Lex Häberlin
In Switzerland, two failed federal bills from Federal Councilor Heinrich Häberlin from 1922 and 1934 are referred to as Lex Häberlin (I and II) . Both bills aimed to tighten the state protection provisions of federal law through the introduction of exceptional legislation. In the political context of the time, these state security bills were clearly directed against socialist or communist groups. The failure of Lex Häberlin II in 1934 resulted in the resignation of Federal Councilor Häberlin.
Lex Häberlin I
The drafting of the draft for Lex Häberlin I was shaped by the polarization of the Swiss political landscape after the national strike of 1918. The bourgeois majority in the Federal Assembly agreed with the initiators of the protective custody initiative that the growing communist and socialist agitation since 1918 was responsible for the numerous strikes and street riots. In particular, however, she feared a slow propaganda infiltration of the Swiss army and other state authorities by the labor movement . Since both the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland and numerous trade union organizations welcomed the intensified class struggle in their programs and strove for the dictatorship of the proletariat or rejected the existing bourgeois-democratic state system, the bourgeois parties sought increased state protection with the Lex Häberlin also against the inside . The law was therefore also referred to as the "overthrow law". This "bourgeois class struggle", similar to the German socialist laws, wanted to give the bourgeois state legal remedies so that it could take action against the legal order, socialist propaganda, agitation and mass strikes.
Essential impulses for the drafting of the federal law "regarding the amendment of the federal criminal law of February 4, 1853 with regard to crimes against the constitutional order and internal security and with regard to the introduction of the conditional execution of sentences", so the official title of the Lex Häberlin I, came from the federal popular initiatives “protective custody” and “regarding the expulsion of foreigners”. These initiatives wanted to oblige the Federal Council to immediately take Swiss citizens who endanger internal security into protective custody or to expel dangerous foreigners from Switzerland immediately. The initiatives recommended for rejection by the Federal Council failed on June 11, 1922 (expulsion of foreigners) and February 18, 1923 (protective custody) because of the increased number of people and cantons .
The main points of the more stringent state security provisions of Lex Häberlin I were the new regulations on the criminal offenses of high treason, riot, opposition, electoral offenses, endangering state order and security, inciting and inducing to violate military official duties, undermining military discipline, disobedience to orders and ordinances and breach of the peace. The revisions affecting the military were primarily directed against pacifist propaganda in the army.
The law was passed by the Federal Assembly on January 31, 1922, against the determined opposition of the Social Democrats. By the end of the referendum period on May 2, 1922, the various workers' organizations collected 149,954 signatures against the law in a highly emotional campaign. The campaign made the liberal Federal Councilor Häberlin the main political enemy of social democracy. After a strongly polarizing vote, in which both sides gave up the bleak future prospects for Switzerland in the event of their defeat, the submission failed on September 24, 1922 with a participation of 70.3% with 376,832 against 303,794 votes. The rejection of the tightening of criminal law in relation to state security indicated that the Swiss population did not want any police-state methods to resolve social conflicts after the First World War ( see also: Switzerland in the First World War ) and were prepared to take the risks of freedom to continue to take on democratic order.
Lex Häberlin II
The “Federal Law for the Protection of Public Order”, also known as “Lex Häberlin II”, was passed on October 13, 1933 by the Federal Assembly. In terms of content, the law joined the failed efforts to tighten state security in 1922. This new attempt was influenced by the National Socialist takeover of power in Germany and the spring front in Switzerland. But it was also directed at least equally against the Stalinist threat seen in this way .
Among other things, the law provided for the introduction of special penalties for certain criminal offenses, such as inciting crimes or misdemeanors that are threatened with prison, participation in violent gatherings, inducement to violate military service, violations of the ban on assembly and intelligence activities to the detriment of Switzerland . Like the Lex Häberlin I, this submission also failed on March 11, 1934 in a referendum successfully launched by the labor movement with a participation of 78.98% with 488,672 against 419,399 votes.
After the failure of the bill, Häberlin announced his resignation on March 12, 1934. The Catholic-conservative Federal Jean-Marie Musy called in response to the failure of the Lex Häberlin II by the Federal vain ultimately a corporate state transformation of Switzerland and fighting to orienting the class struggle parties and trade unions. He resigned on April 30, 1934.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Popular initiative 'regarding the expulsion of foreigners' ( Federal Chancellery )
- ↑ Referendum of February 18, 1923 ( Federal Chancellery )
- ↑ Referendum of September 24, 1922 ( Federal Chancellery )
- ↑ Oswald Sigg : The federal popular initiatives 1892-1939. Bern 1978, pp. 127-130.
- ^ Willi Gautschi : Der Landesstreik 1918. Benziger, Zurich 1968, p. 370.
- ↑ Urs Paul Engeler : Big Brother Switzerland , 1990
- ↑ Referendum of March 11, 1934 ( Federal Chancellery )