German Extremists Checked but Not Conquered is View Expressed by British Press: Real Test Will Come

The leading British papers, the “Times”, the “Manchester Guardian”, the “Daily Telegraph”, and the “Morning Post” agree this morning that the defeat of the extremists in the referendum is “not so much a victory to be celebrated, as an opportunity to be used.”

Relief is everywhere felt at the failure of the combined Nationalist and Communist assault upon the Prussian Government, the “Times” declares in its first leader, It is, however, misleading, it proceeds, to compare Sunday’s figures with those of last September, when the extremist parties were fighting each other for independent ends, unembarrassed and uncompromised by any community of purpose. The Referendum vote is not convincing evidence in itself that either of them has suffered any real diminution of voting strength, and the fact that, between them, they were able to bring nearly ten million electors to the poll is a check to undue optimism about the future. The real test will come with the General Election for the Diet next year. But, in spite of the confidence still professed by the National Socialists, the Government will be very much stronger to face that test as the result of Sunday’s victory. It has survived a fierce simultaneous attack from the Chauvinist reactionaries on the Right and from the Revolutionaries on the Left, and has gained confidence from its success. It has established a claim on the nation by the firmness with which it has consistently maintained public order.

But the anxiety, although lifted, has not been altogether removed, the “Times” concludes, Whether the renewed confidence will be justified will depend on whether the German Government, and other Governments, can use the present breathing space to profitable purpose.

A similar view is expressed by the “Manchester Guardian” in an editorial today. Throughout Europe, it says, the failure of the Prussian referendum has been welcomed with relief. But it would be foolish to think that all danger is past and that there is no need to trouble ourselves further with the condition of Germany. The defeat of the extremists is not so much a victory to be celebrated as an opportunity to be used. It means that a majority of the German people are not prepared to abandon the policy of international friendship on which Dr. Bruning relies for a cure of Germany’s terrible economic condition. But the Germans who abstained from voting on Sunday and thereby saved their country are not yet satisfied; they are only satisfied that Dr. Brunding’s policy is worth trying.

The extremists, the “Manchester Guardian” concludes, have been checked but not conquered. Germany has reaffirmed her belief in a policy of international collaboration. It is now for the other Powers to show that they share this faith.

The outlook for the political stability of the German Republic is now more favourable than at any time since the storm broke over it twelve months ago, the “Morning Post” writes in its leading article. Its enemies, the Nazis and their other extremist allies, it says, have received a setback which must cause them to ponder. A militant movement like theirs, which depends for its whole appeal on the emotional exploitation of discontent, is very susceptible to the disintegrating influences of defeat. Success is the food on which it feeds; once brought to a standstill, it is liable to find the tide ebbing irresistibly away from it. No less welcome is the discomfiture of the Communists. The Prussian people are to be congratulated on their refusal to become the catpaws of a sinister intrigue. By the confidence which they have shown in themselves, they have earned the title to the confidence of others, and they have chosen the surest and most direct road of escape from their present troubles.

The referendum in Prussia, the “Daily Telegraph” declares in an editorial, has dispersed effectively a cloud that had been impending over the whole German political situation for four months past, and the effect of its disappearance has been felt far beyond that country’s borders.

Not too much can be argued from the failure of the extremists in the present case, the “Telegraph” adds, however. The voting power they showed would have given them a dangerously strong position in a real General Election. But it is hoped that when the test of General Elections does come to be applied in Prussia and elsewhere, the country will have been brought far enough along the road to economic recovery for the forces of emotional recklessness to have lost their power of appeal.