A Shift in Priorities

[rast]

Co-determination


The German labour unions had already gained equality as dialogue partners of the capital owners during the Great War. The law regulating the ‘Patriotic Emergency Service’ from December 1916 had determined that all factories important for the war effort, which employed more than 50 people, had to have workers’ committees.
In 1919, the SPD led government had passed a law that called for a works council in every enterprise with 20 or more employees.
Now, the labour unions, which closely co-operated in the German Union of Labour Unions, campaigned for co-determination in the supervisory boards. All companies employing over 1,000 people were to have equal representation between workers and owners/shareholders.

The German capitalists were not at all amused, nor were the members of the Erzberger Government. But the SPD and the FVP were backing the labour unions, and they were in charge in Prussia, Saxony and the Thuringian League, the union of the Thuringian microstates, thus controlling the three most industrially important states of the German Empire.

After initial negotiations had led to no solution, the labour unions started a series of strikes in early 1924, which clearly demonstrated that they had the power to stall industrial production.
This forced the entrepreneurs back to the negotiation table. But at the same time, many enterprises started to look for new production plants abroad, where no worker’ representatives would interfere with the decisions of the bosses.

Thus, the first half of 1924 saw a wave of subsidiary companies of German enterprises founded in Hungary, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden – and to a lesser extent in Poland, Czecho-Slovakia and Slovenia.
The Hugenberg press was campaigning bitterly against co-determination: The capital was fleeing from Germany; the labour unions and the socialist were ruining the Fatherland; Germany was isolated internationally, nobody else even considered co-determination.

But the German workers liked the idea that their representatives should indeed have a word in the boards of directors or supervisory boards; after all, the success of a plant was to a great deal due to the workers. Germany had the best trained and educated working pool in the world, ‘Made in Germany’ had become a trade mark for quality worldwide. All this was not only to be owed to the boldness of the entrepreneurs, but also to the solidity and the effort of the workers. At the same time, it was important to prevent the capitalists from exploiting the workers – a very short-sighted, but frequently found strategy of the capitalists. A well paid working force, which could afford to buy the products of the plants, was much to be preferred to an impoverished proletariat; but many capitalists failed to see that. Especially those, who sold their products to the government and abroad, had a tendency to look for cheap labour.

The Erzberger Government was disunited over the issue: While the Zentrum representatives were not enthusiastic, they still could see the merits of the concept; but those of the GDNP and the NL – both parties were very close to the capitalists – were strictly against co-determination. Chancellor Erzberger wanted to avoid a long, drawn out labour dispute, which truly might impair Germany’s fortune; he therefore tended towards a limited acceptance of the proposals of the labour unions.
But that was an absolute no-go for GDNP and NL. Thus, the government finally was forced to side with the capitalists.

Now, the labour dispute really became hot: A new wave of strikes paralysed production all over the country. And the labour unions were not yet out of tricks, with the government against them, the employees of the Reichsbahn and the Reichspost were called to strike as well.
Within few days, public life came to a stand-still in Germany in early April 1924. At the same time, industrial production had dropped to the absolute minimum witnessed in this century.

 

[Neroon]

If the Unions aren't careful they'll be overplaying their hand and drive the middle-class against them. Showing that they can shut down the country may get them what they want, but it might also convince a lot of non-rich-capitalists that the unions have too much power and lead to Germany electing a Margarete Thatcher .

 

[rast]

Imperial Wedding

To counter all allegations that they were men without fatherland, the labour union bosses called off all strikes a fortnight before the scheduled marriage between Princess Giovanna of Savoy and Crown Prince Wilhelm. From a joint manifesto of labour unions, SPD, KPD and FVP, the Germans learned that two weeks before, during, and two weeks after the imperial wedding there would be no labour dispute, no strikes – and all business could be done as usual.
This did not only greatly relieve Empress Cecilie, who already had been close to collapse because all her plans seemed to go down the drain, it also got the Socialists the benevolence of many middle class Germans. The German left might have their peculiar aims, but – just like in the Great War – they did not betray the Fatherland.

Remembering the dog and pony show that had been staged when he and Cecilie had married in 1905, Emperor Wilhelm III. had tried to steer the project to a saner approach.
The wedding would be a major international event, all royal houses around the globe had to be expected to attend – with the exception of the Emperors of Japan and Abyssinia – with the bearer of the crown in person. Republics were anticipated to send their presidents – with the exception of the USA.
Of course, all the national royal and princely houses would attend as well,
These delegations alone would already suffice to congest Berlin.
However, this would only be the smaller part of the crowd. Hundreds of thousands of German citizens could be expected to come and watch events, whole brigades of reporters would be present, policemen from all over Prussia would be required to line the streets, a veritable division of roadsweepers was needed, etc.
Thus, simply the magnitude of the enterprise played into the Emperor’s hands. Only straightforward arrangements with plain lines of movement had a chance of success.
There would be a huge public festival, a Volksfest, celebrated in parallel, clogging all streets that were not kept free by police.

For the official parade, the military would appear in their traditional colourful uniforms. The cavalry would show on horseback with lances and flying pennants, not on armed motorbikes and in armoured cars. The artillery would drag along old fashioned cannons with horse teams, not drone by with their new self-propelled howitzers. The infantry was to march on foot with their venerable blue jackets, white trousers and spiked leather helmets with huge plumes, and not rattle past in their cross-country lorries or Stuwas. No Kanobils would be on display at all.
The air arm was to be presented by a squadron of Zeppelins, all other aircraft were banned from the region of greater Berlin during the ceremony.
The navy would send some sailors and marines to the parade – and have some small vessels on the River Spree and the Kupfergraben in the vicinity of the town palace and the cathedral.
The participants and official guests, however, would be driven in drop-top motor vehicles, not in horse drawn carriages. This would facilitate arrangements and allow to speed up procedures.

On April 17th, 1924, Princess Giovanna, her family and the Italian delegation arrived at Potsdam, where the royal family was housed in the Orangery Palace, while the delegation was distributed between several hotels.
Finding suitable and adequate palaces and castles for all the visiting kings and queens proved to be one of the major challenges, while the hotel infrastructure of the greater Berlin area supported the accommodation of lesser foreign persons without much complications. For unofficial German visitors, many residents of Berlin made available one of their rooms, thus also earning some marks from the festivity.

Historians later computed that the population of Berlin almost doubled during Easter of 1924. – Much to the surprise of everybody no major incidents happened. There were some drunken brawls during the Volksfest, which lasted all through April 20th, the wedding day, and April 21st, Easter Monday. As could be expected, some people died from bad heart or other illnesses, others became ill and had to be transported to a hospital, pickpockets had their field day, and quite a sizeable number of persons turned out to be bill-dodgers.
But nobody fell out of the window, no balconies plummeted because of overload, no motorcar crashed into a crowd, nobody was squeezed to death by a pushing mass.
Even the weather co-operated reasonably, after a cold and rainy night, Sunday morning offered more than five hours of sunshine and a tolerable temperature of 13° Celsius. In the afternoon, when the parades were over and the celebrations had moved to quarters, it started raining again.

Again, King Philippe VIII. of France observed how friendly the Germans were when dealing with him and his wife, who was a Habsburg archduchess. People at home thought that the Germans hated them as much as they hated the Boches, but every time when he visited Germany, he only saw friendly faces. Obviously, the Germans bore no crutch with France any longer…

 

[rast]

Monarchs

While the newly wed couple scurried off for honeymoon – to Bella Italia, of course, where they already were awaited by a jubilant population, the visiting royals scattered.
Not all of them hurried home immediately.

Albert I. of Belgium and his wife Elisabeth accompanied King Rupprecht and Queen Marie to Bavaria in a combination of state visit and seeing the family of Elisabeth.
On this occasion, Albert remarked how kind the German ‘revolution’ of 1918 had been with the ruling houses. Germany was unique in not only having an Emperor, who at the same time was King of Prussia, but also sustaining three more kings and a plethora of archdukes, grand dukes and minor dukes.
But Rupprecht thought that this actually saved the German people a lot of money.
“Our federal structure would not change, even if all the princely houses fell from power. – Instead of me, you’d have a Bavarian President or Prime Minister, who is not landed and thus one hundred percent dependent on state money. True, I get an indemnity, but our democrats have computed, that a president would cost the Bavarian tax payers two times more. – Only if they’d killed the whole family and disappropriated all Wittelsbach possessions, could they eventually hope to make some profit, but – thank goodness – our ‘revolution’ – if one calls it so, I’d rather say ‘unrest’ – was not that bloody and our people not that bloodthirsty.”
“How does that work? – Being a loyal Bavarian citizen and a German one at the same time?”
“Somehow it does work, one is proud to be a Bavarian and marvels at one’s peculiarities – and at the same time one is glad and proud to belong to Germany. – The system is very lenient to regional diversity; education is totally in the responsibility of the states, as is police and jurisdiction. Also, the states control the tax authorities, the Empire basically only directs two fields: Foreign policy and defence.”
“But you still have a Bavarian Army, haven’t you?”
“Only nominally, the War Office in Munich does no longer control it, like it indeed did until 1918. – It’s in reality only a relay station of the War Ministry in Berlin, – and, of course, takes care that Bavarian companies are not forgotten when it comes to buying equipment and armaments…”
“Mh, I wonder whether a federal system like yours might be suitable to ease the tensions we have in Belgium between the Flemings and the Walloons.”

On invitation by Grand Duke Friedrich II. of Baden, King Philippe VIII. of France had come to Baden-Baden for a short sojourn at the spa, enjoying the few remaining days without labour dispute and strikes, before he eventually returned to France.
In Baden-Baden, Philippe was visited by Dr. Eugen Ricklin, the Prime Minister of Elsaß-Lothringen.
“Actually, Your Majesty, I’m here to invite you to Straßburg and a tour through my country on your return trip to France. You know, there are quite a lot of our citizens, who still feel linked to France. They really would appreciate your visit.”
Philippe was bewildered. “I must first ask in Paris. – I don’t think this will be easy…”
“Well, Your Majesty, we have discussed the issue in the Landtag, and have – by a majority of two thirds – agreed to invite you for an official visit.”
Although the Maurras Government was surprised by this unexpected invitation, they didn’t reject it. – If France could score some points in Alsace-Lorraine, why not? The exiled French Socialists were rather thick there, a little bit of popular acclaim for the French monarchy might help to hold them at bay.
The visit became a formidable ticker-tape parade.
The people of Elsaß-Lothringen today were happy to be part of Germany, but they had no bad feelings towards France. France had always been rather kind to them. They enthusiastically had taken part in the French Revolution, and even today prided themselves of practising a pure republic in an otherwise constitutional monarchic Germany. Alsatians and Lorrainians had historically held important positions in France. France was the direct neighbour, and even today many people grew up bilingual.
Thus, Philippe was celebrated like a visiting friend. Although security was rather tight, because the authorities suspected hostile actions of the French Socialists, he had to shake many, many hands – and to kiss some pretty girls… Popular elation was such that the French Socialists preferred to remain invisible – although some of them were reported to have been seen cheering the king…

 

[Kara Iskandar]

Hmm interesting plot concerning Philippe VII.
Will he be the symbol of the Franco-German détente?
I'm not sure that Maurras would appreciate this.

 

[rast]

For sure he won't like that, - and Philippe is too much dependent on him, so he eventually will comply - although his insights are differing from Maurras'.
Nevertheless, the elements of a detente are slowly moving into position.

 

[rast]

Veterans, Battlefield Tourists and War Graves

War veteran organisations had been springing up in France and Britain during the last five years.
In Britain, the regimental system initially had segmented the veterans. Only in 1923, the British War Veterans League had been formed. However, it never gained any political influence apart from lobbying for the veterans’ advantage, remaining centred on social improvements and tax benefits, while upholding traditions remained with the individual regiments.
In France, the Union Nationale des Ancien Combattants (UNAC) very soon had gained political importance. Closely linked to Maréchal Pétain, they were supporting the Maurras Government and France’s swing to conservatism and Catholicism, seeing the ‘godless’ Third Republic as one major factor contributing to France’s downfall. – At the same time, they were rabidly anti-war and in unison had welcomed the decision to build La Ligne Impénétrable. A non-aggressive France that did not propagate revanche and concentrated on the defence of the national territory was just to their liking.

In Germany, a comprehensive organisation for war veterans had already been existing since before the Great War. Already in 1900, the individual veterans leagues of the German states had united in an umbrella organisation called the Kyffhäuser League.
After the Great War, the Kyffhäuser League had abandoned its former association with the right wing parties in order to become an organisation acceptable to all German war veterans. In revanche, the GDNP had set up the ‘Stahlhelm – League of the Frontline Soldiers’, which, however, never gained more than 50,000 members, mainly in Prussia, and remained rather insignificant.
On local basis, the Kyffhäuser League was very often teaming with local rifle associations for shooting practise. It was mildly para-military, patriotic – and open to all war veterans, including Social Democrats, Jews and Poles. It was not anti-war, but – considering the horrendous German war losses – propagating a careful approach to solving political questions by force.

With the Great War now being a memory and no longer a trauma for most, many veterans, British, French and German, came to France for visiting the places were they once had fought.
For the Germans, Verdun, the Argonne and the Chemin des Dames held special importance. It was here, where French and German veterans met for the first time.
Having suffered the same misery, most veterans agreed they were happy to still being alive – and that there was no reason for enmity between them any more.
Warily observed by the Maurras Government, the UNAC and the Kyffhäuser League started to entertain and foster loose but cordial relations.

In contrast, British veterans visiting ‘their’ battlefields, the Somme, Flanders, the Dover last ditch defence, hardly met German veterans. These battles, although costly, had achieved no significance in the minds of German veterans; units had been quickly moved in, been decimated and moved out again – in a nightmare terrain without memorable landmarks. The British veterans, therefore, remained rather alone to remember ‘their’ war.

Another question was that of war graves. The British had decided that their dead should rest in French soil. The Germans – fearing unfair treatment of their deceased – had decided that all German dead should be transferred to Germany and be buried in the graveyards of their home communities.
The British War Grave Committee had begun the construction of war grave sites all over Northern France, and the French had also started to concentrate their war dead in huge cemeteries, the most notable being under construction at Verdun, while the German People’s Union for War Grave Care was digging out German remains and transferring them to Germany.
This unequal approaches soon met opposition from the veterans. How was it that German dead were brought home, where they properly could be mourned and cared for by their next of kin, while Frenchmen and Brits were laid to eternal rest near the dreadful sites were they had been killed, often hundreds - if not thousands – of kilometres away from their homes and families?
In the face of growing public displeasure, it was finally decided that British and French war dead would also be taken home. By early 1924, it was clear that Northern France would not become the land of the cemeteries.

 

[rast]

The Butcher’s Bill

El Moreno and his ‘Luchadores’ were still in business. Today they spezialised in two varieties: Mines and Morale. – They had developed a type of simple anti-personnel mine; a small wooden box containing a pressure fuse and 100 grams of explosive. This was sufficient to rip off a foot and smash a lower leg. More wasn’t required. – Sometimes, they used larger charges against vehicles. Their greatest recent success had been a lorry, where the mine had torn off one front wheel – resulting in the vehicle bouncing down a steep slope, killing all twelve passengers.
In terms of morale, Zapopa and Graciela now operated as whores in a small brothel, which also provided the ‘legal’ frame for the ‘Luchadores’. One hour was available for five Dollars, one night for fifteen, a sniff of cocain – to boost virility – and as much Tequila as one could drink – inclusive. Having a smoke of marijuana was no big deal as well. The girls had been reinforced by Daisy Sue, a blonde empty-headed bombshell from Iowa, totally addicted to heroine. Her price was twenty-five dollars, and she was reserved for sergeants. Quite often, she succeeded in seducing the guy to have a shot together with her.

After the Marine Corps had moved on to the Caribbean and some army units had taken over again, the breathing space for the guerrillas had improved considerably. By bribing only two corrupt officers, one could have all the documents necessary for freedom of movement.

Crushing any collaborationists was another task of El Morenos’ outfit. The Gringos still did not employ Mexicans in their camps; so, there were no own collaborators inside their lodgements, which made it rather difficult to track with whom they were dealing. (Local interpreters working for both sides would have made this transparent very easily.) – Thus, the spy group had been reinforced by the former snipers and given the task to screen the movements of the Gringo officials. When a collabarator had been identified, he would be visited in the middle of the night and kindly be asked to work for both sides. One would take a child or a sibling as hostage to make sure that the arrangement was met. Those refusing such agreements usually ended in a gully, minus their heads, which served to decorate their front doors.

One operated in a network of kin and close friends. Strangers had no chance to get access to vital information. El Morenos messenger was his younger brother, who regularly met with a brother-in-law at Monterrey to receive information and orders and to report own intelligence about the Gringos.
With whom this brother-in-law was dealing, nobody of the ‘Luchadors’ knew – nor wanted to know. The brother-in-law would also direct where hostages had to be delivered to.

One also did not know which other groups operated in the area. By chance, one met other fighters sometimes – and even exchanged information about the Gringos and technical know-how, but one knew no names and no locations; one had to trust that some higher echelon orchestrated the network so that no waste of the effort occurred.

The Gringos thought that things had calmed down, their casualty count showing a reduction since all of Mexico and Central America was occupied. Apparently, they did not completely perceive how much the morale of their troops was undermined by the likes of Zapopa, Graciela and Daisy Sue.
They made a big fuzz when they managed to knock out one group of guerrillas, but often failed to register that only few days later another group was moving in and taking over the rayon. Usually, the new group initially would focus on counter-morale operations and not raise Gringo attention by laying mines and decapitating collaborators.

Economy had stabilised on a very low level, a kind of subsistence farming, since the country folk had been eventually released a second time from all the ‘Shelter Facilities’. Domestic industry was dead – with the notable exception of the oil fields near Tuxpam, where the Gringos had installed high security areas – free of all Mexicans – and put profoundly guarded American workers to the task of stealing as much Mexican oil as possible.
As one heard, there had been attempts to break in there, but all had been averted by tight Gringo security. El Moreno thought that this nut should be cracked from the sea side and had conveyed his idea up the information chain, but so far, nothing had happened.

Tonight, it was business as usual, but a special guest had been announced to arive.
Just after Graciela’s drunk-as-a-skunk customer had staggered out of the front door, a woman in her fifties entered and asked: “Is Isidoro here? I need a new gown.”
This was the stipulated code phrase.
“No.” answered El Moreno. “He’s not here. But I’ll show you where he lives.”

Emma Goldman was on her way to Canada.

 

[glowjack]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anywhere but Canada! The states always thought we harboured criminals and let them to/from the states!

 

[freivolk]

With Mosley propably searching a way to form an alliance with the USA, Canada may not be the savest place for Goldmann.

 

[schrammy]

a strange destination

i have to say that this move seems to me like a strange one aswell

to get from mexico to canada you have to travel straight trough the USA or
trough there territorial waters, if you go by ship.

and even once there you would hardly be out of reach of the USA.
with canada being a right next to it.
I also doudt that canada wouldn't hand her over if the USA pressured them hard enough.

wouldn't it be much easyer and safer for her to travel to south amerika,
and from there on to someplace else where she might be safe(er)
like for instance france,japan,germany.

all those would seem like more likely destinations.

 

[Archangel]

The occupation of Mexico is not going to end well for the US.

 

[rast]

Let’s talk about it…

The German labour unions had not only kept their promise of a strikeless time, they also had extended it to include May, 6th, 1924, the Emperor’s birthday, which this year fell on a Tuesday, so that many Germans had asked for a day of leave and enjoyed a long weekend until Wednesday morning, with Monday serving as a bridging day.
The German factory owners had discussed matters during the time-out. Some of them were willing to grant co-determination in their plants. After all, the experience one had made during the Great War wasn’t really negative, the labour unions had been quite realistic in their approach.
Others were strictly posed against it. It were their factories, they were the masters, and they wanted to remain in charge of things alone.
To all, however, it was clear that a new wave of strikes would not help to improve the situation. If production was allowed to falter, competitors from other countries – not bothered by ambitious labour unions – would take over the market. Although one had already transferred some production capacity to other countries, the output of the German plants was essential.
In this, by the way, the labour unions had a point: German workers were producing far less junk than their colleagues in the plants recently set up abroad.
And the labour unions clearly were posed for a protracted struggle. After six quiet years at the social front, their strike funds were well stocked.

No, the answer was obviously to come to an arrangement with the labour unions – and at the same time use automatisation and assembly line techniques in order to reduce the number of workers and employees.
Thus, on Monday May 5th, the Federation of German Industrial Employers offered a new round of talks to the labour unions, which the German Union of Labour Unions accepted on the same day.
Consequently, all strikes were called off.

What now followed was a prolonged haggling, sometimes accentuated by token warning strikes or token factory lock-outs, which was to last until almost Christmas 1924.
The end result was a typically German compromise, clumsy and hyper-complicated in appearance to foreign observers, but in the German mind well balanced and acceptable to both sides.
In a nut shell, the agreement was that depending on the size of work force to be represented, workers’ representatives would occupy between one third and half of the seats in the board of directors, but the chairman of the board would – in each and every case – be a representative of the owners or shareholders, and his ballot would decide if parity of votes occurred.

For all the huge German trusts this meant that half of the seats in all their boards of directors now went to the workers. Hugo Stinnes, who had died in April of 1924, was said to rotate in his tomb because of this ‘revolution’, and many feared for the competitive ability of the German industries.

As Carl Duisberg, director of the board of Bayer Chemical Ltd. and about to combine the German chemical industry into the mighty IG Farben Trust, said on the occasion of a soirée at the Imperial Chancellery in Berlin:
“The representatives of the workers are going to have one single aim: To keep as many jobs as possible. – So, every time when it becomes necessary to invest in new machinery or to rationalise production, which might lead to a reduction of jobs, they will say: No! – Can’t we wait some time and manage without releases? – This, in the long run, will reduce our ability to prosper on the international markets, because our competitors in the USA, in Japan, in England – and soon also in India – will not wait, but will introduce more economic procedures on the spot.”

 

[rast]

Travels with Emma

Emma Goldman, alias Sister Niele Užugirytė, a nun from Lithuania travelling on behalf of the Holy Seed, as her documents, perfect forgeries made by Ephraim Sklyansky’s office, showed, boarded the train for St. Louis at Laredo, Texas.
A (forged) letter from Rome stated that she was transporting a precious relic from Mexico, acquired by the arch bishop of Guadalajara, to Winnipeg in Canada, and that all state authorities in all countries were requested to lend her support and help if required.
She carried a small box, which contained a kind of golden fish, which allegedly contained the relic: A piece of Saint Peter’s fisher boat, or more profane: Just a piece of wood.
She didn’t look like Emma Goldman at all with her braided long grey hair, her monocle, her remodeled nose, a minor surgery, and her long clerical gown, in the black and white of the Dominicans, the Hounds of the Lord.
But most probably, the US customs and security officers just didn’t suppose that the famous Red Emma might hide behind a nun’s cloak. And the documents produced by Sklyansky’s office were just more authentic than a real Lithuanian passport and a letter written by the Holy Seed could have been.

Travelling by rail, Goldman learned a lot about the conditions in the US. She was pleased to see that the Bring-the-Boys-Home movement was ubiquitous, but she also witnessed that many people were still patriotic and believed that ‘going in’ – the conquest of Mexico – had been the correct decision. Others, however, simply followed the old motto ‘Right or wrong – my country’ and hoped for a victory.
What enraged Goldman most was that practically everybody seemed to believe that she was behind the bomb attacks! Were people deaf and blind? How could they think that she had something to do with these crimes?

With interest she noted how the political parties manoeuvred in anticipation of the upcoming national conventions and the eventual presidential elections.
It looked as if the Republicans would split into one fraction against the war in Mexico and one pro. The leading man of the antis was Senator Robert M. Folette, who had already been against American involvement in the Great War and had become the victim of governmental rabble-rousing. The pro side was still undecided, Harding’s running mate in 1920, Calvin Coolidge, and Senator Hiram Johnson from California seemed to be the two most promising competitors.
The Democrats apparently would back a second candidacy of President Owen, more for lack of another convincing method how to get out of the Mexican War other than fighting it through until the end.

Although it seemed rather unlikely, Goldman hoped that Folette would be elected. He would end the military intervention in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean – would not send out young Americans to die for the interests and profits of some ruthless capitalists and monopolists.

Goldman also found that despite the war America was doing fine economically. – Or was it because of the war? People had cars, at least the cheap Ford T-Models, and other technical stuff like refrigerators, radios and washing machines. Everybody seemed to have money.
Then she learned that most purchases were made on credit – and recognised the evil lure of capitalism. Innocent people were baited into indebtedness and thus were made slaves of the monopolists. This could not end well...

From St. Louis, she proceeded to Chicago, and from there to Winnipeg in Canada, where she arrived on May 21st, 1924. Here, Sister Niele Užugirytė gave way to Gräfin Adelheid von Königstein, a proud citizen of the German Empire.
On May 28th, Gräfin Königstein arrived in Montreal, where she suddenly vanished.

On May 29th, Emma Goldman met with representatives of the ACLU. However, the Canadians thought that their government would not withstand pressure from the US to extradite Goldman once her sojourn in Canada became known. The Yankees were not very sound of mind at present, they might also kick in direction Canada.

Thus, on May 31st, 1924, the resurrected Gräfin Königstein boarded a HAPAG steamer at Halifax and travelled to Hamburg, Germany. After all, her friend Rosa had already returned to Germany at the expense of the German tax payer. And one thing was sure: The Germans – after the Americans had snubbed them because of her – would not extradite her to the US.

 

[Kara Iskandar]

Emma Goldmann as a nun? Very ironic!

 

[rast]

Bloodshed in the Karoo and the High Veldt

If the world – and the German peace makers in special – thought that the South African problem had been solved by the Treaty of Luanda and the subsequent regulations directed by Walther Rathenau, they were about to learn that they were all wrong.
Many Boers never had been happy with what the crazy Germans had done to their country. The Nie-Blanks were culturally and technologically retards. How could they be given equal rights and equal access to real estate, education and political decision making? This was factitious, a ridicule!

The group that carried the resistance was called ‘De Wilde Buren’ (The Wild Boers). And not really surprisingly, Barry Hertzog was said to be the spiritus rector of the movement, although the actual leaders in the field mostly were young men, junior leaders in the war for German South-West Africa, who now organised the armed resistance against superalienation by the Nie-Blanks.

It all started almost unnoticed, a little brawl here, a minor clash there. Then the first corpses lay in the dust, armed patrols controlled the traffic, houses burned to the ground.
The Boers had the advantage of better initial coordination and technological superiority. They had airplanes, cars, radio, telephones, aerial photography, and a well working medical service.

The Wild Boers aimed at ethnical cleansing, ousting the Nie-Blanks from the Boer areas, or killing them if they refused to go. – If there were three Nie-Blanks for every Blank, then each Blank only had to kill three persons – and the issue would be solved…
The problem, however, was that not all white citizens supported the Wild Boers, especially in the former Cape Colony their approach remained rather unpopular.

Nevertheless, before the coloured people were even able to react, Transvaal and the former Orange Free State had been ‘liberated’- and the Bethlehem Massacre had taken place.

At Bethlehem, some three thousand (the exact number never could be established) male Nie-Blanks, herded together from all over northern Oranje, were shot by a Wild Boer commando and left to rot in the High Veldt.

The news of this occurrence travelled fast. On June 8th, 1924, the Ukhahlamba Askaris were committed. They no longer were commanded by German officers, but now by their own commanders, who – under Rommel and Schlageter – had fought as field grades in the 1921 conflict.
The Askaris didn’t have the technical edge of the Boers, but they were trained in the German tradition (which finely matched with Shaka’s heritage): If in doubt about the enemy’s posture, attack him!

The Ukhahlamba Askaris were called a regiment, yet with roughly 10,000 soldiers they were closer to a division; and with 68 light 105 mm howitzers they also had quite a punch when it came to shelling.
The attack on Bloemfontein came in with the momentum of a steam hammer; the Boers were run down or brushed aside. Then the Askaris took revenge for Bethlehem. The population of Bloemfontein was butchered without regard to age and sex.

The Bloemfontein Butchery now also caused those whites hesitant until then to side with the Wild Boers.
By mid-June 1924, all of the Federation of South Africa was embroiled in a deathly struggle.

 

[thales]

Well shit....

First the whole diplomatic disaster between the USA and Germany and now this... Not a good time to be a politican..

Keep up the good work!

 

[perfectgeneral]

Not a good time to be a South African either.

 

[rast]

A Union and some Schisms

Returned from Mexico, Rosa Luxemburg had become the advocate of socialist unity. Her experiences she had made over there told her that the evolutionary course of the SPD was much preferable over the revolutionary approach of the KPD. The recent struggle for co-determination, in which the labour unions clearly were gaining every day, reinforced that insight. Looking to England, where socialist unity already had been achieved, further promoted Luxemburg’s arguments.
The SPD leadership generally had no serious objections against a re-union; inner-party democracy would soon show that their course was the one favoured most by the vast majority of the members. If the KPD offered to join ranks, the SPD would not object. On the contrary, one would be glad if all socialists again united and formed a common front against liberalism and capitalism.
Inside the KPD, however, there were many who feared for their independence, for the dilution of the teachings of Marx and Engels – and for their personal advantages.
But on a party congress in Leipzig on June 21st and 22nd, 1924, Rosa Luxemburg was victorious. With 62 percent, the delegates agreed to offer re-unification to the SPD.
However, a small group of dissidents, led by Wilhelm Pieck and Otto Rühle, split off from the still existing KPD and formed the ‘Sozialrevolutionäre Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands’ (SAD), which would have four seats in the Reichstag, twelve in the Prussian Landtag and four in Saxony.

On July 5th, 1924, an extraordinary party convention of the SPD in Bochum voted with 89 percent for the re-unification. The designation of the new party was hotly debated. While many thought that ‘SPD’ should be retained, a slight majority agreed with Philipp Scheidemann that a new name was required in order to mark the fact of socialist unity.
Finally, the delegates agreed to the designation ‘Partei Deutscher Sozialisten’ (PDS), which still contained the three letters S, P and D, albeit in a slightly different positioning.

On Sunday, July 20th, 1924, the former KPD joined the new PDS in an extraordinary joint party convention in Berlin. Philipp Scheidemann was elected party chairman; Rosa Luxemburg and Eduard David became his two deputies.

While the socialists united, the GDNP was hit by schism. The Deutschvölkischen (German Ethnic Nationalists), who formed the rightwing fringe of the party were dissatisfied with how things were evolving. How could the GDNP support the immigration of Jews from the east and the sojourn of all these black people in Germany? In their opinion, neither Jews – regardless of which variety – nor Negroes should be allowed to play any role in Germany.
Led by Reinhold Wulle and Albrecht von Graefe, the Deutschvölkischen left the GDNP and formed the Deutschvölkische Partei (DVP). As before, they co-operated closely with the other groups on the right fringe – and obviously tried to become the umbrella organisation for them.

Political observers – also those from the left spectrum – generally regretted this split. As long as they had been part of the GDNP, the right wing crack pots had at least been under some control, because the GDNP as a whole was playing widely to parliamentary rules. Now, on their own, the extremists might develop quite peculiar ideas how to change the state into something to their liking.
But as it was, the GDNP did not fight the DVP because many GDNP members openly sympathised with the Deutschvölkischen – they were not seen as dissenters, but as those who lived their conviction, while oneself was tied by political considerations for the sake of participation in the government.

 

[freivolk]

Seems not all things are nice and cozy in the Fatherland.