566 THE CLASS STRUGGLE THE AWAKENING OF AUSTRIA 567 have injured us severely, and we must do penance (and who knows how much longer) by blood and hunger, for the dream that we can run the whole earth.
tive work. That unfortunately, has been a great mistake in German political policy, that has caused much of the bitterness which we now feel. Just consider that the charge of high treason is supported in word and deed by the gallows, by court martial, and by reactionary tribunals, which extend over all of Austria, and you will judge more mildly, the things that you hear. And in the end, we submit to such a condition only because everyone feels instinctively that the manifestations of to day represent not alone the convictions of other people, but the guilt of those who have ruled in Austria and still rule. Austria must become a different country.
But how are we to get peace? Count Burian in his note invites consultation. Such an exchange would be very useful.
That it has been rejected by the Entente in the first place doesn prove anything and the objection that we are opposed to secret diplomacy is no objection because nothing is to be settled in that way. However the proposal has been rejected for the time being, but this rejection implies not alone a disinclination to talk about peace so long as the destined course of events has not yet made clear the status of power, but it is also a verdict on the unpractical methods that we employ. We would probably have saved much blood and misery if the German government had been wise enough two years ago to have spoken frankly and seriously about Belgium. recollect having said here, myself, that it was of no use to talk in generalities, that it was necessary to talk in such a way that first of all not only diplomats but the people understand. You must put the arms in to the hands of the people who want peace, in the hands of the classes that are gaining in power and influence, and in the intensity of their efforts from day to day, in order to show what is intended, it is necessary to give evidence of a desire for peace in such a way that it will be believed and understood. The dickering about Belgium, the severity of the pan Germans in Germany, and of those holding the same views here has cost us very much blood. The Siegfried meetings, even though they did not attract broad masses, We don want victory. fear that the peoples of Austria have as much to fear from a great victory as from a victory of the other side; but also fear that the victory of the other side will not bring the fruits to those other nationalities of Austria that they anticipate. What we need is not victory, but the end of the war, peace. Peace will mean sacrifices, but not nearly the sacrifices that the peoples of this nation have long been making and are being forced to make. We must convince our opponents not Lloyd George, and not Clemenceau, but the French and the English peoples. There is already evidence of development among the English workers, which is becoming more distinct from day to day, and among the French, where what was formerly the minority among the Socialists has already become the majority. Progress is being made, convictions are changing, but we must help along. We cannot do this by talking generalities, nor by simply letting the government do the talking. The government must speak plainly, but the representatives of the people must speak too.
The presence of delegates of the people at the peace negotiations, which is demanded in certain quarters, is a complicated technical question, which do not wish to enter into.
But now the people must speak, the house must declare that the people want peace, and outline the minimum that we must concede. The sacrifices that we must bring will be the atonement for the fact that we let us put it mildly were fated to be the incendiaries.
We are prepared to make these sacrifices because what we are suffering today is a much heavier sacrifice.
That is why we have made this motion. We demand that the minimum conditions be submitted to the committee that is to be chosen. We have formulated the conditions on the basis of which we believe peace is possible. We have formu