GERMAN ELECTIONS

Evening Star, Issue 18628, 8 May 1924, Page 3

GERMAN ELECTIONS

NATIONALS IN STRONG POSITION. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. RERUN. May 6. Further results of the elections make' the situation confusing. It is now in no ■wise certain that the Socialists will he the largest parity in the Reichstag. The German Nationals, who already _ number imuetysn'ne, will probably be joined by nine or ten deputies of the so-called I-aml-bund, the supporters of which Pure exmembers of the German National Party. If so, the Nationals will be the largest, party, and should the present Government resign President Ebert is bound to ask the German Nationals to form a Govern- 1 ment.—Reuter. FRENCH PESSIMISTIC. PARIS, May 6. French official circles are pessimistic regarding -the -results of the German elections. believing that the delcat of the middle parties and the success of the two extremes will render a reparations settlement more difficult.—Sydney ‘Sun’ Cable. THE FRENCH PRESS. LONDON, May 7. (Received May 8, at 9.55 a.m.) The Paris correspondent of ‘The Times’ says:— l The ‘Journal des Debate,’ commenting on the German elections, calls on Germany to say exactly what she moans to do, then the Allies will know exactly what action to take. . . ‘Figaro’ expresses the opinion that Ger. many seems npo for either a Mouarcliical or a proletarian dictatorship. _ In either case ft is the duty of the Allies to close their ranks. ‘La Yictoire ’ declares: “If we had not occupied Rhineland and the Ruhr we should not have had long to wait for the return of the Hohcnzollerns.”

It is generally assumed that the effect cf the elections will be to strengthen M. Poincare’s position. Germany is now considered to be showing her true character. “Wo now,” says ‘ L’lntransigeant,’ “have at last proof that we are only halfway on tho road, and that there is still a long trudge before us. We shall got there, because France clearly perceives where her duty lies. She does not wish to embark on adventures, but at the same time she does not believe in changing her direction.’‘—‘The Times.’

EXTREMES IN GERMANY. ■NEED FOB A LEADER. The following letter by the correspondent of the ‘New Statesman/ Mr Robert Dell, written front Berlin on March 17, makes such a shrewd forecast of the results of the elections that its views of probable after-de«lopments will ulro be' read with interest:— It Is universally believed that the gainers in the General Election will be the extreme Eight (the German Fascists) and the extreme Left (the Communists), and that the extreme Right will gain more than the extreme Left. That the Socialist Party will lose heavily nobody doubts. The most optimistic Socialist estimate is a loss of 40 per cent., and estimates outside the Socialist Party put the lose higher. In some official circles it is feared that the Communists will be seventy to eighty strong in the new Reichstag, but i doubt whether they will

gain so much. A certain number of workmen are going over to the Fascists for the same reason that a larger number are going to the Communists—namely, that they are disgusted with all the parties that have been in the Government, and with the -socialist Party in particular. The Democrats, few as they are already, are likely to be still fewer in the new Reichstag. It is probable that the Centre and the Vblkspartei will remain about the same, that the German Nationalists will gain a. little, and the Fascists will gain heavily. The composition of the late Reichstag was as follow's Left ; Socialists 173, Democrats 39, Communists 15; total 227. Centre 65. Plight : German Nationalists 67, German People’s Party 65, Bavarian People’s Party 20 Bavarian Peasants Party 4, Fascists o, Guelphists 2; total 162. There were also 2 Independent*. If democracy existed in Germany and the electors could choose their own representatives, the Socialist Party would yiot lose so heavily. In those conditions the so-called Left Wing of the parly would gain and the socalled Right Wing would lose. I say “ so-called ” because these designations correspond to no definite political tendencies. The “Right Wing” is little more than a clique of officials and place-hunters, whose chief concern is the defence of their own vested interests. The “Loft Wing” is the vast majority of the party. Yet in the new as in the old Reichstag the Right Wing will preponderate, for the German electoral system is a travesty of representative government. The electors can vote only lor a particular party. They have no choice at all between particular individuals. The actual members of the Reichstag are chosen, not by the electors, but by o bureaucratic clique in each party. The candidates are put on the lists in order of merit. If the votes obtained by the party are enough to elect one member, the first on the hot is chosen; if they are enough to cleat two members, the first two names on tho list are elected, and so on. Naturally, all the gentlemen who during tho last five years liavo led tho Socialist Party to defeat and disgrace a-ro at the top of the lists. In Berlin the District Council of the party drew up a list of candidates almost entirely belonging to the Left Wing, whereupon the two or three representatives of the Right Wing on the list withdrew their names, and the Executive annulled the list and substituted one in which the two wings wore equally represented. Such is German democracy. In these circumstances it is not surprising that many workmen refuse to vote for the Socialist list. The policy of the Socialist Party m the new Reichstag lias already been defined under the guidance of President Ebert and his principal lieutenant, Dr Hilierding. It is the old policy of coalition with the Centre and tho party of Dr Stresemann. It is possible, however, that the Socialist Party will not he large enough to make its inclusion in a Government of any use. In that case Dr Stresemann will go to the Right. On the whole tho political outlook is about as black as it could be, The diminution of the preset Socialist Party in the Reichstag may not in itself be a misfortune. But what is to take the place of the Socialist'Party ? The Communists, like the other parlies, have no leaders, and Germany needs loss State interference and control, not more. All the ills from which the country is suffering are mainly due to tho State. What Germany needs just now is more individualism and -training in the use of personal liberty. Never was there a country where a real Liberal Party would have a better chance; ibut there is not the least chance of forming one. The docility of the Ger-

man people becomes in time exasperating. It is difficult, to keep up one’s sympathy for people who lie down to be trodden on. and apparently like it. This docility, however, gives an immense opportunity to a leader, if one ever turns up. There are at least a hundred men in English politics of the second or third rank, any one of whom, were he a German, would look like a great statesman, and could easily pet himself accepted as a heaven-sent leader to whatever party he belonged.