Читать книгу The New German Constitution - René Brunet - Страница 17

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.

It was above all the question of the Rhineland. Through Trimborn, spokesman of the Centre, deputies of Cologne and Aix-la-Chapelle, the inhabitants of the Rhine country presented their claims. Prussia, product of a political dynasty, is an aggregation of different races, for there is no Prussian nation. The people who live on the banks of the Rhine feel themselves handicapped in comparison with the other German races, since they are not in direct contact with the Reich, and are represented in it only through the medium of Prussia. It follows from this that the people of the Rhine cannot have free expression of their native tendencies nor develop their own culture. They suffer in every way by not having their own administration and by having to endure Prussian functionaries over them.

The objections which came from the Prussian side to the formation of a Rhine state were not valid, insisted the partisans of the latter. The separation of the Rhineland from Prussia need not entail in itself a separation from the Reich. On the contrary, the Rhineland would be more solidly and intimately welded to the Reich if they belonged to it directly instead of being only part of Prussia. Nor would they admit the argument that the Rhineland should belong to Prussia to supplement economically the relatively poor Eastern provinces of Prussia. “The old cry of the poor East and the rich West is to-day dead,” the Rhinelanders insisted. War and revolution have done infinitely more damage to industrial Rhine than to the rural Eastern provinces. Finally, while it is possible that for a certain period, undoubtedly short, there might be disturbances in Germany caused by the creation of a new state, these would be less harmful than leaving on the Rhine a situation that would remain a permanent source of trouble. In conclusion, the representatives of the Rhineland demanded the creation of a Republic of the West, which should take in the provinces of the Rhine, a part of Westphalia and the territories of Oldenburg and Bremen.

On the other hand, the representatives of Hanover demanded justice against the violent annexation to which it had been subjected in 1866. There was formed in the Assembly a “German-Hanoverian” group which demanded “a free Hanover within a new Germany.” It involved the fusion of Lower Saxony with Hanover and Brunswick.

In the same way the small states of Central Germany wanted to fuse into a single state which would take in also part of the territory of Prussia and the region of Erfurt, and would form the state of Thuringia.

To these claims the representatives of Prussia, particularly the Prussian Minister of Justice, Heinze, and the German Nationalist, Düringer, replied, that the separatists were rats who were deserting a sinking ship; and they presented a vigorous defence of Prussia.

Firstly, they insisted, Prussia is no longer what it was before the Revolution. Formerly it was a powerful state enjoying all the advantages of hegemony and all the privileges which came from the fact that the German Emperor was the King of Prussia. To-day, said they, Prussia, whose military backbone is broken, finds itself economically and financially ruined and all its ancient prerogatives taken away. Furthermore, its former electoral system based on a class suffrage is gone and all the elements, including those of the Rhine, can make themselves equally felt thereafter.

Prussia as it now exists should be maintained, they went on. Its dismemberment would hurt the Reich more than it would serve it. Only powerful states, in command of important financial resources, can discharge the innumerable duties that to-day are incumbent on public organisms. Not only is Prussian culture necessary for the development of German culture, but the downfall of Prussia would involve the downfall of Germany; for Prussia is the cement that holds together the unity of the Reich, and renders services proportional to its greatness. Then, too, what would be the result of a dismemberment of Prussia? Aside from the fact that the advocates of dismemberment are absolutely unable to indicate the number and extent of the states into which they would carve Prussia, its parcelling out would involve a considerable loss in power and spirit, in time and in money. For each new state will want to have new administrative apparatus complete in every respect, a separate constitution, a separate parliament, a separate legislature, and so on. These states by reason of their weakness will be unable to discharge the obligations that would fall upon them. Still further, nothing was more illogical than to create new states if one wants to realize some day or other the unity of the Reich; for, each of these states will constitute later on just one more obstacle to such a unity.

Finally, said the Prussians, Prussia, which has already given all and sacrificed all to the greatness of the Empire, is ready to renounce still more, for the benefit of the Reich, what still remains of its independence, provided, that the other states do as much.

But it was precisely this demand that made the proposition impossible of acceptance by the others. In “sacrificing to the Reich all that remained” of the ancient rights of Prussia, the latter in reality sacrificed nothing; on the contrary, it gained a great deal. For, mistress of the Reich as it would be, it would secure thereby not only everything it brought to it, but also all that the other states contributed to it. It was thus, therefore, that Preuss always came back to the same dilemma: either a Germany under Prussian hegemony or a Prussia dissolved into the Reich.

Following the position which they took on this question, the members of the Committee on the Constitution supported either the text adopted by the conference of States or the project put forward by the government.

It became indispensable to know who in the last instance would decide on the territorial distribution. The conference of states replied, that only the states concerned should have the decision, otherwise there remains no such thing as states. The government insisted that it alone should be the deciding power, for it was the natural arbiter between the states, and only it controlled the situation sufficiently to resolve the problem in accordance with the political and economic considerations that were involved. Only the Reich can accomplish the necessary redistribution according to a consistent plan. Such a redistribution would have to be regulated by a law. A third current of opinion in this question came particularly from the champions of the creation of a Rhine republic, who pressed for the submission of the question of territorial redistribution to popular referendum and insisted that the will of the population thus expressed should be the ultimate guide for territorial redistribution.

After a preliminary examination of the question the committee to which it had been submitted presented a project according to which territorial changes would be regulated by a law, which, however, would have to be demanded either by the people involved or by a predominant general interest. It would be the Reich that would decide this in the last instance. Against this first project of the committee, objections were raised on March 29 by the states of south Germany; and negotiations began between the government, the representatives of these states and those of the majority parties. On May 29, a compromise was signed which, after slight alterations on June 5 by the Committee on the Constitution, provided that territorial changes must be accepted in principle by the states involved, and approved by the Reich. If the states refused their consent these changes could not be effected except by a law that took the form of a Constitutional provision; but this law could not be enacted unless the populations affected demanded it or unless the preponderant general interest required it. This new version increased the rôle of the states but also augmented the difficulty of procedure in any dismemberment whatsoever. It did not, however, exclude the hypothesis of a dismemberment effected in opposition to the wishes of the interested states.

The debate came back again and again to this version; and when the question reached the second reading before the National Assembly there was presented an amendment drawn up by Löbe of the Social Democrats, Trimborn of the Centre, and Heile of the Democrats, which after very much discussion among the government and the representatives of the states modified considerably the version of the Committee on the Constitution. On the one hand, territorial modifications were facilitated in the sense that new states could thereafter be created, even against the desires of the interested states, by a simple law; for they wanted to avoid, for example, the situation in which Prussia or another state could completely prevent all territorial modification by rendering impossible the necessary majority for the vote needed to enact a constitutional law. On the other hand, the creation of such a new state was rendered more difficult in the sense that it considerably complicated the conditions according to which the populations affected could express their desires. But most important of all—and that was the principal provision of the amendment—it was specified that no territorial change could be effected against the wish of the states concerned before a period of two years after the formal adoption of the Constitution.

Thus Prussia was guaranteed for at least two years against dismemberment.

This last provision was aimed at the Rhineland whose situation, as it was clearly indicated at the Assembly, was at the bottom of all the discussion. It was declared that the Rhineland needed above all tranquillity in the particular circumstances in which it found itself; that occupied by foreign troops it could decide its territorial needs only with difficulty; and that, above all, the creation of a state on the banks of the Rhine would be considered abroad as a preliminary to the complete independence of this state from the German Reich; and that it was “necessary to maintain a unity of front against French imperialism.” Along this line of argument it was further insisted that the dismemberment of Prussia has been the chief aim of the war waged by the enemies of Germany and the creation of a Rhenish Republic would be exploited by them as an additional victory. This resulted in the deputies from the Rhenish provinces declaring in the tribune of the Assembly their loyalty to the Reich and that whatever were their desires to see the Rhineland organized into a state, they would support the Löbe-Trimborn-Heile amendment including the postponement for two years of their justifiable claims.

The amendment was adopted by vote of 169 to 71, with 10 abstentions.

This version could not yet be considered as definitive, since when it came up for the third reading before the Assembly a new version was presented in the form of a new amendment by Löbe, Trimborn and Heile, which modified the original version. The changes proposed dealt with the method of calculating the majorities necessary in a popular vote to determine territorial changes. The Prussian Minister of the Interior Heine complained that the compromise previously adopted after such long debate had been modified at the last moment in the course of conferences to which the representatives of the states concerned had not been summoned. He preferred the original version; nevertheless he accepted the new one since he was convinced that the Constitution would have to be revised in several of its parts. He added several interesting declarations. It would be dangerous, he said, to seek to realize unity within the Reich by creating new states, which would almost immediately after have to abandon their newly won sovereignty and dissolve themselves into the Reich as a whole. That would be a useless detour. Heine pledged himself to facilitate the creation of the state of Thuringia and to give up to it a part of Prussian territory on the condition that prior to this a treaty would be enacted between that state and Prussia regulating the administrative and economic relations between the two. But he opposed with vigor the proposition to create the state of Upper Silesia and above all opposed the creation of a Rhenish Republic. This Republic, he pointed out, would unite the territories of the left bank of the Rhine occupied by the enemy and the territories of the right bank administered by Prussia. Such a union far from safeguarding the German spirit on the left bank would incur the risk of submitting the right bank to the same influences that prevailed on the other, and thus create a considerable danger of infection to the right bank.

Finally the Löbe-Trimborn-Heile amendment in its new version was adopted by the Assembly.

At the same time the Assembly passed a resolution which invited the Government to institute a central office where the different states would be represented; one which would have as its function to prepare programmes for regrouping the territory in accordance with a general plan. In July, 1920, a commission was formed in the Reichsrat with the consent of the states to devote itself to this task. The Minister of the Interior for the Reich, Koch, summed up its programme as “federation and decentralization.”