THE GENERAL STRIKE.
[To TICE Enna or rag “SrscrAma."]
SM,—Many Socialists and Labour men in this country as well as in Germany—Herr Hebei, as you have noted, was an excep- tion—are of opinion that in the event of Germany declaring war on another nation, the Socialists of Germany have become such a power politically that by declaring a general strike they would be able to force the Government to sue for peace. This is one of the reasons given by our Labour leaders for support- ing the agitation for the reduction of armaments. But surely their eyes ought to be opened by the way the Government of South Africa dealt with the general strike threatened in the 'Union. For if it could be defeated so easily there, such a movement could be much more easily crushed in Germany, where most hare been through the military mill, by the expedient of calling all the strikers to the colours—a call which they could not resist without the most serious conse- quences—and once embodied the "roll of the drum" would soon achieve the rest. I am afraid our• Labour leaders will find that the "general strike" in Germany for the purposes of preventing war will prove a broken reed indeed. —I am, Sir,
B.
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