Hainfeld program

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The Hainfeld program was the founding program of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (SDAP). From this party later emerged the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ).

The party congress

From December 30, 1888 to January 1, 1889 , the unification party conference of the SDAP took place in Hainfeld in Lower Austria . Hainfeld was chosen as the conference location, on the one hand because there was an existing workers' organization in the village due to its sawmills and iron goods factories and on the other hand because the district captain responsible for Hainfeld, Count Leopold Auersperg , who is known for his social awareness , there was no danger of an official ban on events. The date after Christmas should allow as many working people as possible to participate. Thus representatives of the workers from all Austrian crown lands, with the exception of the still industrially underdeveloped Dalmatia , could take part. Victor Adler had worked out a program that had been approved by Karl Kautsky . 69 of the 110 delegates from the crown lands were entitled to vote. The new party program, the Declaration of Principles, was adopted under the chairmanship of Julius Popp with 3 votes against and one abstention. Rudolf Pokorny gave a lecture on the declaration of principles. In addition to the Declaration of Principles, resolutions were adopted on “health and safety legislation and social reform”, on the press, trade union organization, chambers of labor, elementary schools, political rights and the unification resolution that was decisive for the de facto re-establishment of the party. Victor Adler served as the first chairman of the unified new party from that party congress until his death in 1918.

The monument in Hainfeld

A memorial in Hainfeld commemorates the party congress. The original memorial stone was erected in 1928 on the 40th anniversary of the party congress and destroyed in February 1934 . In 1948 the monument was rebuilt.

The declaration of principles

The “Declaration of Principles” declares the liberation from political lack of rights from the shackles of economic dependence for the entire people regardless of nation, race or sex. It names the political character of capitalist society, the role of the bourgeois class state and the property question connected with it and the resulting social mass poverty, impoverishment and oppression. The development of the productive forces and the unjust distribution of social wealth are cited and the question of power, the question of the historical mission of the working class for a just society, is clearly formulated. In what is probably the best-known sentence of the “Declaration of Principles”, the task of the party and the importance and role that “scientific socialism” plays as an indispensable instrument in the class struggle is described as the categorical imperatives of the class-conscious party.

“The carrier of this development can only be the class-conscious proletariat organized as a political party . To organize the proletariat politically, to fulfill it consciously of its situation and its task, to make it spiritually and physically fit for battle and to maintain it, is therefore the real program of the social-democratic workers' party in Austria, to the implementation of which it is committed to all expedient and natural Legal consciousness of the people will use appropriate means. "

Finally, eight general principles are established and formulated. It emphasizes: the internationalist character of the party, the role of propaganda and agitation in spreading the socialist idea, the question of active participation in parliamentarism and the elections of the various bodies as one of the most important means of agitation and organization. The struggle for worker protection legislation, as far as possible restriction of working hours, abolition of child labor , for free and non-denominational lessons in elementary and advanced training schools as well as free access to all higher education institutions is cited as well as the desired replacement of the standing army by general armament. In particular, in point seven, the decision to represent the class interests of the proletariat at all times and to vigorously counteract all blackout and veiling of class antagonisms and the exploitation of the workers in favor of ruling parties is demonstratively declared. Ultimately, there is a demand for a single, direct, progressive income tax.

Meaning, disputes and changes

The principles written down in the Hainfeld program take a historically unambiguous position on the question of the historical role of the revolutionary party, its indispensability and its reference to scientific socialism . In particular, the following passage from the Hainfeld program should be emphasized:

“The carrier of this development can only be the class-conscious proletariat organized as a political party. To organize the proletariat politically, to fulfill it with the awareness of its situation and its task, to make it spiritually and physically capable of fighting and to maintain it. "

The passage in the Hainfeld Declaration of Principles has always been the subject of very hard political-ideological disputes in the Austrian labor movement. At the center of these disputes was the question of the mutual relationship between the character and role of the party on the one hand and the reference to scientific socialism on the other. Accordingly, the “Hainfeld Program” has been and is evaluated differently to this day, depending on the political-ideological standpoint and the corresponding objectives.

At the general party conference of the Austrian Social Democrats in Brno (1899), the decision was made to adapt the Hainfeld program to the changed circumstances. To this end, a commission was set up to draw up a draft. This commission included Victor Adler, Ignacy Daszyński , Wilhelm Ellenbogen , Franz Schuhmeier and Steiner. Finally, at the Vienna Party Congress of 1901, the Hainfeld program was replaced by a new program that was politically more moderate and ultimately led to the SDAP's approval of the war credits and thus the First World War in December 1914 .

At the time, the Austromarxist Max Adler opposed the revision of the Hainfeld program. He described the draft of the new program as "reformist" and said: "We do not need a revision of our fundamental position".

It was not until the “Linz Program” in 1926, which was significantly influenced by Otto Bauer and under the impact of the October Revolution and its effects on the workers' movement, that the goal of the revolution was reformulated in a democratic way.

literature

  • What does social democracy want? Resolutions d. SDAP - party congress in Hainfeld. Verlag der Erste Wiener Volksbuchhandlung, Vienna 1892.
  • Herbert Steiner : The Austrian Labor Movement 1867–1889 . Europa-Verlag, Vienna 1964.
  • Rudolf G. Ardelt: Social Democracy and the Bourgeois Public. Considerations for the Hainfeld party congress . In: Isabella Ackerl (Hrsg.): Politics and society in old and new Austria. Festschrift for Rudolf Neck for his 60th birthday . Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, Vienna 1981, ISBN 3-7028-0189-8 , pp. 214–238.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lucian O. Meysels : Victor Adler. The biography. Amalthea, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-85002-403-2 , pp. 68ff.
  2. ↑ Michael A. Meyer , Michael Brenner : German-Jewish History in the Modern Age. Beck, Munich 1996/97, ISBN 3-406-39705-0 , Volume 3, p. 173.
  3. ↑ quoted from: What does the social democracy want? Resolutions d. SDAP - party congress in Hainfeld . Verlag der Erste Wiener Volksbuchhandlung, Vienna 1892.
  4. ^ Alfred Pfabigan: Max Adler. A political biography. Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1982, ISBN 3-593-33012-1 , p. 52f.