THE CENTRAL POWERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3334, 6 February 1918, Page 18

THE CENTRAL POWERS.

STRIKES IN GERMANY. INSTIGATED BY SOCIALISTS. (By Cable.) There were tumultuous scenes at PanGerman meetings at Bonn, Cologne, and Dortmund. There was strong dissent when orators advocated annexations, and the proceedings ended with stormy platform fighting. The strikers at Berlin number 100,000, including many women. The German Electric Company's mammoth works are closed. Strikes have occurred also at Krupp's, the coal mines at Bochun, the torpedo factories at Bar and Kiel, and the Germania shipyard. Admiral von Capelle has gone to Wilhelmshaven to urge the workers at the naval yards to remain at work, otherwise they will be guilty of treason. The Berlin strike leaders have elected a committee of nine to negotiate with the Government. Their demands include peace without annexations or -indemnities, the abolition of military control over war factories, the restoration of the right of public meeting, new arrangements for the equal distribution of food supplies, the release of arrested leaders, especially Liebnecht, secret and equal franchise to all men and women in Prussia over 20 years. It is estimated that there are 750,000 on 6trike in Berlin, and the movement is rapidly becoming general in other centres. Hcrren Haase, Ledebour, Scheidemann, Evert, and other prominent Socialists have joined a newly-formed workmen's council. The Secretary of the Interior refused to receive the council's deputation. Bolshevik pamphlets are being distributed in Berlin factories, declaring that since the Russian revolutionaries have triumphed at Brest-Litovsk, the German workers must secure a revolutionary triumph in Germany. Count von Hertling (Imperial Chancellor) conferred with the Military Commandant at Berlin. In view of the strikes, it was decided to confine the troops to barracks, but officers are to be instructed to act with discretion. The Independent Socialists have issued pamphlets broadcast, urging a general strike, and even inciting workers to overthrow tho Government," destroy the bourgeoisie, and proclaim a republic. Tho German Government has authorised the use of machine guns against the rtrikers if necessary. The police brutally dispersed demonstrators at Hamburg.

The strike at Krupp's is admitted. A j semi-official report asserts that it is unimportant. The German Brewers' News states that, owing to the bad oat harvest, the supply of barley to brewers has been stopped, and*" brewing is at a standstill. The Daily Express Amsterdam corre- j spondent states that the strikes are ! spreading to the munition factories throughout Germany. There have been grave disturbances at vai-ious centres, particularly in big concerns working exclusively for the Government. There are at least 40 factories idle. The authorities have issued a strong warning, but they are powerless to stem j the rapid spread of the strike. j Half a million" strikers at Berlin, at the Kiel shipyards, and at the Westphalian mines, are idle. Though a report states that the Berlin I strikers decided to resume on Thursday, being satisfied with a three days' demonstration, other reports announce the extension of the strike to Essen, Westphalia, | Kiel, and Hamburg. It is stated that all ' the naval and munition works at Kiel have been idle since Sunday. * ■ The German authorities fear a railway strike. The railwaymen organised a meet- ! ing to discuss a strike, but the police in- j tervened, and made many arrests. Vorwarts calls on English and French I workers to show that they are earnest about peace, and adds : " It is not only a matter of achieving unity at home, but of calling over our frontiers and trenches to ask for solidarity from the foreign working classes." The publication of the Berliner Tageblatt, the Berliner Post, and Vorwarts has been suspended owing to their comments on the strikes. Most of the big newspapers are not being published owing to the strike. All the workmen's meetings and demonstrations have been prohibited. Fifty thousand workers have struck at Kiel. The German authorities are no longer able to suppress the main indications of the seriousness of the strikes, but are adopting stricter measures to obscure the extent of the unrest. The latest extension . of the strike is to the Bavarian armament works. One of the most prominent causes of the trouble, next to the food scarcity, is increasing hostility against the Fatherland (pan-German) party. A semi-official Berlin telegram, dated ! January 30, states that there are only 120,000 strikers. The newspapers, with a few exceptions, have reappeared, and the street traffic is normal. There are not any disturbances anywhere in the empire. SOCIALIST LEADERS ARRESTED. A great number of Socialist leaders have been arrested in various German towns.

It is reported that the Socialist parties have sunk their differences and are united in the strike movement. Marshal von Hindenburg has warned the strikers that they are weakening Germany and allowing the enemy to murder men in the trenches. The Government is issuing a proclamation stating that Bi'itain is awaiting salvation from the German strikes, hoping thereby to break Germany's industry for ever. Practically all the Hamburg shipyards are paralysed. According to Hamburg Socialist newspapers a state of siege has been declared at Hamburg. The Amsterdam correspondent of The Times states that it is estimated that the German strikers exceed a million in number, and they are mostly munition workers. Latest news from Berlin states that at Charlottenburg and Spandau there were big demonstrations in the streets and fights between the strikers and the police. It is estimated that 100.000 were concerned in the. Charlottenburg riots, of which the watchword was " Peace and Bread." When the police ordered the etrikers to disperse a shot was fired and a panic commenced. The police charged with drawn swords, and the crowd organised itself for street fighting, blocking the roads. Numerous arrests were made throughout the day. The crowd attempted riots, but the cavalry and infantry troops with machine guns overawed them. STRINGENT REPRESSIVE MEASURES. Stringent martial * aw has been proclaimed in Berlin. The proclamation warns citizens not to participate in public meetings. The Berliner Tageblatt states that police have occupied the Trades Union buildings, where a number of leaders have been imprisoned. There was no rioting in Berlin, but several disturbances in the suburbs, and the police dispersed the workers. The German Government considers that the strikes have gone far enough, and is initiating more drastic methods, including the issue of very limited rations to strikers, the dissolution of the Berlin Soviet of 500 members, and the seizure of the strike offices at Cologne. The Volks Zeitung calls for a dictatorship, and says it is evident that the social democracy considers the time has come to realise a programme by violence. The Government and the bourgeoisie parties must beware that the Socialists do not decide the matter. The military commandant at Hamburg has proclaimed that all workmen liable for military service not resuming will be called up forthwith. Another proclamation orders "all strikers to resume.

The Germania asserts that the strikes are a blessing for the employers, and wilt hurt only the workers. The employers were about to clo.se their works for several clays owing to coal shortage. The employers had agreed to pay five-sevenths of the expenses of a lock-out. Berlin newspapers show that thousands of men and women from the Moabit quarter (the " Whitechapel" of Berlin) surged into the streets, overturning trams and erecting barricades, and broke through the police cordon. The police fired, wounding 13 severely and many slightly. Similar demonstrations and encounters took place in other working-class suburbs. The military commander of Berlin has ordered the workers to resume on Monday, or they will be punished under the military code. Semi-official messages from Berlin state that the strikes are subsiding and the men are resuming work. At Hamburg, Danzig, and Kiel only minor disturbances were reported on Friday, and the street traffic in Berlin was not interrupted. On the other hand, The Hague telegrams assert that the situation m Berlin remains unchanged, that a large number of the Independent Socialist, leaders were arrested simultaneously with Dittman, and that the workpeople in Cologne, Dusseldorf, and Gelsenkirchen and the coal miners at Dortmund and Bochum have joined the strikers. A STRIKE LEAFLET. A typical strike leaflet circulated in Berlin reads: "The Government desire for peace is only a mask. Only by rising en masse can the people end the present misery and wholesale massacre. A demo cratic republic alone can cry halt to the international butchery. Delay no longer, German workers, men and women alike, but act with vigour, sparing none. Now is the time for a blow." A SUPPRESSED PAMPHLET. A smuggled copy of a suppressed pamphlet signed by the leaders of the German Independent Socialists shows that they instigated the strikes, because the Government's collusion with, the pan-Germans was endangering the peace negotiations with Russia and because the Government closed the Reichstag—the only place where their dangerous annexation policy could be attacked. The pamphlet proceeds : " Our. press js gagged and our comrades are imprisoned. Working-class men and women have no time to lose, for new and frightful disaster threatens us. Despite the sufferings and sorrows we have already endured, only a peace without annexations and indemnities can save us. The time will come when you will raise your voices for such a peace. The German people, by powerful demonstrations, must manifest their determinate end the war." .The arrest of Herr Dittman, a member of the Reichstag, who was, one of the signatories to the pamphlet, has profoundly irritated the Socialists, and a national demonstration of protest is being arranged. A WILD STORY.

Cologne newspapers publish details of an alleged Anglo-American plot. They state that a committee was formed at Washington, with a fund of 250,000,000 marks, under Senator Stone, Lord North - cliffe, and Lord Reading, to organise a revolution in Germany, Austria, Turkey, and Bulgaria by establishing branches in neutral countries and sending neutrals into Germany to incite munition makers to strikes and sabotage. LONDON PRESS VIEWS. The tendency to exaggerate the importance of the German strikes continues. There is no evidence that anything like a million people are striking, though it is evident that there is much labour unrest, while the German trade union leaders generally are hostile to the strikes. As the result of the suspension of Vorwarts the printers of all the big newspapers have struck, and the Berlin papers did not appear yesterday. A section of the London press flatly describes the German strike as clever camouflage designed to incite a revolt and spread pacifism in the British industrial districts and especially to support the engineers in their attitude on the man-power scheme. The workers are warned against an attempt to trap them into conspiracy, but it is generally believed that the majority are incapable of being fooled. GERMAN PRESS CRITICISM. The German newspapers commented freely on Baron von Hertling's and Count Czernin's speeches to the Reichstag Main Committee, and in the Austrian Reichsrath respectively. - Maximilian Harden, in Die Zukunft, virtually endorses President Wilson's and Ms Lloyd George's programmes. He admits the justice of the Entente's claim regarding Alsace and Lorraine, condemns the German Government's and the Russian schemes, and asserts his belief that peace is possible. Count Reventlow declares that Czernin's offer of separate negotiation with America endangers Germany's life and interests. The Frankfurter Zeitung says : " Austria is to be envied in having a Czernin. An Austrian egg has been laid, and we must see what sort of a bird comes out." The moderate newspapers angrily comment on the King of Saxony's telegram to the pan-German meeting, the message declaring that the whole German people demand a military peace. The Frankfurter Zeitung reports unprecedented tumult in Berlin political circles. The pan-Germans aro kicking up a tremendous row, and are again declaring that von Hindenburg and von Ludendorff threaten to retire. The Deutsche Tageszeitung (Berlin) assails von Kuhlmann, Count Czernin, von Hertling, and Count Rocdern, the German Finance Minister. The Tageszeitung begs the confederated German Princes to intervene energetically to pre-

vent Germany from sinking into the aby.se which these four men are preparing for her. It adds that the King of Bavaria has already approached the Kaiser on this matter. , While Count Czernin's declaration that lie had sen? an advance copy of his speech to President Wilson was cheered in the Austrian Hoase, the announcement was greeted with howls of rage by the German annexationists. The Deutsche Tageszeitomg, a pan-Ger. man organ, openly summons the German people to revolt. It says: "We have a Judas among us; he appears in the red court mantle of Germany's hangman." Ihe paper asks: " Who will save Germany from this traitor if not the German people? and adds: " Germans, help yourselves, and God will help you." It is understood that the phrase " Germany s hangman" refers to the Kaiser! Ihe Frankfurter Zeitung states that jl°" VOn Hertlill g will shortly make an additional statement, with a positive declaration regarding Belgium. THE KAISER'S BIRTHDAY. Acknowledging his court preacher's birthday greetings, the Kaiser (who was 59 on Sunday, '27th ult., telegraphed: "With deep thankfulness T commemorate today God's great deeds for the German people. He has given historical successes to our colours, removed many sorrows, and kept the Fatherland through distress and privations. I hope that our Church will help me after we have victoriously finished the war, in peaceful competition with other confessions, to heal wounds, conciliate controversies, and unite and strengthen our people in enthusiastic and unselfish devotion to the Fatherland. My special sympathy is with the great tasks set equally before Church and. State in the reconstruction of family life and the education of a God-fearing and healthy young generation, worthy of their fathers." Krupps (in which the Kaiser is one of the largest shareholders) have purchased the Wolff Telegraphic Agency, which controls the German official news. They have also started two new companies to control the foreign news service and advertising business in the foreign press, and acquire foreign advertising business in German newspapers. FOOD FOR AUSTRIA. The German and Austrian Governments are settling a scheme whereby Germany will lend to Austria food. It is understood that half a million tons of flour will be supplied, returnable after the harvest. Serious rioting has occurred at Prague (Bohemia) against a reduction of the flour ration by half. Shops were looted, and the police dispersed the crowd. All the restaurants in Vienna are closed owing to lack of potatoes, vegetables, and flour. The biggest flour mill in Vienna, and the chief supplier of the. city, has been destroyed by fire, with large stocks' of grain and flour. /

Von Seidler, Austrian Premier, has withdrawn his resignation.