The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and, The Echo. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1930. THE GERMAN ELECTIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 219, 16 September 1930, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and, The Echo.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1930. THE GERMAN ELECTIONS.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the tvrong that needs resistant}*. For the future in the distance t And the good that tee can do.

About two months ago a crisis suddenly arose in the German Reichstag. Certain financial measures were, in the opinion of the Government, required to enable Germany to meet her obligations under the Young Plan and to balance the Budget, but the Chancellor could not force them through. Under an "emergency clause" of the Constitution the President has power to impose "necessary" measures by decree. But when the attempt was made the Reichstag set up systematic obstruction. But evidently von Hindenburg knows his own mind, and he at once dissolved the Reichstag and announced a new election.

This brief recital supplies all the information needed to explain the remarkable situation that has suddenly developed in Germany. The elections have been held, and the Centre or Moderate Party, with its allied Socialist groups, liasl suffered a severe reverse. At the same time the National Socialists or "Hitlerites" on the Right and the Communists of the Left—have greatly increased their strength. The success of the Communist faction, though well marked, is not a serious factor in the situation. But the triumph of the "Hitlerites," who aim at the overthrow of the Republic, is a Very different matter, and it may lead to the most serious crisis that Germany has yet-had to face.

It is a curious fact that Adolf Hitler, the founder of the National Socialist Party, was not a German, but an Austrian. But all Austrians are Teutons, and their traditional reverence for the Habsburg- monarchy makes them enthusiastic advocates of absolutism.

Hitler, with the aid of- Ludendorff, organised the "putseh" which in 1923 almost succeeded, in overwhelming republicanism in Bavaria, and he was sentenced to a long term of imprisonment.. But ho was speedily released, and under his guidance the party of reaction soon gathered strength. Its slogan was, to all intents and purposes, "Down with the Kepublic," and under, the control of Ilugenburg, a Conservative newspaper proprietor, and Count Westarp, a lire-eating militarist-of the old school, it lias fiercely opposed the Constitutionalists.

But in the last Eeiclistag the "Hitlerites" held only 12 seats, ancl( in the new Chamber they already claim over 100, and the politicians are beginning to anticipate dire trouble fpr the Chancellor Bruening and the Centre ori ! Moderate Party which he has kept in power for a time by dexterous manoeuvres and carefully chosen alliances. The "Hitlerites" regard Parliamentary government as a failure, and they, have' declared in favour of a Dictatorship. In fact, they are Fascists slightly- disguised, and most «of them are prepared to. make. Count Westarp or some other militarist their .Mussolini., It should be observed that the Communists are also working for. the extinction of republicanism and the enthronement of a Dictator, after the fashion of Lenin or Stalin. Thus, though the Fascists and the Bolsheviks are "wide as the poles apart," they both favour absolutism, and their combined hostility may prove too much for constitutional government in Germany.

For the moment the'safety and, indeed, the existence of the republic depends on the courage ' and the political wisdom of Dr. Bruening. He is only 45 years old, and he was ' trained as a- teacher of history and philosophy. But r.s chancellor he has displayed so much good sense, resourcefulness and capacity for leadership that, he has won a large measure of public corifiden •. Moreover, he has the support of Hindenburg, who lias given proof that he is prepared to support a constitutional Republic to the extreme limit of his powers.. Even now Bruening's task would not be so difficult if it were not for the multiplicity of political interests represented in the Reichstag. In the last Parliament there were at different times from <10 to 14 separate parties, and it is always possible that the defection of one or other of these small groups may leave a weakness in Bruening's position of which the now powerful "Hitlerite" Party may take advantage to overthrow the Republic and set up Fascism in. its place.