Joseph Buttinger

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Joseph Buttinger alias Gustav Richter (born April 30, 1906 in Reichersbeuern ; † March 4, 1992 in New York City ) was an Austrian politician of the SDAP , chairman of the Revolutionary Socialists and the diplomatic mission of the Austrian Socialists (AVOES). After leaving AVOES in 1942 and studying at university, he established himself as an East Asia expert in the USA and beyond.

As one of the three most important actors of the illegal Austrian social democracy from 1934 to the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in 1938 as well as in exile (1938–1945), he laid down an uncompromising course for the exiled social democrats together with Otto Bauer and Friedrich Adler , which also followed Bauer's death (1938) and Buttinger's departure (1942) was retained without substantial changes until the end of the war.

The political way

Joseph Buttinger came from a working-class family (migrant work in Germany and Austria) and joined the labor movement early on. In 1926 he became head of the social democratic youth organization Kinderfreunde in St. Veit an der Glan ( Carinthia ) and at the age of 24 he was the socialist party secretary in this district. When he continued his political activity after the party ban, he was arrested in early 1934 as part of the February uprising and held for three months in the Villach police prison for organizing illegal activities. After his release, Buttinger went to Vienna, where he got involved with the illegal Revolutionary Socialists .

After the arrest of two party leaders ( Manfred Ackermann , Karl Hans Sailer ), Buttinger took over the leadership of the Revolutionary Socialists in 1935, which he restructured from a mass party to a conspiratorial cadre party with the blessing of Otto Bauer, who had emigrated to Czechoslovakia.

On March 12, 1938 he fled to Brussels, initially without his future wife Muriel Gardiner , where he reached an agreement with Otto Bauer and Friedrich Adler on the merger of the Revolutionary Socialists with Otto Bauer's foreign office of the Austrian Social Democrats ( ALÖS ) to form the foreign representation of the Austrian Socialists (AVOES ) scored.

This diplomatic mission met on April 1, 1938 under Buttinger's leadership for a two-day session. (Meeting participants: Joseph Buttinger, Friedrich Adler, Otto Bauer, Otto Leichter , Oscar Pollak , Karl Hans Sailer, Manfred Ackermann and Josef Podlipnig ) The result went public as a Brussels Declaration (also known as the Brussels Manifesto ) and was intended to determine the policy of exile until the end of the war. This course of refusing to make contact with other Austrian groups in exile and refusing to cooperate with the host countries (see AVOES for details ) also met with increasing criticism within the AVOES and was the most important reason for Buttinger's exit from politics in 1942, which together with his closest co-workers. Friedrich Adler continued this course until 1945.

The East Asia expert

After leaving the diplomatic mission of the Austrian socialists abroad, Buttinger completed a university course in the USA. From 1945 to 1947 he was European Director of the International Rescue Committee in Paris and Geneva . In the course of the Vietnam War in the USA, he made several study trips to this country and established his reputation as an East Asia expert through numerous publications. In addition, he built up a sociopolitical study library ("Joseph Buttinger Collection") comprising around 50,000 volumes, which came to the University Library of Klagenfurt in bulk in 1971 on the basis of a will . His literature on Southeast Asia, which has been collected, is located as the Vietnam Studies Library at Harvard University (USA).

Buttinger's beliefs

Buttinger acted during his function as chairman of the Revolutionary Socialists as a staunch Marxist and opponent of reformism. As a student of Otto Bauer, he continued his Austro-Marxist course, attributing Bauer's failure to his tolerance of reformism , against which he always opposed. This revolutionary uncompromising attitude found expression in the Brussels Manifesto of 1938 and a. supported by Friedrich Adler and Otto Bauer. The exile work defined in the Manifesto was based solely on the goal of keeping the backs of the united German and Austrian socialists on site in order to transform the two countries in a revolutionary way after the fall of Hitler . The likelihood of an autonomous formation of strong revolutionary forces in these countries was, however, low from the start. The chances of being able to carry out a revolution with such forces without the intervention of other powers were even smaller and disappeared completely in the course of the war and with the beginning of the Cold War. In addition to the arguments with his colleagues (especially Leichter and Pollak), these insights were the main reason for his - uncommented - exit from politics in 1942.

On his rather seldom visits to Austria, Buttinger always avoided defining his current political standpoint or commenting on the current situation of the Austrian labor movement or illuminating its future prospects.

Buttinger's legacy

Bruno Kreisky (in the underground phase himself a revolutionary socialist ) described Buttinger on the occasion of a post-war honor as a hero who, if he had returned to Austria, would probably have made it to the position of Federal Chancellor.

This did not quite correspond to the assessment and wishes of many party functionaries of the SPÖ , but Buttinger had not spared in a very revealing, relentless description of his work in the underground and in exile ( using the example of Austria ) with criticism of his fellow campaigners. This and the fact that his policy in exile remained controversial has meant that Buttinger only plays a marginal role in the official history of the Social Democratic Party of Austria.

Awards

plant

  • Gustav Richter [= Joseph Buttinger], The legal workers' organizations and socialism in Austria. O. o., O. J. [Illegal publication approx. 1937].
  • Using the example of Austria - a historical contribution to the crisis of the socialist movement, Cologne 1953.
  • The end of the mass party - using the example of Austria, 1972.
  • The dragon ready to fight - Vietnam according to Dien Bien Phu, 1968.
  • Vietnam - a political history, 1968.
  • Review of Vietnam, 1976.
  • Change of location - the story of my youth, Frankfurt / Main 1979.

literature

  • RS correspondence. Communications from the diplomatic mission of the Austrian Socialists. 1938, ZDB -ID 2305896-1 , (official body of AVOES).
  • The socialist struggle. = La Lutte Socialiste. Journal Antihitlérien. ZDB -ID 531261-9 , (official body of AVOES).
  • Joseph Buttinger: Using Austria as an example. A historical contribution to the crisis of the socialist movement. Publishing house for politics and economy, Cologne 1953.
  • Joseph Buttinger: The end of the mass party. Using the example of Austria. New Critique Publishing House, Berlin et al. 1972 (A new edition of “ Am Example Austria ” 1953).
  • Helene Maimann : Politics in the waiting room. Austrian policy in exile in Great Britain 1938–1945 (= publications of the Commission for Modern History of Austria. Vol. 62). Böhlau, Wien et al. 1975, ISBN 3-205-08566-3 (also: Wien, Univ., Diss., 1975).
  • Muriel Gardiner , Joseph Buttinger: So that we don't forget. Our years 1934–1947 in Vienna, Paris and New York. Wiener Volksbuchhandlung, Vienna 1978.
  • Manfred Marschalek: Underground and Exile. Austria's socialists between 1934 and 1945 (= Socialist Library. Department 1: The History of Austrian Social Democracy. Vol. 3). Löcker, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-85409-137-0 .
  • Hans Christian Egger: The exile politics of the Austrian social democracy 1938 to 1945. Thought structures, strategies, effects. Grin Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-638-92810-6 (At the same time: Vienna, Univ., Diss., 2004: The Politics of the Foreign Organizations of Austrian Social Democracy from 1938 to 1946. Thought Structures, Strategies, Effects. ) .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biographical information about Muriel Gardiner on the page Psychoanalysts in Europe .
  2. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Buttinger, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian politician
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Reichersbeuern
DATE OF DEATH March 4th 1992
Place of death New York City