"Commission Syndicale of Belgium,
"Brussels, 30th Oct., 1916.
[To the Governor General of Belgium.]"Excellency: The measures which are being planned by your administration to force the unemployed to work for the invading power, the deportation of our unhappy comrades which has begun in the region of the étapes, move most profoundly the entire working class in Belgium.
"The undersigned, members and representatives of the great central socialist and independent syndicates of Belgium, would consider that they had not fulfilled their duty did they not express to you the painful sentiments which agitate the laborers and convey to you the echo of their touching complaints.
"They have seen the machinery taken from their factories, the most diverse kind of raw materials requisitioned, the accumulation of obstacles to prevent the resumption of regular work, the disappearance one by one of every public liberty of which they were proud.
Workmen recite their wrongs at German hands.
"For more than two years the laboring class more than any other has been forced to undergo the most bitter trials, experiencing misery and often hunger, while its children far away fight and die, and the parents of these children can never convey to them the affection with which their hearts are overflowing.
"Our laboring class has endured everything with the utmost calm and the most impressive dignity, repressing its sufferings, its complaints and heavy trials, sacrificing everything to its ideal of liberty and independence. But the measures which have been announced will make the population drain the dregs [of the cup] of human sorrow; the proletariat, the poor upon whom unemployment has been forced, citizens of a modern state, are to be condemned to forced labor without having disobeyed any regulation or order.
And appeal for decent treatment.
"In the name of the families of workmen among which the most painful anxiety reigns at present, whose mothers, whose fiancées, and whose little children are destined to shed so many more tears, we beg Your Excellency to prevent the accomplishment of this painful act, contrary to international law, contrary to the dignity of the working classes, contrary to everything which makes for worth and greatness in human nature.
"We beg Your Excellency to pardon our emotion and we offer you the homage of our distinguished consideration.
"(Appended are signatures of members of the National Committee and the Commission Syndicale.)"
Von Bissing in his reply, November 3rd, practically admitted the truth of the complaint by attempting to justify the measures protested against. The arguments which he used are taken up and refuted in the letter of the Commission Syndicale, November 14, which follows:
"Commission Syndicale of Belgium,
"Brussels, 14th Nov., 1916.
"To His Excellency Baron von Bissing,
"Governor General in Belgium."Excellency: The Secretaries and representatives of the socialistic and independent labor Unions of Belgium have, with a painful disappointment, taken cognizance of the answer which you were good enough to make to their petition of October 30th, concerning the deportation of laborers to Germany, and it is in the name of the working classes as a united whole that we are making a final effort to prevent the consummation of an act, without precedent, directed against its liberty, its sentiments, and its dignity.
Socialists refute Bissing's arguments.
"You say that many industrial works have been closed on account of the lack of raw materials brought about by the blockade by the enemy. Permit us, Excellency, to remind you that the allied powers manifested very clearly their intention to permit the importation into Belgium of raw materials required by our industries, provided, with a very natural provision, that no requisitions should be made, except those mentioned in Article 52 of the Hague Convention, that is to say those necessary to the 'occupying army,' and that an international commission, the Commission for Relief in Belgium, should have the right to supervise the destination of the manufactured products.
"Instead of agreeing to such a proposal, we have seen the occupying authorities systematically remove the machinery, implements, machines of all kinds, the engines and raw materials, metals, leather, and wool, limit production, aggravate continually the difficulties of transactions. When communes or committees have desired to employ workmen without employment on works of public utility, obstacles have been thrown in their way and finally in many cases their undertakings have been stopped and broken. In a word, as fast as the most tireless efforts were strained to employ as many hands as possible, other men were constantly thrown out of work.
And proudly praise the Belgian workman.
"You state also that unemployment is caused by the laborers' hostility to work. The whole past of our working class protests against this accusation with every bit of energy that still remains in them. Where is there to be found in the whole world a working class which has made of such a small country such a great industrial and commercial power? And we, who for the last 25 years have been the enthusiastic witnesses of the magnificent efforts of our brother workmen, in the matter of their material and moral betterment, we proudly affirm that it is not among their ranks that one can find men so degraded as to prefer to receive a charitable assistance which barely furnishes them with sufficient food to an honest wage given in remuneration for free and fruitful work.
"What is true, however, is that the Belgian workmen, conforming to the same article 52 of the Hague Convention which only admits requisitions of labor 'for the needs of the army of occupation and in case these requisitions do not imply an obligation to take part in the war against their country,' have refused the most tempting offers, not wishing to build trenches nor to repair forts nor to work in factories which manufacture war materials. This was their right and their duty. Their attitude deserved respect and not the most humiliating of punishments.
"You refer to your decrees of August 15th, 1915, and of May 15th, 1916, in which are mentioned the possible punishment of any workmen who receive support and refuse work suited to their capacities and carrying with it a proper wage. Those who know with what care and with what minute detail the conditions, under which the unemployed have the right to receive assistance, have been established might perhaps think that these menaces were, to say the least, useless. But as you yourself say, these decrees declare in their article 2 that every motive of refusal to work will be considered valid if it is admitted by international law.
"For these cases of refusal, the German Authorities reserved the right to cause these recalcitrants to appear before Belgian tribunals and later before German military tribunals. It is therefore certain that the unemployed have the right to refuse to work for any motive approved by international law. When summoned before the tribunal they have the right to employ counsel in their defense and to state clearly their reasons for refusal. One might, of course, say that it is not a Laborers see through the German scheme. question obliging the workmen to participate in military enterprise; but it is only too evident that every Belgian deported to Germany will take the place there of a man who to-morrow will go to reinforce the ranks of the enemy. We should like to know, Excellency, whether these tribunals carry on their functions.
"You fear that continued unemployment may depreciate the physical and moral status of the workmen. We, who know them, have more confidence in them. We have seen them suffer with a stoicism which exists only in proud and high souls. Did not the splendid idea come from them, of organizing throughout the entire country a vast chain of educational work for the unemployed in order to develop their technical knowledge and to increase their professional value? The Comité National was not, alas, authorized to undertake this magnificent enterprise. Is it the idea that it is through forced labor, performed with black despair, like slaves, that our unhappy brothers will keep up their physical and moral energy?
The Germans have no right to talk about unemployment of Belgians.
"You fear also that 'the assistance which they receive will at length weigh down Belgian economic life.' We can with difficulty believe that Belgians, as you say, have had the smallness of soul to grudge in that form the bitter piece of bread and the little soup which have formed the food of so many working families for so many months; and what, after all, do the twelve million francs amount to that are distributed each month to from 500,000 to 600,000 unemployed, in comparison with the destruction, beyond reckoning, of goods and lives which the horrors of a war in which it has not the slightest responsibility have cost and still cost our country? With the most unshakable faith in our destinies; we, the most nearly interested, know that in the near future Flanders and Wallonie will rise again, glorious, in history.
All Belgians understand the German scheme.
"Excellency, our heart and our reason refuse, then, to believe that it is for the good of our class and to avoid an additional calamity to our country, that thousands of workers are suddenly torn from their families and transported to Germany. Public sentiment has not been deceived and in reply to the grievous complaints of the victims, there echo the indignant protests of the entire population, as expressed by its representatives, its communal magistrates, and those persons who constitute the highest incarnation of law in our country.
"Furthermore, the arbitrary and brutal manner employed in the execution of these sad measures has raised all kinds of doubts regarding the object in view: the need, above all, is to obtain workmen in Germany, for Germany's profit, and for the success of its arms.
"While at Antwerp they did not take any young men from 17 to 31 years who were under the régime of control, in the Borinage they call all the men from 17 to 50 years of age; in Walloon Brabant all men over 17 years, without making any distinction between the employed and unemployed. Men of all professions and of all conditions have been taken—bakers, who have never ceased to work in our co-operatives of the Borinage, for example; mechanics, who always had employment; agricultural workmen, merchants * * * At Lessines on the 6th instant, 2,100 persons were taken away, all workmen up to 50 years of age. Several cases are cited where old men with five or six of their sons have been exiled thus by force.
The tears of the mothers and the children.
"Distressing scenes occur everywhere. The unhappy ones gathered together in the public squares are rapidly divided into gangs. They had been directed to bring a small amount of baggage; they are taken at once to the railway station and loaded in cattle cars. They are not allowed to say good-bye to their families. No opportunity is given to them to put their affairs in order, even the most pressing ones. They do not know where they are going, nor for what work, nor for how long. Taken away at the beginning of the winter, after two years of privations, having no further resources and no means to provide themselves with warm clothing or with other indispensable articles, what privations are they going to endure? How will they live there? In what state will they return? This mystery and this anxiety are the cause of the ceaseless tears of the mothers and little children. Distress and despair reign in the homes.
"Listen, Excellency, to these tears and these sobs. Do not permit our past of liberty and independence to be ruined. Do not permit human rights to be violated in its holy of holies. Do not permit the dignity of our working classes, which has been acquired after so many centuries of effort, to be trodden under foot.
"It is to law and humanity that we appeal, solemnly and with the hope of being heard, for we have the profound conviction that by our voice, at this tragic hour, the great voice of the working class of the entire civilized world expresses its sorrow and its protest.
"Accept, Excellency, the homage of our most distinguished consideration."
(Here follow the signatures of the Members of the Comité Nationale and of the Commission Syndicale.)
"We transmit this letter and previous correspondence to the Ministers and representatives of Foreign powers at Brussels, as well as to our comrades of the Commission Syndicale des Syndicats in Holland."
The files of the State Department contain authentic copies of very many such moving protests. The foregoing ones are taken from this pathetic collection, and from it may be cited, by way of further illustration, some passages from two others:
PROTEST OF BELGIAN MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.
"Brussels, 9th November, 1916.
"To his Excellency, Baron von Bissing,
"Governor General in Belgium.Belgian legislators recite the wrongs of Belgium.
"Excellency: It seemed that no suffering could be added to those under which we have already been weighed down since the occupation of our country. Our banished liberty, our destroyed industry and commerce, our raw products and instruments of work taken out of the country, the public fortune ruined, want succeeding to wealth in families formerly most prosperous, privations, anxieties, and mourning. * * *
"Is there need to relate the scenes which the region of the étape has been the theater of for several weeks, and which are now being reenacted, during the past days, in the territory of the Government General, where this scourge threatens to extend from commune to commune until its victims are counted by hundreds of thousands? The "summary and sorrowful" procedure of the Germans. The notices posted on the walls and reproduced in the papers tell sufficiently what it is. Everywhere the same procedure, summary and sorrowful: arrests in mass, men classified arbitrarily among the unemployed, herded together, divided into groups, sent toward the unknown. * * *
"The authorities prefer to give them work in Germany, where the representatives of the [German] Industrial Bureau promise them 'good wages,' if they consent to work there 'voluntarily,' and where they may expect, in case of refusal, famine wages. What physical and moral depression is counted on in order to force their hand?
Everyone knows what Germany wants Belgian workers for.
"True, it has been asserted that the work which is offered to them will be nonmilitary in character; but voices have replied on every side: 'in taking the place of a German workman, the Belgian workman permits Germany to increase the numerical forces of its armies.' The most odious work is that whose results are used against the fatherland. To serve Germany is to fight against their own country. To compel our workmen to do this is nothing else than an act of force contrary to international law (referred to by Your Excellency in your proclamation of August 15th, 1915), and contrary also to the spirit, if not to the text, of the Fourth Convention of the Hague of 1907. * * *
"They adjure Your Excellency to employ with the military authorities the high prerogatives which are yours from your position to prevent the consummation of an act without precedent in the history of modern wars, and they beg you to accept the assurance of their most distinguished consideration."
[Signatures of Belgian Senators and Deputies.]
PROTEST OF CARDINAL MERCIER.
"Archbishopric of Malines,
"Malines, 10th November, 1916.
"Mr. Governor General:"I refrain from expressing to Your Excellency the sentiments which have been evoked in me by your letter of reply to the letter which I had the honor to address to you on October 19th, relative to the deportation of the unemployed.
German perfidy.
"I have recalled with melancholy the words which Your Excellency, dwelling upon each syllable, pronounced in my presence, after your arrival at Brussels: 'I hope that our relations will be loyal * * * I have received the mission of dressing the wounds of Belgium.'
"My letter of October 19th recalled to Your Excellency the engagement taken by Baron von Huene, military governor of Antwerp, and ratified a few days later by Baron von der Goltz, your predecessor as Governor General at Brussels. The engagement was explicit, absolute, unlimited as to time: 'The young men need not fear being taken to Germany, either to be enrolled in the army or to be employed at forced labor.'
"This engagement is being violated every day—thousands of times in the last fortnight.
"Baron von Huene and the late Baron von der Goltz did not say conditionally, as your despatch of the 26th of October would seek to imply: 'If the occupation does not last longer than two years men fit for military duty shall not be taken into captivity;' they said categorically: 'Young men, and with greater reason, men who have reached an advanced age, shall not at any moment of the occupation, either be made prisoners or employed at forced labor.' * * *
"The decrees, posters, and comments of the press, which were intended to prepare public opinion for the measures now being taken, pleaded especially two considerations: The unemployed, so they declared, are a danger to public security; they are a charge upon governmental charity.
The Belgians have got no charity from the Germans.
"It is not true, I said in my letter of October 19th, that our workmen have troubled, or even anywhere threatened the public peace. Five million Belgians and hundreds of Americans are the astonished witnesses of the dignity and the flawless patience of our working class. It is not true that the workmen deprived of work are a charge upon the occupying power for the charity which is dispensed by their administration. The Comité National, in which the occupying government has no active part, is the sole purveyor of subsistence to the victims of enforced idleness. * * *
The German plan makes Belgians war against their own country.
"Each Belgian workman will liberate a German workman who will add one more soldier to the German army. There, in all its simplicity, is the fact which dominates the situation. The author of the letter himself feels this burning fact, for he writes: 'nor is the measure one which affects the conduct of war properly speaking (proprement dite)'. It is, then, connected with the war improperly speaking (improprement dite); which can only mean that the Belgian workman, although he does not bear arms, will free the hands of a German workman who will take up the arms. The Belgian workman is forced to co-operate, in an indirect but evident manner, in the war against his country. This is manifestly contrary to the spirit of the Hague Conventions.
"Here is another statement: unemployment is not caused either by the Belgian workman or by England; it is brought about by the régime of the German Occupation.
"The occupying government has seized considerable supplies of raw material intended for our national industry; it has seized and shipped to Germany the machinery, tools, and metals of our factories and our workshops. The possibility of national labor being thus suppressed, there remained one alternative to the workman: to work for the German Empire, either here or in Germany; or to remain idle. Some thousands of workmen, under the pressure of fright or of hunger, accepted, with regret for the most part, work for the enemy; but four hundred thousand workmen and workwomen preferred to resign themselves to unemployment, with its privations, rather than injure the interests of the fatherland; they lived in poverty, with the aid of a meager relief allowed them by the Comité national de secours et d' alimentation, under the supervision of the protecting ministers of Spain, America, and Holland. Calm, dignified, they bore without No disorder is caused by Belgians. a murmur their painful lot. In no part of the country was there a revolt or even the semblance of one. Employers and employees awaited with patience the end of our long martyrdom. Meanwhile, the communal administrations and private initiative endeavored to alleviate the undoubted inconveniences of unemployment. But the occupying power paralyzed their efforts. The Comité National attempted to organize a professional school for the use of the unemployed. This practical instruction, respectful of the dignity of our workmen, was meant to keep up their skill, increase their capacity for work, and prepare for the restoration of the country. Who opposed this noble movement, the plan of which had been elaborated by our large manufacturers? Who? The occupying government.
Communes not allowed to furnish work for unemployed.
"Notwithstanding all this, the communes made every effort to give work to the unemployed upon undertakings of public utility; but the governor general made these enterprises depend upon permission which, as a general rule, he refused. There are numerous cases, I am assured, where the General Government authorized undertakings of this kind upon the express condition that they should not be undertaken by unemployed.
"They were seeking to create unemployment. They were recruiting the army of the unemployed. * * *
"The letter of October 26th says that the first responsibility for the unemployment of our workmen rests upon England, because she has not allowed raw materials to enter Belgium.
England not to blame.
"England generously allows foodstuffs to enter Belgium for the revictualling [of the country], under the control of neutral States—Spain, the United States, and Holland. She would allow raw materials necessary for industry to enter the country under the same control if Germany were willing to agree to leave them to us, and not to seize the finished products of our industrial work.
Germany robs Belgians and inflicts privations.
"But Germany, by various proceedings, notably by the organization of its Centrales, over which neither the Belgians nor our protecting ministers can exercise any efficacious control, absorbs a considerable portion of the products of agriculture and of the industry of our country. The result is a considerable increase in the cost of living, which causes painful privations for those who have no savings. * * *
Deportation is slavery.
"Deportation is slavery, and the heaviest penalty of the penal code after that of death. Has Belgium, who never did you any wrong, deserved at your hands this treatment which cries to heaven for vengeance?
"Mr. Governor General, in the beginning of my letter I recalled the noble words of Your Excellency: 'I have come into Belgium with the mission of dressing the wounds of your country.'
"If Your Excellency could penetrate into the homes of workingmen, as we priests do, and hear the lamentations of wives and mothers whom your orders cast into mourning and into dismay, you would realize far better that the wound of the Belgian people is gaping.
Cold calculation of Germans.
"Two years ago, we hear people say, it was death, pillage, fires, but it was war! To-day it is no longer war, it is cold calculation, intentional destruction, the victory of force over right, the debasement of human personality, a cry of defiance to humanity.
"It depends upon you, Excellency, to silence these cries of a revolted conscience; may the good God, whom we call upon with all the ardor of our soul for our oppressed people, inspire you with the pity of the good Samaritan!
"Accept, Mr. Governor General, the homage of my highest consideration.
"D.J. Card. Mercier,
"Arch. of Malines."