MEMORANDUM OF THE GERMAN

MINORITY SOCIALISTS

[In reply to the questionnaire of the DutchScandinavian Committee. This memorandum was not allowed to circulate in Germany.]

In its peace views, as in its general policy, the German Independent Social Democratic party proceeds from the common interests of the international proletariat and the development of society. These interests demand immediate

peace.

In the peace to be concluded we demand an international arrangement for general disarmament, as being the chief means of strengthening the debilitated states. General disarmament is the only way to break any militarist supremacy and to secure a lasting and peaceful understanding between the nations.

We demand the fullest freedom for international trade and intercourse, as well as an unlimited right of migration. We condemn any economic barriers or any economic struggle between states.

All disputes between states must be settled by compulsory international arbitration.

We demand international treaties to secure the workers against impoverishment, especially in regard to women and children.

Political rights for women we regard as a social necessity.

Equal rights should be granted for all the inhabitants of any country without regard to tongue, race or religion. This would also mean the securing to national minorities the right to develop their national life.

National and social liberation cannot be achieved by the governments at war. It can only be done by democracy. Democratic control of foreign policy will prevent aggressive measures. Secret treaties must be abolished, and all state treaties must be made dependent upon the assent of the parliaments.

Though not regarding state boundaries as inviolable, we condemn the war and its prolongation as a means of regulating boundaries. Regulation of frontiers must be conditional upon the assent of the populations concerned, and not an act of force.

With all firmness we object to the violation in any form of any nation.

From the beginning of the war we have consistently demanded peace without annexations or indemnities, based upon national self-government.

It is not our affair to draw up a program covering all the questions to be dealt with in the peace settlement, but in regard to the questions raised in the discussions now going on we declare the following:

The reëstablishment of Serbia as a self-governing, independent state is our absolute demand.

The uniting of all Serbs in a single national state and its combination with the other Balkan States in a Republican Balkan Federation we regard as the best way of removing the Eastern question as a cause of war.

We understand the deep feeling of the Poles for national unity. To admit the right of Russian Poland to national independence but to deny that same right to Prussian and Austrian Poland is contradictory.

Just as with Serbia and Poland, so do we condemn the prolongation of the war as a means of settling the question of Alsace-Lorraine. The population of Alsace-Lorraine, which in 1871 was annexed against its will, will not obtain peace any earlier than it will itself obtain the opportunity through a direct and free vote to express its wish as to the state to which it shall belong. The German people would obtain by this mode of settlement an economic,

political, and moral gain that would be greater than any possible loss, even if the voting gave another result than it had anticipated.

The full independence and economic self-dependence (i.e., freedom from economic interference) of Belgium is inevitable. In fulfillment of the German government's promise at the beginning of the war, the Belgian nation has to be compensated for the damage caused by the war, and especially for the economic values that have been taken away. Such a repayment has nothing to do with the various kinds of indemnities, which simply mean the plundering of the vanquished by the victor, and which we therefore reject.

As opponents of any policy of conquest and foreign dominion, we reject, as we have always done, a policy of colonial conquest. The possession of any colony without its own self-administration is nothing else than the possession of an unfree people and, just as slavery, is incompatible with our principles.

Neither by the acquirement of colonies nor by a change of possessor is the population's right to self-determination respected. The possession of colonies, too, is not necessary for industrial development.

Only if the Internationale is erected, independent and powerful; if the proletariat everywhere lend it its full force through keeping control over governments and maintaining peace - only then will there come in the future a state of mutual confidence between the nations instead of an armaments contest.

The proletariat in every country must now do its all to bring the war to an end. To attain this aim the independence of the Socialist parties in relation to their imperial governments must be presupposed.

The drawing up of a common peace program is important, but this program has no worth if it is not supported by the energetic international action of the masses. Every government must be challenged to give its unconditional adhesion to the international peace program.