And the Kaiser abdicates: The German Revolution November 1918-August 1919Bouton, S. Miles (Stephen Miles)
History
And the Kaiser abdicates: The German Revolution November 1918-August 1919
Bouton, S. Miles (Stephen Miles)
Germany -- History -- Revolution, 1918; Germany -- Politics and government
_Vorwaerts_ headlined an Article in January, 1918: "All religious systems
are enemies of women." (The Socialists nevertheless had the effrontery
during the campaign preceding the election of delegates to the National
Assembly at Weimar in January to put out a placard saying: "Women,
protect your religion! Vote for the Social-Democratic party of
Germany!").
The initial activities of the Workmen's and Soldiers' Councils in
Hamburg and Brunswick following the revolution were correctly described
in a speech made in the National Assembly on March 11, 1919, by Deputy
Mumm. He said:
"The revolutionary government in Hamburg has retained the
bordells and abolished religious instruction. In Brunswick the
school children of the capital, 1,500 in number, were assembled
in the Cathedral by the people's commissioners for an
anti-Christian Christmas celebration."
At the same session, Deputy Hellmann, a member of the Majority (parent)
Socialist party, said in a speech in answer to Mumm:
"The church, like all social institutions, is subject to
constant change, and will eventually disappear."
Quotations like the preceding could be multiplied indefinitely, as could
also acts consistent with these anti-religious views. The first Minister
of Cults (_Kultusminister_) appointed by the revolutionary government in
Prussia was Adolf Hoffmann, a professed atheist, although this ministry
has charge of the affairs of the church.
The Socialist literature and press in all countries abound in
anti-religious utterances. To quote one is to give a sample of all. The
_Social-Demokraten_ of Stockholm, official organ of the Swedish
Socialists and reckoned among the sanest, ablest and most conservative
of all Social-Democratic press organs, forgets, too, that religion is a
private matter. It reports a sermon by Archbishop Soederblom, wherein the
speaker declared that the church must have enough expansive force to
conquer the masses who are now coming to power in various lands, and
adds this characteristic comment:
"The Archbishop is a brave man who is not afraid to install a
motor in the venerable but antiquated skiff from the Lake of
Genesareth. If only the boat will hold him up!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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