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Military government weekly information bulletin
No. 42 (May 1946)
German reactions, pp. 13-14
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Page 14
that 'if one does not support the Unity one is an enemy of the Soviet Union.' On the merger party days he continues, Otto Grotewohl stated that opposition to an, inmediate merger equals the anti- Bolshevism of Hugenburg and Hitler. "By -a clear socialist and independent Germ-an policy the SPD will have to show the working people that the KPD must stand for the rights of man and the liberties -of democracy or the party is superfluous in Germany. The SPD will have to keep a strict check on the activities 'of the KPD and SPD. The re- proach of anti-Bolshevism is an ill-inten- tioned slur," he claims. According to Klingelhoefer, the striving for power of the Communist Party im- pairs the unity of the labor movement, though at the same time a coalition pol- icy with the bourgeoise parties cannot be recommended, for more than ever reaction hides within these parties. This reaction, he states, is shown in the demands for federalism behind which the particularist and separatist bour- geoise hides. "The SPD," he concludes, "will have to increase its activity in order to meet the needs 'of, the future. In Berlin the Social Democrats have proved that they are able to fight, and they have also shown the German youth that courage can realize the highest aims." War Planfs and Reparations A follow-up Information Control sur- vey was recently made 'of public attitudes toward the use of. German industrial plant equipment as reparations and to- ward the blowing-up of war plants which cannot be converted to peacetime use. Several additional questions were asked on the second survey in order to probe these attitudes more fully. The most recent survey showed no important increase in public disapproval of these two Allied economic policies despite the fact that additional demoli- tions and removals had taken place in the interim. Most people had heard of the destruction of war plants. Approval of this action was given by five persons out of every eight who 'expressed opinion. Practically all people (96 0/) would prefer to see only the equipment in these war plants destroyed, while the building itself should be preserved intact forhous- ing purposes. In this connection, the survey showed widespread lack of un- derstanding as to why some plants are blown up entirely while in other cases only the equipment is destroyed. They do not understand that the building or structure housing some war plants could not be used for housing or other peaceful purposes. Very few people (80/%) claim- 'ed to know how many war plants had already been destroyed and even fewer (30/%) knew how many were slated for eventual destruction. As for the reparations program, half the public continued to concede that the transfer of certain German industries was justified while almost a third of the public took the opposite point -of view. The rest held no opinion. May Day Appeal In his talk on May Day Wilhelm Pieck, one of the two top leaders of the new Socialist Unity Party, declared "we fight for Germany's unity because that is the only way by which our people can isure democracy and peace in our country." "We desire the Rhine and Ruhr areas to remain with Germany because our people cannot exist without these vital districts," continued Pieck, observing fur- ther that "we want a uniform, anti- fascist, parliamentary, democratic repub- lic. We want the setting up of a central government as soon as possible by the anti-fascist democratic parties and the trade unions. We desire Berlin to re- main the capital of our country." 14
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