The New German Constitution

by René Brunet

The Constitution of Weimar on the other hand put forward the principle of the mobility of frontiers. But it was not until after the most violent and passionate discussions that this was adopted, and not without modifications that peculiarly limited its operation. For, what was foremost in the deliberations and constantly dominated them was neither more nor less than the question of the dismemberment of Prussia. The cardinal consideration was this: legally the majority of the problems of organization that the Constitution had to solve would depend for their solution according to whether Prussia would or would not retain its territorial integrity. But the political problem was also grave. Prussia remaining as such, would it not exercise again its former hegemony over Germany with all the attendant dangers to the domestic and foreign policies of the Reich, dangers of an obstinate reaction at home and of an insatiable pan-Germanism abroad?

1.—THE PROBLEM OF THE DISMEMBERMENT OF PRUSSIA.

In November, 1918, there was felt throughout Germany a very powerful centrifugal movement. The masses of the people saw in the Reich nothing more than an alliance of princes and Prussian domination. It was to the princes and to Prussia that they attributed the inexpiable fault of having begun the war and lost it. During several weeks of limitless despair, two cries were raised, “Down with the Princes!” and above that, “Separation from Prussia!” It must be added that behind these cries was partly the unavowed hope that by abandoning the Reich one could more or less escape the menacing consequences of defeat. The Reich seemed on the point of dissolution.[10]

But some men at once realized that if Germany was to be saved the one efficacious remedy was to revive in the people the sentiment of national unity and to reconstruct the Reich on new bases. A unitary republic would have to be created and the domination of Prussia overturned.

These two fundamental objectives were self-explanatory and mutually compulsory. For, given the disproportion in power that existed between Prussia and the other states, the more one increased the power of the Reich to the detriment of the states the more one strengthened the domination of Prussia, for thereby Prussia was made all powerful within the Reich. If, therefore, the centralizing character of the Constitution was to be accentuated, the following dilemma would have to be confronted. Either Prussia as it was would have to be accepted by the Reich, in which case the German Republic would in reality become a unitary Prussian Republic in which non-Prussian parties would be subjected to the will of Prussia. Or, if this state of affairs was to be avoided and a unitary state with central will was desired, Prussia would have to be suppressed, either by a partition of her own accord or one imposed upon it by the Reich.[11] It was this latter alternative that Under-Secretary of State Preuss chose when he was put in charge of the drafting of the Constitution.

The individual states, he pointed out, were the products of purely dynastic politics which almost everywhere ran counter to the natural relations of populations and races, separating what should have been united and uniting elements that had nothing in common. Only the republic has the possibility—it is also its duty—to reunite what belonged together. The fundamental question of the internal organization of Germany is, can a centralized Prussian State be maintained within the future German Republic? This question Preuss, after philosophical, historical considerations, answered in the negative. He demanded the territorial redistribution of the states on the basis of the right of populations to self-determination, according to their needs and their political and economic inclinations, with the intervention, by the sanction and under the direction of the Reich. Preuss insisted throughout on the fact that Prussia is not a nation, but that she constitutes an artificial formation, due to the political hazards of a reigning house, purchases, marriages, conquests, etc. The Prussian state does not form an organic whole and is bound together neither by economic nor cultural relations. It is an incomplete German state, “an edifice of fortune.” Even admitting that it had been for a time indispensable, in that it constituted to a certain measure an internal bond, it has now outlived its usefulness as a state. The national unity of Germany as a whole is a vital question for the German people and therefore for the German Republic. It is imperative that the diverse races who lived in forced unity in Prussia should be at once placed under the sovereignty of the Reich instead of being “mediatized” by a state that interposes itself between them and the Reich. It is only by the suppression of Prussia that these populations can secure that equality which is their right by the side of the other German states. It is only by the dismemberment of Prussia that the small states of North and Central Germany can make themselves communities able to survive. That an incompletely unified state of forty million Germans, that is to say, Prussia, could co-exist with a more complete unity of seventy million Germans, is contrary to nature and is a political contradiction. The German people, therefore, must be free to erect within the Reich new German republics without regarding the actual boundaries of the existing German states, as far as economic conditions and historical considerations permit the formation of new states. Newly created states will have to have at least two million inhabitants each. The fusion of several member states into a new state can be effected by an interstate treaty drawn up by the states in question, and approved by their parliaments as well as the government of the Reich. If the population of a territory wishes to separate itself from the state to which it belonged in order to unite with one or more other German Republics, or to form for itself an independent republic within the Reich, a plebiscite must be resorted to.

These proposals aroused most violent opposition. In the meetings of the committees as well as in plenary sessions of the Assembly two declarations were constantly emphasized. On the one hand, matters could not remain as they were, for the interior boundaries of the country were too entangled and there were states too small and powerless to discharge conveniently their obligations. On the other hand, it was impossible to conceive a radical transformation and to hope to see realized a completely new regrouping if this had to be done on purely rational principles. Revolution could perhaps effect this transformation, but the Republic was not yet strong enough to undertake this task, particularly as it was so preoccupied with the problem of a constitution. Insistence on the complete solution of this problem, even if it did not invite complete failure, would mean too much loss of time. A compromise had to be found.

The terms of such a compromise were extremely difficult to find. For no change in the territories of the various states could be effected without encroaching on the territory of Prussia, which has “enclaves” or domains in most of the states whose transformation was contemplated. If even one were to content oneself with the fusing of several small states—which it was unanimously agreed was highly desirable—it could be done only by taking from Prussia such and such piece of its territory. No matter from what side, therefore, the problem was attacked one came to the question of the dismemberment of Prussia. And over this question came conflict.

Some of the members followed the lines of the proposal submitted by Preuss on the partition of Prussia; but they went much further and indicated precisely what territory they found necessary to take away from it.