"The practical application of these principles will always and

everywhere depend upon historically existing conditions. * * * The

Commune has supplied the proof that the laboring class cannot simply

take possession of the machinery of state and set it in motion for its

own purposes."[63]

[63] Introduction to the second edition of the Manifesto of 1849,

quoted in chapter iii.

The tardy realization of this fact placed the delegates of the

government party in a serious dilemma. Sweeping socialization had been

promised, and the rank and file of the party expected and demanded it.

In these circumstances it was obvious that a failure to carry out what

was at the same time a party doctrine and a campaign pledge would have

serious consequences, and it must be reckoned to the credit of the

leaders of the party that they put the material welfare of the state

above party considerations and refused to let themselves be hurried into

disastrous experiments along untried lines. Their attitude resulted in

driving many of the members of the Socialist party into the ranks of the

Independents, but in view of the fact that the government nevertheless

remained strong enough to defeat these elements wherever they had

recourse to violence, and of the further fact that to accede to the

demands of these intransigeants would have given the final blow to what

little remained of German industry, the leaders must be said to have

acted wisely and patriotically.

With organization effected, the National Assembly settled down to work.

But it was work as all similar German organizations in history had

always understood it. All the political immaturity, the tendency to

philosophical and abstract reasoning, the ineradicable devotion to the

merely academic and the disregard of practical questions that are such

prominent characteristics of the people were exhibited just as they had

been at the Congress at Frankfort-on-the-Main seventy years earlier. It

has been written of that Congress:

"But the Germans had had no experience of free political life.

Nearly every deputy had his own theory of the course which ought

to be pursued, and felt sure that the country would go to ruin

if it were not adopted. Learned professors and talkative

journalists insisted on delivering interminable speeches and on

examining in the light of ultimate philosophical principles

every proposal laid before the assembly. Thus precious time was

lost, violent antagonisms were called forth, the patience of the

nation was exhausted, and the reactionary forces were able to

gather strength for once more asserting themselves."[64]

[64] _Encyclopedia Britannica_, title "Germany."

Except that the reactionary forces were too weakly represented at Weimar

to make them an actual source of danger this characterization of the

Frankfort Congress might have been written about the proceedings of the

National Assembly of February. It is a significant and illuminating fact

that the greatest animation exhibited at any time during the first week

of the assembly was aroused by a difference of meaning as to the

definition of a word. Professor Hugo Preuss, Prussian Minister of the

Interior, to whom had been entrusted the task of drafting a proposed

constitution for the new republic, referred in a speech elucidating it,

to "an absolute majority."

"Does 'absolute majority' mean a majority of the whole number of

delegates?" asked some learned delegate.

The other delegates were galvanized instantly into the tensest interest.

Here was a question worth while! What does "absolute majority" mean? An

animated debate followed and was listened to with a breathless interest

which the most weighty financial or economic questions had never

succeeded in evoking.

And while the National Assembly droned thus wearily on, clouds were

again gathering over Berlin and other cities in the troubled young

republic.

CHAPTER XVII.

The Spartacans Rise Again.

Article xxvi of the armistice of November 11th declared:

"The Allies and the United States have in view the provisioning

of Germany during the armistice to the extent deemed

necessary."[65]

[65] Les Allies et les Etats-Unis envisagent le ravitaillement

de l'Allemagne, pendant l'armistice, dans la mesure reconnue

necessaire.

Even by the end of November it had become apparent to all intelligent

observers on the ground and to many outside Germany that such

provisioning was urgently necessary, and that if it did not come at once

the result would be a spread of Bolshevism which would endanger all

Europe. Allied journalists in Germany were almost a unit in recognizing

the dangers and demands of the situation, but they were greatly hampered

in their efforts to picture the situation truthfully by the sentiments

prevailing in their respective countries as a result of the passions

engendered by the conflict so lately ended. This was in the highest

degree true as to the Americans, which was especially regrettable and

unfortunate in view of the fact that America was the only power

possessing a surplus of immediately available foodstuffs. American

correspondents, venturing to report actual conditions in Germany, found

themselves denounced as "pro-Germans" and traitors by the readers of

their papers. More than this: they became the objects of unfavorable

reports by officers of the American Military Intelligence, although many

of these men themselves were convinced that empty stomachs were breeding

Bolshevism with every passing day. One correspondent, who had been so

bitterly anti-German from the very beginning of the war that he had had

to leave Germany long before America entered the struggle, was denounced

in a report to the Military Intelligence at Washington on March 3d as

"having shown pro-German leanings throughout the war." An American

correspondent with a long and honorable record, who had taken a

prominent part in carrying on American propaganda abroad and upon whose

reports high diplomatic officials of three of the Allied countries had

relied, was astounded to learn that the Military Intelligence, in a

report of January 11, 1919, had denounced him as "having gone to Berlin

to create sentiment in the United States favorable to furnishing Germany

food-supply."

There was less of this sort of thing in England, and many prominent

Englishmen were early awake to the dangers that lay in starvation. Early

in January Lord Henry Bentinck, writing to the London _Daily News_,

declared there was no sense in maintaining the blockade. It was

hindering the development of industry and the employment of the idle in

England, and in Middle Europe it was killing children and keeping

millions hungry and unemployed. The blockade, said Lord Henry, was the

Bolshevists' best friend and had no purpose except to enable England to

cut off her own nose in order to spite Germany's face. Many other

leaders of thought in England took the same stand.

Despite the (at least inferential) promise in the armistice that Germany

should be revictualled, not a step had been taken toward doing this

when, on January 13th, more than two months after the signing of the

armistice, President Wilson sent a message to administration leaders in

Congress urging the appropriation of one hundred million dollars for

food-relief in Europe.

"Food-relief is now the key to the whole European situation and to the

solution of peace," said the President. "Bolshevism is steadily

advancing westward; is poisoning Germany. It cannot be stopped by force,

but it can be stopped by food, and all the leaders with whom I am in

conference agree that concerted action in this matter is of immediate

and vital importance."

So far, so good. This was a step in the right direction. But it had to

be qualified. This was done in the next paragraph:

"The money will not be spent for food for Germany itself,

because Germany can buy its food, but it will be spent for

financing the movement of food to our real friends in Poland and

to the people of the liberated units of the Austro-Hungarian

Empire and to our associates in the Balkans.

Former Ambassador Henry White, a member of the American peace

delegation, supported the President's appeal with a message stating that

"the startling westward advance of Bolshevism now dominates the entire

European situation. * * * The only effective barrier against it is

food-relief."

The House adopted the President's recommendation without question, but

the Senate insisted on adding a stipulation that no part of the money

should be spent for food for Germany and no food bought with these funds

should be permitted to reach that country.

Just how an ulcer in Germany was to be cured by poulticing similar

ulcers in other countries is doubtless a statesmen's secret. It is not

apparent to non-official minds. Germany, despite her poverty and the

depreciation of her currency, might have been able to buy food, but she

was not permitted to buy any food. At least one of "the liberated units

of the Austro-Hungarian Empire" was in equally bad case. Count Michael

Karolyi, addressing the People's Assembly at Budapest, declared that the

Allies were not carrying out their part of the armistice agreement in

the matter of food-supplies for Hungary, and that it was impossible to

maintain order in such conditions. Whether the armistice actually

promised to supply food is a matter of interpretation; that no food had

been supplied is, however, a matter of history.

On January 17th a supplementary agreement was entered into between the

Allies and Germany, in which the former undertook to permit the

importation of two hundred thousand tons of breadstuffs and seventy

thousand tons of pork products to Germany "in such manner and from such

places as the Associated Governments may prescribe." This was but a part

of the actual requirements of Germany for a single month, but if it had

been supplied quickly it would have gone far toward simplifying the

tremendous problem of maintaining a semblance of order in Germany.

Weeks passed, however, and no food came. With the Bolshevik

conflagration spreading from city to city, long debates were carried on

as to what fire department should be summoned and what kind of uniforms

the firemen should wear. More districts of East Prussia and Posen, the

chief granaries of Northeastern Germany and Berlin, were lost to

Germany. There was a serious shortage of coal and gas in the cities.

Strikes became epidemic. Work was no longer occasionally interrupted by

strikes; strikes were occasionally interrupted by work. Berlin's

electric power-plant workers threw the city into darkness, and the

example was followed in other cities. The proletarians were apparently

quite as ready to exploit their brother proletarians as the capitalists

were. Coal miners either quit work entirely or insisted on a seven-hour

day which included an hour and a half spent in coming to and going from

work, making the net result a day of five and a half hours. Street-car

employees struck, and for days the undernourished people of the capital

walked miles to work and home again. The shops were closed by strikes,

stenographers and typewriters walked out; drivers of garbage wagons,

already receiving the pay of cabinet ministers, demanded more pay and

got it. From every corner of the country came reports of labor troubles,

often accompanied by rioting and sabotage.

In most of these strikes the hand of Spartacus and the Independent

Socialists could be discerned. The working people, hungry and miserable,

waiting vainly week after week for the food which they believed had been

promised them, were tinder for the Bolshevist spark. The government's

unwise method of handling the problem of the unemployed further greatly

aggravated the situation. The support granted the unemployed often or

perhaps generally was greater than their pay in their usual callings. A

man with a wife and four children in Greater Berlin received more than

fourteen marks daily. The average wage for unskilled labor was from ten

to twelve marks, and the result was that none but the most conscientious

endeavored to secure employment, and thousands deliberately left their

work and lived on their unemployment-allowances. Two hundred thousand

residents of Greater Berlin were receiving daily support from the city

by the middle of February, and this proportion was generally maintained

throughout the country. This vast army of unemployed further crippled

industry, imposed serious financial burdens upon an already bankrupt

state, and--inevitable result of idleness--made the task of Bolshevist

agitators easier.

The Spartacans, who since their defeat in Berlin in January had been

more carefully watched, began to assemble their forces elsewhere. Essen

became their chief stronghold, and the whole Ruhr district, including

Duesseldorf, was virtually in their hands. Other Spartacan centers were

Leipsic, Halle, Merseburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Mannheim and Augsburg. All

this time, however, they were also feverishly active in Berlin. A

general strike, called by the Spartacans and Independent Socialists for

the middle of February, collapsed. A secret sitting of the leaders of

the Red Soldiers' League on February 15th was surprised by the

authorities, who arrested all men present and thus nipped in the bud for

a time further preparations for a new revolt. The Independents made

common cause with the Spartacans in demanding the liberation of all

"political prisoners," chief among whom were Ledebour, who helped

organize the revolt of January 5th, and Radek, "this international

criminal," as Deputy Heinrich Heine termed him in a speech before the

Prussian Diet.

The respite, however, was short. On Monday, March 3d, the Workmen's

Council now completely in the hands of the enemies of the government

called a general strike. Street cars, omnibuses and interurban trains

stopped running, all business was suspended and nightfall plunged the

city into complete darkness. This was the signal for the first

disturbances. There was considerable rioting, with some loss of blood,

in the eastern part of the city beyond Alexander Platz, a section always

noted as the home of a large criminal element. Spartacans, reinforced by

the hooligan and criminal element--or let it rather be said that these

consisted and had from the beginning consisted mainly of hooligans and

criminals--began a systematic attack on police-stations everywhere.

Thirty-three stations were occupied by them during the night, the police

officials were disarmed and their weapons distributed to the rabble that

was constantly swelling the ranks of the rebels.

The first serious clash of this second Bolshevik week came at the

Police-Presidency, which the Spartacans, as in January, planned to make

their headquarters. This time, however, the building was occupied by

loyal government troops, and the incipient attack dissolved before a few

volleys. The night was marked by extensive looting. Jewelers in the

eastern part of the city suffered losses aggregating many million marks.

The situation grew rapidly worse on Tuesday. Nearly thirty thousand

government troops marched into the city, bringing light and heavy

artillery, mine-throwers and machine-guns. Berlin was converted into an

armed camp. The revolt would have been quickly put down but for an

occurrence made possible by the government's weakness at Christmas time.

The People's Marine Division, looters of the Royal Palace, parasites on

the city's payroll and "guardians of the public safety," threw off the

mask and went over to the Spartacans in a body. A considerable number of

the Republican Soldier Guards, Eichhorn's legacy to Berlin, followed

suit. The government's failure to disarm these forces six weeks earlier,

when their Bolshevist sentiments had become manifest, now had to be paid

for in blood. The defection was serious not only because it added to the

numbers of the Bolsheviki, but also because it greatly increased the

supplies of weapons and munitions at the disposal of the enemies of the

government.

The defection, too, came as a surprise and at a most unfortunate time.

The Marine Division, upon which the commanders of the government troops

had naively depended, had been ordered to clear the Alexander Platz, a

large open place in front of the Police-Presidency. They began

ostensibly to carry out the order, but had hardly reached the place when

they declared that they had been fired on by government troops.

Thereupon they attacked the Police-Presidency, but were beaten off with

some twenty-five killed. They withdrew to the Marine House at the

Jannowitz Bridge, which they had been occupying since their expulsion

from the Royal Stables, and set about fortifying it.

The following day--Ash Wednesday--was marked by irregular but severe

fighting in various parts of the city. The government proclaimed a state

of siege. More loyal troops were brought to the city. From captured

Spartacans it was learned that a massed attack on the Police-Presidency

was to be made at eleven o'clock at night by the People's Marine

Division, the Red Soldiers' League and civilian Spartacans. The assault

did not begin until nearly three o'clock Thursday morning. Despite the

government troops' disposition, the Spartacans succeeded, after heavy

bombardment of the building, in occupying two courts in the southern

wing. The battle was carried on throughout the night and until Thursday

afternoon. Few cities have witnessed such civil warfare. Every

instrument known to military science was used, with the exception of

poison-gases. Late on Thursday afternoon the attackers were dispersed

and the Spartacans in the Police-Presidency, about fifty men, were

arrested.

The Marine House was also captured on the same afternoon. The defenders

hoisted the white flag after a few mines had been thrown into the

building, but had disappeared when the government troops occupied it.

What their defection to the Spartacans had meant was illustrated by the

finding in the building of several thousand rifles, more than a hundred

machine guns, two armored automobiles and great quantities of ammunition

and provisions. The Republican Soldiers' Guard, barricaded in the Royal

Stables, surrendered after a few shells had been fired.

The fighting so completely took on the aspects of a real war that the

wildest atrocity stories began to circulate. They were, like all

atrocity stories, greatly exaggerated, but it was established that

Spartacans had killed unarmed prisoners, including several policemen,

had stopped and wrecked ambulances and killed wounded, and had

systematically fired on first-aid stations and hospitals. Noske rose to

the occasion like a mere _bourgeois_ minister. He decreed:

"All persons found with arms in their hands, resisting

government troops, will be summarily executed."

Despite this decree, the Spartacans, who had erected street-barricades

in that part of Berlin eastward and northward from Alexander Platz, put

up a show of resistance for some days. They were, however, seriously

shaken by their heavy losses and weakened by the wholesale defections of

supporters who had joined them chiefly for the sake of looting and who

had a wholesale respect for Noske as a man of his word. They had good

reason to entertain this respect for the grim man in charge of the

government's military measures. The government never made public the

number of summary executions under Noske's decree, but there is little

doubt that these went well above one hundred. A group of members of the

mutinous People's Marine Division had the splendid effrontery to call at

the office of the city commandant to demand the pay due them as

protectors of the public safety. Government troops arrested the callers,

a part of whom resisted arrest. Twenty-four of these men, found to have

weapons in their possession, were summarily executed.

_Die Freiheit_ and _Die Republik_ denounced the members of the

government as murderers. The office of the Spartacans' _Die rote Fahne_

had been occupied by government troops on the day of the outbreak of the

Bolshevik uprising. The _bourgeois_ and Majority Socialist press

supported the government whole-heartedly, and the law-abiding citizens

were encouraged by their new rulers' energy and by the loyalty and

bravery of the government troops. There was a general recognition of the

fact that matters had reached a stage where a minority, in part deluded

and in part criminal, could not longer be permitted to terrorize the

country.

The uprising collapsed rapidly after the Spartacans had been driven

from their main strongholds. They maintained themselves for a few days

in Lichtenberg, a suburb of Berlin, and--as in the January

uprisings--sniping from housetops continued for a week. No list of

casualties was ever issued, but estimates ran as high as one thousand,

of which probably three-quarters were suffered by the Spartacans. They

were further badly weakened by the loss of a great part of their

weapons, both during the fighting and in a general clean-up of the city

which was made after the uprising had been definitely put down.

As we have seen, the efforts of the German Bolsheviki, aided by the left

wing of the Independent Socialists, to overthrow the government by force

had failed wherever the attempt had been made. Not only in Berlin, but

in a dozen other cities and districts as well, the enemies of democracy

had been decisively defeated. In Munich and Brunswick alone they were

still strong and defiant, but they were to be defeated even there later.

In these circumstances it might have been expected that they would not

again be able to cause serious trouble to the government. But a new

aspect was put on circumstances by an occurrence whose inevitability had

long been recognized by close observers.

The Independent Social-Democratic Party went over to the Spartacans

officially, bag and baggage.

In theory, to be sure, it did nothing of the kind. It maintained its own

organization, "rejected planless violence," declared its adherence to

"the fundamental portion of the Erfurt program," and asserted its

readiness to use "all political and economic means" to attain its aims,

"including parliaments," which were rejected by the Spartacans. Apart

from this, however, there was little difference in theory and none in

practice between the platforms of the two parties, for the Independents

declared themselves for Soviet government and for the dictatorship of

the proletariat, and their rejection of violent methods existed only on

paper.

The party congress convened at Berlin on March 2d and lasted four days.

Haase and Dittmann, the former cabinet members, were again in control,

and it could not be observed in their attitude that there had been a

time when they risked a loss of influence in the party by standing too

far to the right. The "revolution-program" adopted by the party declared

that the revolutionary soldiers and workingmen of Germany, who had

seized the power of the state in November, "have not fortified their

power nor overcome the capitalistic class-domination." It continued:

"The leaders of the Socialists of the Right (Majority) have

renewed their pact with the _bourgeois_ classes and deserted the

interests of the proletariat. They are carrying on a befogging

policy with the words 'democracy' and 'Socialism.'

"In a capitalistic social order democratic forms are a deceit.

So long as economic liberation and independence do not follow

upon political liberation there is no true democracy.

Socialization, as the Socialists of the Right are carrying it

out, is a comedy."

The program declared a new proletarian battling organization necessary,

and continued:

"The proletarian revolution has created such an organization in

the Soviet system. This unites for revolutionary activities the

laboring masses in the industries. It gives the proletariat the

right of self-government in industries, in municipalities and in

the state. It carries through the change of the capitalistic

economic order to a socialistic order.

"In all capitalistic lands the Soviet system is growing out of

the same economic conditions and becoming the bearer of the

proletarian world-revolution.

"It is the historic mission of the Independent Social-Democratic

Party to become the standard bearer of the class-conscious

proletariat in its revolutionary war of emancipation.

"The Independent Social-Democratic Party places itself upon the

foundation of the Soviet system. It supports the Soviets in

their struggle for economic and political power.

"It strives for the dictatorship of the proletariat, the

representatives of the great majority of the people, as a

necessary condition precedent for the effectuation of Socialism.

"In order to attain this end the party will employ all political

and economic means of battle, including parliaments." With this

preface, these "immediate demands" of the party were set forth:

"1. Inclusion of the Soviet system in the constitution: the

Soviets to have a deciding voice in municipal, state and

industrial legislation.

"2. Complete disbandment of the old army. Immediate disbandment

of the mercenary army formed from volunteer corps. Organization

of a national guard from the ranks of the class-conscious

proletariat. Self-administration of the national guard and

election of leaders by the men. Abolishment of courts-martial.

"3. The nationalization of capitalistic undertakings shall be

begun immediately. It shall be carried through without delay in

the mining industry and production of energy (coal, water,

electricity), iron and steel production as well as other highly

developed industries, and in the banking and insurance business.

Large estates and forests shall immediately be converted into

the property of society, whose task it shall be to raise all

economic undertakings to the highest point of productivity by

the employment of all technical and economic means, as well as

to further comradeship. Privately owned real estate in the

cities shall become municipal property, and the municipalities

shall build an adequate number of dwellings on their own

account.

"4. Election of officials and judges by the people. Immediate

constitution of a state court which shall determine the

responsibility of those persons guilty of bringing on the war

and of hindering the earlier conclusion of peace.

"5. War profits shall be taxed entirely out of existence. A

portion of all large fortunes shall be handed over to the state.

Public expenditures shall be covered by a graduated tax on

incomes, fortunes and inheritances. The war loans shall be

annulled, but necessitous individuals, associations serving the

common welfare, institutions and municipalities shall be

indemnified.

"6. Extension of social legislation. Protection and care of

mother and child. A care-free existence shall be assured to war

widows and orphans and the wounded. Superfluous rooms of the

possessing class shall be placed at the disposition of the

homeless. Fundamental reform of public-health systems.

"7. Separation of church from state and of church from school.

Uniform public schools of secular character, which shall be

erected on socialistic-pedagogic principles. Every child shall

have a right to an education corresponding to his capacities,

and to the furnishing of means toward that end.

"8. A public monopoly of newspaper advertisements shall be

created for the benefit of municipalities.

"9. Establishment of friendly relations with all nations.

Immediate resumption of diplomatic relations with the Russian

Soviet Republic and Poland. Reestablishment of the Workmen's

_Internationale_ on the basis of revolutionary social policy in

the spirit of the international conferences of Zimmerwald and

Kienthal."

It will be observed that the difference between these demands and those

of the Bolsheviki (Spartacans) is precisely the difference between

tweedledum and tweedledee--one of terminology. Some even of these

principles were materially extended by interpretation three weeks later.

On March 24th the Independent Socialists in the new Prussian Diet,

replying to a query from the Majority Socialists as to their willingness

to participate in the coming Prussian Constituent Assembly, stated

conditions which contained the following elaboration of point 3 in the

program given above:

"The most important means of production in agriculture,

industry, trade and commerce shall be nationalized immediately;

the land and its natural resources shall be declared to be the

property of the whole people and shall be placed under the

control of society."

The answer, by the way, was signed by Adolph Hoffmann, whose

acquaintance we have already made, and Kurt Rosenfeld, the millionaire

son-in-law of a wealthy leather dealer.

The essential kinship of the Independents and Spartacans will be more

clearly apparent from a comparison of the latters' demands, as published

on April 14th in _Die rote Fahne_, then appearing in Leipsic. They

follow:

"Ruthless elimination of all Majority Socialist leaders and of

such Independents as have betrayed the Soviet system and the

revolution by their cooperation with Majority Socialists.

"Unconditional acceptance of the demands of the Spartacus

Party's program.[66]

[66] _Vide_ chapter xi.

"Immediate introduction of the following measures: (a)

Liberation of all political prisoners; (b) dissolution of all

parliamentary gatherings; (c) dissolution of all

counter-revolutionary troop detachments, disarming of the

_bourgeoisie_ and the internment of all officers; (d) arming of

the proletariat and the immediate organization of revolutionary

corps; (e) abolition of all courts and the erection of

revolutionary tribunals, together with the trial by these

tribunals of all persons involved in bringing on the war, of

counter-revolutionaries and traitors; (f) elimination of all

state administrative officials and boards (mayors, provincial

councillors, etc.), and the substitution of delegates chosen by

the people; (g) adoption of a law providing for the taking over

by the state without indemnification of all larger undertakings

(mines, etc.), together with the larger landed estates, and the

immediate taking over of the administration of these estates by

workmen's councils; (h) adoption of a law annulling war-loans

exceeding twenty thousand marks; (i) suppression of the whole

_bourgeois_ press, including particularly the Majority Socialist

press."

Some of the members of the former right wing of the Independent

Socialists left the party and went over to the Majority Socialists

following the party congress of the first week in March. They included

the venerable Eduard Bernstein, who declared that the Independents had

demonstrated that they "lacked utterly any constructive program." The

dictates of party discipline, however, together with the desperation of

suffering, were too much for the great mass of those who had at first

rejected Bolshevist methods, and the German Bolsheviki received material

reinforcements at a time when they would have been powerless without

them.

The Spartacans had lost their armed battle against the government, but

they had won a more important bloodless conflict.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Red or White Internationalism Which?

All revolutions have their second phase, and this phase ordinarily

presents features similar in kind and varying only in degree. After the

actual overthrow of the old government a short period of excited

optimism gives place to a realization of the fact that the

administration of a state is not so simple as it has appeared to the

opposition parties, and that the existing order of things--the result of

centuries of natural development--cannot be altered over night. Under

the sobering influence of this realization ultra-radicalism loses

ground, the revolutionary government accepts the aid of some of the men

who have been connected with the deposed government, and the

administration of affairs proceeds along an orderly middle course.

But other revolutions, as has been stated, have had a different

inception, and none have depended for their successful execution and

subsequent development on a people so sorely tried, so weakened

physically and morally, and--last but not least--so extensively infected

with the virus of internationalism. In so far as revolutions were not

the work of a group of selfish aspirants for power, they were brought

about by patriotic men whose first and last thought was the welfare of

their own country, and who concerned themselves not at all about the

universal brotherhood of man or the oppressed peoples of other lands or

races. The German revolutionists, however, scoffed at patriotism as an

outworn dogma. The majority of their adherents came from the poorest and

most ignorant stratum of the people, the class most responsive to the

agitation of leaders who promised that division of property contemplated

by Communist Socialism.

The Independent Socialists had "made the revolution." They claimed the

right to determine its development. The _bourgeoisie_, itself incapable

of restoring the old order and, for the most part, not desiring to do

so, supported the parent Socialist Party as the lesser of two evils. The

Independents found themselves without the power to determine what course

"their revolution" should take. All revolutionary history showed that

this course would not be that desired by the Independent leaders and

promised by them to their radical followers. The occurrences of the

first month following the revolution again demonstrated what might be

called the natural law of revolutionary development. The Majority

Socialists in the government refused to let themselves be hurried into

disastrous socializing experiments. They refused to ban intelligence and

ability merely because the possessors happened not to be _Genossen_.

They even believed (_horribile dictu!_) that private property-rights

should not be abolished out of hand. They were so recreant to the

principles of true internationalism that they resented foreign

aggressions against Germans and German soil, and they actually proposed

to resist such aggressions by force.

With heretics like these there could be no communion. They could not

even be permitted to hold communion among themselves if it could be

prevented, and the result was, as we have seen, the efforts of the

Independents and Spartacans to wreck the tabernacle.

To recount the developments of the period from the crushing of the March

uprising to the signing of the Peace of Versailles would be but to

repeat, with different settings, the story of the first four months of

Republican Germany. This period, too, was filled with Independent

Socialist and Spartacan intrigues and armed opposition to the

government, culminating in the brief but bloody reign of the Communists

in Munich in April. Strikes continued to paralyze industry. No food

supplies of any importance were received. The National Assembly at

Weimar continued to demonstrate the philosophic tendencies, academic

learning and political immaturity of the German people. Distinct left

wings came into being in both the Majority Socialist and Democratic

parties. Particularism, the historic curse of the country, again raised

its head.

Red internationalism in Germany received a marked impetus from the

events in Hungary at the end of March, when Count Michael Karolyi handed

the reins of government over to the Bolshevist leader Bela Kun. An

effort has been made to represent this as a bit of theatricals staged by

Karolyi with the support and encouragement of Berlin. Such an

explanation is symptomatic of the blindness of those who will not see

the significance of this development. To assert that the German

Government, itself engaged in a life-and-death struggle with Bolshevism

at home and threatened with an irruption of the Bolshevist forces of

Russia, would deliberately create a new source of infection in a

contiguous land requires either much mental hardihood or a deep

ignorance of existing conditions. The author is able to state from

first-hand knowledge that the German Government was completely surprised

by the news from Budapest, and that it had no part, direct or indirect,

in bringing about Karolyi's resignation or the accession to power of the

Hungarian Bolsheviki.

The developments in Hungary were made inevitable by the unwisdom with

which this "liberated unit of the Austro-Hungarian Empire" was treated.

When the November armistice was concluded, there was a "gentlemen's

agreement" or understanding that the demarcation line established by the

armistice should be policed by French, English or American troops. It

was not observed. Jugo-Slavs, Serbians and Roumanians were permitted not

only to guard this line, but to advance well beyond it. The enemy

occupation of the country extended to nearly all portions of Hungary

upon which the central part, including Budapest, depended for coal,

metals, wood, meats and even salt. The Czechs took possession of

Pressburg, rechristened it Wilson City, and advanced along the Danube to

within twenty miles of Budapest. Distress became acute.

Then, on March 19th, the French Colonel Vix sent a note to Karolyi

establishing a new demarcation line far inside the one established in

November and at places even inside the lines held by Allied troops.

Karolyi's position was already insecure. He had been welcomed when he

assumed office as the restorer of nationalism and peace. The support

accorded him had been largely due to his record as an opponent of

Austria and a friend of the Entente. He had been under surveillance

almost throughout the war because of his known pro-Ally sentiments, and

only his prominence saved him from arrest. Now, when his supposed

influence with the Allies was discovered to be non-existent, his only

remaining support was shattered and he went. Hungary, infected with

Bolshevism by Russian propagandists and returned prisoners of war, went

over to the camp of Lenine.

Another factor contributed greatly to the growth of the radical

Independent Socialist and Bolshevist movement in Germany. This was the

obvious dilemma of the Allies in the case of Russia, their undeniable

helplessness and lack of counsel in the face of applied Bolshevism.

Thousands of Germans came to believe that Bolshevism was a haven of

refuge. Nor was this sentiment by any means confined to the proletariat.

A Berlin millionaire said to the writer in March:

"If it comes to a question of choosing between Bolshevism and

Allied slavery, I shall become a Bolshevik without hesitation. I

would rather see Germany in the possession of Bolshevist Germans

than of any _bourgeois_ government wearing chains imposed by our

enemies. The Allies dare not intervene in Russia, and I don't

believe they would be any less helpless before a Bolshevist

Germany."

Scores of well-to-do Germans expressed themselves in the same strain to

the author, and thousands from the lower classes, free from the

restraint which the possession of worldly goods imposes, put into

execution the threat of their wealthier countrymen.

With the conclusion of the peace of Versailles we leave Germany. The

second phase of the revolution is not yet ended. Bolshevism, crushed in

one place, raises its head in another. Industry is prostrate. Currency

is so depreciated that importation is seriously hampered. The event is

on the knees of the gods.

But while the historian can thus arbitrarily dismiss Germany and the

conditions created by the great war, the world cannot. From a material

economic viewpoint alone, the colossal destruction of wealth and means

of transportation, and the slaughter of millions of the able-bodied men

of all nations involved are factors which will make themselves felt for

many years. These obstacles to development and progress will, however,

eventually be overcome. They are the least of the problems facing the

world today as the result of the war and--this must be said now and it

will eventually be realized generally--as a result of the Peace of

Versailles. The men responsible for this peace declare that it is the

best that could be made. Until the proceedings of the peace conference

shall have been made public, together with all material submitted to it,

including eventual prewar bargains and treaty commitments, this

declaration cannot be controverted. One must assume at least that the

makers of the peace believed it to be the best possible.

The _bona fides_ of the peace delegates, however, while it protects them

from adverse criticism, is a personal matter and irrelevant in any

consideration of the treaty and its probable results. Nor is the

question whether any better treaty was possible, of any relevancy. What

alone vitally concerns the world is not the sentiments of a few men, but

what may be expected from their work. As to this, many thoughtful

observers in all countries have already come to realize what will

eventually be realized by millions.

The Treaty of Versailles has Balkanized Europe; it has to a large degree

reestablished the multiplicity of territorial sovereignties that

handicapped progress and caused continuous strife more than a century

ago; it has revived smouldering race-antagonisms which were in a fair

way to be extinguished; it has created a dozen new _irredentas_, new

breeding-places of war; it has liberated thousands from foreign

domination but placed tens of thousands under the yoke of other foreign

domination, and has tried to insure the permanency not only of their

subjection, but of that of other subject races which have for centuries

been struggling for independence. Preaching general disarmament, it has

strengthened the armed might of one power by disarming its neighbors,

and has given to it the military and political domination of Europe. To

another power it has given control of the high seas. It has refused to

let the laboring masses of the world--the men who fought and

suffered--be represented at the conference by delegates of their own

choosing.

Such a treaty could not bring real peace to the world even if the

conditions were less critical and complex. As they are, it will hasten

and aggravate what the world will soon discover to be the most serious,

vital and revolutionary consequence of the war. What this will be has

already been dimly foreshadowed by the almost unanimous condemnation of

the treaty by the Socialists of France, Italy, England and nearly all

neutral countries.

Virtually all Americans and even most Europeans have little conception

of the extent to which the war and its two great revolutions have

awakened the class-consciousness of the proletariat of all lands.

Everywhere the laboring masses have been the chief sufferers. Everywhere

composing an overwhelming majority of the people, they have nowhere been

able to decide their own destinies or have an effective voice in

government except through revolution. Everywhere they have been the

pawns sacrificed on the bloody chessboard of war to protect kings and

queens, bishops and castles. They are beginning to ask why this must be

and why they were not permitted to have a voice in the conference at

Versailles, and this question will become an embarrassing one for all

who try to find the answer in the textbooks of governments as

governments today exist.

Deplore it though one may, Internationalism is on the march. Nor is it

confined even today to people who work with their hands. Its advocates

are to be found--have been found by hundreds in America itself--in the

ranks of the thinkers of every country. The press in America has for

months been pointing out the prevalence of internationalist sentiments

among school-teachers and university professors, and it has been gravely

puzzled by this state of affairs. It considers it a paradox that

Internationalism exists among presumably well educated persons.

One might as well call it a paradox for a victim of smallpox to have an

eruption. It is no paradox. It is a symptom. And, incorrectly diagnosed

and ignorantly treated, it is a dangerous disease.

The physician diagnoses a disease at the outset, if he can, and aborts

it if possible. If it be contagious, he employs precautions against its

spread. No part of these precautions consists in ordering other people

at the point of a rifle not to catch the disease.

The greatest task of the governments of the world today is to diagnose

correctly and treat intelligently. The proletarians have learned their

strength. A new era is dawning.

That era will be marked by an internationalism whose character and

extent will depend upon the wisdom with which the masters of the world

administer the affairs of their peoples. And the question which every

man should ask himself today is:

Shall this Internationalism be Red or White?

CHAPTER XIX

The Weimar Constitution

The provisional constitution adopted at Weimar in February, 1919, was

naturally only a makeshift. It contained but ten paragraphs, furnishing

the barest outline for the organization of the new state. Its basis was

a draft of a proposed constitution made by Dr. Hugo Preuss, a leading

authority on constitutional law, who had been appointed Minister of the

Interior. This draft was published on January 20th. More than a hundred

representatives of the various German states met in the Department of

the Interior at Berlin on January 25th to consider it. This conference

appointed a commission from its number, which was in session for the

next five days in Berlin and then adjourned to Weimar, where it finished

the draft of the provisional constitution.

Even the short period intervening between the first publication of the

Preuss draft and its submission to the National Assembly had sufficed to

bring about one important and significant development. Preuss himself

was an advocate of the so-called _Einheitsstaat_, a single state on the

French plan, divided into departments merely for administrative

purposes. Many of his friends of the German Democratic Party and all

Socialists also wanted to do away with the separate states, both for

doctrinal and selfish partisan reasons. Preuss realized from the

beginning the impossibility of attaining his ideal completely, but he

endeavored to pave the way by a dismemberment of Prussia, the largest

and dominant German state, and by doing away completely with several of

the smaller states, such as Anhalt, Oldenburg, etc. His constitutional

draft of January proposed the creation of sixteen "territories of the

state" (_Gebiete des Reichs_): Prussia (consisting of East Prussia, West

Prussia, and Bromberg), Silesia, Brandenburg, Berlin, Lower Saxony, the

three Hansa cities (Hamburg, Bremen, Luebeck), Upper Saxony, Thuringia,

Westphalia, Hesse, the Rhineland, Bavaria, Baden, Wurtemberg,

German-Austria, and Vienna.

It became quickly apparent that Preuss and his followers had

underestimated the strength of the particularistic, localized patriotism

and respect for tradition cherished by a great part of the Germans. Not

only were the South Germans aroused to opposition by the implied threat

of a possible eventual onslaught on their own state boundaries, but the

great majority of the Prussians as well protested mightily against the

proposed dismemberment of Prussia. The unitarians saw themselves

compelled to yield even in the temporary constitution by inserting a

provision that "the territory of the free states can be altered only

with their consent." The plan to reduce the states to mere governmental

departments was thus already defeated.

With the erection by the National Assembly of the _Staatenausschuss_, or

Committee of the States,[67] the draft of the constitution was laid

before that body for further consideration. On February 21st the

committee submitted the result of its deliberations to the National

Assembly, which referred it in turn to a special committee of

twenty-eight members, whose chairman was Conrad Haussmann, a member of

the German Democratic Party.

[67] _Vide_ p. 245.

The National Assembly began the second reading of the constitution on

July 2d and finished it on July 22d. The third reading began on July

29th. This brought a number of important changes, one of which is of

deep significance as indicating the extent to which the members of the

National Assembly had already succeeded in freeing themselves from the

hysterical mode of thinking induced by the immediate revolutionary

period. All drafts of the constitution up to that date had provided that

no member of a former reigning house in Germany should be eligible to

the Presidency. This provision was stricken out on third reading.

The constitution was finally adopted on July 31, 1919, by a vote of 262

ayes to 75 nayes. The negative votes were cast by the German National

People's Party, the German People's Party, the Bavarian Peasants'

League, and one member of the Bavarian People's Party (Dr. Heim). The

constitution was signed by President Ebert and the ministry at

Schwarzburg on August 11th, and went into effect three days later. On

this date the imperial constitution of April 16, 1871, several

paragraphs of which were still in effect under the provisional

constitution of February, 1919, ceased to exist.

The Weimar constitution consists of two "main divisions." The first,

dealing with the construction of the state, is divided into seven

sections, which are subdivided into 108 articles. The second main

division, dealing with "fundamental rights and fundamental duties of the

Germans," has five sections, with 57 articles.

A comparison of the preambles of the old and new constitutions indicates

the different point of view from which they were approached. The

constitution of 1871 began:

"His Majesty the King of Prussia, in the name of the North

German Federation, His Majesty the King of Bavaria, His Majesty

the King of Wurtemberg, His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of

Baden, and His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Hesse and on the

Rhine, for those parts of the Grand Duchy of Hesse situated

south of the Main, form an everlasting federation for the

protection of the territory of the federation and of the right

prevailing within its borders, as well as for the furtherance of

the welfare of the German people."

The new constitution's preamble reads:

"The German people, united in its races[68] and inspired by the

desire to renew and establish more firmly its state in freedom

and justice, to serve the ends of peace at home and abroad and

to further social progress, has given itself this constitution."

[68] _Das Deutsche Volk, einig in seinen Staemmen._ There is no

adequate English translation of _Staemme_ (plural of

_Stamm_), except the word "tribes," which, of course, is in

place only when speaking of uncivilized peoples.

Article 1 reads:

"The German state[69] is a republic. The power of the state

comes from the people."

[69] _Das Deutsche Reich ist eine Republik._ Revolutionary

though they were, the constitution-makers could not bring

themselves to discard the old name _Reich_, although it

really means empire. Hence "state" is an inadequate

translation, but it is also impossible to say that "the

German Empire is a republic." The only solution appears to

be the adoption of the German word _Reich_--a solution

generally accepted in Europe.

The revolutionary nature of the change is further emphasized in article

3, which substitutes black-red-gold for the black-white-red of the old

imperial flag.[70]

[70] Black-white-red were retained as the colors of the

merchant-flag, but with the addition of the colors of the

Reich in the upper inner corner.

Outwardly the most striking and apparent change of structure of the

government is, of course, the fact that a president takes the place of

the Kaiser, and that the various federated states are also required to

have a republican form of government, with legislatures chosen by the

direct, secret ballot of all male and female Germans, after the

proportional election system. In fact, however, these are by no means

the most important changes. "Republic" is, after all, more or less a

shibboleth; the actual form and representative character of governments

depend less on whether their head is a president or a hereditary monarch

than on the extent to which they make it possible for the people

themselves to make their will prevail quickly and effectively.

The changes wrought by the other seventeen articles of the first section

are fundamental and sweeping. Their general nature is indicated at the

outset, in article 2, which declares that "the territory of the Reich

consists of the territories of the German lands." The choice of the name

"lands" instead of states, as formerly, shows the smaller importance and

lesser degree of self-government assigned to them. All the old

_Reservatrechte_ or special rights reserved by several states under the

monarchy[71] are done away with. The federal government assumes the

exclusive right of legislation concerning foreign relations, post,

telegraphs, and telephones, coinage, immigration and emigration, and

customs duties.

[71] _Vide_ p. 21.

It reserves to itself further the right to enact uniform civil and

criminal codes and procedure, and to legislate regarding the press,

associations, the public health, workmen and their protection,

expropriation, socialization, trade, commerce, weights and measures, the

issue of paper currency, banks and bourses, mining, insurance, shipping,

railways, canals and other internal waterways, theaters and

cinematographs. "In so far as there is necessity for uniform

regulations," the Reich may legislate concerning the public welfare and

for the protection of the public order and security.

The Reich reserves further the right to establish basic principles of

legislation affecting religious associations, schools, manufacture, real

estate, burial and cremation. It can also prescribe the limits and

nature of the laws of the lands (states) affecting taxation, in so far

as this may be necessary to prevent a reduction of the national income

or a prejudicing of the Reich in its commercial relations, double

taxation, the imposition of excessive fees which burden traffic, import

taxes against the products of other states when such taxes constitute an

unfair discrimination, and export premiums.

The constitution takes from the states the power to collect customs and

excises. The federal government is empowered to exercise a direct

control in the various lands over all matters falling under its

competence. Not only are all the things enumerated above, and many more,

reserved to the Reich, but there is no provision conferring expressly

any powers whatever on the lands. Nor is there any provision reserving

to the states powers not expressly reserved to the Reich or expressly

prohibited to the states. Article 12, the only provision along this

line, states merely that "so long and in so far as the Reich makes no

use of its law-giving powers, the lands retain the right of legislating.

This does not apply to legislation reserved exclusively to the Reich."

Article 13 provides that "the law of the Reich takes precedence over the

law of the lands." In case of a disagreement between state and federal

government as to whether a state law is in conflict with a federal law,

an issue can be framed and placed before a federal supreme court. Preuss

and some of his supporters wanted a provision expressly conferring upon

the Supreme Court at Leipsic such power to rule on the constitutionality

of legislation as has been assumed by the United States Supreme Court,

but their views did not prevail.

The President of the Reich is elected by the direct vote of all Germans,

male and female, who have attained the age of twenty. The term of office

is seven years, and there is no limit to the number of terms for which

the same President may be elected. Every German who has reached the age

of thirty-five is eligible for the Presidency. There is no requirement

that he be a natural born citizen, nor even as to the length of time

that he must have been a citizen. A limitation of eligibility to natural

born citizens, as in the United States constitution, was considered, but

was rejected, mainly because it was expected at the time the

constitution was adopted that Austria would become a German land, and

such a provision would have barred all living Austrians from the

Presidency. There was also opposition on general principles from the

internationalists of the Left, the most extreme of whom would as soon

see a Russian or a Frenchman in the President's chair as a German.

Articles 45 and 46, defining the powers of the President, take over

almost bodily articles 11 and 18 of the imperial constitution, which

defined the powers of the Kaiser. Like the Kaiser, the President

"represents the Reich internationally"; receives and accredits

diplomatic representatives; concludes treaties with foreign powers;

appoints civil servants and officers of the army and navy, and is

commander-in-chief of the country's military and naval forces. In only

one important respect are the President's apparent powers less than the

Kaiser's were: war can be declared and peace concluded only by act of

the Reichstag and Reichsrat. Under the monarchy, a declaration of war

required only the assent of the Federal Council and even this was not

required if the country had been actually invaded by an enemy. The

President has no power of veto over legislation, but he can order that

any law be submitted to the people by referendum before it can go into

effect. He can dissolve the Reichstag at any time, as could the Kaiser,

but only once for the same reason--a limitation to which the Kaiser was

not subject. He has the general power to pardon criminals. He can, if

public safety and order be threatened, temporarily suspend most of the

provisions of the constitution regarding freedom of speech and of the

press, the right of assembly, the secrecy of postal and wire

communications, freedom of organization, security against search and

seizure in one's own dwelling, etc.

All these provisions appear to confer very extensive powers upon the

President. His appointments of diplomatic representatives do not require

the assent of a legislative body. He appoints his own Chancellor and,

upon the latter's recommendation, the ministers of the various

departments, also without requiring the assent of the legislative body.

By referring a legislative enactment to a referendum vote he exercises

what is in effect a suspensive veto.

Two articles of the constitution, however, render all these powers more

or less illusory. Article 50 provides:

"All orders and decrees of the President, including those

affecting the country's armed forces, require for their

validity to be countersigned by the Chancellor or the

competent minister. The official who countersigns accepts

thereby the responsibility for the order or decree in

question."

A similar provision in the American constitution would be of no

importance, for the members of the cabinet are not responsible to either

the people or the Congress for their acts. Once appointed, there is no

way of getting rid of them against the will of the President, no matter

how inefficient or even harmful they may be to the best interests of the

country. The German constitution confers much more effective power upon

the people and the people's representatives. Its article 54 provides:

"The Chancellor and the ministers of the Reich require the

confidence of the Reichstag for the conduct of their offices.

Any one of them must resign if the Reichstag, by express

decision, withdraws its confidence from him."

It is readily apparent that the President's powers are greatly limited

by these two articles. As against a hostile Reichstag he is all but

powerless. The Chancellor or other member of the government required to

countersign orders or decrees knows in advance that such countersigning

means his own official suicide if the matter be one in which a majority

of the Reichstag is at odds with the President. It is apparent from a

study of the proceedings of the National Assembly and its constitutional

committee that it was intended to give the President independent powers

in respect of two important matters--the dissolution of the Reichstag

and the suspensive veto by appeal to the people--but article 50 says

unqualifiedly that "all" orders and decrees must be countersigned.

The legislative functions of the Reich are vested in the Reichstag and

the Reichsrat, or Council of the Reich, which succeeds the Federal

Council of the monarchy. The members of the Reichstag are elected by

direct vote of the people for a term of four years, after the

proportional election system. The Reichstag must convene for the first

time not later than thirty days after the election, which must be held

on a Sunday or a public holiday, and the election for the succeeding

Reichstag must be held within sixty days from the date of the expiration

or dissolution of the preceding one. It convenes regularly on the first

Wednesday of every November. The President of the Reichstag must call an

extraordinary session at the demand of the President of the Reich or

when a third of the members of the Reichstag itself demand it.

All the constitution's provisions regarding the Reichstag indicate the

determination of the framers of the instrument to make it a thoroughly

representative, independent body of great dignity. The deputies are

clothed with more far-reaching immunities than is the case in most

countries, and in addition to that there is a specific provision

extending to them the right to refuse to reveal, even in court

proceedings, any matters communicated to them in their capacity as

members of the Reichstag.

There is a provision for a standing committee on foreign affairs, which

may hold sessions at any time and holds office after the expiration of

the members' terms or after dissolution of the Reichstag until the

succeeding Reichstag convenes. It is expressly provided that the

sessions of this committee shall not be public unless two-thirds of the

members vote at any particular time to hold a public session. This

provision, adopted by a body, the majority of whose members were

outspoken opponents of secret diplomacy, is not without interest. It

would seem to be a tacit admission that preliminary negotiations between

nations cannot always be carried on advantageously in public.

The Federal Council was, under the monarchy, the chief bulwark of the

princes, whose representatives, not the people's, its members were.[72]

In the new Reichsrat, the successor of the Federal Council, the various

lands are represented "by members of their governments."[73] These are

the cabinet ministers of the respective states. The Weimar constitution

provides that such ministers shall be directly responsible to the diets

of their respective lands, in like manner as the members of the federal

government are responsible to the Reichstag. Hence, although chosen

indirectly, being named, as under the imperial constitution, by their

respective state governments, they are nevertheless subject to constant,

effective control by the people's representatives, who can remove them

at any time by a simple vote of lack of confidence.

[72] _Vide_ p. 22.

[73] Weimar constitution, art. 63.

Each state is entitled to send at least one representative to the

Reichsrat. The larger states are entitled to one representative for each

700,000 inhabitants, and a remainder of at least 350,000 entitles them

to one additional member. It is provided, however, that Prussia may not

have more than two-fifths of the entire number of representatives.[74]

The Reichsrat consists of sixty-six members, apportioned as follows:

Prussia, 26; Bavaria, 10; Saxony, 7; Wurtemberg, 4; Baden, 3;

Thuringia, 2; Hesse, 2; Hamburg, 2; Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1;

Oldenburg, 1; Brunswick, 1; Anhalt, 1; Bremen, 1; Lippe, 1;

Luebeck, 1; Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 1; Waldeck, 1;

Schaumburg-Lippe, 1.

[74] Original drafts of the constitution, as well as the

provisional constitution adopted in February, provided that

no state should have more than one-third of the total number.

Prussia, with four-sevenths of the total population of

Germany, successfully opposed this attempt to reduce her

representation so disproportionately. She was, however,

compelled to accept a provision that half her representatives

should be appointed by the state government and the other

half by the provincial governments. In the other lands the

state government appoints all the representatives.

The fifth section of the constitution containing articles 68 to 77

inclusive, is devoted to the legislative functions of the Reich. Article

68 reads:

"Bills are proposed by the government of the Reich[75] or by the

members of the Reichstag.

[75] "The government of the Reich" or "the Reich government"

means the Chancellor and all the ministers of his cabinet.

"The laws of the Reich are enacted by the Reichstag."

While the Reichsrat cannot directly propose legislative measures,

however, it can compel the government to submit to the Reichstag

measures drafted by it. If the government be in disagreement with the

Reichsrat, it must accompany its submission with a statement of its

attitude toward the measure in question. The Reichsrat, while it cannot

take any positive part in enacting legislation, has the right to vote

disapproval of any measure enacted by the Reichstag, and such

disapproval acts as a suspensive veto. In such case, the measure goes

back to the Reichstag. If the Reichstag reenacts it by a two-thirds

majority, the President of the Reich must duly proclaim the law within

three months or else order a popular referendum. If a smaller majority

than two-thirds again votes in favor of the measure, the President may

order a referendum within three months thereafter. If he fail to do

this, the measure is lost.[76]

[76] This seems to be the sole instance in which the President

possesses any real, independent power. In such a case it

would be possible for him to ally himself with the Reichsrat

against both Reichstag and government, for he cannot be

compelled to order a referendum.

The express approval by the Reichsrat of proposed legislation is not

required for its enactment. It must express its disapproval within two

weeks after an act has been passed finally by the Reichstag; if it fail

to do so, the act becomes law.

One is again impressed by the importance assigned to the Reichstag, the

direct creation of the people. The national government is responsible to

it, as is also the President through the provision that all his decrees

must be countersigned by a member of the government. A two-thirds

majority of the Reichstag can overrule the Reichsrat, and the same

number can impeach the President or any member of the government, or

even submit directly to the people the question as to whether the

President shall be recalled. Its decision to hold such a referendum

automatically inhibits the President from exercising any of the

functions of his office.

It is the people themselves, however, to whom the supreme power is

given, or, perhaps better expressed, who have reserved the supreme power

for themselves by extensive provisions for referendum and initiative. In

addition to the provisions for referendum already referred to, the

President can decree, within one month after its passage, that any law

enacted by the Reichstag shall be referred to the people.

The law-giving powers delegated to the Reichstag can also be exercised

directly by the people. One-twentieth of the registered voters can

require that a referendum be held on any Reichstag enactment against

whose formal proclamation as law at least one-third of the Reichstag

members shall have protested. One-tenth of the registered voters can

present the draft of a legislative measure and demand that it be

referred to a general election. The Reichstag can prevent the holding of

such a referendum only by adopting the proposed measure unchanged.

Enactments of the Reichstag can be declared invalid by referendum only

by the vote of a majority of a majority of all registered voters. Only

the President can order that a referendum be held on the national

budgets, customs and taxation, and salaries of officials and civil

servants. No initiative is possible as to these things.

The people's initiative was one of the various concessions to the

Socialists of which more will be said later. It was not contemplated by

the framers of the original drafts of the constitution and was

introduced at a late period in the deliberations.

The provisions regulating the amendment of the constitution are more

definite than those of the United States constitution, and they also

make it possible for the voters to make their will known by the

democratic method of the direct ballot.[77] Amendments originating with

the Reichstag or government may be adopted by the same procedure as is

prescribed for ordinary legislative measures, except that two-thirds of

two-thirds of all members, i.e., four-ninths of the whole house, must

vote for them.[78] A tenth of the registered voters of the country may

present a draft of a proposed amendment, as is provided for ordinary

bills, and this amendment must be referred to a vote of the people

unless the Reichstag adopt it unchanged. For the adoption of an

amendment by referendum the affirmative vote of a majority of the

registered voters is required.[79]

[77] The United States Supreme Court has decided that the

constitutional requirement of a vote of "two-thirds of both

houses" (art. v) for amendments does not mean two-thirds of

both houses, but merely two-thirds of a quorum of both

houses. It has further decided that the people of the various

states have no right to vote directly upon constitutional

amendments; they are confined to indirect representation

through their legislatures.

[78] Every European people regards its constitution merely as a

fundamental law, and ascribes no sacrosanct character to it.

Hence the departure from the American requirement of an

affirmative vote of three-fourths of the states. On the other

hand, the framers of the Weimar constitution, by providing

for a direct vote of the people, rendered it impossible for

an aggressive and unscrupulous minority to force through an

amendment against the wishes of a majority of the people.

[79] The question of the return of the monarchy in some form is

and will be for some years chiefly of academic interest, but

it will be noted that, from a purely juristic viewpoint, a

monarchy can be re-established at any time by a bare majority

of all German men and women twenty years of age or over, and

that one-tenth of the voters, or somewhat less than four

millions, could at any time force a vote on the question.

Seven articles deal with the judicial department of the government. They

make no important changes from the old constitution, except that

courts-martial are forbidden except in time of war or aboard warships.

An attempt by the parties of the Left to do away with state courts and

place the dispensing of justice solely in the hands of the federal

courts failed.

The second "main division" of the constitution deals with the

"fundamental rights and fundamental duties of the Germans." Excluding

fifteen "transitional and concluding decrees," the constitution contains

165 articles. No less than 56 of these, or more than one-third, are

devoted to sections bearing the following titles:

The individual; social life; religion and religious societies;

education and school; economic life.

The first ten articles, dealing with the individual, begin by declaring

the equality of all Germans before the law. All titles of nobility are

abolished, but they may be borne hereafter as parts of a name. Orders

and decorations may not be conferred by the state, and "no German may

accept titles or orders from a foreign government."[80] That part of the

Bill of Rights contained in amendments i, iv, vi, and xiv of the

American constitution is taken over in effect, but with much enlargement

of the rights of the individual. Thus, to the provision for freedom of

speech and the press is added the declaration that "no employment or

salaried relation shall deprive any person of this right, and no person

may prejudice him for making use of this right." Later, in the articles

dealing with economic life, it is further provided:

[80] This goes even farther than the American constitution, which

provides merely that "no person holding any office of profit

or trust" under the federal government shall, without the

consent of Congress, accept any present or title from a

foreign power. (Art. I, sect. 9, par. 8.)

"Freedom to associate for the protection and furthering of labor

and economic conditions is guaranteed to every person and for

all callings. All agreements and measures which endeavor to

restrict or prevent the exercise of this freedom are

illegal.[81]

[81] Under this provision workmen cannot be required to sign

contracts binding them not to join labor-unions, nor can

employers contract with each other not to hire members of

such unions.

A right to the protection of the Reich as against foreign countries is

expressly granted "to all nationals of the Reich both within and without

the territory of the Reich."[82] Nor may any German be delivered up to a

foreign nation for prosecution or punishment. It is expressly provided

that men and women "have, in principle, the same rights and duties." The

right to assemble peaceably without previous notification or permission

is granted--a flat contrast to the situation under the monarchy--but the

Reichstag is empowered to enact a law requiring previous notification of

such assemblages if they are to be held outdoors, and may prohibit them

in case the public safety be threatened.

[82] This, too, is a departure from the American model. An

American citizen has no constitutional right to the

protection of his government while he is without the country.

Up to this point the Weimar constitution does not present any marked

evidence of the circumstances under which it came into being. In

comparison with the imperial constitution it may fairly be regarded as

revolutionary, but considered by itself it is merely an advancedly

democratic instrument with provisions insuring thoroughly parliamentary

government in the best sense of the word. It is not until one reaches

the articles dealing with social and economic life, the church and the

school that the traces of Socialist influence become unmistakable.

There, however, they are found on every page, beginning with the

declaration that "motherhood has a right to the protection and care of

the state," followed by an article providing that "illegitimate children

are to be granted by legislation the same conditions for their bodily,

mental and social development as are granted to legitimate children."

Essentially, of course, neither provision is especially Socialistic, but

both really represent a compromise with the parties of the Left. The

Majority Socialists tried to have an article inserted giving to

illegitimate children full rights of inheritance with legitimate

children of their father's estate, and the right to bear his name. The

motion was defeated, 167 to 129 votes. The Independent Socialists wanted

a provision protecting women civil servants who become mothers of

illegitimate children, and granting them the right to be addressed as

_Frau_ (Mrs.) instead of _Fraeulein_ (Miss). This, too, was defeated.

Other articles due to Socialist advocacy, some of a principal nature,

others merely doctrinaire, are:

Providing that legal rights may not be refused to any

association because it has a political, politico-social or

religious aim;

Providing that "no person is obliged to state his religious

belief";

Disestablishing the state church;

Providing for secular (non-religious) schools, freeing teachers

from the duty to give religious instruction, and permitting

parents or guardians to free their children from religious

instruction;

Providing that "the cultivation and use of land is a duty which

the owner owes to the community.[83] Increase in value of the

land which is not due to labor or the investment of capital in

it is to be utilized for the good of the people";

[83] This is an interesting novelty as to real estate, but

the principle is by no means new, being well established in

patent law. Failure to exploit a patent right may lead to

its loss.

"Property imposes obligations. Its enjoyment shall be at the

same time a service for the common weal";

Directing the dissolution of entailed estates;

Declaring that civil servants "are servants of the whole people,

not of a party."

The anti-Christian and anti-religious sentiments of the Socialists did

not find as complete expression in the constitution as those parties had

desired. The church is disestablished, but it retains the right to tax

its members and have legal process for the collection of the taxes. The

property of the church is left untouched. Subsidies formerly paid from

public funds are discontinued. Sunday is protected as "a day of rest and

spiritual elevation." Religious bodies may hold services in hospitals,

prisons, army barracks, etc., "in so far as need for divine services and

ministerial offices exists," but no person can be compelled to attend.

All these provisions are, of course, of comparatively minor

importance--except that dissolving the entailed estates--and many are

mere doctrinarianism, but the final section of the constitution, dealing

with economic affairs, brings principles which, if the combined

Socialist parties should ever succeed in getting a bare majority of the

country's voters under their banner, would make possible far-reaching

changes along Marxian lines. Article 153 reads:

"Property can be expropriated only for the common welfare and by

legal methods. Expropriation is to be made upon just

compensation, _so far as a law of the Reich does not prescribe

otherwise_." (Italics by the author.)

Article 156 reads:

"The Reich can, by law, without prejudice to the question of

compensation, with due employment of the regulations governing

expropriations, transfer to the ownership of the people private

economic undertakings which are adapted for socialization. It

can itself participate, or cause the lands or municipalities to

participate, in the administration of economic undertakings and

associations, or can in other manner secure to itself a deciding

influence therein.

"The Reich can also, in case of urgent necessity and in the

interests of the public, consolidate by law economic

undertakings and associations on the basis of

self-administration, for the purpose of securing the cooperation

of all creative factors of the people, employers and employees,

in the administration, and of regulating production,

manufacture, distribution, utilization and prices, as well as

import and export, of the economic properties upon principles

serving the interests of the people."

"Labor enjoys the especial protection of the Reich." gained by the

revolutionary parties in framing the constitution. They not only make

sweeping socialization possible, in the event of the Socialists coming

into power, but also, as the italicized sentence in article 153

indicates, socialization without compensation to the former private

owners.

There are still two Socialistic articles to be considered. One, article

157, says:

"Labor enjoys the especial protection of the Reich."

_Die Arbeitskraft_, translated above by labor, means the whole body of

workmen. The provision is another bit of doctrinarianism without any

particular value, but it is nevertheless at variance with the

equal-rights-to-all and all-Germans-equal-before-the-law spirit that is

so carefully emphasized elsewhere in the constitution. The other article

calling for particular mention is No. 165, the last article of the

constitution proper. This is a direct heritage of November, 1918.

From the very outset, as has been pointed out repeatedly in this work,

the Spartacans were determined to impose the soviet form of government

upon Germany. Later on the Independent Socialists also threw off their

parliamentary mask and joined in the demand for the _Raeterepublik_ on

the Bolshevist model. There were some leaders of the Majority Socialist

Party who were willing to consider a combination of parliamentarism and

sovietism, but most of the older leaders, including Ebert, had no

sympathy with the idea. They were Socialists, but also democrats. When

it began to become apparent to the advocates of the soviet system that

they were in the minority, they raised a demand that the workmen's

council should be "anchored" in the constitution. The framers of that

document did not take the demand seriously, and the draft prepared for

presentation to the National Assembly after the adoption of the

provisional constitution made no reference to the councils.

The extremer Socialists, however, renewed their original demand, and

even the more conservative leaders of the parent party, much against

their will, saw themselves compelled for partisan political reasons to

support the demand. The result was article 165, inserted in the draft in

June.

This article begins by declaring that workmen and other wage-earners

have equal rights with their employers in determining wage and working

conditions and in cooperating "in the entire economic development of

productive powers." It provides that they shall, for the protection of

their social and economic interests, have the right to be represented

through workmen's shop councils (_Betriebsarbeiterraete_), as well as in

district workmen's councils (_Bezirksarbeiterraete_), and in a national

workmen's council (_Reichsarbeiterrat_). The district and national

councils combine with the representatives of the employers "and other

interested circles of the people" to form district economic councils

(_Bezirkswirtschaftsraete_), and a national economic council

(_Reichswirtschaftsrat_). "The district economic councils and the

national economic council are to be so constituted that all important

groups of interests are represented in proportion to their economic and

social importance."

Article 165 continues:

"Politico-social and politico-economic bills of fundamental

importance shall, before their introduction, be laid by the

government of the Reich before the national economic council for

its consideration and report. The national economic council has

the right to propose such bills itself. If the government does

not approve of them, it must nevertheless lay them before the

Reichstag, together with a statement of its attitude. The

national economic council is empowered to have the bill

advocated before the Reichstag by one of its members.

"Powers of control and administration can be conferred upon the

workmen's and economic councils over matters lying in their

sphere of action."

Thus the "anchor" of the workmen's councils in the German constitution.

It is difficult to find in it the importance assigned to it by the

Socialists. The national council has, in the last analysis, only such

power as the Reichstag may choose to confer upon it. There was no sharp

opposition to the article from the _bourgeois_ parties, doubtless due in

large part to the fact that, even long before the revolution, the right

of workmen to combine and negotiate as organizations with their

employers was recognized by everybody, and that Germany, with less than

two-thirds of the population of the United States, has roundly three

times as many organized workmen. In the circumstance, article 165 did

not bring any really revolutionary change.

The foregoing is a brief outline of the more important features of the

constitution of the German Republic. Considering all the attendant

circumstances of its birth--the apathy of the people, the weakness of

the government, the disruption of the Germans into factions which

bitterly hated and opposed each other, the savage conditions of the

peace, following the crushing conditions of the armistice, the

disappearance from the political field of most of the trained minds of

the old empire, the strength of the elements inspired by purely

materialistic and egoistic aims or by a naive trust in the

internationalists of other lands, the constant pressure from the

enemy--the framers and proponents of the constitution accomplished a

national deed of dignity and worth. They might easily have done much

worse; it is impossible for one who watched the developments of those

trying days to assert that they could have done much better.

(The author's acknowledgments are due as to this chapter to Dr.

Hugo Preuss, for valuable information as to the course of the

deliberations of the various constitutional commissions and

for interpretations of the constitution, and to Dr. Fremont

A. Higgins, A.M., LL.B. (Columbia), J.U.D. (University of

Kiel), who generously gave the benefit of his wide knowledge

of German law and bibliography.)

_Through the courtesy of the World Peace Foundation the Yale

University Press is enabled to reprint "The Constitution of the

German Commonwealth" as it appeared in the_ League of Nations

_for December, 1919. The following note on "The Terminology

of the Constitution" by the translators, William Bennett

Munro and Arthur Norman Holcombe, appeared in the introduction

to the translation_:

A word should be added in explanation of the way in which certain

technical terms have been translated.

It is no longer fitting, for example, to translate _Reich_ as empire.

Yet it is not clear to what extent the old spirit as well as the old

forms have changed. Certainly the "strange trappings and primitive

authority" of the imperial government are gone. How far has the spirit

as well as the form of government of, by, and for the People taken its

place? It is too soon to say. Whatever the event may be, it seems best

for Americans at this time to substitute for empire the less specialized

expression, commonwealth.

Another difficulty arises when _Reichs_- is used as a qualifier. Is the

_Reichsrat_, for example, a federal council or a national council? This

raises a fundamental question concerning the effect of the Revolution.

Is the German Commonwealth a unified state or does it remain a

confederation? Apparently the former federal States have not yet

surrendered all their sovereign powers. The residue of sovereignty left

to the States, however, is slight and unsubstantial. Recently, indeed

(December, 1919), the Assembly of the principal State, Prussia, is

reported to have adopted a resolution in favor of further

centralization. As the Constitution stands, the Commonwealth appears to

be a federation in which the rights of the States are subordinated to

those of the Union to a far greater extent than in our own United

States. It has seemed proper, therefore, to use the term "national"

rather than "federal."

The term _Reichsregierung_ might be translated National Government, or

Administration, or Cabinet. We have adopted the term Cabinet because of

its greater precision. Both the other expressions have a more general as

well as a specialized meaning and would ordinarily be understood by

Americans to include the President as well as the Chancellor and

Ministers, who alone are the members of the Cabinet in the strict sense

of the term. The _Regierung_ must be distinguished from the

_Ministerium_. The latter term may designate either the whole body of

ministers or the department of any one minister. In the text of the

German Constitution it is used only in the latter sense.

The translations adopted for the principal political terms of the new

Constitution are indicated in the glossary. In general the purpose has

been to adhere as closely to a literal rendering of the German as was

compatible with an intelligible English version. Preference has been

given throughout the translation to the terminology of republican

government as developed in the United States. For a correct

understanding of a foreign constitution, no translation can however

suffice; the original text with a commentary must be carefully studied

by anyone who wishes to obtain a thorough comprehension of such a

document.

The translators are glad to acknowledge their indebtedness to Professor

John A. Walz and Dr. F. W. C. Lieder of the Department of German in

Harvard University, and to Dean Roscoe Pound of the Harvard Law School

for careful scrutiny of the proofs and many helpful suggestions on

difficult passages.

W. B. M.

A. N. H.

January 5, 1920.

Glossary.

GERMAN TRANSLATION

Reich _Commonwealth_

Reichs- _of the Commonwealth, national_

Reichsarbeiterrat _National Workers' Council_

Reichsgericht _National Judicial Court_

Reichskanzler _National Chancellor_

Reichsminister _National Minister_

Reichsministerium, pl.,-ien _National Department_

Reichsprasident _President of the Commonwealth,_

_National President_

Reichsrat _National Council_

Reichsregierung _National Cabinet_

Reichstag _National Assembly_

Reichsverwaltungsgericht _National Administration Court_

Reichswirtschaftsrat _National Economic Council_

Land _State (as integral part of the_

_Commonwealth)_

Landes- _of the State, State_

Landesregierung _State Cabinet_

Landtag _State Assembly_

Wahlprufungsgericht _Electoral Commission_

Staat _country, state (one of the family of

nations); referring to Germany, it

designates the Commonwealth and

separate States as a single

political

entity._

Staatsgerichtshof _Supreme Judicial Court_

staatlich _political_

freistaatlich _republican_

The Constitution of the German

Commonwealth

_PREAMBLE_

The German People, united in all their branches, and inspired by the

determination to renew and strengthen their Commonwealth in liberty and

justice, to preserve peace both at home and abroad, and to foster social

progress, have adopted the following Constitution.

CHAPTER I

Structure and Functions of the Commonwealth.

_SECTION I_

COMMONWEALTH AND STATES

ARTICLE 1

The German Commonwealth is a republic.

Political authority is derived from the People.

ARTICLE 2

The territory of the Commonwealth consists of the territories of the

German States. Other territories may be incorporated into the

Commonwealth by national law, if their inhabitants, exercising the right

of self-determination, so desire.

ARTICLE 3

The national colors are black, red and gold. The merchant flag is black,

white and red, with the national colors in the upper inside corner.

ARTICLE 4

The generally recognized principles of the law of nations are accepted

as an integral part of the law of the German Commonwealth.

ARTICLE 5

Political authority is exercised in national affairs by the National

Government in accordance with the Constitution of the Commonwealth, and

in State affairs by the State Governments in accordance with the State

constitutions.

ARTICLE 6

The Commonwealth has exclusive jurisdiction over:

1. Foreign relations;

2. Colonial affairs;

3. Citizenship, freedom of travel and residence, immigration

and emigration, and extradition;

4. Organization for national defense;

5. Coinage;

6. Customs, including the consolidation of customs and trade

districts and the free interchange of goods;

7. Posts and telegraphs, including telephones.

ARTICLE 7

The Commonwealth has jurisdiction over:

1. Civil law;

2. Criminal law;

3. Judicial procedure, including penal administration, and

official cooperation between the administrative authorities;

4. Passports and the supervision of aliens;

5. Poor relief and vagrancy;

6. The press, associations and public meetings;

7. Problems of population; protection of maternity, infancy,

childhood and adolescence;

8. Public health, veterinary practice, protection of plants

from disease and pests;

9. The rights of labor, social insurance, the protection of

wage-earners and other employees, and employment bureaus;

10. The establishment of national organizations for

vocational representation;

11. Provision for war-veterans and their surviving

dependents;

12. The law of expropriation;

13. The socialization of natural resources and business

enterprises, as well as the production, fabrication,

distribution, and price-fixing of economic goods for the use

of the community;

14. Trade, weights and measures, the issue of paper money,

banking, and stock and produce exchanges;

15. Commerce in foodstuffs and in other necessaries of daily

life, and in luxuries;

16. Industry and mining;

17. Insurance;

18. Ocean navigation, and deep-sea and coast fisheries;

19. Railroads, internal navigation, communication by

power-driven vehicles on land, on sea, and in the air; the

construction of highways, in so far as pertains to general

intercommunication and the national defense;

20. Theaters and cinematographs.

ARTICLE 8

The Commonwealth also has jurisdiction over taxation and other sources

of income, in so far as they may be claimed in whole or in part for its

purposes. If the Commonwealth claims any source of revenue which

formerly belonged to the States, it must have consideration for the

financial requirements of the States.

ARTICLE 9

Whenever it is necessary to establish uniform rules, the Commonwealth

has jurisdiction over:

1. The promotion of social welfare;

2. The protection of public order and safety.

ARTICLE 10

The Commonwealth may prescribe by law fundamental principles concerning:

1. The rights and duties of religious associations;

2. Education, including higher education and libraries for

scientific use;

3. The law of officers of all public bodies;

4. The land law, the distribution of land, settlements and

homesteads, restrictions on landed property, housing, and the

distribution of population;

5. Disposal of the dead.

ARTICLE 11

The Commonwealth may prescribe by law fundamental principles concerning

the validity and mode of collection of State taxes, in order to prevent:

1. Injury to the revenues or to the trade relations of the

Commonwealth;

2. Double taxation;

3. The imposition of excessive burdens, or burdens in

restraint of trade on the use of the means and agencies of

public communication;

4. Tax discriminations against the products of other States

in favor of domestic products in interstate and local

commerce; or

5. Export bounties;

or in order to protect important social interests.

ARTICLE 12

So long and in so far as the Commonwealth does not exercise its

jurisdiction, such jurisdiction remains with the States. This does not

apply in cases where the Commonwealth possesses exclusive jurisdiction.

The National Cabinet may object to State laws relating to the subjects

of Article 7, Number 13, whenever the general welfare of the

Commonwealth is affected thereby.

ARTICLE 13

The laws of the Commonwealth are supreme over the laws of the States

which conflict with them.

If doubt arises, or difference of opinion, whether State legislation is

in harmony with the law of the Commonwealth, the proper authorities of

the Commonwealth or the central authorities of the States, in accordance

with more specific provisions of a national law, may have recourse to

the decision of a supreme judicial court of the Commonwealth.

ARTICLE 14

The laws of the Commonwealth will be executed by the State authorities,

unless otherwise provided by national law.

ARTICLE 15

The National Cabinet supervises the conduct of affairs over which the

Commonwealth has jurisdiction.

In so far as the laws of the Commonwealth are to be carried into effect

by the State authorities, the National Cabinet may issue general

instructions. It has the power to send commissioners to the central

authorities of the States, and, with their consent, to the subordinate

State authorities, in order to supervise the execution of national laws.

It is the duty of the State Cabinets, at the request of the National

Cabinet, to correct any defects in the execution of the national laws.

In case of dispute, either the National Cabinet or that of the State may

have recourse to the decision of the Supreme Judicial Court, unless

another court is prescribed by national law.

ARTICLE 16

The officers directly charged with the administration of national

affairs in any State shall, as a rule, be citizens of that State. The

officers, employees and workmen of the national administration shall, if

they so desire, be employed in the districts where they reside as far as

is possible and not inconsistent with their training and with the

requirements of the service.

ARTICLE 17

Every State must have a republican constitution. The representatives of

the People must be elected by the universal, equal, direct and secret

suffrage of all German citizens, both men and women, according to the

principles of proportional representation. The State Cabinet shall

require the confidence of the representatives of the People.

The principles in accordance with which the representatives of the

People are chosen apply also to municipal elections; but by State law a

residence qualification not exceeding one year of residence in the

municipality may be imposed in such elections.

ARTICLE 18

The division of the Commonwealth into States shall serve the highest

economic and cultural interests of the People after most thorough

consideration of the wishes of the population affected. State boundaries

may be altered and new States may be created within the Commonwealth by

the process of constitutional amendment.

With the consent of the States directly affected, it requires only an

ordinary law of the Commonwealth.

An ordinary law of the Commonwealth will also suffice, if one of the

States affected does not consent, provided that the change of boundaries

or the creation of a new State is desired by the population concerned

and is also required by a preponderant national interest.

The wishes of the population shall be ascertained by a referendum. The

National Cabinet orders a referendum on demand of one-third of the

inhabitants qualified to vote for the National Assembly in the territory

to be cut off.

Three-fifths of the votes cast, but at least a majority of the qualified

voters, are required for the alteration of a boundary or the creation of

a new State. Even if a separation of only a part of a Prussian

administrative district, a Bavarian circle, or, in other States, a

corresponding administrative district, is involved, the wishes of the

population of the whole district must be ascertained. If there is no

physical contact between the territory to be cut off and the rest of the

district, the wishes of the population of the district to be cut off may

be pronounced conclusive by a special law of the Commonwealth.

After the consent of the population has been ascertained the National

Cabinet shall introduce into the National Assembly a bill suitable for

enactment.

If any controversy arises over the division of property in connection

with such a union or separation, it will be determined upon complaint of

either party by the Supreme Judicial Court of the German Commonwealth.

ARTICLE 19

If controversies concerning the Constitution arise within a State in

which there is no court competent to dispose of them, or if

controversies of a public nature arise between different States or

between a State and the Commonwealth, they will be determined upon

complaint of one of the parties by the Supreme Judicial Court of the

German Commonwealth, unless another judicial court of the Commonwealth

is competent.

The President of the Commonwealth executes judgments of the Supreme

Judicial Court.

_SECTION II_

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

ARTICLE 20

The National Assembly is composed of the delegates of the German People.

ARTICLE 21

The delegates are representatives of the whole People. They are subject

only to their own consciences and are not bound by any instructions.

ARTICLE 22

The delegates are elected by universal, equal, direct and secret

suffrage by all men and women over twenty years of age, in accordance

with the principles of proportional representation. The day for

elections must be a Sunday or a public holiday.

The details will be regulated by the national election law.

ARTICLE 23

The National Assembly is elected for four years. New elections must take

place at the latest on the sixtieth day after its term comes to an end.

The National Assembly convenes at the latest on the thirtieth day after

the election.

ARTICLE 24

The National Assembly meets each year on the first Wednesday in November

at the seat of the National Government. The President of the National

Assembly must call it earlier if the President of the Commonwealth, or

at least one-third of the members of the National Assembly, demand it.

The National Assembly determines the close of its session and the day of

reassembling.

ARTICLE 25

The President of the Commonwealth may dissolve the National Assembly,

but only once for the same cause.

The new election occurs at the latest on the sixtieth day after such

dissolution.

ARTICLE 26

The National Assembly chooses its President, Vice-President and its

Secretaries. It regulates its own procedure.

ARTICLE 27