Tuesday, 11 March 1930: Germany Ratifies the Young Plan

Berlin:  

The Reichstag approves the Young Plan bill on second reading, as well as the separate war debt payment agreement with the United States.  President Paul von Hindenburg threw his support behind the measures when he threatened reluctant lawmakers that he wouldn’t sign the bill unless it passed by a substantial majority, thus placing the blame on them.  The plan additionally calls for all foreign occupation of the German Rhineland to end by June 30.  Today’s approval makes it virtually certain that the final bill will pass when it gets its third reading tomorrow. 

The Reichstag also rescinds parliamentary immunity for seven of its communist members who incited violence during the March 6 International Unemployment Day demonstrations.  Four people have died as a result of the riots. 

Also, the Reichsbank Board of Directors unanimously appoints Hans Luther, former Chancellor of Germany, to the post of bank president, vacated by Hjalmar Schacht a few days ago.

 

Moscow:  

The government’s persecution of religion intensifies, despite worldwide condemnation.  Leaders of the League of Communist Youths instruct their members to have “special shock brigades and groups of light cavalry” ready during Easter week to lead anti-God activities, and to investigate how anti-religious training is going in schools and universities. 

Additionally, the Society of Militant Atheists calls for Easter Day bonfires of icons (the religious symbols beloved by Eastern Orthodox Christians), to celebrate the “extinction of religion.”  The Godless One, newspaper of the society, writes, “In answer to foreign agitation against us, we will strengthen our Red Army.  We will build armored tanks and an entire tractor column which we shall name ‘The Godless.’  Forty-thousand rubles have already been collected for this purpose.  By intensifying the struggle against religion, we will hasten the collectivization of peasant farms.  By liquidating the kulak as a class we will quicken the fall of his chief support, which is religion.  We will convert the state and collective farms into great centers of atheism.”  

Sunday, 9 March 1930

Washington:  Commerce Secretary Robert P. Lamont announces that a $7 billion government construction program intended to relieve unemployment is being accelerated.  

Saturday, 8 March 1930

Germany:

Berlin:  Defense Minister Lieut. Gen. Wilhelm Groener issues a memorandum to military officers around the country to be extra watchful, as his office has received information indicating that communists believe the time is right in Germany for a communist revolution.  Meanwhile, Germany sends notice to the Soviet Union that it will blame that country for any future communist propaganda within German borders.  Most western governments consider it a “worst-kept secret” that COMINTERN is state sponsored by the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, Wilhelm Marx, former Chancellor, pens an article which appears in newspapers outside of Germany, warning the world against the “insane bolshevist teachings” of soviet Russia.  “Bolshevism, which is regarded by all advanced peoples as utterly insane, is striving for world wide revolution, and has secured dominion over the Russian people.  Its aim is to shatter every state and human institution, and especially capitalism, in order to erect on the ruins a new order – to create indeed a new type of human beings.  The ideas embodied in this doctrine, so destructive to humanity, exercise a strong fascination especially on peoples little affected by general culture.  The Chinese empire, which had hardly been touched by world history for over a thousand years, was within an astonishingly short space of time menaced to its very existence to the highest degree by Bolshevik propaganda.  All this was finally counteracted, but perhaps only temporarily. 

But for Europe the menace of the East remains as a threatening storm cloud on the horizon.  Supported by incalculable natural resources and the tenacity of the Slavic race in its endurance of the greatest wretchedness, men in power in Russia are carrying on their propaganda with inexhaustible funds.  Naturally the neighboring states are the chief sufferers.  Perhaps the countries victorious in the world war will one day have to regret that in drawing up the Treaty of Versailles they concentrated all their efforts toward weakening Germany.  It is alone due to the healthy common sense of the German people and to their steadfast love for order that bolshevist agitation has hitherto been able to gain comparatively little ground.  But the bolshevist menace should serve also as a warning to other countries not to destroy Germany’s economic basis.  An impoverished people whose widest circles are doomed to want, is naturally the best culture medium for bolshevist agitation.  The very existence of states, the conservation and health of peoples and all social and economic order are menaced if these insane teachings of the bolshevist leaders should gain dominion over a still greater part of humanity.”

Meanwhile, the effects of the worldwide economic depression deepen:  Bankruptcies are up 43% over same month 1929.  In Cologne, the Social Democrat Association of Police announces that carnivals will be considered out of place at a time when 2.5 million people are receiving unemployment assistance.

Elsewhere: 

Washington:  The National Unemployment League appeals to President Herbert Hoover and Congress to enact immediate legislation starting a public works system to reduce unemployment. 

London:  The British government releases a white paper which it says reveals a decree issued in the Soviet Union earlier this year limiting religion.  The decree forbids meetings for prayer or Bible study, calls for religious buildings to be nationalized, and mandates that all confiscated church funds be turned over to the state.  

Friday, 7 March 1930

Berlin:  

Dr. Hjalmar Schacht resigns unexpectedly as Reichsbank President, citing again his opposition to the Young Plan – which he now calls merely a distortion of the original.  “Please don’t call it the Young Plan.  Sanctions, moral discriminations and even the taking of our property – as Snowden [Philip Snowden, British Chancellor of the Exchequer], France, Poland, New Zealand, Canada and Australia are doing – have nothing in common with the Young Plan as conceived in Paris.  I am for the Young Plan, especially in the Young spirit; I am even now willing to accept the Young Plan in the Young spirit.  What is now before the Reichstag I call the Hague protocol, and as to what I think of Germany’s future under it . . . .  Well, I don’t say anything.”

Schacht’s antagonism, directed both at Germany’s financial situation and the revisions to the Young Plan, had made headlines throughout Europe.  But his resignation catches official circles by surprise – it lends him a kind of moral high ground, some say, in that he is willing to give up a powerful and high-paying position over principles.  But some officials worry that Schacht is simply planning to launch an attack on the cabinet of Chancellor Hermann Mueller from the outside, possibly bringing down his government. 

The Reichstag bills to approve the Young Plan have been tied up in negotiations for days, as political parties who’s support for the plan will be needed use that in turn as leverage to negotiate for things they want – in particular, for or against a tax increase on individuals to help pay the government’s bills. 

Meanwhile, more communists riot in East Berlin, with two police and a civilian shot.  It starts with a demonstration of several hundred.  When police attempt to break it up, someone opens fire. 

Moscow:  

The Commissariat of Health issues a rule that priests and other “former people” of the old Russian monarchy are not to be given beds in hospitals until all the treatment needs of the “proletarians” have been met.  Since non-proletarians are already prohibited from receiving medical care at public clinics – whose physicians are the ones referring patients to hospitals – this all but excludes these “former people” from the healthcare system (although they still may receive private medical care in their homes).  

Thursday, 6 March 1930: International Unemployment Day Rattles European, U.S. Cities

International Unemployment Day

New York – Detroit – Chicago – Boston – Milwaukee – Pittsburgh – Philadelphia – Cleveland – Washington – Seattle -- Berlin – Hamburg – Munich – Vienna – Manchester:  

In dozens of cities in Europe and the United States, International Unemployment Day is observed with demonstrations and marches, many of which erupt into riots, all organized by the Communist International, or COMINTERN. 

In New York, a crowd estimated at widely divergent numbers – from 35,000 to 110,000 – marches down Broadway toward city hall, and is broken up by an estimated 1,000 police.  As many as 100 are injured and another 100 arrested.  Police Commissioner Grover Whalen calls it the worst riot in the city since the World War. 

In Detroit, a crowd estimated from 30,000 to 100,000 turns out for a demonstration that devolves into a two-hour battle with police, who charge the crowd with horses, injuring anywhere from 5 to 26.  31 are arrested. 

In Chicago, a crowd estimated from 10,000 to 50,000 marches peacefully for four hours.  Crowds in other U.S cities range from 50,000 in Boston to 10-25,000 in Cleveland, where the crowd battles police.  Seattle sees 10,000 demonstrators battle police.  International Unemployment Day is reportedly observed in a total of 30 U.S. cities.

In Washington, several hundred communist demonstrators march in front of the White House.  Some attempt to climb the White House fence and are pulled down by spectators.  Then the whole crowd is dispersed by police with tear gas.  9 are injured, 13 arrested. 

In Berlin, where demonstrations were banned, smaller groups of demonstrators nevertheless clash with police in various outbreaks.  One is killed and 14 injured, half police.  270 are arrested.  Two people are killed in Halle, Germany, where marchers attack police by throwing rocks.  56 are arrested in Munich.

 

In Bilbao, Spain, 400 communists and socialists battle each other, some with gunfire.  Police arrest 40. 

In Vienna, a crowd of 1,500 attempts to rush police guarding the university district, where students are shouting derision at the marchers. 

Moscow:  Meanwhile, the Soviet newspapers Pravda and Izvestia publish front-page editorials urging workers and the unemployed worldwide to rise up in revolt against capitalism. 

International Unemployment Day in New York

Elsewhere:

London:  Meanwhile, back at the stalled naval conference, the French delegation returns, now that France finally has a government again.  Work on caps and parity of naval fleets is expected to resume.  

Moscow:  The government evicts 5,326 traders, former noblemen, landlords, officers and other members of the non-laboring class, from their homes, freeing up 33,367 square meters of living space, which the government then distributes to industrial workers and demobilized Red Army soldiers. 

Tripoli:  Native forces serving Italy clash with a fleeing band of Libyan resistance fighters south of the city, headed by Sulelman Sefennasser.  He and one of his sons are killed in the fighting, and his wife and five other sons are taken prisoner, along with the entire caravan.  

Wednesday, 5 March 1930

The world gears up for what are expected to be massive communist demonstrations tomorrow.  Police and authorities in major cities throughout Europe and the United States are taking different approaches to the preparations.  Berlin, Paris, Riga and Prague have all banned demonstrations.  Berlin will have 7,000 police on patrol to enforce their ban.  Czechoslovakia has suppressed two communist newspapers in addition to banning demonstrations.  Stockholm has banned street demonstrations, but will allow open air meetings.  New York and Philadelphia will allow meetings, but have let it be known they expect them to be orderly.  Chicago initially refuses to permit a gathering, when the chief of detectives announces he's learned that 12 "executioners" (presumably communist) are arriving from New York with orders to kill him.  But the police commissioner overrules him and permits a parade.  

Tuesday, 4 March 1930

Washington:  The worldwide economic depression worsens: Labor Secretary James J. Davis announces that unemployment in the U.S. is at 3 million. 

New York:  A New York Times article says that while soviet Russia is fomenting unemployment riots around the world, its own official figures put unemployment there at 7-10 million -- higher than any country it agitates against.  Moreover, Russia’s unemployed are ruthlessly suppressed from demonstrating.  

Monday, 3 March 1930

Berlin -- Paris:  Authorities report that they, like their counterparts in the United States, are getting word of massive communist and unemployed demonstrations being planned for March 6.

New York:  Matthew Woll, Vice President of the American Federation of Labor, says “Communists are purposely planning to start riots here so police will be forced to interfere to maintain order.  Women and children sympathizers of Soviet Russia will be placed in the front ranks in the red demonstrations.  Then when the police put down the riots, the soviet sympathizers will cry: ‘Police are Cossacks! They ride down women and children.’”

Sunday, 2 March 1930

Moscow:  

Joseph Stalin issues an article, titled “Dizzy With Success,” published in newspapers around the Soviet Union, which appears to call for a slowdown – a “consolidation” -- in the soviet assault on the lives of peasants, including their religion.  Stalin says overzealous prosecution of anti-religious activity stems from overconfidence, and he warns against it.  “I say nothing of those ‘revolutionaries” . . . who begin the work of organizing artels [a cooperative association] by removing the bells from the churches.  Just imagine removing the church bells – how r-r-revolutionary!  How could there have arisen in our midst such blockheaded exercises in ‘socialization,’ such ludicrous attempts to overleap oneself, attempts which aim at bypassing classes and the class struggle, and which in fact bring grist to the mill of our class enemies?  They could have arisen only in the atmosphere of our ‘easy’ and ‘unexpected’ successes on the front of collective-farm development.  They could have arisen only as a result of the blockheaded belief of a section of our party: ‘We can achieve anything!  There’s nothing we can’t do!’  They could have arisen only because some of our comrades have become dizzy with success and for the moment have lost clearness of mind and sobriety of vision.  To correct the line of our work in the sphere of collective-farm development, we must put an end to these sentiments.  That is now one of the immediate tasks of the party.” 

Observers hope this may signal an easing of religious persecution in Russia. 

Elsewhere: 

Germany:  The worldwide economic depression worsens: unemployment in Germany has grown to 2.34 million. 

Paris:  Andre Tardieu is named Prime Minister, barely more than a week after he fell from the same post. 

Saturday, 1 March 1930

Madrid:  

Fears of everything from a coup to a new dictatorship by either the king or new Prime Minister Damaso Berenguer sweep the nation.  The government has prohibited political gatherings, and threatened martial law if civil disorders continue.  King Alfonso is said to be hosting supporters from around the country to bolster his position, and staying in contact with military generals, who are reportedly assuring him that they support him.  Meanwhile police patrol the streets to prevent demonstrations, press freedoms are curtailed, and those arrested in the previous days’ disorder are said to be charged with treason.  Yet rumors also fly that several military officers are resigning and holding conference at Barcelona – possible prelude to a coup. 

Germany: 

Leipzig:  Police raid a communist meeting hall and find 16 machine guns and 125 rifles that were stolen from a nearby military barracks on Thursday.  Police in a nearby village find another 6 machine guns and 30 rifles at another communist gathering place. 

Berlin:  Meanwhile, fighting breaks out between nationalists and communists during a funeral for a nationalist student who was allegedly killed by the communists.  As the funeral procession is passing, the communists reportedly jeer, and trouble ensues.  Police eventually break up the melee and the funeral continues.

Poland:  

Newspaper correspondents report a steady stream of peasants crossing the border from Russia to flee loss of land, food shortages and villages burned at the hands of soviet authorities.  Many are shot by Russian border guards as they try to escape.  One detachment of border guards, however, reportedly joins the refugees and escapes into Poland, sick of going hungry and being ordered to shoot their own people.  Poland, however, appeals to the League of Nations for aid in helping the refugees, as unemployment and economic conditions in Poland are already so bad due to the depression that they fear things will get desperate. 

New York:  

Matthew Woll, President of the American Federation of Labor, says the recent communist disturbances around the country have been financed by the Communist International, to the tune of $1.25 million.  He says the communist strategy is to take advantage of rising unemployment to urge revolution.  Additionally, federal, state and local authorities across the nation report they’re also uncovering evidence of major communist demonstrations being planned for March 6.