THE NEXT GERMAN ELECTIONS WILL OPPOSE TO THE MONARCHIST ELEMENTS ALL THE REPUBLICANS WHO REMAINED FAITHFUL TO THE WEIMAR CONSTITUTION

An interview with one of the members of the executive committee of the republican association "the Banner".

BERLIN, November 15 (From our private correspondent). After the Kapp adventure, in March 1920, most of the leaders of the left factions had recognized the need to organize themselves against the repeated assaults of the monarchists. It was only at the beginning of this year that Mr. Hoersing, senior president of the province of Saxony, a convinced republican, conceived and carried out the project of grouping all the liberal formations of the Reich under the secular banner black, red, gold. The central committee established in Berlin successively entered the leaders of the left parties Loebe, Breitscheidt, etc. (socialists), Koch and Erkelenz (democrats), Wirth and Fehrenbach (centre). There are also generals who have rallied to democratic opinions, von Deimling, former army chief, and von Schoenaich. The honorary presidency was awarded by right to the founder of the Banner, Mr. Hoersing.

The entire territory of the Reich has been subdivided into thirty-one groupings or gauen, corresponding to the thirty-one states or provinces of Germany; each gau is subdivided into ortsgruppen or localities which include a variable number of kameradschaften or centuries. The members of the Banner today exceed the second million. But not everyone can join. One must be sponsored by two bannerists guaranteeing the honorability and democratic opinions of the applicant, who must undertake to defend the Republic and the Weimar Constitution, and to propagate the liberal spirit among the masses.

What would the Banner do in the event of a foreign war? I asked a member of the executive committee, who replied:

In the unlikely event that Germany, having fallen back under the influence of militaristic monarchism, should risk attacking another nation, our first duty would be to oppose this aggression with all our strength. When, on the contrary, a foreign power has invaded our territory without provocation, we will leave it to the government to take the necessary initiatives. But, in any case, we will resume our freedom of action as soon as the threat has ceased or our soil is freed from its invaders.

The best propaganda to be made among the people consists in telling them the truth in all things; the masses must be able to discern all the good they have to expect from the republican regime and all that they would have to fear from a restoration of the Hohenzollerns.

On this point again, here is what was declared to me:
The action of the Banner began the day after the dissolution of the Reichstag and is gaining momentum day by day. The liberal factions have agreed to conduct the current election campaign under the protection of the colors black, red, and gold, opposing a united front against reaction. It is the fight for peace and the independence of the German citizen; it is Weimar opposed to Potsdam.
Our political program is simple and formal: internally, we want a Republic worthy of the name. We want a sincere reform of our tax laws, as conceived by Erzberger and with an equitable distribution of our charges, increased by the acceptance of the experts' report. As for foreign policy, we advocate a broad understanding with all other nations, so as to remove the germs of any war. A rapprochement with our great neighbor to the West, the French Republic, would be particularly desirable. We claim for each people the right to dispose of its sovereignty. As partisans of the recovery of our country, we intend to achieve this result only by essentially peaceful work and not by means of a war of revenge which we absolutely condemn.
-What should we hope for from the elections of December 7?
-One indisputable fact, replied the influential bannerist with whom I was talking, already characterizes the next elections, it is the crushing of the extremists: communists, and especially nationalist-socialists of the volkische. The leaders of these parties have no illusions in this regard. The social democrats - their leaders especially - have been able to profit from the lessons of May 4 and have adopted a policy in accordance with the interests and tendencies of their voters; they will regain most of the seats lost in May. The middle parties, mainly the democrats, will obtain a few new seats. The nationalists will suffer the consequences of their selfish and tortuous policy. They will lose seats in the important constituencies. Their position is generally stronger in the small towns and the countryside, particularly in the northern and northeastern provinces where the monarchist spirit persists. In these circles, it is indeed ill-advised to present oneself under the label of republican. The only newspapers there, with rare exceptions, are those from before the war and they have not changed their tendencies in any way. For them, the events that have occurred since July 1918 do not count. These are too strong positions to be reduced in the December elections. But the Banner will know how to bring light and truth there, little by little; it will make the love of liberty and harmony between peoples triumph in the last lairs of reaction!

A. GAVARD