The Future of the Reichstag
The German Reichstag is due to meet on Tuesday, but there is still the possibility of a further postponement. What will happen when it does ultimately assemble no man can foresee, for the whole political situation remains as obscure as ever. The Government showed distinct weakness in allowing a Nazi demonstration in the heart of the Communist quarter of Berlin last Sunday, under the protection of unprecedented masses of police, and . it seems to have secured. in consequence not the gratitude but the contempt of the Nazis themselves. The negotiel tions for an understanding between Hitler and the Government have come to nothing, as they always looked like doing, and the prospect of the formation of a Govern- ment bloc commanding a majority in the Reichstag is remote. If General von Schleicher does fail to secure that the natural sequel would be one more dissolution the Reichstag and one, more General Election within sixty days. But Germany is sick of abortive elections, and the next one will not be rendered the more attractive by the probability of a further expansion of the Com• munist vote. Hence the increasing talk of an interlude not of sixty days but of six months or more without a
Reichstag. The constitution would have to be strained or openly violated to admit of that, but if the President favoured the plan there would probably be no violent opposition. * * *
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