Pacelli reports to Gasparri a grave danger that underground Bolshevik forces in Bavaria will emerge strongly to overthrow the Government - July 9, 1919
Source: Timeline
July 9, 1919 Pacelli reports to Gasparri a grave danger that underground Bolshevik forces in Bavaria will emerge strongly to overthrow the Government. English translation
July 9, 1919 Pacelli to Gasparri:
Re: The situation in Bavaria
Most Reverend Eminence,
The news coming from Bavaria continues to be not very comforting. Despite the apparent tranquility, the much longed for state of secure calm has not yet arrived; indeed hidden forces are at work, now no less than before, in Bavaria just as in the rest of Germany, seeking to bring Bolshevik ideals into actual practice.
Naturally the tactical methods for this purpose have needed be changed. After the fall of the Councils Republic, it was not possible under the government of the military authorities for the apostles of Bolshevism to whip up the masses in public gatherings. The tactics of Spartacism have known how to adapt themselves prudently to the changed circumstances. They have dispersed into the darkness; but leaflets promoting the Bolshevik cause and announcing its upcoming triumph show its persistent underground work. Words carelessly escaping the leaders and followers of Communist circles clearly reveal that at present indeed in Bavaria the forces of extreme radicalism are coming together to erupt violently one day throughout the land and overthrow the new current Government that was so painfully put together. In recent weeks agitators have taken especially targeted personnel of the communication services, seeking in every way to win them over to Bolshevism in the hope of attaining the “liberation of the proletariat” by paralyzing all of economic life via continuing strikes. Fortunately in Bavaria up to now these persons have not allowed themselves to be seduced into such chicanery; also some agents of these important services have communicated to the Authorities their various observations. Thus it is known that foreign agitators are continuing to pass through Bavaria for the purpose of having secret meetings and discussions, preferring to get off at secondary stations. Where the financial means are coming from, then, for such active propaganda, is a mystery only to those who do not know the organization of the Bolshevik movement.
All the signs – including the trials underway in the military tribunals in Würzburg, Schweinfurt, etc. – show that the home ground of agitation for Bavaria is not exclusively Munich, although this city remains the rendezvous point for all the dangerous elements. The Independent Socialist Party, which from the electoral victory this past June has received new impetus, constitutes for the Socialists the corridor that leads to the camp of the Spartacists. Their press alerts of local uprisings, in Bavaria as elsewhere, let the workers know that the days of new battles and definitive victory are not far off, and exhort them to keep ready for the great decisive hour.
It is to be hoped that the Governing Authorities, after the terrible experience of last April, are energetically and promptly taking appropriate measures to prevent the return of such tumults and to assure the Country of the tranquility and order that are indispensible for its restoration.
In reporting the above to Your Most Reverend Eminence, I humbly bow to kiss the Sacred Purple …
Source: Pacelli-Edition.de, Dokt. No. 262