No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The Reichstag Elections
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2013
Extract
Although two general elections were held in Germany during 1924, the political situation remained confused. The election of May resulted in gains for both the extreme right and the extreme left; the one of December registered a reaction against both extremes. However, neither of these contests was sufficiently conclusive to indicate clearly the direction in which the currents of public opinion were moving. The result has been a remarkable series of cabinet crises, the latest of which it took more than a month to settle.
- Type
- Foreign Governments and Politics
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1925
References
1 For an account of the May election see Shepard, W. J., “The German Elections,” Am. Pol. Sci. Rev., Aug., 1924.Google Scholar
2 In the Reichstag before the May election the government parties were represented as follows: Social Democrats, 169; Democrats, 40; Center, 72; People's Party, 65; Bavarian People's Party, 20; The opposition parties had the following representation: Nationalist, 71; Communist, 25. Berliner Tageblatt, Dec. 11, 1924.
3 Simonds, Frank H., “The German Election,” Am. Rev. of Rev., June, 1924.Google Scholar
4 From May to October the government parties had the following representation: Social Democrats, 99; Democrats, 28; Center, 65; People's Party, 45; Bavarian People's Party, 16. The chief opposition groups were represented as follows: Volkische (Extreme Nationalists) 32; Nationalists, 106; Communists, 62. Berliner Tageblatt, Dec. 11, 1924.
5 For an account of the Reichstag session of August 29 see an article in the August 30 issue of the Vossische Zeitung, reprinted in the Living Age, Oct. 11, 1924. The London Times in an editorial entitled, “The German Acceptance” commented as follows: The German Government and the German people are to be congratulated warmly on the result. It is a triumph of common sense; but while that triumph was foreseen by well-informed and judicious observers, it was not assured until the last moment. President Ebert and his Cabinet had, indeed, wisely and boldly decided that, whatever the fate of the Bills Germany would sign the Agreement; but had the Bills failed to obtain the necessary majority a Dissolution would have been inevitable, and the whole scheme would have been exposed to the risks of a General Election fought largely upon other issues. Times Weekly Edition, Sept. 4, 1924.
6 Times Weekly Edition, Oct. 23, 1924.
7 Manchester Guardian Weekly, Oct. 10, 1924.
8 “The German People's party received a rebuff. It did not secure its much desired object, the Bürgerblock. The German people were saved from this catastrophe by the determination of the Democrats.” Berliner Tageblatt, Oct. 21, 1924.
9 Doubtless one of the main reasons for Stresemann's determination to have the Nationalists in the government, now that the acceptance of the Dawes plan had been secured, was his desire, as leader of the great industrialists, to insure a system of taxation for Germany which would shift the financial burdens involved in the Dawes plan to the shoulders of the masses of the people through customs and excises and thus lighten the taxes on incomes and property. See an informing article by Georg Bernhard, editor of the Vossische Zeitung, in New York Times, Nov. 30, 1924.
10 Berliner Tageblatt, Oct. 16–21, 1924.
11 London Times, Dec. 5, 1924.
12 Manchester Guardian Weekly, Oct. 24, 1924.
13 London Times, Dec. 6, 1924; New York Times, Nov. 30, 1924.
14 Berliner Tageblatt, Dec. 11, 1924; Times Weekly Edition, Dec. 11, 1924; Manchester Guardian Weekly, Dec. 12, 1924.
15 Times Weekly Edition, Dec. 11, 1924.
16 The Berliner Tageblatt, Dec. 10–Jan. 15, contains full accounts of the party negotiations that preceded the formation of the Luther Cabinet.
17 New York Times, Jan. 20, 1925.
18 New York Times, Jan. 20, 1925.
19 Ibid., Jan. 23, 1925.