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
Suddenly one of the comrades near Dr. Liebknecht raises his hand and at
once proceeds to speak. The multitude is anxious to hear him. Every one
is sounding "Hush" in order to obtain silence and thus making more
noise. Dr. Liebknecht uncovers his head; some one near by offers to
relieve him of his hat. Deathly silence reigns all about the grounds.
The interior of a cathedral cannot be more silent. The doctor begins:
"Comrades and friends." They start to cheer him. He holds up his hand
forbiddingly, then he resumes: "Some years ago a witty Socialist
observed that in Prussia we Germans have three cardinal rights, which
are: we can be soldiers, we can pay taxes and we can keep our tongues
between our teeth. The Socialist who made this observation made it with
a grim humor, but to-day the humor of it must be disconnected from
it--it is all too grim. Especially in these days this observation is too
true. To-day we are sharing these three great Prussian State privileges
in full. Every German citizen is given the full privilege to carry a
rifle in any manner. Even the Boy Scout has been incited to play the
ridiculous role of a soldier. They have thus planted the spirit of hate
deep in his youthful soul. Meanwhile the old Landsturmer is forced to
perform forced labor in invaded countries, in spite of the fact that
under the laws of the Imperial Constitution he cannot be called out for
any other purpose than for the defense of the Fatherland.
"As for his second privilege--his right to pay taxes--in this respect
the German citizen is, up to the present time, far ahead of his brothers
in foreign lands whom he is engaged in exterminating. And yet more
privileges of this kind are awaiting him in the days to come--after the
end of the war. The high taxes which the German people have so far paid
are insignificant compared to the great burdens which they must carry
after the war, and for which their masters are daily preparing them with
such touching delicacy of patriotic sentiment through the medium of the
official press.
"The new Germany has the unquestionable right to hold its tongue
between its teeth. Recently our official press has been flooded by
authoritative and pharisaic exhortations to soldiers' wives that they
must, for God's sake, not complain so much about the scarcity of food.
Keep your mouth shut tight when hungry. Keep your mouth shut tight when
your children are hungry, keep your mouth shut when your children want
milk, keep your mouth shut when your children cry for bread, keep your
mouth shut and write no letters to the front."
Outside of Germany these phrases might sound like the stock phrases of a
professional agitator, but not so in Germany, at least not in those
days. I carefully watched for the effect of these remarks all about me,
and I saw no dry eyes.
Amid tense silence the doctor continued: "In a recent issue the
mouthpiece of the Pharisees, the "_Muenchener Neueste Nachrichten_,"
complains thus (reading from a clipping):
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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