OPPOSE ANTIDEMOCRATIC LAW
Berlin
A total of 260 leading intellectuals of West Germany, including many professors, have appealed to the West German DGB [deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund -- German Trade Union Federation] to take the lead in a firm struggle against the proposed state-of-emergency law which was discussed in a secret session of a Bundestag committee May 3 aspart of the process of railroading it through parliament before the new elections next September.
The proposed law would empower the West German government to proclaim a state of emergency “when there is a foreign or an internal danger," and to suspend all civil liberties.
Hitler used a similar provision in the Weimar constitution to "legally" dissolve the organizations of the working class in 1933,
The Social Democrats at first made a pretense at opposing the projected law on grounds of its unconstitutionality. Lately they have given up even the pretense for fear their "statesmanship" might be questioned,
At its last congress, the 6,000,000-member DGB took a stand against the vicious legislative proposal. In answering the plea of ° the intellectuals, DGB Chairman Ludwig Rosenberg stated that the ~~ federation still maintains its opposition.
He was silent, however, about the demand of the intellectuals for action against the impending bill,
Shop stewards in several big West German plants as well as regional district committees of the big Metal Workers Union have supported the call for industrial action against the threatened law.
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