Silesian Landtag

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Silesian Parliament in Opava

The Silesian Parliament was from 1861 to 1918 the parliament of the crown land Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia of the represented in the Reichsrat kingdoms and lands in Austria-Hungary .

Government without parliament

After the Silesian Convention , which was created in 1848 after the March Revolution , had been abolished by the Emperor with the New Year's Eve patent at the latest in 1851, Austrian Silesia was established by the Imperial and Royal Governor Josef Kalchegger von Kalchberg and the select committee of the strengthened public convention (Conventual Committee) from 22. Ruled March 1852 to April 3, 1861 without a parliament .

Parliament 1861–1918

The history of the Silesian Parliament began in 1861. The state parliament had its seat in the state capital Opava , first in the country house, the former building of the Jesuit college, later in the state parliament building.

On February 26, 1861, Emperor Franz Joseph I autocratically issued the so-called February patent , a constitution for the entire monarchy. Minister Anton von Schmerling played a major role in the creation . As supplements to this Basic Law, the state regulations of the crown lands were announced in the Reichsgesetzblatt for the Austrian Empire , including the state regulations for the Duchy of Silesia. This was not changed by the December constitution of 1867 for Cisleithanien , to which the duchy belonged. (From 1867 the duchy belonged to the kingdoms and countries represented in the Imperial Council ; this was the legal description of the area of ​​imperial Austria that remained after the departure of Hungary .)

According to the state regulations, the Silesian state parliament consisted of 31 members. The Prince-Bishop of Breslau had a virile voice (although the Prince-Bishop was a foreigner). 30 members were elected in three curia:

  • 9 representatives of the large landowners
  • 12 representatives of the cities and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry
  • 9 representatives of the other municipalities (apart from the enclaves represented in the Moravian Parliament )

The nine representatives of the large landowners were elected in one constituency but in two electoral bodies. In the first electoral body, four people - the dukes of Teschen, von Troppau and Jägerndorf as well as von Bielitz and the Hoch- and Deutschmeister - had the right to appoint two members. The seven other MPs were elected by all other large landowners who paid the census of at least 250 guilders (later 500 kroner ) real tax per year.

The representatives of the 24 largest cities were elected to one MP each in eight constituencies. In addition, there was the constituency of the capital Troppau with two MPs. The approx. 40 members of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Troppau appointed two further members.

The representatives of the municipalities were elected indirectly through electors in seven constituencies (five with one deputy each and two with two deputies each). From the new regulation in accordance with the state law of November 25, 1884, the local population instead of the local population was decisive for the number of electors (who were entitled to vote instead of the population), which was essential in times of great rural exodus. In 1897 a motion was tabled to provide for the direct election of the representatives of the rural communities; however, there was no resolution (see below).

When electing the representatives of the urban and rural communities, a relative census of ten guilders (reduced to five guilders in accordance with the state law of February 13, 1887) was taken as the basis for the right to vote.

Changes to the electoral law

On November 22, 1875, the state and state election regulations were changed. However, nothing changed in the basic structure of the state parliament. From the end of the 19th century there were repeated advances to adapt structure and electoral law to the more democratic regulations of other crown lands. However, all these initiatives failed, so that the structure of the state parliament remained unchanged until 1918.

A central question in these discussions is the question of nationality. In 1910 the population consisted of 43.9% Germans, 31.7% Poles and 24.3% Czechs. However, the Germans dominated the state parliament because of the right to vote, as Poles and Czechs lived mainly in rural areas that were underrepresented in the state parliament. The dispute also related to the language used in the state parliament. According to the Landtag resolution of September 14, 1871, all three national languages ​​could be spoken in the Landtag (even if there was no translation into German), in practice the use of the German language was required.

A first attempt to strengthen the representation of the rural communities (and thus the non-German population) was introduced into the state parliament on February 26, 1897. Then 14 new MPs and new electoral districts for the rural communities should be decided. The state parliament did not take a decision on the bill.

In the autumn of 1905 the Slavic minority in the state parliament, represented by the deputy Václav Hrubý , demanded the introduction of universal male suffrage . The state parliament rejected this. In return, the majority of the state parliament decided on November 21, 1905 to introduce a fourth curia with four members who were to be elected according to universal suffrage (the total size of the state parliament would then have been 35). The Imperial and Royal Government in Vienna did not submit this decision to the Kaiser for sanction. In a letter of March 7, 1908, the government explained its reasons. An agreement between the national parties was first requested before a new regulation would be approved.

On October 30, 1908, a reform of the Landtag was passed by the Landtag (in the meantime the general male suffrage was already in effect for the Reichsrat ). Accordingly, the state parliament should have 55 members in the future. II. And III. The electoral class should be expanded to include nine MPs and a fourth electoral class (to which universal suffrage should apply) should be introduced. The election of this fourth class should take place in five constituencies (one would have been a German, two a Polish and two a Czech majority). In the III. Curia would have resulted in five predominantly German, five predominantly Czech and seven predominantly Polish electoral districts.

However, this proposal was not approved by the emperor. The government in Vienna complained about serious deficiencies in the draft (no right to vote for illiterate people, the introduction of compulsory voting and different sizes of constituencies). The structure of parliament remained unchanged until the end of the monarchy in 1918.

Election of members of the Reichsrat

Six members each for Upper and Lower Silesia were elected to the House of Representatives of the Reichsrat by the Silesian Landtag in accordance with the Imperial Constitution of February 26, 1861 . The election took place annually. From 1873 onwards, the members of the Reichsrat were directly elected, so that the Landtag no longer had any function here.

State Committee, State President

The state committee was the autonomous executive committee of the state parliament. It consisted of the governor appointed by the emperor, who also acted as chairman of the state parliament, and four other members elected by the state parliament from among its members. According to the law of November 8, 1890, the number of state committee members was increased to five. According to an informal regulation, a Pole and a Czech were alternately members of the national committee. According to the (unsanctioned) 1908 constitution, the number of members would have grown to six and the representation of the minorities would have been further strengthened.

The governors were:

State committee and governor faced the imperial and royal state president (Landeschef) , the direct representative of the emperor and imperial government, who represented the state administration. He had to submit resolutions on state laws to the Imperial and Royal Government in Vienna with his opinion and, if approved, to sign them so that they could be announced as state laws and come into force. Furthermore, he had to head the state presidium, called Lieutenancy in other crown lands, the governing body for the offices of the entire Cisleithan state in the duchy. In the court and state handbook of the Austrian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy , which is published annually by the kk Staatsdruckerei, the following state presidents are listed:

MPs

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Appendix II lit. n on the Imperial Patent of February 26, 1861, RGBl. No. 20/1861 (= p. 265)
  2. ↑ LGBl. No. 30/1884 (= p. 31)
  3. ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Kaisertums Österreich and the Austro-Hungarian monarchy