THE GENERAL STRIKE.

The question of the moment is whether the general strike is to be called off. The railwaymen and postal officials are stated to have resumed work, but the attitude of the remainder of the workmen is doubtful. Even if their leaders call upon them to go back, it is not certain that the response will be general. The Socialist police president, Ernst, is optimistic, but the Bauer Cabinet cannot be very much so, or it would not have deferred its return to Berlin for several days, as I was informed by Schiffer’s secretary this morning.

The solution of the crisis is not altogether a happy one. The workmen will, of course, say and think that it was the general strike that did the trick. In my own belief, the Kapp adventure would have suffered a fiasco without the strike. There are, however, grounds for Kapp’s followers to represent themselves as victors. Indeed, last night it was reported that the usurper withdrew on conditions practically identical with those contained in his ultimatum of Saturday morning. Schiffer’s secretary informs me, however, that the surrender really was unconditional, and that the terms referring to the choice of the President direct by the people played no part in the dealings between the two Governments. These were merely the result of an independent agreement between the National Assembly parties, who decided to lay them before the Government as recommendations. There is, however, an ambiguity here. It will also not tend to appease the workmen that the Majority parties have decided to force the Conservatives into the Coalition and the Ministry. That also must look like a distinct move of the Government as a whole towards the Right as a result of the militarist revolt.