Journal de Genève
- A Socialist Undertaking
- Letter from Belgium
- General von Seeckt
The Journal de Genève's front page of 16 October 1926 set a Swiss domestic polemic beside two pieces of foreign correspondence. In a signed editorial, J. M. attacked the proposed federal wheat monopoly as the first step of a socialist plan. He argued that the socialists were trying to win piecemeal, by constitutional means and with some bourgeois support, what they had failed to seize by force in 1918, and he warned that one monopoly calls for another. In a letter from Belgium, Aug. V. analysed the municipal election results: ex-servicemen's, middle-class and Frontist councillors had almost disappeared, and proportional representation had helped the Communists win seats. He gave the Brussels vote totals for each party. A column introduced a compatriot's personal recollections of General von Seeckt. It said his resignation had become inevitable after he made the error of approving the former Crown Prince's son's participation in army manoeuvres.
Translation
A Socialist Undertaking
in Switzerland. The Bolsheviks attempted it in Russia: would we wish to imitate them? What the Swiss socialists, who were slavishly following the instructions left to them by their great leader Lenin before he departed, could not seize wholesale, by surprise and by violence, in 1918, they are trying today to obtain piecemeal, by constitutional means, with the support of part of the bourgeoisie. They are beginning with the wheat monopoly, both because it is the most important and because it is the one they have the best chance of winning. As a matter of tactics, they are smiling sweetly at the farmers today; but the most candid among them do not hide that, as soon as this weapon is in their hands, they will turn it against their temporary allies. And that will be only a beginning: when one sets out on the road of State socialism, one knows the point of departure well enough, but one does not know the point of arrival. One monopoly calls for another. One begins by “granting the Confederation the exclusive right to import the
Letter from Belgium
cars, were taken straight to the polling station. One of the features of the contest was the near disappearance of the ex-servicemen's, middle-class and Frontist councillors, of whom only two or three succeeded. The Communists, to whom the Socialists attribute their main defeats, had put forward 37 lists across the country. Twenty-six of their candidates were elected [?] including two in Brussels, five in the other communes of the Brussels conurbation, two in Liège, Châtelineau and Angleur, and seven in Seraing. It should be noted that most of them benefited from proportional representation, which allowed the Communists to obtain two seats in Brussels with 7,384 votes, while the Socialists obtained 26,828 votes [?] the Liberals 30,588 and the Catholics 38,158 votes. All in all, as I had led you to expect, the contest was clearly concentrated
General von Seeckt
General von Seeckt
Personal recollections
We have received from one of our compatriots the sketch below, which explains the regret felt by many Germans at the resignation of General von Seeckt [?] a resignation that became inevitable as a result of the error he committed in agreeing to the participation of the former Crown Prince's son in the manoeuvres. The career and the political role of the brilliant chief of staff of Mackensen and of Archduke Joseph, of the organizer of the Reichswehr, are well known. It is
Context
Why the wheat monopoly was on the Swiss ballot in 1926
The monopoly J. M. attacked already existed as an emergency measure. According to the Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, the Federal Council introduced a federal grain monopoly in January 1915 because supplies were faltering. The left had long demanded such a monopoly, and the measure carried an obligation to hold reserves. The 1926 dispute was therefore over whether to keep this wartime arrangement permanently, which is why the editorial quotes wording about granting the Confederation the exclusive right to import. The editorial presents the monopoly as part of a Leninist plan pursued since 1918, and claims the socialists courted farmers only to turn on them later. That is the paper's polemic. The dictionary's account shows that the Federal Council itself created the monopoly under wartime pressure. The outcome also qualifies the editorial's warning that one monopoly would call for another: Swiss voters rejected keeping the grain monopoly in 1926, then in 1929 approved its reintroduction in a weakened form.
Belgium's government at the time of the 10 October 1926 communal elections
Aug. V.'s letter reports on the municipal elections Belgium held on 10 October 1926. They followed a change of government earlier that year: the cabinet led by Prosper Poullet fell on 8 May, and on 20 May Henri Jaspar formed a government of national unity. The Socialist leader Emile Vandervelde served as foreign minister from 1925 to 1927 and contributed to the Locarno Pact in that role, so the Socialists went into these local elections as a party sharing national power while facing a rival on their left. That position helps explain why the correspondent frames the results around Socialist setbacks and the Socialists' attribution of their main defeats to the Communists. The letter's own figures need careful reading. It announces 26 Communist councillors but names the places of only some of them, and the OCR punctuation of the Brussels totals is uncertain. These figures are best treated as the correspondent's early count.
Why a Hohenzollern prince at the manoeuvres ended Seeckt's command
The column's explanation of the resignation matches the German record. A chronology of the Weimar Republic dates Seeckt's forced departure as head of the army command to 6 October 1926, at the insistence of Defence Minister Geßler and President Hindenburg. It gives as the reason the participation of Prince Wilhelm of Hohenzollern, the young man the paper calls the former Crown Prince's son, in a Reichswehr manoeuvre that the defence minister and the president had not approved in advance. The episode carried political weight because Seeckt was himself a monarchist who encouraged the retention of traditional links with the old Imperial Army. The chronology adds that relations between the Reich leadership and Seeckt had already deteriorated over his open opposition to the government's Locarno policy. The paper describes the resignation as the result of a single error, while the wider record shows a longer conflict between the general and the government.
The career the column praised
The column introduces Seeckt as Mackensen's brilliant chief of staff and as the organiser of the Reichswehr, and both descriptions fit his documented career. During the First World War he played a major role in planning and executing Mackensen's highly successful campaigns. After the war it fell to him to build the new Reichswehr within the strict restrictions imposed on Germany's armed forces by the peace settlement. These two achievements explain the regret that, according to the column, many Germans felt at his departure: Seeckt was remembered both as a wartime staff officer of the first rank and as the man who shaped the small post-war army.
Original
Une œuvre socialiste
en Suisse. Les bolchévistes l'ont tentée en Russie: voudrions-nous les imiter? Ce dont les socialistes suisses, qui suivaient servilement les instructions que leur avait laissées, avant de partir, leur grand chef Lénine, n'ont pu s'emparer en bloc, par surprise et par violence, en 1918, ils tentent de l'obtenir aujourd'hui au détail, par la voie constitutionnelle, avec l'appui d'une partie des bourgeois. Ils commencent par le monopole du blé, à la fois parce que c'est le plus important et parce que c'est celui qu'ils ont le plus de chances de conquérir. Par tactique, ils font aujourd'hui risette aux agriculteurs; mais les plus francs d'entre eux ne dissimulent pas qu'aussitôt cette arme entre les mains, ils la retourneront contre leurs alliés provisoires. Et ce ne sera qu'un début: quand on s'engage sur la voie du socialisme d'Etat on connaît bien le point de départ, mais on ignore le point d'arrivée. Un monopole en appelle un autre. On commence par «attribuer à la Confédération le droit exclusif d'importer le
Lettre de Belgique
des autos, étaient conduits directement au bureau de vote. Une des caractéristiques de la lutte a été la quasi disparition des élus combattants, des classes moyennes et des frontistes, dont deux ou trois seulement ont réussi. Les communistes, auxquels les socialistes attribuent leurs principales défaites, avaient présenté dans le pays 37 listes. Vingt-six de leurs candidats ont été élus [?] dont deux à Bruxelles, cinq dans les autres communes de l'agglomération bruxelloise, deux à Liège, Châtelineau et Angleur, et sept à Seraing. Il est à noter que la plupart ont bénéficié de la représentation proportionnelle, qui a permis aux communistes d'obtenir deux sièges à Bruxelles avec 7384 voix, alors que les socialistes obtenaient 26. 828 voix [?] les libéraux 30. 588 et les catholiques 38. 158 voix. Somme toute, ainsi que je vous l'avais fait pressentir, la lutte s'est nettement concentrée
Le général von Seeckt
Le général von Seeckt Souvenirs personnels Nous recevons de l'un de nos compatriotes le croquis ci-dessous qui explique les regrets ressentis par nombre d'Allemands lors de la démission du général von Seeckt [?] démission devenue inévitable à la suite de l'erreur qu'il commit en agréant la participation aux manœuvres du fils de l'ex-kronprinz. La carrière et le rôle politique du brillant chef d'état-major de Mackensen et de l'archiduc Joseph, de l'organisateur de la Reichswehr, est connu. C'est