The Future Belongs to the PeopleLiebknecht, Karl Paul August Friedrich
History
The Future Belongs to the People
Liebknecht, Karl Paul August Friedrich
World War, 1914-1918
Shortly after 2 P. M. of the same May day, I have taken a hasty lunch at
the Central Hotel. As I near the door I hear the footsteps of the great
multitudes. As far as I can see, all the streets and side streets are
full of surging, silently moving human beings; all moving in the
direction where the May Day demonstration is to take place. These are
men and women, mostly women. The men among them are mostly over fifty.
Suddenly it becomes apparent to me that there are more children in the
crowds than men and women together. As they march I notice that I cannot
see one in the crowd who has a smile on her or his face. Along the route
no one is cheering them. I had never seen such immense crowds in the
streets of Berlin. Not even during the Agadir crisis had the streets of
Berlin held such multitudes. The crowds move as though they are part of
a funeral procession. They are all sad, very sad. I recognize a group of
comrades in the crowd. I rush in and join them. _Mund halten_ (keep your
mouth shut) is the unwritten rule, and every one seems to observe it
strictly.
Some one has turned the head of the procession into Unter den Linden. We
do not know why; very few of us have noticed it, anyhow. We suddenly see
a platoon of mounted guards dashing through the crowd, but they are
riding on the sidewalk. The part of the procession that had been
marching on the sidewalk rushes to the middle of the street in order to
escape being trampled upon by the mounted guards. Another group of
mounted guards rides past hurriedly, and still another follows. The
people in the procession all about me do not seem to notice them. Not
even a whisper one hears. Their footsteps have a strange sound to my
ears. On reaching the palace grounds I see in the distance five persons.
From their elbows up they tower over the heads of the multitude
surrounding them. I leave my friends and elbow my way through the thick
crowd. I explain my impolite advance on the ground that I am a reporter
on a party (Socialist) paper. I finally reach the spot where Comrade
Liebknecht and other comrades are standing. The crowds are close where
they are standing, and I cannot make out whether they are standing on a
raised platform or in a motor car. I am about twenty or twenty-five feet
from the doctor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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