Another branch of material and spiritual misery is the increase of crime among women. The President would not permit me to go into details to show that just as crimes among the young go together with reform schools, so criminology among women goes hand in hand with prostitution. To discuss this matter in great detail is, according to the instructions of the President, not suitable for this place. In criminality among women, offenses because of misery and offenses because of neglect play an important rôle, especially miscarriages. The campaign of our Department of Justice against birth control is a particular chapter of special importance which demands also sharp criticism. Birth control is fought particularly on account of its danger to the military strength of the people. We find that our criminal law, especially of late, has taken sharp measures against abortion, in order to protect our army strength. The women who are very often in most difficult distress, are forced to give birth to future defenders of the Fatherland. I must protest against this kind of procedure from the Department of Justice which defends bayoneting the womb of the mother. (Great laughter at right side of the House.) Previously not so much attention was given to the welfare of the youth, to the remedy for crimes among the young. All these matters attracted great interest only when they began to be considered from the point of view of Militarism, in the light of the army strength of the people. That is how irritability is to be explained when those questions are touched. Sentences on offenses on account of neglect and offenses on account of want in their severity present a great contrast to the mild sentences against the profiteers of the necessities of life, those vampires on the strength of the people. ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) This justice functioning strongly against the unfortunate ones, who through social misery fell under the wheels of the law, and the milder sentences on those dangerous hyenas of the battlefield, gentlemen of high position, gentlemen from wealthy strata, show most clearly that the class character of the present society is not abolished during the war, but is aggravated, if that were at all possible. All this in spite of the party truce and in spite of the phrase "I know no parties any longer." (Liebknecht refers here to the phrase of the Kaiser. S. Z.) Also political justice did not cease to any extent during the war. I wish to remind you of the way the schutzhaft (That is, confinement in prison till the end of the war. S. Z.) is treated now as a sentence without trial, without verdict, as a punishment without any guaranties under the code of criminal procedure. The relation between the military dictatorship and justice also needs examination. Upon the searching of houses, which casts on our justice the deepest shadow, the so-called Schutzhaft follows. Those who are in the Schutzhaft cannot defend themselves in any way. The word Schutzhaft taken literally means a "safe place," exactly the contrary of what it really is. Those in Schutzhaft are not even in a position to get the advice of counsel. Here in Berlin the authorities having jurisdiction over the Schutzhaft are treating the lawyers very roughly and excluding them more and more. An attempt of Attorney Weinberg to obtain the interference of the Bar Association of Berlin against this undeserved treatment was unfortunately put down by the Bar Association. Hundreds and hundreds are or have been in the Schutzhaft for months, yes, ever since the beginning of the war. A special light is thrown upon this situation by some political trials also. In the criminal trials against Westkamp and comrades in Düsseldorf the defendants were first taken under the Schutzhaft, then under preventative arrest. In court the warrant of arrest was withdrawn, but in spite of that, they were again taken from the court room to prison, in Schutzhaft. ("Hear, hear!" from the Soc.-Dem.) The result was that the appeals had to be given up, in order not to extend their arrest, I do not know how long. My comrade Caston in Düsseldorf was taken in preventative arrest one month before trial began. The order for this arrest was rescinded, but he was held in Schutzhaft until the beginning of the trial, and although he was acquitted, he was taken back and interned in Schutzhaft again. ("Hear, hear!" from the Soc.-Dem. Shouts "The Russian Way!") Now look at the Prussia which was selected in this war to liberate the Russian people from czarism. (Uproar on the right. "Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem. Shouts from the Soc.-Dem. "Liberation is necessary here!")
There is the case of Caston, in which the Imperial Chancellor was asked for redress, but naturally in vain, because the sword of justice is now in the hands of the military powers, its scales also, and behind the figure of Justice grins Militarism. ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem. Laughter from the right.)
The beginning of political trials under the party truce is as follows: The military authorities hand over any kind of work, book or other kind of material to the prosecuting attorney, with the instruction to interfere. A very invidious rôle for our Justice! Justitia Fundamentum Regnorum (Justice is the foundation of states). No,—Militarismus Fundamentum Regnorum! (Militarism is the foundation of states!) Our Justice does not know parties any longer, wherever there are not any parties, where they capitulated before the military dictatorship. But she knows very well parties when they have remained in opposition. There is a very fine distinction in recognizing and considering only a certain wing in the Social Democracy as a party, which for this wing is considered a great honor. ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem. Laughter on the right.) This was expressed practically in the trial against my comrade Walcher for distributing leaflets, of which the District Attorney of District Court I in Berlin said in the indictment that the leaflets were directed particularly against the majority wing of the Social-Democratic representation in the Reichstag. The majority wing and their policy are for the Department of Justice a particularly holy object, and on different occasions expressing doubt as to this policy or hindering the same was worked up in trials by the District Attorney as a kind of new crime. The indictment against the said Walcher reads: "At the same time the leaflet contains at the end an appeal to those workmen who are not in accord with the policy accepted by the majority wing of the Social-Democratic representation in the Reichstag, by violence to alienate supporters of the majority Social-Democratic Party. To say that the public peace is endangered by such action; I need not explain." ("Hear, hear!" from the Soc.-Dem.) We can be only very thankful to you when by such methods you clarify over and over again the "Party truce" (Burgfrieden), and in that way admit the correctness of our policy; in that way you naturally attain only the contrary of what you wish to attain.
The editor of the Vorwärts (Dr. Meyer) was indicted on account of his book against the actions of responsible and irresponsible inciters to annexation and on account of another work, "WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WAR," where he says what every one could say in Germany until July 29, 1914, and what was also said by your parties. In this pamphlet those who are responsible for the kindling of the world war were pointed out. Dr. Meyer, it is true, was acquitted, against the motion of the District Attorney.
The paragraphs about agitation, disturbance of the peace, high treason, etc., are interpreted more and more loosely. Placing one class in a less favorable light than another is now considered as inciting to discontent. Every energetic peace move is prosecuted according to the criminal code. At the Police Headquarters in Berlin a special commission was appointed to try those who are arrested on account of peace propaganda. ("Hear, hear!" from the Soc.-Dem.) This, surely enough, is not only a German but an international phenomenon. Like Comrade Castor, a number of Social-Democrats in Italy were also indicted on account of distributing the Zimmerwald peace manifesto. In Italy the Zimmerwald peace manifesto was declared not punishable, but in Düsseldorf it was punishable.
Furthermore, a number of persons were prosecuted on account of distributing the peace manifesto adopted in Bern at the International Women's Conference. Among others Clara Zetkin was arrested for the distribution of the manifesto mentioned. She was arrested for treason because she engaged in peace propaganda. The French Socialist Louise Soumonneau was arrested for that also, but acquitted. In Germany the proceedings are still pending, and so far as I can judge, there does not exist any inclination to follow the good example of France. But the fact that an Internationale of enemies of peace get together, with the help of the Department of Justice, to fight the peace propaganda shows the condition of the Christian foundation of our present culture. ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) If defending the peace idea, if the proclamation of the international proletariat class struggle against war, is treason, then it is an honor to be reproached as a traitor. ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) For us, who see our country in the Internationale of the proletariat, it is impossible thus to be deceived by the Department of Justice. But the administration of the Department of Justice should consider if it is not the highest insult to our present order of society to consider work for peace and against the murdering of the people as treason! The Administration of the Department of Justice, it seems, felt no breath of this Christian spirit. Equal rights for all in our time? Peace propagandists are prosecuted, war instigators not. War propaganda is considered as a special political duty. Why are not capitalists prosecuted and authorities who, under the threat of sending the working people to the trenches, prevent them from putting forward demands to improve their condition, prevent them in that way from going on strike? Why are not those prosecuted for provocation who withhold from the people the rights promised to them at the outbreak of the war, and who are accusing the women of waste and gluttony? Why are not food profiteers prosecuted?
They who conspire to violate an agreement are committing treason. ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) High treason has come to be, in a certain sense, a noble crime. There are certain places in Germany to-day, especially in prison camps, where high treason is conceived, high treason other than that just mentioned by me. (Liebknecht refers here to plots about the Irish Revolution in the German prison camps. S. Z.) In 1904 German citizens were indicted for high treason against czarism. To-day those who breed revolutions are high traitors. (Great disturbance. Shouts—"That's the limit!")
Vice-President Dr. Krause: For the unworthy expression that the Government breeds high treason, I call you to order. According to our rules I could ask the House if you should speak any further. (Cries of dissent from the Soc.-Dem.) I shall not do so yet, but if you continue in that way I will have to do it.
Assemblyman Dr. Liebknecht: On account of writing and publishing a poem, death sentence was pronounced, which later on was commuted to five years' imprisonment. There exists a country, where conditions are even worse than in Germany, and that is not Russia, but Austria. Only here and there a cry of distress comes through to the civilized countries. (Continual disturbance.) If in capitalistic society justice is the veil of force, the war has torn aside this veil and the legend of the Christian state, just like the legend of the constitutional state, vanished over the entire world. One of the most important and proudest philosophies of bourgeois society is crushed under the blows of the world war; that can be said also about international law. Even a member of this House (presumably he means Prof. Liszt, teacher of Law in the University of Berlin. S. Z.) revised his handbook on international law, in order to defend as not contrary to international law all German methods used in carrying on this war. Just as science, art, religion and humanity, broke down in this volcanic eruption, so justice broke down too. In the Budget Committee the Minister of Justice promised to prohibit German law students from studying law in cities of the neutral countries where there is a strong sentiment against the German. If that system were applied to all higher institutions of learning, in which an unfriendly view against Germany is manifested, then the whole world would be closed to German students. We protest against drawing such chauvinistic conclusions from the occurrences at Geneva and Lausanne, and we protest that the extent of race hatred, under which the whole world is suffering at present, is exaggerated. ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) The clemency decrees were so much praised here that we must think that to-day even clemency itself is used for war purposes. (Great disturbance.) On account of these considerations the clemency decrees must be examined very critically.
What future prospects has our Justice? The source of war criminality will flourish more and more, the longer the war lasts; and will not the lowering of the entire standard of living through enormous pressure, lead to this—that the whip of need should be even after the war one of the long-remaining acquisitions of our great time? ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) Will not the war ethics, the stirred-up inclinations to acts of violence, that "Necessity knows no law" and "Might goes before right," produce effects of which we shall be afraid? The passions which were unshackled by our present order of society cannot be gotten rid of so quickly. Sodom and Gomorrha are not yet destroyed and with the sharpening of the class struggle political justice and reaction will also grow sharper. Those are the prospects for the future. There is in prospect for the future of humanity in Europe a morale, physical and economic, bled white. For us it follows inevitably from this side of our social life that we should put all our strength into the international class struggle against the war, in order to enforce peace by the will of the people. ("Very true!" from the Soc.-Dem.) The cries of distress from the prisons and penitentiaries and places of misery which cannot reach the public will sound one fine day more clearly in the ears of those who now stop their ears and will help to wake up humanity to the only holy struggle known by us Social-Democrats,—for peace against war, against the capitalistic order of society, for Socialism! (Lively applause from the Soc.-Dem. Great disturbance.)