Page:Karl Liebknecht - Militarism (1917).djvu/191

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SOME CARDINAL SINS
159

profitable activity of the veterans' associations in that field of labor. But it will be profitable not so much for the capitalists as for the Social Democracy, to which nothing can be more welcome than such clumsy tomfoolery that can only serve to enlighten the workmen and weaken the veterans' associations. The latter are expelling more systematically than ever not only the Social Democrats, but all of their members belonging to trade unions pervaded by the spirit of the modern labor movement. In the smaller places, no doubt, they create temporary difficulties for the unions by such methods, as they hold their members not only by means of the usual parades and carousals, but also by certain material advantages which have often been acquired through the payment of considerable dues.

The activities of the veterans' associations are energetically promoted by the courts of class-justice and the administrative authorities, who still have the courage to take up the grotesque position that these clubs, which betray their political propagandist character at every turn, are to be treated