A Left Radical member of the movement whilst on leave in Hamburg in April 1917, was
one of the 18 participants of a secret meeting arranged by a Hamburg woman comrade
held in the woods near Gross Borstel Zum gr nen J ger. The result of the meeting
was a broadsheet addressed to the women workers in the war industries and to the soldiers.
Two days later, after 5,000 of the leaflets had been spread among the people and placarded
on walls and buildings, spontaneous strikes in the war industries followed. Dozens
of strikes and leaflet distributors were arrested and imprisoned. It must be noted that our active friends in Hamburg were all women war workers, shorthand typists,
etc., who placarded the broadsheets. Many of these heroines and comrades, as well
as the printer, a business man who was not a member of the movement, were sentenced
to penal servitude. Our sacrifices were heavy. To mention one's own personal sacrifices
would be invidious. A fighter is bound to fight and suffer. To do so in the cause
is comparatively light. 'True enough we must fight for the peace, if not, then it
is the peace of the graveyard, the peace that will press down Europe and other parts of the
world in a new era of darkest reaction.' [Rosa Luxemburg]. Our task could only be
to double our activities in the movement on board the warships and on shore.
In July 1917, an example was given by the seamen of a [Commando] squadron headed by
the battle cruiser Prinzregent which lay anchored in the lower Elbe, at the order
'weigh anchor, all hands to action stations', some signs and gestures were made by
the seamen, but no move was made to obey the order. Their own order 'fires out' proved mightier
than the orders of the chiefs of the Fleet. Hundreds of sailors were sentenced to
penal servitude from one to fifteen years. This event, and the attitude of the Admiralty showed the situation in general, clearly. Flurry and excitement amongst the authorities,
but a staunch determination in the lower ranks.
Again the seamen had shown that they did not shrink from armed resistance. They knew
that they could only succeed by concerted action by the seamen of the Fleet as a
whole in close collaboration with their comrades in the Army and in the industries.
Theoreticians who exaggerate the difference between theory and the living reality, may go
astray, but seldom the practical fighters. The outlook of the latter was right. In
January, 1918, occurred the spontaneous strikes in the armament industries, followed
by plundering of bakeries in the Reich. Then followed months of remarkable silence. It
was the silence before the storm .
Towards summer, a meeting was held in the Edelweiss, the biggest dance hall in Wilhelmshaven.
The meeting was protected by columns of the underground movement of the Fleet. It
was late in the evening. The dance hall was filled with sailors, girls and a few civilians. The orchestra had left the stage during the interval when suddenly, the
great curtain of the stage fell, and shouts were heard: 'Stay where you are, do
not move!' Then, from behind the curtain was heard a loud voice, impressive and convincing; '. . . we are on the eve of decisive occurrences. There will be at last, no more
war, no more oppression of the toiling and bleeding masses . . . but we must fight
on, hard, long, and bitterly. For the sake of the cause, no imprudence. Our day
is coming.'
It came.
In September, a secret Conference of the various groups of the workers opposition
took place in Berlin. Representatives of a number of industrial workshops, from North,
East, Central and West Germany were assembled.
Summarising the reports of the assemblies that the independent worker-activities were
constantly increasing all over the Reich, it was urged that the revolutionary class
must violently explain its programme to the broad masses, regardless of expense and,
that this was to be carried out without delay. Instead of the term 'Socialism', the
term 'Communism' ie. the association of free and equal producers into free Communes,
was adopted.
A Manifesto written by the late Comrade Frenken in order to enlighten the social-democratic
duped masses - to untie them from their careerist leadership, was issued in many
thousands of copies, and some days later on distributed within reach.
Part 5
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