GERMAN SOCIALISTS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLIII, Issue 9745, 11 December 1922, Page 7

GERMAN SOCIALISTS.

INTERNTIONALES TO UNITE. Both the German Socialist parties—the Majority Socialists and the Independents—ceased to exist in September, says the Berlin coiTespondent of the “Daily Telegraph,” and thenplace is now taken by the United Social Democratic Party of Germany, as tlie result of the action taken at the unity convention of both parties in Nuremberg. This action was preceded by separate conventions of both parties at Augsburg and Gera, where the proposal for reunion was overwhelmingly approved. The reunion of the German Socialist parties ends a feud of several years’ standing, and makes possible the appearance in the Reichstag of a. United Socialist delegation of 180 members, who will form the chief bulwark of the! defence of the Republic in Parliament. The reunion of the German Socialist parties will prove a big blow to German reaction, and ends Moscow's dream of obtaining hegemony over ; ihe international Socialist and Labour movement. That both the Reactionaries and the Communists are conscious of this fact is evident from the bitter attacks heaped upon unity of action both by the Reactionary and the Communist Press. Through Germany, however, eleven nillion workers, organised in trade mions, co-operative and educational locieties, and various Republican organisations, greet the re-union of the socialist parties with enthusiasm as i tremendous step forward in buttressng the Republic against its enemies n the . Right and Left. v The decision of the Majority Socialsts who met at Augsburg in favour of mion was unanimous, the convention ; dopting the unity motion after a . hort debate, which was entirely oneided, for the unity proposal met -with o opposition. The Independents’ acion in favour of unity may also be regarded as unanimous, for _ only a small “die-hard” group of nine delegates, led by Herr Ledebour, Voted l against it.. Among the many leaders of the international Socialist Labour movement in Europe and America who to-day greeted the re-union in statements on behalf of their parties, were: Herr Karl Kantsky (Germany). AfTom Shaw (England), M. Vandervelde - (Belgium), Signor Turati (Italy), M. Leon Jouliqux (France), Mr R. C. Wallhead (England), M. Victor Chert noff (leader of the Social Revolutionary Party of Russia), and Mr Ramsay MacDonald (England). In their statement these leaders greet the re-union of the German Socialist parties as the most important development in German revolution, saying it marks the beginning of the renewed battle against European reaction on one side and Russian Bolshevism on the other. The re-union of the German Socialists will bo followed by a world congress, probably at Hamburg, at which the London, Vienna, and Amsterdam Internationales will form a new Socialist and Labour Internationale—a. creation which will be synonymous -with the death of Lenin’s Moscow Internationale.