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Chapter LXV
As is often the case in a newly elected assembly, the character of the Reichstag had changed. Although politics by its very nature is a highly opiniated sphere, it was hard to imagine that anyone would say it had changed for the better.
For Ernst, the election result had been an unmitigated disaster. Many of the colleagues he had served with for years had been swept away by the anti-establishment wave, in their place were many new Communist and Fascist faces, their teeth bared not only at each other but at him and everyone else who had played a role in the governance of Germany over the last decade. He had managed to scrape by to re-election himself, but that only meant he was required to endure the heckles that his defeated friends were now spared from. The Communists had been a feature in the Reichstag ever since 1920, but even its older members now seemed different. There was a renewed vigour amongst the old guard, matching the triumphalism of the new intake.
"In spite of its omnipotence, the presidential cabinet has proved a miserable failure in the face of all the political tasks of the hour - both at home and abroad. Just like the previous cabinet, its domestic policies are characterised by the emergency decrees, which are emergency decrees in the most literal sense of the word; for these laws decree emergency and intensify the already existing emergency. At the same time, this cabinet tramples upon the rights of the masses to struggle against the emergency!"
Clara Zetkin's condemnation of what was left of Heinrich Bruning's government was met with a roar of approval from the swelled ranks of the Communist Party deputies. Ernst could only avoid groaning out loud as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, waiting for the jeers to come from the other side of the assembly. The deputies of the Volkisch Bund and the KPD were farthest apart for good reason, but it left him in the middle of the shouting match that Germany's democracy had become.
Ever since Bruning had been unable to build a coalition of the centre and right there hadn't been much else to do. The Social Democrats weren't interested in having a part in Bruning's programme of mass cuts to jobs and welfare at a time people needed them the most. The party had already been eclipsed by the Communists, not standing with the workers at this juncture would have all but assured that the result of the previous month's election would become a permanent state of affairs. The Volkisch Bund, on the other hand, weren't interested in sharing power with anyone to the left of Mussolini. No-one had even considered whether the Communists could form a government, despite questions over President Hindenburg's senility such a move was a fantasy that Germany's conservative establishment would never countenance.
Instead the President had granted Bruning the power to suspend the constitution and rule by decree, a desperate Enabling Act that hadn't been used since the days of hyperinflation and the foreign occupation of the Ruhr. It was a move that highlighted the extent of the crisis and though Bruning could now theoretically do anything he wanted that didn't directly contradict the constitution, his government was paralysed. The Reichstag, reduced to little more than a consultative body, could do little more than dance on its grave.
Zetkin continued on, buoyed by the cheers of her comrades even as they threatened to drown her out, her voice had faded somewhat with age, but she remained just as merciless toward her enemies, Ernst included.
"At the same time, this cabinet tramples upon the rights of the masses to struggle against the emergency. The only people this government sees as needing and eligible for help are indebted large landowners, bankrupt industrialists, giant banks, shipowners and unscrupulous speculators and racketeers. Once again the worker must toil for the parasites who feed on their labour only for them to demand more amidst the crisis they have caused!"
"The only parasite here is you!" An angry snarl emanated from the other side of the auditorium. Hermann Goering stood at the forefront of a mass of black uniforms, the dress sense of the Volkisch Bund didn't differentiate between speaking in the Reichstag and brawling in an alleyway. In the old Reichstag this had only served to make their handful of deputies look ridiculous but now they were the third largest party in the chamber and their blank uniformity made them stand out as if they were even more numerous than their 88 deputies. Goering appeared as just one of many heads of a hydra, with more than enough venom to increase the similarity to a mythical terror.
"How dare you speak for the German workers whilst you and your ilk plot to undermine the very nature of German society with your bolshevik treachery!" The blackshirts surrounding Goering roared in approval whilst even louder shouts of derision emanated from Ernst's left. Zetkin remained in her element.
"The deputy for the Volkisch Bund, who would destroy all class expressions of the workers, knows all too well what I am talking about. He is a willing foot soldier of the Bruning-Hindenburg dictatorship, for he knows that amdist these decrees that regime will work to achieve his goal; the end of German democracy, the end of the organised German working class. Slavery, mass murder, and imperialist war, that is the end goal of this regime and the fascist running dogs who hope to come to its rescue!" There were cries of 'Very true!', not only from the KPD deputies but to Ernst's surprise from some of his own colleagues. It appeared that factions of the more left-wing deputies of the SPD were being swept up in the pantomime.
"You won't be alive to see the Germany we will create! We will throw you in the Landwehr Canal as we should have done the last time you thought you could destroy our country! We will-"
Goering was cut off by the banging of the Chancellor's gavel, it seemed that Bruning had had enough of the situaiton he had helped to create.
"The Chairwoman of this Assembly will be advised to sit down and act in a manner suited to her role." His flat monotone merely caused more derision from the Communist deputies, before they themselves were hushed by Zetkin's response.
The oldest member of the Reichstag, and its honourary Chairwoman because of that fact, did not sit down but instead quietly made for the door. It was a dignified hobble with the aid of a walking stick, and it silenced the chamber momentarily. In drips and drabs her comrades joined her until the cries from the blackshirts and the banging of Bruning's gavel were partially drowned out by the creaking of chairs, folding of papers, and odd quiet as the mass exodus went on.
All in all, a third of the Reichstag left the chamber in a matter of minutes and some of Ernst's colleagues had been amongst them. It was hard to tell whether they would be back.
---
The poster above was originally created to celebrate International Women's Day (partially founded by Clara Zetkin) in 1914. It was banned in the German Empire.
'Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to Socialism or regression into Barbarism.'
~ Rosa Luxemburg
~ Rosa Luxemburg
As is often the case in a newly elected assembly, the character of the Reichstag had changed. Although politics by its very nature is a highly opiniated sphere, it was hard to imagine that anyone would say it had changed for the better.
For Ernst, the election result had been an unmitigated disaster. Many of the colleagues he had served with for years had been swept away by the anti-establishment wave, in their place were many new Communist and Fascist faces, their teeth bared not only at each other but at him and everyone else who had played a role in the governance of Germany over the last decade. He had managed to scrape by to re-election himself, but that only meant he was required to endure the heckles that his defeated friends were now spared from. The Communists had been a feature in the Reichstag ever since 1920, but even its older members now seemed different. There was a renewed vigour amongst the old guard, matching the triumphalism of the new intake.
"In spite of its omnipotence, the presidential cabinet has proved a miserable failure in the face of all the political tasks of the hour - both at home and abroad. Just like the previous cabinet, its domestic policies are characterised by the emergency decrees, which are emergency decrees in the most literal sense of the word; for these laws decree emergency and intensify the already existing emergency. At the same time, this cabinet tramples upon the rights of the masses to struggle against the emergency!"
Clara Zetkin's condemnation of what was left of Heinrich Bruning's government was met with a roar of approval from the swelled ranks of the Communist Party deputies. Ernst could only avoid groaning out loud as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat, waiting for the jeers to come from the other side of the assembly. The deputies of the Volkisch Bund and the KPD were farthest apart for good reason, but it left him in the middle of the shouting match that Germany's democracy had become.
Ever since Bruning had been unable to build a coalition of the centre and right there hadn't been much else to do. The Social Democrats weren't interested in having a part in Bruning's programme of mass cuts to jobs and welfare at a time people needed them the most. The party had already been eclipsed by the Communists, not standing with the workers at this juncture would have all but assured that the result of the previous month's election would become a permanent state of affairs. The Volkisch Bund, on the other hand, weren't interested in sharing power with anyone to the left of Mussolini. No-one had even considered whether the Communists could form a government, despite questions over President Hindenburg's senility such a move was a fantasy that Germany's conservative establishment would never countenance.
Instead the President had granted Bruning the power to suspend the constitution and rule by decree, a desperate Enabling Act that hadn't been used since the days of hyperinflation and the foreign occupation of the Ruhr. It was a move that highlighted the extent of the crisis and though Bruning could now theoretically do anything he wanted that didn't directly contradict the constitution, his government was paralysed. The Reichstag, reduced to little more than a consultative body, could do little more than dance on its grave.
Zetkin continued on, buoyed by the cheers of her comrades even as they threatened to drown her out, her voice had faded somewhat with age, but she remained just as merciless toward her enemies, Ernst included.
"At the same time, this cabinet tramples upon the rights of the masses to struggle against the emergency. The only people this government sees as needing and eligible for help are indebted large landowners, bankrupt industrialists, giant banks, shipowners and unscrupulous speculators and racketeers. Once again the worker must toil for the parasites who feed on their labour only for them to demand more amidst the crisis they have caused!"
"The only parasite here is you!" An angry snarl emanated from the other side of the auditorium. Hermann Goering stood at the forefront of a mass of black uniforms, the dress sense of the Volkisch Bund didn't differentiate between speaking in the Reichstag and brawling in an alleyway. In the old Reichstag this had only served to make their handful of deputies look ridiculous but now they were the third largest party in the chamber and their blank uniformity made them stand out as if they were even more numerous than their 88 deputies. Goering appeared as just one of many heads of a hydra, with more than enough venom to increase the similarity to a mythical terror.
"How dare you speak for the German workers whilst you and your ilk plot to undermine the very nature of German society with your bolshevik treachery!" The blackshirts surrounding Goering roared in approval whilst even louder shouts of derision emanated from Ernst's left. Zetkin remained in her element.
"The deputy for the Volkisch Bund, who would destroy all class expressions of the workers, knows all too well what I am talking about. He is a willing foot soldier of the Bruning-Hindenburg dictatorship, for he knows that amdist these decrees that regime will work to achieve his goal; the end of German democracy, the end of the organised German working class. Slavery, mass murder, and imperialist war, that is the end goal of this regime and the fascist running dogs who hope to come to its rescue!" There were cries of 'Very true!', not only from the KPD deputies but to Ernst's surprise from some of his own colleagues. It appeared that factions of the more left-wing deputies of the SPD were being swept up in the pantomime.
"You won't be alive to see the Germany we will create! We will throw you in the Landwehr Canal as we should have done the last time you thought you could destroy our country! We will-"
Goering was cut off by the banging of the Chancellor's gavel, it seemed that Bruning had had enough of the situaiton he had helped to create.
"The Chairwoman of this Assembly will be advised to sit down and act in a manner suited to her role." His flat monotone merely caused more derision from the Communist deputies, before they themselves were hushed by Zetkin's response.
The oldest member of the Reichstag, and its honourary Chairwoman because of that fact, did not sit down but instead quietly made for the door. It was a dignified hobble with the aid of a walking stick, and it silenced the chamber momentarily. In drips and drabs her comrades joined her until the cries from the blackshirts and the banging of Bruning's gavel were partially drowned out by the creaking of chairs, folding of papers, and odd quiet as the mass exodus went on.
All in all, a third of the Reichstag left the chamber in a matter of minutes and some of Ernst's colleagues had been amongst them. It was hard to tell whether they would be back.
---
The poster above was originally created to celebrate International Women's Day (partially founded by Clara Zetkin) in 1914. It was banned in the German Empire.
- The Red
- Word Count: 1.2k