Federal popular initiative «Armaments financing and protection of social achievements»
The popular initiative «Armaments financing and protection of social achievements» came from the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland and was a typical result of the global political constellation at the time: the cold war and the hot Korean war . The referendum was about the problem of armament and the shortage of funds for social security. The initiative was ultimately rejected in the referendum .
In the context of the cold war between democratic capitalism and communism that broke out after the Second World War, bourgeois majority politics in Switzerland endeavored to forcefully rearm the armed forces. As the most striking example, almost 200 British de Havilland DH.100 Vampire fighter jets were procured from May 1949, shortly after the aviation world entered the jet age . During the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, almost half (sic!) Of the entire federal budget was spent on national defense. Other budget areas such as social spending were almost inevitably left out. The AHV introduced by referendum in 1948 z. B. could acc. At the time, criticism of the Pro Senectute only paid extremely modest pensions, and many retirees continued to rely on welfare benefits .
These conditions led the SPS to launch the above-mentioned initiative in 1950. It was finally rejected by the people and the cantons on May 18, 1952. That latent dissatisfaction smoldered in the population, however, results from the fact that not even two months later, on July 6, 1952, a constitutional draft of the Federal Council under the title of covering armaments expenditure was also rejected. The Federal Council and Parliament subsequently showed a certain concession when a constitutional draft to control prices was drawn up. This was then approved in the referendum on November 23, 1952. It cost the federal budget little, social responsibility was to a certain extent delegated to the rest of the economy.
literature
- E. Gruner / B. Junker: Citizens, State and Politics in Switzerland , 1972
- Federal Finance Department: Vademecum Federal Finances
- Federal Chancellery: Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation , with Appendix, 1982
Individual proof
- ↑ Vampire story ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
