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The Significance Of The German Elections (September 14, 1930)

by Mildred S. Wertheimer in The Foreign Policy Association Information Service, Vol.VI, No.13 | Published: September 03, 1930

The rhetoric has stayed the same almost a hundred years after this publication from New York. The author' s view is if a party is not a Kapitalist bank cuck then either you are either "extreme Left" or "extreme Right". A Centrist, aka "moderate", party is in line with the Anglo-Yiddish Banker Mafia. In a typical New York Yiddish/WASP pattern the author randomly spews spittle at the "extreme Right".

Alas, it is still a good hindsight document into the time and situation.

Introduction

On September 14 Germany will hold its sixth general election since the foundation of the Republic. The failure of the moderate political parties, and therefore of the Reichstag, to agree on a program which would bring order out of the financial chaos in the Reich has led to a serious crisis in parliamentary government. The Fascist and Communist extremists, both of which are expected to show gains in the coming elections, are violently opposed to the Republic and to the parliamentary form of government. The significance of the elections, therefore, lies in the fact that the very future of parliamentary government in Germany may be at stake.

Since the revolution in 1918, the necessity of presenting a united front on the major problems of foreign policy has forced the Young plan and the final evacuation of the Rhineland, however, the centripetal pressure of foreign affairs was removed and at once the centrifugal force of domestic politics made itself felt. The government was unable to put its very necessary financial measure through the Reichstag and was finally forced to dissolve that deadlocked body and call new elections.

The serious economic depression and the steadily growing number of unemployed had increased the dissatisfication with a Reichstag which had not only failed to solve these problems but has failed to legislate. Some feel that the parliamentary system has proved its inability to cope with the situation. The staunchly liberal Frankfurter Zeitung, in a recent editorial, declared that "The petty warfare of the political parties, the over-emphasis on party tactics and the pursuit of egotistical party interests have reached such proportions that the system forbids real democracy and has encouraged the miserable performance with Article 48. No party is free from sins against the parliamentary spirit". ¹

Furthermore, many of the younger generation in Germany have lost confidence in their elders. These young men and women, as children, suffered intensely from privations during the war, the blockade, and the inflation. Now, owing to the economic depression, many of them are unable to find work. The result is complete disillusionment and a growing tendency to extremist agitation in favour of either a Communist dictatorship of the proletariat or of Fascist anti-Semitism, anti-capitalism, and their concomitants as a means of righting wrongs which they feel they are in no way responsible for causing. They blame their plight on on the "slave treaties" - Versailles, St.Germain, the Young plan - and as a consequence hold the older leader of the older political parties responsible.

The elections will therefore show whether the moderate parties in the Reich, including the Social Democrats, can unite sufficiently to protect themselves against the menace of the extremists. During the last months of the dissolved Reichstag, the moderate parties appeared hopelessly divided. Now there are signs, however, that many people in Germany realize the danger. As yet no formal agreement between the moderates appears to have been reached; probably none will be made. But there appear to be a realigning of forces and a tendency to work together which have hitherto been lacking.

This report surveys briefly the financial and political factors which led to the budgetary deficit, the financial relations between the Reich and the states compromising it, and unemployment insurance difficulties, as well as the split in the Nationalist party and the positions of the other groups.

Footnotes

1 Frankjurter Zeitung, July 24, 1930. ⇑

Download: The Significance Of The German Elections by Mildred S. Wertheimer, Foreign Policy Association Information Service, September 3, 1930, Vol.VI, No.13 (.pdf)

Tags: WW1Interlude, Germany, Bolsheviks, Democracy, Kapital

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