sow death and destruc- 
 tion. His wife and children at home are suffering 
 want and hardship; she looks about her and finds 
 her children crying for bread. She is desperate, but 
 she must not appeal or complain to any one. She 
 must hold her tongue and suffer inwardly. But how 
 can she silence her children? She must not even 
 share the sympathy of her husband at the front, be- 
 cause that cripples her soldier husband's fighting 
 powers. Her soldier husband must 'hold on' and 
 'steal' in the land of her neighbors. He must hold 
 on and 'suffer' because the capitalists, the hurrah 
 patriots and the armor-plate kings have willed it so. 
 Every one must keep his or her tongue between the 
 teeth, for the war profiteers must make money out 
 of the want and misery of the wives and their hus- 
 band soldiers at the front. 
 
 "By a lie the German workingman was forced 
 into the war, and by like lies they expect to induce 
 him to go on with war I" A mighty shout went up 
 from a thousand throats — "Hurrah for Liebknecht." 
 Liebknecht raised his hand for silence. Then stead- 
 ily, though knowing the cost, he said : "Do not shout 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 135 
 
 for me, shout rather 'We will have no more war. 
 We will have peace — now I' " 
 
 Scarcely had he finished speaking when, as if by 
 magic, a tremendous tumult arose. Near the spot 
 where the doctor and his friends had been stand- 
 ing the crowds surged back and forth. The 
 great multitudes in the palace grounds had the 
 appearance of an immense sea whose surface was 
 every inch covered with human heads, those of men 
 and women. The children became terrified. The 
 shouts of the grown-ups and the terrified shrieks of 
 the children added vehemence to the scene. The 
 next moment I see Comrade Liebknecht pulled down 
 from the stand. His friends also follow. Then I 
 see fists raised. I suddenly discover that the jostling 
 of the crowds about me has carried me further away 
 from the spot where a riot is in progress. I again 
 elbow my way toward where the doctor and his com- 
 panions have been pulled down from the stand. I 
 had made some progress when suddenly I find my- 
 self being swept backward by a huge human wave. 
 
 In spite of my wish to see what is going on be- 
 hind me I am being carried away further and fur- 
 ther. Several hundred thousand panic-stricken souls 
 arc rushing towards the streets and avenues that lead 
 to the grounds. The scene is frightful. Every one 
 is shouting. I steal a glimpse of the spot which is 
 now the center of the sudden panic. I gasp with 
 fright. I see numberless mounted soldiers with large 
 black whips in their hands lashing the crowds. Their 
 mounts are so close to the struggling and frightened 
 
136 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 men and women, yea, even children, that it is a mir- 
 acle that thousands are not pinned to the ground. 
 I cannot tell whether they are killed or whether they 
 fainted. But there are many of them. I myself was 
 forced to step over several persons. I tried to lift 
 up a body, but in the next moment I was carried 
 away. . . . 
 
 May Day evening. Twenty-five or thirty meet 
 
 secretly at the home of a comrade in street. 
 
 We all know what the report is. Herr Doctor is 
 arrested. We are all sad, very sad. We have met 
 to exchange views as to what step to take next. 
 Every one is laboring with heavy thoughts within 
 himself. The silence is sickening. With the excep- 
 tion of four the men who come together to exchange 
 views are all soldiers in the active army. Not all 
 of them are privates. We have spent the entire 
 night, sometimes in heavy silence and again in de-: 
 
 liberation. It is decided that we 
 
 . Aire the German workingmen thinking? 
 
 Their present thoughts are tragic. They hurt. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 137 
 
 LIEBKNECHT'S REPLY TO HIS JUDGES 
 
 While in prison Dr. Liebknecht sent two let- 
 ters to the military court handling his case, in which 
 he explained his position. It was Dr. Liebknecht's 
 hope that these letters would be read to the Reich- 
 stag and in that way reach the German people. But 
 this was not the case. The letters were put before 
 the Parliamentary Committee, which investigated 
 Liebknecht's case and on whose recommendation the 
 Reichstag, by a vote of 229 to in, refused to ask 
 for his release. A copy of one of these letters was 
 smuggled out of prison and sent out of Germany. 
 
 Berlin, May 3rd, 19 16. 
 To the Royal Military Court, Berlin: 
 
 In the investigation of the case against me, the 
 records of remarks need the following elucidation;* 
 
 I. The German Government is in its social and 
 historical character an instrument for the crushing 
 down and exploitation of the laboring classes; at 
 home and abroad it serves the interests of junkerism, 
 of capitalism, and of imperialism. 
 
 The German Government is a reckless champion 
 of expansion in world politics, the most ardent pro- 
 moter in the competition of armaments, and ac- 
 
138 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 cordingly one of the most powerful influences in de- 
 veloping the causes of the present war. 
 
 In partnership with the Austrian Government the 
 German Government contrived to bring about this 
 war and so burdened itself with the greatest respon- 
 sibility for the immediate outbreak of the war. 
 
 The German Government started the war under 
 cover of deception practiced upon the common peo- 
 ple and even upon the Reichstag (compare, among 
 other things, the concealment of the ultimatum to 
 Belgium, the make-up of the German White Book, 
 the ehmination of the Czar's dispatch of July 29, 
 1914) , and it tries by reprehensible means to keep up 
 the war spirit among the people. 
 
 It carries on the war with methods that, judged 
 even by standards hitherto conventional, are mon- 
 strous. The invasion of Belgium and Luxemburg, 
 poisonous gases, which in the meantime have be- 
 come of common use by all the belligerents, and then 
 look at the Zeppelin bombs, which outdo everything 
 and which are intended to kill all that live, com- 
 batants or non-combatants, within a wide region; 
 submarine commerce warfare ; the torpedoing of the 
 Lusitania, etc.; the system of hostages and forced 
 contributions at the beginning, especially in Belgium; 
 the systematic entrapping of Ukrainian, Georgian, 
 Baltic Provincials, Polish, Irish, Mohammedan, and 
 other prisoners of war in the German prison camps 
 for the purpose of having them do treasonable war 
 service and treasonable spying for the Central Pow- 
 ers; Under-Secretary Zimmerman's agreement with 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 139 
 
 Sir Roger Casement in December, 19 14, regarding 
 the organization, equipment, and training in the 
 German prison camps of the "Irish Brigade," com- 
 posed of captured British soldiers; the attempts by 
 means of threats of forcible interment to compel 
 Christians of a hostile nationality found in Germany 
 to do treasonable war service against their countries, 
 and so forth. (Necessity knows no lawl) 
 
 The German Government has, through the es- 
 tablishment of martial law, enormously increased the 
 political lawlessness and economic exploitations of 
 the people ; it refuses all serious political and social 
 reforms, while at the same time it tries to hold the 
 people docile for the imperialistic war policy, by 
 means of rhetorical phrases about equal rights ac- 
 corded to all parties, about alleged discontinuation 
 of discriminations in social and political matters, 
 about an alleged readjustment and new direction of 
 political matters, and so on. 
 
 The German Government because of its consid- 
 eration for agrarian and capitalists' interests has 
 completely failed to care for the economic welfare 
 of the people during the war, to guard against misery 
 and the practice of revolting extortion upon the peo- 
 ple. 
 
 The German Government is still holding fast to 
 its war aims and so constitutes the chief obstacle in 
 the way of immediate peace negotiations upon the 
 basis of renunciation of annexations and oppres- 
 sions of all sorts : Through the maintenance — in it- 
 self illegal — of martial law (censorship, etc.) it pre- 
 
I40 THE FUTURE BELONGS ' 
 
 vents the public from learning unpleasant facts and 
 prevents Socialist criticism of its measures. The 
 German Government thereby reveals its system of 
 seeming legality and sham popularity as a system of 
 actual force, of genuine hostility to the people and 
 bad faith as regards the masses. 
 
 The ciry of "Down with the Government!" is 
 meant to brand this entire policy of the Government 
 as fatal to the masses of the people. 
 
 This cry also indicates that it is the duty of every 
 representative of the welfare of the proletariat to 
 wage a struggle of the most strenuous character — 
 the class struggle — against the Government. 
 
 II. The present war is not a war for the defense 
 of the national integrity, not for the liberation of 
 oppressed peoples, not for the welfare of the masses. 
 
 From the standpoint of the proletariat this war 
 only signifies the most extreme concentration and 
 extension of political suppression, of economic ex- 
 ploitation, and of military slaughtering of the work- 
 ing-class body and soul for the benefit of capitalism 
 and of absolutism. 
 
 To all this the working-class of all countries can 
 give but one answer: a harder struggle, the inter- 
 national class struggle against the capitalist Govern- 
 ments and the ruling classes of all countries for the 
 abolition of all oppression and exploitation by the 
 institution of a peace conceived in the Socialist spirit. 
 In this class struggle the Socialist, whose Fatherland 
 is the International, finds included the defense of 
 everything that he, as a Socialist, is bound to defend. 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 141 
 
 The cry of "Down with war" signifies that I thor- 
 oughly condemn and oppose the present war because 
 of its historical nature, because of its general social 
 causes and specific way in which it originated (de- 
 veloped) , and because of the way it is being carried 
 on and the objects for which it is being waged. That 
 cry signifies that it is the duty of every representa- 
 tive of proletarian interests to take part in the inter- 
 national class struggle for the purpose of ending the 
 war. 
 
 III. As a Socialist I am fundamentally opposed to 
 the existing military system as well as of this war, 
 and I always supported with all my power the fight 
 against Militarism as an especially important task 
 and a matter of life and death for the working-class 
 of all countries. (Compare my book "Militarism" 
 and my reports to the International Young People's 
 Conferences at Stuttgart, 1907, and Copenhagen, 
 1 9 10.) The war demands that we carry on the 
 struggle against Militarism with redoubled energy. 
 
 IV. Since 1889 May ist has been consecrated to 
 manifestations and propaganda in favor of the great 
 basic principles of Socialism, against all exploitation, 
 oppression, and violence; dedicated to propaganda 
 for the solidarity of workers of all countries — a soli- 
 darity which the war has not abolished, but strength- 
 ened — against the workers' fratricidal strife, for 
 peace and against war. 
 
 During the war the manifestation and propaganda 
 of these principles is a doubly sacred duty imposed 
 upon every Socialist. 
 
142 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 V. The policy advocated by me was outlined in 
 the resolution adopted by the International Socialist 
 Congress held in Stuttgart (1907), which pledged 
 Socialists of all countries — after they should have 
 failed to prevent a war — ^to work with all their ener- 
 gies towards its quick ending, and to take advantage 
 of the conditions created by the war for hastening the 
 abolition of the capitalist order of society. 
 
 This Socialist policy is meant to be international, 
 even in its ultimate consequences. It imposes upon 
 the Socialists of other countries the same obligation 
 with reference to their Governments and ruling 
 classes that I with others in Germany followed 
 against the Government and ruling classes of Ger- 
 many. 
 
 This Socialist policy has an international effect, by 
 spreading reciprocal encouragement from nation to 
 nation; it promotes the international class struggle 
 against war. 
 
 Since the beginning of the war I, together with 
 others, have defended in every possible way and up- 
 held in the most public manner this Socialist policy, 
 and besides, so far as possible, have entered into 
 connections with those who shared my sentiments in 
 other countries. 
 
 (I may mention, for example, my journey to Bel- 
 gium and Holland in September, 19 14; my Christ- 
 mas letter in 19 14 to the Labor Leader; the Inter- 
 national Socialist Meetings in Switzerland, in which, 
 I regret to say, I was unable to participate personally, 
 being prevented by superior powers, etc.) 
 
TO THE PEOPLE 143 
 
 VI, This poliqr to which, cost it what it may, T 
 shall hold fast, is not mine alone, but it is also the 
 policy of an ever-increasing proportion of the people 
 in Germany and of the other belligerent and neutral 
 States. It will soon become, as I hope — and to this 
 end I am resolved to toil on — ^the policy of the vvorl^v 
 ing-class of all countries, which will then posses^the 
 power to break the imperialistic will of the rising 
 classes, and to shape as may seem best the mutual re- 
 lations and conditions of the people for the benefit 
 of all mankind. 
 
 Karl Liebknecht, 
 Armierungssoldat. 
 
 LIEBKNECHT'S TRIAL AND RELEASE 
 
 On June 28th, 1916, Karl Liebknecht was sen- 
 tenced at secret trial to thirty months' penal servi- 
 tude. When the public prosecutor asked for this 
 secrecy, Liebknecht exclaimed: 
 
 "It is cowardice on your part, gentlemen. Yes, 
 I repeat, that you are cowards if you close these 
 doors." 
 
 Nevertheless, the court decided to exclude the pub- 
 lic, upon which Liebknecht cried to his wife and 
 Rosa Luxemburg, in the audience, "Leave this com- 
 edy, where everything, including even the decision, 
 has been prepared beforehand." 
 
 Following the announcement of the sentence ^ven 
 
144 THE FUTURE BELONGS 
 
 Liebknecht, the Potsdamerplatz in Berlin was the 
 scene of a serious outbreak. 
 
 The next day ( according to reports from Switzer- 
 land) strikes of protest against the Liebknecht case 
 took place in Berlin and some 55,000 persons were 
 involved in them. In other cities strikes and dem- 
 onstrations of protest also took place. 
 
 An appeal was taken but resulted only in an in- 
 crease in the sentence to four years' and one month's 
 imprisonment at hard labor. Furthermore, he was 
 deprived of all his civil rights for a period of six 
 years after he should have served his term. 
 
 [Associated Press Dispatch] 
 
 Paris, October 25. — ^An enormous crowd assem- 
 bled before the Reichstag building in Berlin yester- 
 day, calling for the abdication of Emperor William 
 and the formation of a republic, according to a spe- 
 cial dispatch from Zurich to L' Information. 
 
 Dr. Karl Liebknecht, the Socialist leader who has 
 just been released from prison, was applauded fran- 
 tically. He was compelled to enter a carriage filled 
 with flowers from which he made a speech declaring 
 that the time of the people had arrived. 
 
 Printed in the United States of America. 
 
THE following pages contain advertisements of a 
 few of the Macrmllan books on kindred subjects. 
 
The End of the War 
 
 BY WALTER E. WEYL 
 Author of "American World Policies" "The New Democracy," etc 
 
 $2.00 
 
 "The most couia.geous book on politics published in America since 
 the war began." — The Dial. 
 
 "An absorbingly interesting book ... the dearest statement yet 
 presented of a most difficult problem." — Philadelphia Ledger. 
 
 "Mr. Weyl says sobering and important things. . . . His plea is strong 
 and clear for America to b^in to establish her leadership of the demo- 
 cratic forces of the world ... to insure that the settlement of the war 
 is made on lines that will produce international amity everywhere." 
 
 —N. Y. Times. 
 
 The New Democracy 
 
 AN ESSAY ON CERTAIN POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC 
 TENDENCIES IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 Cloth, $2.00 
 "A masterly, scathing, and absolutely fearless arraignment of things 
 that ought not to be in a republic, and of tendencies that no democracy 
 ought to tolerate." — Boston Herald. 
 
 "A thoughtful voliune ... a big synthesis of the whole social problem 
 in this country. A keen survey." — Chicago Evening Post. 
 
 - "A searching and suggestive study of American life. ... A book 
 to make people think . . . Notable for its scholarship and brilliant 
 in execution, it is not merely for the theorist, but for the citizen." 
 
 — Newark Evening News. 
 
 American World Policies i2mo.$2as 
 
 "It is refreshing to read Dr. Weyl ... his approach to the problem 
 is absolutely sound and right" — The Dial. , , — ^. 
 
 "An economic philosophy neatly balanced, suavely expressed, and of 
 finely elastic fibre." — New York Sun. 
 
 THE MAGMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 Pablishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 
 
THE WORKS OF H. H. POWERS, Ph.D. 
 
 The Great Peace 
 
 "A clear, frank statement of the problems confronting the n5.tions 
 of the world and how those problems must be faced to insure a lasting 
 peace. (Ready Shortly.) 
 
 America among the Nations 
 
 Chth, $1.50 
 
 "For an understanding of this new crisis that we are facing in igi8 
 we know of no book more useful or more searching or clearer or more 
 readable than H. H. Powers' 'America among the Nations.' It is 
 really a biography, or rather, a biographical study. Its hero, however, 
 is not a man but an imperial people." — Outlook, New York. 
 
 "Mr. Powers takes unusually broad views and they are enforced 
 by a historical knowledge and a logical development of ideas that 
 carry conviction. . . . An excellent book." — Philadelphia Public Ledger. 
 
 The Things Men Fight For 
 
 Cloth, $i.so 
 "An able, unprejudiced and ill umin ating treatment of a burning 
 question." — Philadelphia North American. 
 
 "Probably no other book" dealing with the war and its sources has 
 made so dispassionate and unbiased a study of conditions and causes 
 as does this volume." — New York Times. 
 
 "Out of the unusual knowledge bom of wide observation and ex- 
 perience came this unusual book. We may not altogether agree with 
 its conclusions, but we must admire the breadth of it, and feel better 
 informed when we have perused it. The liberal spirit of it cannot 
 fail to impress the careful reader." — Literary Digest. 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 
 
ERNEST POOLE'S NEW BOOK 
 
 The Village : Russian Impressions 
 
 BY ERNEST POOLE 
 
 Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50 
 
 This volume describes in personal and narrative form Mr. Poole's 
 visit to the small estate of an old Russian friend, whose home was a 
 rough log cabin in the North of Russia. From there he ranged the 
 neighborhood in company with his friend, talking with peasants in 
 their huts; with the vagabonds camped at night on the riverside; with 
 the man who kept the village store; with the priest, the doctor and 
 the school teacher, as well as with the saw-mill owner. 
 
 Their views of the war, the revolution and American friendship are 
 all of great significance now, for the peasants form nearly ninety per 
 cent, of the Russian people. 
 
 "The Dark People": Russia's Crisis 
 
 BY ERNEST POOLE 
 Author of "His Family," "The Harbor," etc. 
 
 Cloth, izmo, $1.50 
 "Too strange, too romantic, too imaginative, to be anything but 
 sober truth. . . . We have read no book which got closer to the heart 
 ... of the Russian people." — N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 "A valuable book, . . . sane and informative, . . . shows close study 
 by an impartial mind." — N. Y. Herald. 
 
 "We have never read a book more deeply thrilling. It is not the 
 book of a dreamer, but of one whose vision is far because his heart 
 beats for his feUowmen. . . ." — Book Review. 
 
 "A sincere, unpretentious, and strikingly successful attempt to get 
 at the mind and heart of these people in the midst of revolution." 
 
 —N. Y. Evening Post. 
 
 Inside the Russicin Revolution 
 
 BY RHETA CHILDE DORR 
 
 Illustrated. Cloth, $1.50 
 
 "Mrs. Dorr's book is an excellent piece of reporting. It will be 
 the exceptional reader who will not find here what he would most like 
 to get from an American visitor who has had exceptional opportunities 
 to learn the truth. Her book will have to be consulted by the future 
 historian of anarchy's reign in Russia." — Springfield Republican. 
 
 "As a distinctively first-hand study of a world event of illimitable 
 influence and implications, thir volume is a milestone along the path- 
 way of history." — Philadelphia North American. 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 Publishers 64-66, Fifth Avenue New York 
 
The Flaming Crucible 
 
 BY ANDRE FRIBOURG 
 Translated by A. B. Maubice », „ 
 
 Under the title' Croire, this autobiography of a French infantryman 
 was published in Paris in 1917. It is a revelation of the French spirit. 
 It is rather a biography of the spirit, than an account of the amazing 
 experience!) M. Fribourg encountered, from 1911 at Agadir, through the 
 fighting on the Meuse, and part of the campaign in Flandeis. The de- 
 scriptions are memorable for their beautif til style, their pathos or their 
 elevation. There is a definite climax toward the end where M. Fri- 
 bourg returns to a hospital in Paris, broken and dulled, his faith mo- 
 mentarily befogged. Gradually he readapts himself, regains and con- 
 firms his faith in the human spirit that was so vivid when he lived 
 with his fellow soldiers. 
 
 Behind the Battle Line 
 
 BY MADELINE Z. DOTY 
 
 Chth, $IJS 
 What are the women of the world planning for the future? To find 
 that out, Miss Doty made a trip around the world. She takes you 
 into the heart of each nation she visited — Japan, China, Russia, Nor- 
 way, Sweden, England and France. The differences in civilization are 
 vividly shown, mainly through the daily thought and life of the women. 
 Behind the Battle Line: (Around the World in IQ18, depicts the great 
 spiritual struggle that, beside the physical battle, engulfs the world. 
 
 The War and the Future 
 
 BY JOHN MASEFIELD 
 Author of "GaOipoU," "The Old Front Line," etc. 
 
 Cloth, $1.2$ 
 "It was well to reprint these lectures, and it will be well for the book 
 to have the widest possible reading and permanent preservation for,/#E^ 
 reading. . . . No man in the world to-day has a more searching, accu- 
 rate, and divinely just spiritual vision of the war and of the issues 
 involved in it. . . . If ever a book was inspired, this was." 
 
 —N. Y. Tribune. 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 
 
I tilii 
 
 mm