It was only with considerable trouble that Franz and I managed to-day
to squeeze ourselves into the House situated in Bebel Square (the
King’s Square of old days). A settlement was to be arrived at in
respect of the savings bank funds. Franz informs me that amongst the
2,000,000 inhabitants of Berlin, there are no fewer than 500,000
depositors in the savings banks. No wonder, then, that the whole
neighbourhood of the House, the entire expanse of Bebel Square, and the
surrounding streets, were densely packed with persons mostly of the
poorer clad sort, who awaited with breathless interest the decision of
the House. The police, however, soon began to clear the streets.
As the general election has not yet taken place, and as all the seats
of those members who were elected by the so-called better classes were
declared vacant, we found, as a matter of course, no other members
present save our old colleagues the proved pioneers of the new order.
At the request of the Chancellor, the head of the Statistical
Department opened the debate in a speech dealing largely with
statistics, and showing the real magnitude of the question in hand. He
said there were eight million depositors in the savings banks, with
an aggregate of more than 5,000 millions of marks. (Hear, hear, from
the Left.) The yearly sum formerly paid in interest amounted to more
than 150 millions of marks. Of the deposits, 2,800 million marks were
invested in mortgages, 1,700 millions in bonds, about 400 millions in
public institutions and corporations, and the balance of 100 millions
were floating debt. All bonds had been repudiated by law. (Quite right,
from the Left.) With the transfer of all landed property to the State,
all mortgages were, as a matter of course, annulled. It was, hence,
clear that there were no funds out of which the claims of the savings
bank depositors could be satisfied.
At the close of this speech a member of the Right got up. “Millions of
honest workmen and true Socialists,” said he (uproar from the Left),
“will feel bitterly disappointed when, in place of getting the full
reward of labour as expected, they see themselves deprived of those
savings they had by dint of arduous work been enabled to put by. By
what means had those savings been effected? Only by means of continuous
effort and exertion, of economy, and of abstention from certain things,
such as tobacco and spirits, which many other workmen often indulged
in. (Uproar from the Left.) Many a one had imagined that by putting by
these savings he was laying up something for a rainy day, or providing
for his old age. The placing of such persons on precisely the same
footing with those who have not shown a morsel of thrift, will be felt
by millions to be an injustice.” (Applause from the Right, and loud
cries of approval from the galleries.)
The President threatened to have the galleries cleared if such cries
were repeated, and at this there were cries, “We are the nation.”
The President: “The nation is in possession of a power of veto, but
it possesses no right to take part in the debates in Parliament.
Disturbers will be ejected.” (General approbation from all sides.)
A member of the Left now followed: “A real Socialist of pure water
never yet had bothered himself about saving anything,” said he.
(Contradictory signs from the Right.) “Nobody who had allowed himself
to follow the doctrines of economy so much preached by the bourgeoisie
had the least right to reckon on any consideration at the hands of
the socialistic State. Let it not be forgotten, too, that some of
these savings were in reality only stolen from the working-classes.
(Dissatisfaction from the Right.) It should never be said that
Socialism had hung up the big thieves, but let millions of little ones
escape. Why, the various investments of this very savings bank capital
had helped to foster the old system of robbing the people. (Loud
applause from the Left.) None but a bourgeois can say a word against
the confiscation of the savings bank funds.”
The President here called the last speaker to order for the grave
offence implied in designating a member of the socialistic Parliament
by the term bourgeois.
Amidst breathless suspense the Chancellor rose to speak. “Up to a
certain point justice compels me to say that both the honourable
members who have just spoken are quite right in what they have
advanced. A good deal might be said on the side of the morality of
these savings, but equally much may be advanced as to the demoralising
effects they have exercised in the form of accumulated capital. Let
us, however, above all things, never suffer a longing look at the
past to divert our gaze from the great times in which we live. (Hear,
hear.) We must settle this question as Socialists who know what they
are about, and without any admixture of sentiment. And in view of
this I say that to hand over 5,000 million marks to a fractional eight
millions of the population would be a building up of the new social
equality on a foundation of inequality. (Applause.) This inequality
would inevitably soon make itself felt throughout all the various
branches of consumption, and thus upset all our carefully conceived
plans for harmonising production and consumption. These fundholders
to-day ask for a return of their savings: with precisely the same
right others might come to-morrow--those, for instance, who had sunk
their savings in machinery and tools, in business stock, in houses or
land--and demand that their capital be refunded. (Signs of approval.)
How are we then to set bounds to a possible reaction against the social
order of things now established? Whatever pleasures those persons who
had put by their little savings had promised themselves as the fruits
of their thrift, and their abstinence, they would now reap a hundred
times greater reward in the consciousness of knowing that all alike
will now share those great benefits which we are about inaugurating.
But if you take from us these five milliards, reducing by this amount
the capital which ought to work solely in the interests of the public
at large, then my colleagues in the ministry, and myself, will be no
longer in a position to accept the responsibility of carrying out those
socialistic measures which it was our aim to see accomplished.” (Loud
and long-continued applause.)
A great number of members had signified their intention of speaking.
But the President said it was his duty to remind the House that,
reckoning the time spent on committee meetings, and that which the law
allowed to each member for reading and preparation, the maximum eight
hours had, as a matter of fact, already been reached, and that under
these circumstances the debate could not be continued before the next
day. (Cries of “vote, vote.”) A resolution to apply the closure was
proposed and passed. Upon the vote being taken, the House, with only a
few dissentients, passed to the order of the day, and the sitting was
over.
There were loud cries of indignation from the gallery, and these spread
to the street outside. The police, however, soon managed to clear
the space about the House, and they arrested various noisy persons,
amongst whom were a good many women. It is said that several members
who had voted against the bank monies being refunded to the owners were
shamefully insulted in the streets. The police are stated to have made
merciless use of their new weapons, the so-called “killers,” a weapon
on the English pattern which has just been introduced.
Within our four walls we had an abundant display of resentment and
ill-feeling. Agnes rejected all endeavours to tranquillise her, and it
was in vain that my wife sought to comfort her with the thought of the
opulent dowry which the Government meant all newly married couples to
receive.
“I won’t have anything given to me,” she cried pettishly; “all I want
is the wages of my own labour; such government is worse than robbery.”
I much fear that to-day’s events are not at all calculated to
strengthen Agnes’ hold on socialistic principles. My father-in-law has
likewise savings in the bank, and we dare not venture to tell the old
gentleman that his bank book is mere waste paper. He is far from being
a miser. It was only the other day he mentioned that he let interest
and compound interest accumulate; we should find at his death that he
had been really grateful for all our tender care of him. In very deed
one requires to be as firmly grounded as I am in socialistic principles
to stand such reverses without in the least losing heart.