National economic bloc and land alliance

National Economic Bloc and Landbund was an electoral alliance of several Austrian bourgeois parties for the National Council election on November 9, 1930 . The alliance was under the leadership of the non-party former Chancellor Johann Schober , which is why it was also called Schoberblock .

prehistory

The two German national parties Großdeutsche Volkspartei (GDVP) and Landbund für Österreich (LBd) were represented in a coalition with the Christian Social Party (CS) in the federal government Schober III from 1929-30 (" Citizens' Block "). They saw the government's failure in the Strafella affair as provoked by party politics: A right wing in the CS around Ignaz Seipel , Viktor Kienböck and Richard Schmitz had seen increasing competitors in the coalition partners and carelessly brought about a government crisis in order to reform the government to intercept this competition without Schober. GDVP and LBd therefore declared the coalition pact broken and were not available for a new coalition. The CS could only form a minority government ( federal government Vaugoin ), which had to expect a vote of no confidence in parliament . In its first session, it therefore decided to propose to Federal President Wilhelm Miklas that the National Council be dissolved. The National Council was dissolved on October 1, 1930, and the elections originally scheduled for spring 1931 were brought forward to November 9, 1930.

Formation of the electoral alliance

The GDVP had long wanted to form a unified “national” bloc for National Council elections, which it has never managed to do before. Schober's popularity among the liberal bourgeoisie seemed to make it possible this time. On October 4, 1930, a meeting took place in the Lower Austrian Trade Association at the invitation of the former Minister of Commerce, Friedrich Schuster , at which personalities from business, but also from science (Professors Srbik and Redlich ) discussed with politicians from the Greater Germans. A resolution was drawn up in which Schober, “who alone can guarantee us peace and order in the state and the rebuilding of our troubled economy”, was asked to lead a bourgeois electoral bloc that was to be formed. On the same day, a delegation from this assembly called on Schober. He was ready to stand as a candidate if an "agreement between the bourgeois parties of the center to create a common bloc" came about.

A merger of the GDVP and the LBd with smaller parties was targeted. All non-Marxist voices were to be summarized that did not belong to the Christian social camp, or "as a result of the known last political events that led to the overthrow of the Schober cabinet, want another representation in the upcoming national council" (so Schuster). The electoral bloc should also appear uniformly as an electoral party and prevent a split in votes in the election. There were hectic negotiations about the formation of this bloc. For organizational and electoral reasons, the Landbund attached great importance to appearing in the electoral lists with its own party name. Since the groupings united in the bloc intended to move economic questions into the center of the election campaign disputes, the electoral alliance was constituted on October 11, 1930 under the name "National Economic Bloc and Landbund (leadership: Dr. Johannes Schober)".

It consisted of the following groups:

• Greater German People's Party
• Land federation for Austria
• Reich Association of Public Employees
• German Trade Union Federation (umbrella organization of German national workers' associations)
• Independent Labor Party (founded by Ministerialrat Schoberlechner )
• Confederation of Estates
• Ude party
• NSDAP (Schulz Wing)
• other economic organizations and professional associations

Election campaign, election and government participation

On October 12, 1930, a call from the Schoberblock was published in the Neue Freie Presse . Schober was shown as the only one who enjoyed unreserved trust. He would work for an improvement in the economy that would benefit everyone. It was also emphasized that the electoral community was in the "service of the German nationality", whose "consolidation in one state" was a foreign policy goal. The motto is: "The well-being of the people must be put above party selfishness".

However, there were also signs of “party selfishness” in the Schoberblock: the Landbund ran separately in Upper Austria , Salzburg and Tyrol . The state organizations justified this with a decision by the Nazi party leadership not to enter into any ties and with the different conditions in the states.

The election campaign grew rougher the closer to election day. Heated arguments broke out, meetings were disrupted, election rallies were blown up and posters confiscated. Representatives of the Heimwehr and the NSDAP in particular were also involved in brawls.

Election day on November 9, 1930 saw the highest turnout in the First Republic to date. The Schoberblock received about 12 percent of the vote and 19 seats, which meant a loss of two seats. Nine mandates each went to GDVP and LBd, one to Schober. Since neither the Social Democrats with the strongest vote (SDAP) nor the representatives of the Vaugoin government (CS and home bloc ) had an absolute majority, a government had to be formed with the participation of the Schober bloc . Carl Vaugoin , who was seen as partly responsible for the fall of Schober, resigned, and Miklas commissioned the Vorarlberg Governor Otto Ender to form a government.

In the Ender Federal Government formed on December 4, 1930 , Schober became Vice Chancellor and was entrusted with the management of foreign affairs. The failure of the customs union plans in the spring of 1931 and the collapse of the Creditanstalt für Handel und Gewerbe soon led to turbulence in the coalition, which in 1932 ultimately led to its collapse.

Voters' association "National Economic Association"

In January 1931 an association was founded to collect all Schober voters who did not belong to one of the party-politically organized groups of the Schober block. This “National Economic Association, led by Dr. Schober “called voter association wanted to join the Schoberblock in the event of new elections. He was supported by all groups involved in the Schoberblock except for the Greater German People's Party, the Landbund and the Estates.

literature

• Klaus Berchtold : Constitutional history of the Republic of Austria. Volume 1: 1918-1933 . Springer, Vienna / New York 1998, ISBN 3-211-83188-6 , pp. 584-605 .

supporting documents

1. ↑ The participants in the middle block. In:  Neue Freie Presse , October 12, 1930, p. 9 (online at ANNO ).
2. ↑ Robert Kriechbaumer : The great stories of politics. Political culture and parties in Austria from the turn of the century to 1945 (=  series of publications by the Research Institute for Political-Historical Studies of the Dr. Wilfried Haslauer Library, Salzburg . Volume 12 ). Böhlau, Vienna / Cologne / Weimar 2001, ISBN 3-205-99400-0 , p. 466 f .
3. ↑ The National Economic Association. In:  Neue Freie Presse , January 14, 1931, p. 5 (online at ANNO ).
4. ↑ Landbund and federal employees. In:  Oesterreichische Wehrzeitung , March 20, 1931, p. 5 (online at ANNO ).