DRASTIC GOVERNMENT METHODS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11752, 4 February 1918, Page 5

DRASTIC GOVERNMENT METHODS

(Australia—N.Z. Cable Association.) (Received Last Night, 5.5 o'olock.y AMSTERDAM, February 2. The German Government considers that the strikes have gone faxenough. Jt is initiating more drastic methods, including the issue of very limited rations to the strikers, the dissolution ol the Berlin Soviet of five hundred members and the seizure of strike offices. The Cologne "Volks Zeitung" calls for a dictatorship. The paper says it is evident social democracy c omiders the time has come to realise its programme by violence. The Go vernment and the Bourgeoiso parties must beware of the Socialists if they do not decide the matter. Typical strike leaflets have been circulated in Berlin. One reads: "The Government's desire for peace is only a mask. Only by rising en masse can the people end the misery and wholesale massacre. A Democratic Republic alone can cry lialt to the international butchery. Delay no longer German workers (men and women .alike), but act with vigour, sparing none! Now is the time for th « blow! ' It is estimated that 100,000 were concerned in the Charlottenburg riots, in which the watchwords were "Peace! ' and "Bread! When the police ordered the strikers to disperse a shot was fired. !A panic commenced. The police eh arged with drawn swords. Tlio crowd organised itself for street fighting, blocking the roads. There were numerous arrests th ronghout the day. The crowd attempted to riot, but the cavalry, troops and machine guns over-awed them.