BERLIN REVISITED

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1919, Page 16

BERLIN REVISITED

PEOPLE'S CHANGED MOOD

HATRED FOR HOME CON.

SUMPTION

GREAT DOMESTIC CONFLICT.

Since the big Allied CJommisaion arrived a few British privates havo been visible on the stractß dl Berlin. They generally hunt in couplesy whioh is natural, for their position is a disagreeable and a lonely one. The Gesman hotheads havo too much discretion to insult our officers, for that would mean publio scandal and international incidents, so thoy give vent _to their feelings and satisfy their mortified patriotism by half-audibl. jeers in the English language as our rankers pass. Our men can afford to reply with a smile (writes the Berlin correspondent of the London Daily Telegraph, on ISth September), since they know that so far as the war is concerned their laughter is tho last, and consequently the best. But the German heads that aro still hot over the war are very few, and the. most galling symbol of their humiliation is needed to make them betray themselves. The rest of the population speaks of the war—and almost appears to thick of it—as an event with a merely historical 'interest. Popular feeling seems to have been almost completely switched off the foreign conflict and on lo the domestip one. After all, tha foreign conflict is dead, if not done with, while the domestic one is still only working up to the point of supreme crisis. That is why tho average German waxes much Warmer against the Spartacists or the Monarchists than against France or Great Britain, and reserves his most vigorous expletives for Erzberger or Noske Tather than for Lloyd George or Clemenceau. ATTITUDE TOWA-IDS INVADERS.

AU the same one cannot help feeling surprised at finding so little trace of the sedulously cultivated hate which was the German's spiritual ammunition in the war. I expected to find much more, and if it had existed should, therefore, prob»bly have found it. But so far, though I have spoken English freely in trams, trains, theatres, restaurants, and other public places, I have never yet seen anything that suggested black looks, or, indeed, moro_ than the vacant curiosity which a foreign language generally arouses in those! not accustomed to the sound of it. My work has necessarily brought me into contact with people of all classes of society, and in no case have I had the fooling tha,t my presence lacerated a fresh wound or revived poignant memories. Nor can it be said that the general attitudo is one of licking the hand that has held the whip. It is only that tho Germans^ instead of being ruder than before, are, if anything,'not quite so rude. On the -whole, we are distinctly favoured in comparison with the French. At Cologne I found that the British occupation was regarded by the masses as a definite blessing, and that the possibility of tho French taking our place there aroused feelings of horrified alarm. Similarly, there seems to be general consensus of opinion here that German prisoners were much better treated in EngUund than in France, and that our peace conditions have heen less harassing and burdensome than those of our chief Ally. At the same time, most Germans admit that this difference is easily explain_ble by the hideous sacrifices and devastation whioh have been the m_in cost of the war to France. THE CABBY BAROMETER.

But all this is discussed with comparative moderation and coolness. It is only when the Germans begin to talk about ono another that their bitterness boils over. And hero it is exceedingly difficult to decide tn what direction tho definite current of national feeling, if one really exists, is at present running. In the old days the Berlin cabman used to be considered the best mdox of the feelings of the fluid vote, that is to say, of that section of electorate which has no fixed political determination, and changes its party adhesion, under, tho influence of passing events. I have spoken to many of these men, both young and old, and the only opinion in which they all agreed was that thero has been too much revolution. One of thorn was quite satisfied that Germany had lost the war, as that was the only wav to get rid of the people in high places, _11 of whom, he said, were "thieves." When asked whether this applied to Bethmann-Holl-weg, he promptly replied that it did. and to Ludendorff and Hindenburg as well. All tho eama, ho was emphatically of the opinion that "there was no longer any order in the country." Another cabby thought the_ war would have been won by Germany "if the officershad eaten out of tho same dish as the soldiers"; but though, so far as my knowledge goes, this ideal has even yet not been realised, he still sighed for more order. A third was frankly reactionary. "For all I care," he said, "we can go back to the old state of things." "Then freedom means nothing to you?" I asked. "Freedom!" he replied, contemptuously; "this _s not freedom. Tbis is disorder." And yet, as has been eeen, there is at present va-y little sign of this disorder on the face of Berlin life.. . THE ORGANISED WORKERS When you go to the organised worker you hear a very different tale. There you are assured that, so far from there having i been too much revolution, there has not been any. For these men, tho real revolution, which' is going to bring the prompt socialisation or nationalisation of all the big industries, still lies in the future, and, from my own inquiries, I should say that a great deal of energy and enthusiasm is at work below the surface to realise this aim. Numerical illustrations of this are not easily accessible, but the Independent Socialists, who are the incorporation of tho movement, claim to havo a membership of 750,000. Exactly what is the character of this membership is not explained, but that of th© entire Socialistic Party before the war. at a time when it polled between 30 and 40 per cent, of the total vote at tho general elections, was only slightly over the million. At the same time, though the Independents want more revolution, and advocate searching inquiry and drastic punishment for the heads of the old regime who led Germany to disaster, their present tendency seems, to be in the direction of "Parliamentary" action rather than of street barricades and fortified newspaper offices.

ANTI-JEWISH AGITATION

On the other wing, pent-up feelings have found relief in a wild burst of anti-somit-ism. This movement is being vigorously and cleverly engineered by Monarchists to work on popular prejudices. A large part of the industry, and still a larger of the commerce, of Germany was always in Jewish hands, and consequently a considerable proportion of the "war gainers," who, thanks to large profits and contraband trade, havo been able to get through the last five years without denying themselves anything, is of Semitic race. Now the "war gainers" and the "stealth traders" are tho two most hated classes of the population, and it is not a difficult matter, I with public opinion in its present unstablo and rather flighty condition, to identify them with Judaism. To tliis must be added tho largo percentage of Jews among tho Socialistic, and especially among- the Bolshevik, loaders, and She ground is ready for a very flourishing anti-semitic agitation. The agitation is now in full swing, and finds its expression in numerous public meetings, in pamphlets whioh are distributed by tens of thousands, and in newspapers that aro forced upon the public attention with a zeal and pertinacity never maintained by mere commercial enterprise. THE FEAR OF BOLSHEVISM. From my own observations and know-lodge-of Gei-many. I am inclined to be very sceptical towards the storios and rumours' which associate tho Junker, and tho Prussian' officer-caste with the aims and plans of Bolshevism. Tho old Imperial Government undoubtedly entangled itself deeply with Bolshevism,. but only because it was between the devil and the deep sea, and had to choose, one of them. Apparently, its'attitude was that when you ally yourself with the devil he is more likely to carry out his share of ±ho bond if you treat him with But the Junker and thß Prussian militaxists aro in the deep sea, and even If thoy thought thei'9 was s_y, (__sncs.*f tiuy-rioyil helpm. them

out of it—which they don't—they are much too afraid of him to seek his assist: ance in a.ny form. It may not be a gratifying thought, but it is probably true, that our chief and real enemies in tho late wav are at present ono of tho strongost barriers to the westward sweep of Bolshevism. They will fight it- to the death, because it threatens with utter destruction the little that the war has left over to them. Theirs are the next mansions to bo 6acked and plundered; theirs the next families to be chased from their homes in the night penniless and roofless; theirs the next estates to be divided up among a hungry proletariat. Reaction in this country has to fight to retain what it still has Hefore it can hops to fight to recover what it has lost, and in its inmost heart it is certainly more concerned with' the threat of Bolshevism than with the dim hope of restoring monarchies and whittling down franchises.

It is said that praotically the entire officers' corps of the old German army is organised for street fighting, and would turn out armed the moment tho Spartacists made another attempt to get Berlin into their hands. Indeed, I have been tojd that the disorders here earlier in the year were mainly suppressed by officers fighting as rankers, the men having proved quite untrustworthy in that kind of oivil wa-r. It is conceivable that a time might come when a very little Prussian militarism might seem proferaHo to a great deal of Russian Bolshevism, and might be the only alternative to it.