CLOUDS OF CIVIL WAR HANG OVER AUSTRIAN REPUBLIC
ADLER, FRIEDRICH
Clouds of Civil War Hang Over Austrian Republic Socialists Ready To Meet Fascist Arrogance With Physical Defence of Constitution By Friedrich Adler iBotiilai I Berts list ud Labor "_ fin—<i...
...Williams to Speak for New York C. P. L. A. Howard Y. Williams, executive secretary of the League for Independent Political Action, will speak on "Prospects and Problems of Independent Political Action," at a meeting of the New- York branch of the Conference for Progressive Labor Action at the Labor Temple, Second avenue and Fourteenth street New York City, Wednesday evening, -November 20, at 8:80...
...Decisions are no longer to be made by the Venna school authority but by an authority to be set up by the Federation...
...Making allowance for these few exceptions, it may be said that on the whole the party in this country was not doctrinaire or impractical in the sense implied by some critics...
...Our chief handicap in the campaign was that only a few of th* trade unions supported our ticket The bulk of them despite the pre tense of "nonpartisan action," an Intensely partisan for Tammani Hall...
...Dugdale has n message of great appeal and striking significance...
...Th' coup d'*tat means the abolition o* the basis of legality, a «tate o' lawlessness in which all the mean' of revolution are allowed and srv necessary...
...Certainly these rights cannot be completely taken away, and Vienna is therefore to have privilges over other communes, including that of legislation, but on the decisive point, on the question of tax legislation, Vienna is to be severely restricted...
...The coup d'etat necessarily Involves a bloody civil war...
...Of course, the much larger vote received by Norman Thomas for Mayor was not unexpected and we are glad that this vote was polled...
...From the point Of view of law and right the Austrian working class is secure...
...terrible civil war wtsah wan then break out are thsss who brake the Constitution The "sefersa" of the Const...
...It win make Austria the old .police State again...
...In a speech to journalists President Schober has put forward the argument for this childish provision that very many of the former nobles are "grieved" because their titles have been taken away and that they would cease from "being angry with ths Republic" if these titles were given back...
...But still more fax-reaching are the plans on th* basis of which the right of taxing the luxuries of the rich Is te be completely taken from Vienna Until now Vienna has itself administered its affars...
...Whoever introduced such plans into the drafts for the new Constitution did so with the intention of forsaking legal ground, and of compelling the subjugation of Vienna by a bloody civil war...
...The Heimwehr had hoped that when they turned to Bore* they would have the police and military on their side without further formality...
...fact remains that the phrases not give complete satisfacti they do not command the co: dence that they formerly did...
...Dugdale said: "I believe definitely in MacDonald's Government and I am anxious to see It work out any efficient scheme of public control of the big industries of Great Britain...
...How far they have gone Is shown by th* provision that th* titles of nobility which the Republic had forbidden by a constitutional law win be allowed again...
...But every unprejudiced person will know •hat thee* who are really responjgfsasw...
...But there was a still more crucial test in Queens County...
...Herr Pabst and his Heimwehr can be sure that they wul meet quite another kind of opposition from the Austrian workers, who have been warned in time and have made their preparations...
...The banking world and the great bourgeoisie have already recognized the seriousness of the danger...
...It adopted state and city programs as suggestions for the party organizations in state and city campaigns...
...I intend to keep off American pontics when possible, but think that by illustrating the advantages England has gained by going Labor that I may have period it is not because they have become more practical but because more practical responsibilities have been thrust upon them because of a stronger Socialist movement Their municipal and provincial programs were as realistic in the prewar period as they are today...
...Socialist Philosophy and Socialist Programs There Is No Conflict Between Ultimate Aims And Formulation of Immediate Demands By James Oneal rpHE encouraging results of the *¦ Socialist campaign In New York City bring with them speculations as to the character of the vote and the problems of education and organization which the party faces...
...Bchober...
...Virginia Socialists Enjoy Marked Gain RICHMOND, Vs.—In the recast election for Governor, the SoeisBR Party Increased its vote cowe** ably on the face of the lot oninb* returns...
...This narrow-minded townsman of the most decided mediocrity Is burning with ths desire to become the "Napoleon" of Austria...
...It may be conceded that here and there in the pre-war period one could find in the cities some prominent members who had little or no faith In a practical program...
...Therefore the Heimwehr and the politicians who accommodate themselves to it win declare that the time for the coup d'etat has now arrived...
...This would be the real end of school reform...
...Therefore, the Federal Constitution, which recognizes Vienna as a province with equal rights, just like Styria, Vorarlbrg, Tyrol, etc., is to be broken through...
...That is, they inherit their party views, voting for them becomes a habit and It becomes very difficult for them to break the habit There Is hope for some of the excess voters who voted for Comrade Thomas...
...It must make use of an the means of fighting at its disposal...
...He believes that he will possess military superiority over the workers, and accordingly thinks himself victor already...
...And in fact, if the Italian Socialists learned from the mistakes which were made in countries which entered the war some months earlier than Italy, the Austrian Socialists also have the" advantage that-they have learned their lessons from the history of the development of Fascism in Italy, and are aware that the enemy of democracy must be opposed on the first step of the way with every strength and with complete preparedness for sacrifice...
...As a result of our years of stressing practical programs and our fundamental philosophy in this country we were beginning to become a party of practical responsibilities before the war terror and internal strife disrupted our movement...
...The vote cast for him was cast with a knowledge that our program is not limited to merely cleaning out the City Hall...
...It is a sentiment which may be summarized as follows...
...The Social-Democrats demand that a new election of the National Council should take place, that the Government might show whether It can really succeed In obtaining a two-thirds majority of the people for its reactionary plans...
...Yet we all realize that the large excess vote cast for Comrade Thomas is unstable...
...But if it should come to n coup d'etat, Herr Schober, Judging from his past, would resign beforehand and would leave the carrying out of the act of force to the present Vice-Chance I lor and Minister of Defence, Herr Vaugoin...
...But now the final decslon in any case Is to be made by the Federal Ministry...
...And the danger existed that the civil war would finally arise in reality out of the marches and countermarches which tflok place every Sunday in various parts of the country and ^rhich have already led to serious conflicts and suffering...
...It has followed each campaign we have waged end it follows each electoral struggle of the And this is as it should be regardless of the vote...
...Therefore alongside the political task of bringing about the dissolution of the defence formations there is ths organisation al task of preparing all forces for the great fight which is to be forced upon the working class We do not know If we shall sue ceed in bringing the bourgeoisie to see in time the necessity of avoiding the civil war...
...The whole party from the most moderate to the most radical is completely united in this conviction...
...But perhaps ths greater number are Labor (including myself) because they believe in Socialism, worked out to fit the present needs of England but not modified so as to be unrecognisable...
...He wrote: "There hes been a decided tendency for the Socialist movement all over ths world to turn from generalities to specific things, from the abstract to the concrete, from doctrinaire utterances to practical program...
...With this the plans for reaching the goal by a putsch from below were shattered...
...found fFnecessary to dedare that the legal power would mergetically oppose any putsch from whatever side it came...
...Indeed it is in many points even mors reactionary than th old police State...
...If law and right are respected, then the Austrian Labour Party, the RepubUe end the democracy as a wools H*ve nothing to fear...
...This alone means a loss of about 40 Austrian shillings per hesd of the Vienna population...
...The Heimwehr pamphlet declares: "We have nothing to fear when we are reproached with desiring a coup d'etat...
...shaken the economic system...
...The driving force is the Helmwear, which, as such, has never put forward candidates in Parliamentary elections, but which has succeeded in bringing the bourgeois parties under its sway...
...loses the character of a province, Vienna would lose half of the taxes which are allotted to it through the medium of the general Federal...
...Whether this is because Socialists have cam* to rule or are on the threshhoM of power here and there, or because the old theories have been found wanting is beside the point at this time...
...But In the existing Constltuton Vienna has acheved self-government...
...We do not talk of a coup d'itat, bnt we openly and candidly confess that Austria cannot be saved without a coup fl**att . . . This does not require a march on Vienna It is only necessary that those who cannot succeed any longer by Parliamentary methods should put the helm into the hands of the men of the Heimwehr...
...everybody s trying to buy dollars or Swiss francs instead of Austrian shillings, Just as In the time of the nflation...
...The struggle between centralization and self-government also exists outside Austria...
...taxes...
...This two-sided aspect of Socialist education continues to characterise the Socialist movement abroad...
...One view has been expressed in the past year or two that is worthy of attention...
...but this article is already long anc they can wait for some party meeting where the members will eele brate our advance and discuss tht problems ahead...
...But this civil war not only means a terrible aacrfice of human life, but also the destruction of the economic basts of the country for a long time to come...
...This meets the wish of Seipel's heart—to make Clericalism master again In all school questions...
...They protected workers on strike as Socialist officials in Milwaukee have and voted financial aid to the erection of labor temples...
...As the working class cannot allow this breach of the Constitution to happen but will take up the fight against it with all the fosrn at its disposal, the moment desired by the Heimwehr has come where they can proceed with force aids by aide with the police and the army against the attack" of th* Social-Democrats...
...This speculation Is not unusual...
...Now Harvey had a powerful appeal...
...This is protected by the ConaUtutl'jn: it can only be taken away by a twothirds majority...
...This alone means a loss of about 40 Austrian shillings per head of the Vienna population...
...How complete the effect in helping to persuade America to go Labor...
...As was the case two years ago it demanded as the most important measure the complete internal disarmament of all party formations, the Republican Schutzbund as well as the Heimwehr At that time two years ago, the oer of disarmament was rejected | by the Serpet Government, and ridiculed as an expression of th* weakness of the working class With a fun sense of th* seriousness of th* situation th* recent Conference not only ismiwss the demand for disarmament, hot demanded the definite dissolution and the prohibition of CO defence formations as the only effective method...
...Tab year, out of a total of 299,00a...
...The statement assumes that the movement abroad has advanced from one of generalities, abstractions and a doctrinaire attitude to one that now fives attention to tlcal programs...
...Where some of it will go in another election under different conditions and with other candidates nominated by the capitalist parties we do not know but it certainly is worth while for, our candidate for Mayor to have so appealed to a mass of voters that they broke with old political habits and supported a Socialist candidate...
...But whichever side is vtetorous the Austrian economic system will suffer a frisrhtful blow...
...The Social-Deocrats are prepared to undertake improvements in the Constitution, to separate the authorities of the "porvtnee" of Vienna from the authorities of the "commune" of Vienna more decisively than up to the present...
...A stoppage of the factories, a stoppaeg of the railways and all transport would be the first reply with which the coup d'etat would hare to reckon...
...This Increase exceeded all anticipations of the Socialists in Queens County...
...The means of power belonging to the working dsns are so great that they can absolutely count upon victory in the civil war...
...For example, the wonderful housing program of Vienna Socialists is not a break with Socialist philosophy but a fulfillment of it within the limitations of capitalist society and the restricted opportunities which municipal control gives...
...They .-now that whether they are now victorious or battel they have to carry on their sjat not only In the interests of a* workers of Vienna and the we*, ere of Austria but likewise hi tht interests of the workers Of sj countries...
...He is 24, and has already been asked twice to stand for Parliament He was In Peking all through the Revolutionary period, December, 1926, to November, 1927, as Honorary Attache to the British Minister to Peking...
...Even from the fact alone that it lose* the charaeetr of a province, Vienna would lose half of the taxes which are allotted to it through the medium of the general Federal taxes...
...The plan which is now being followed is quite transparent...
...In the face of this danger the Austrian SocialDemocratic Party Conference, with a full sense of responsibility, explored the question how the terrors of civil war can be avoided...
...George Harvey, the Republican candidate for President, had accomplished something in rooting out the sewer rats...
...That which he had expected has taken place...
...England's Youth has gone Labor, partly because it felt that Labor was more efficient than Conservatism...
...At least thirty years ago Socialists in control of a number of French cities carried out some splendid municipal programs which included care of proletarian mothers and treatment of tubercular workers at sanitariums maintained by the city...
...Sometimes this view has taken the form of assuming that it is an issue between immediate practical issues and fundamental aims, with the weight of opinion against the latter...
...Ths decision Is no longer to be made by the authorities of Vienna, but by Mnisters belonging to parties the great majority of whose members are enseals* of the Vienna population...
...They soon discovered that very- -different -obstacles would arise on this march from those which Mussolini had to overcome, and they declare^ that they only had in their minds a "spiritual march...
...There is still a vast amount of educational work to be doni among the members to Induct them to support political actioi that represents their class rathe: than politics that is profitable onlj for a few leaders...
...Dugdale To Lecture in N. Y. John Dugdale was asked by the N. Y. Young People's Socialist League "for bis view of the MacDonald Government...
...If they si temot a coup d'etat instead o' holding a new election and allow ing the people to decide, there is nc alternative for the working-clsss but to take up the fight...
...and that if It really comes to a civil war the value of money Itself will begin to fluctuate once more...
...In some instances the criticism has assumed a satirical character at the expense of those who hold that our pbilisopby and fundamental aims constitute essentials of a growing party of the working masses...
...The threats of a ctell war have already seriousl...
...The opportunity to hoar suggested municipal program was may be understood from an enumeration of its sections which include Education, Municipal Ownership, Municipal Autonomy, Working Class Government, General Measures, Public Health, Factory Laws, Housing, Public Employment, Taxation and Miscellaneous...
...They contented themselves with Utopian futility and yet they had little Influence In swaying the local parties from the party position...
...I would go, If anything, further than the MacDonaid Government" Dugdale has been invited by the Y. P. S. L. to speak under their auspices Sunday evening November 24th at the Rand School Auditorium on the subject "Why England's Youth is Going Labor...
...The bourgeois parties are afraid of new elections...
...Turning to the United States, it Is important to recall that the first national convention of the Socialist Party after its organization In 1901, the convention of 1904, gave its attention to framing both state and municipal programs...
...In several Ohio cities this type did succeed in bringing factional fights into the party where we had partial control him and to discuss matters is presented on November 24th...
...Within the next few years tht organized workers will have tt abandon their old political policy if they are to become a force ii politic* If we bad bad the eolic backing of the organised working class in the recent election as wel as the independents we would havt been second in the vote cast ant would, no doubt have been sue ceesful in a number of assembly and aldermanic district* I hat intended to offer some suggestion...
...This brings me to consider the election in New York City...
...The control of the Vienna school sys will no longer be exercised by the Viennese but by the clerical Minister of Education...
...The Schober Government has laid th* BUI for til* reform of the Constitution before Parliament, has prepared the provocation of the wising class...
...The removal of savings from the banks is taking place in an increasing measure...
...It possesses 71 of the 165 seats in the National Council...
...The methods which the Heimwehr will adopt to establish a dictatorship have repeatedly changed during the short space of a few months...
...The vote has bees S> nounced from a number of dttn j and counties...
...The fact is that practical programs...
...Both not only harmonize with each other but both are essential to a growing Socialist movement Moreover, the Socialist Party throughout Its history has maintained this view of immediate aims in its local progress as any one can ascertain by consulting their programs...
...This is an open meeting to which friends of the C P. L A are invited, - and thus brought reaction again into control of these cities...
...Clouds of Civil War Hang Over Austrian Republic Socialists Ready To Meet Fascist Arrogance With Physical Defence of Constitution By Friedrich Adler iBotiilai I Berts list ud Labor "_ fin—<i Tin F» we consider the situation in Austria from the legal etsndpatot alow*, everything is clear and unequivocal...
...But again and again the threat of a putsch, veiled or unveiled, was made...
...This determination to proceed to the utmost limits fills, the workers of Vienna and of the whole of Austria...
...If our comrades abroad find their work in cities more conspicuous today than in the pre-war Why England's Youth Goes Labor...
...Robert Dannenberg in bis book on "Vienna Under Socialist Rule" shows that Vienna Socialists keep in mind their ultimate aims He declares that "Capitalism cannot be abolished from the Town Hall...
...The Austrian Constitution, the basis of the Ufa of the State, can only legally be altered by a two-thirds majority...
...Accordingly the fear must already exist that the other banks cannot hold out against too many Sunday marches of the Heimwehr...
...The Government's Bill has exceeded the worst expectations...
...In 1915 we had 22 mayors in IS states, 208 aldermen in 25 states, and nearly a thousand local officials throughout the countrv...
...It is also a source of gratification to us that throughout the campaign to the last speech he delivered Comrade Thomas emphasised our aim to build a powerful party of labor...
...In fact, he was the only Republican in the greater city elected to an important office, yet despite his big advantage my vote was four thousand in excess of the Socialist vote in Queens in the last election...
...The bourgeoisie feels itself strong enough to venture upon a counter-revolution...
...They now wish to - achieve their aim not through a putsch but through a coup d'etat...
...The writer waa his Socialist opponent for that office and sewer graft was uppermost In the minds of Queens voters...
...The Austrian working class, which before the world war had carried on a bitter fight lasting for decades for the achievement of democracy, eoawdously confined itself, when the break-down of the Austrian army and the absolute- defeat of the former rulers gave it complete freedom of decision in November, 1918, to realizing only what could be permanently held This was ths democratic Republic...
...tuShm wntsk wfll bring about this stasias Hob of the working class ana hash worked out with all maltea It asntahaa such radical a description of the rights of the working class, that no SocialistDemocrat can vote for it...
...politics...
...The tickets are on sale at the Columbia University Book Store, the Rand Book Store, and the Y. P. S. L. The prices are one dollar for reserved seats and seventy-five cents, general admission...
...But we are ..faced with the continual menace that the bourgeoisie will forsake legal ground la the light of this situation we esnnot confine ourselves to a consideration of the legal question...
...It Is as old as the Socialist movement and it has appeared again and again with the Xchanging fortunes of the party.1 Occasionally a group appeared which took the other view, that is, that immediate issues are harmful and tend to sap the vitality of the movement The fact Is that the Socialist movement In all countries does not consider that there Is any conflict between the struggle for immediate aims and our fundamental alms and philosophy...
...In this city the workers have secured the majority...
...And the same spirit of absolute determination to fight also fills the trade unions...
...But as Schober made it clear that it would be Impossible for the State authorities to support an open putsch they made new plans...
...The victory In the civil war may be doubtful...
...the Sociali-Democrats believe in it at least firmly as the Heimwehr...
...But the Austrian Social-Democratic Party was never under any BhSBdns that the time would not 'some when the bourgeoise would attempt to deprive the workers of the rights which they had secured...
...Moreover, in going before the masses" with their practical programs they do not think that keeping the ideal of a complete reorganization of capitalism before the masses Is indulging in "doctrinaire utterancea...
...In 1828, sd of a total of 305,000 votes, Than* was credited with only 250...
...If it is rejected in Parliament the Heimwehr believe that the suitable moment will have arrived to bring about a coup d'etat...
...Now I have not obsewed such a change in the nofwat abroad...
...This view Is not a new one...
...If Herr Schober continues along these lines he will soon discover that by this method the Hapsburgs as well can be appeased The Republican has only to offer them an emperor's crown, and if they wear this again they will certainly cease from "being angry with the Republic...
...The dissolution of the Republican Schutzbund will of course only be carried out if the Heimwehr is dissolved at the sasse time So tong as the recognition of thin necessity has not penetrated the bourgeoisie there win be no other possibility than to strengthen the Schutzbund by every means, and to make it as capable of fighting as possible...
...If I understand our friend, Louis Stanley, in the last .issue of The New Leader he appears to think that there is some change in the movement In all countries in accord with one tendency mentioned above...
...Now that the RepuMJonS j and their clerical allies have tiSd j In their attempts to substltoU fl» ! Slemp-Cannon machine for tat J Democratic •aristocracy, then**** of people will leave the old psrtlsi j to vote Socialist henseforth, - Virginia Party is also busytof ** self with registraton of rflejnbnf of the party and the Worknefs | Circle, in preparation for the Q» j greasianal elections...
...of that there can be no doubt The Heimwehr boasts that it would certainly be the victor...
...The Bin for th* reform of the Constitution is now before the National Council, and Its inacceptlbUty win soon bs clearly shown by the vote Then comes the moment of decision...
...The Bill for the reform of the Constitution which the Government laid • before Parliament on October 18 th Is absolutely inacceptable for the working class...
...Until now Viennt has itself administered The principal attack embodied in the reform of the Constitution is directed against Vienna...
...The Heimwehr's threats of force produced such alarm in the economic life of the country that tn September of this year the police president of that time, Dr...
...Both last year and this year t j was very hard to get people ts j vote Socialist, because they was I fighting over rum, race and iSBp.* ion...
...Nearly twenty years ago Professor Merriam estimated that about 75 per cent of those who vote are "hereditary voters...
...We were beginning to reap the fruits of an intelligent Socialist understanding of our mission as a practical party of the workers which also aimed at a complete transformation of capitalism when the misfortunes mentioned overtook us...
...Other conventions of the party also gave consideration to practical programs...
...The only "intellectual" product of this movement is a little pamphlet entitled "The Way to Austria's Freedom" In pompous phraseology it is openly declared that "Parliament, which lies in our democracy like a lump of stone, must be removed, that "the Heimwehr should take the rudder...
...The September marches of the Heimwehr produced such a panic that they gave the death blow to the greatest, and until then the most solid and most respected bank of Austria, the Bodenltreditanstalt And ss it is clear that the revision of the Constitution serves the purpose of a provocatcm of the working class, that the policy of the reaction is openly aimed at a coup d'etat the unrest in Austria In the economic sphere is increasng to an extraordinary extent...
...That we have made substantial gains in the normal Socialist vote is evident when we consider the vote cast for both "comrades Lee and Solomon...
...I have Just read those programs and they will today serve ss models for consideration by Socialist organizations...
...Major Pa bet, reckons only In terms of rifles and grenades...
...They are prepared to make concessions to the bourgeois opposition in Vienna so far as their demands can be fulfilled within the lmita of the autonomy of the province...
...A Socialist majority in a municipality can show what creative force resides in Socialism...
...What is taking place in Austria fa an episode in the class war...
...We are threatened with suffering and unemployment as well as with dead and wounded...
...Vienna is to become a "bundesunmlttelbare Stadt" — a city under the direct supervision of the Federal Government This meads that It Is only to have the rights of a commun, but not those of a province...
...The small city d Radford, where Thomas polled ad) 2 votes in 1928 gave Kafka II votes for Governor...
...But still more farreaching are the plans on the basis of which the right of taxing the luxuries of the rich is to be completely taken from Vienna...
...As neither the bourgeoisie aor the working class, which are ¦early equal in strength, possess the two-thirds majority, no violation by the one side or ths other esn take place...
...As an interpreter of the new Bugland Mr...
...But he must remember that there are other factors apart from weapons...
...They first announced the "March on Vienna" based on famous models...
...Their leader...
...In London be worked for a time in a settlement in the slums and was later appointed to the Editorial staff of the London Spectator, the leading weekly paper of England Mr...
...He even went so far at the Acadomy of Music as to answer one speaker who urged the need of a nonpartisan attitude in...
...The movement abroad also had them In those days...
...The fact is that where the party obtained power or partial powers in the cities of Belgium, France, Austria, Germany and other countries before the World War it did so upon the basis of practical programs as well as an appeal based upon philosophy and ultimate aims...
...In Austria today it is continually being said that Vienna la not Rome...
...Tet it is within the power of great cities to perform useful installments of Socialist work in the midst of capitalist society...
...He may bs entrusted without further formality with every branch of ths law and every act of stupidity...
...American Socialists have given too much attention in campaigns to fundamental alms and principles and they became doctrinaire...
...In this fight there wil* be heavy and painful sacrifices, but the working class cannot tolerate the attempt upon the constitution, upon law and right...
...Dugdale has also written from time to time for the Manchester Guardian and the New Statesman...
...Kafka has received at least flOft and his vote may reach 1,000...
...Our need is to become practical by govtng special attention to immediate measures and issues that appeal to the masses...
...He was one of the heroes of the Kapp putsch in Germany, which ignominiottsly went to pieces in face of th* general strike of the workers, and of the economc facts...
...But can any person of sound mind really believe that the Viennese Social-Democrats could v,Qte for a proposal to deprive them of their self-government...
Vol. 9 • November 1929 • No. 15
