Siegmund Kaff

Siegmund Kaff , often also written Sigmund Kaff (born March 13, 1864 in Krumau an der Moldau , today Český Krumlov ; † January 6, 1933 in Vienna ), was an Austrian writer on socio-political issues. He was an editor and pamphleteer who came from the right wing of the Austrian Social Democrats and, as a political renegade, turned sharply against the left of the party and against various commercial and political grievances in Social Democracy from the mid-1920s .

The Kaff, which came from the Central Association of Austrian Consumers , had been the editor of the magazine Der Konsumverein and the successor newspaper Der Freie Genossenschafter for decades since 1906 . As such, he had inside cooperative knowledge and leaned toward the Rochdale line . During the First World War (and beyond), Kaff championed the truce policy , which was fully supportive of the war effort , as represented by the right wing of the party, which was dominant at the time.

After 1918, Kaff began to isolate himself within the party rights with his still massive and resentment-laden rhetoric against the Entente powers and with tips against leading politicians such as Karl Renner and Emmy Freundlich . At the end of 1923 he and his friend, the association secretary Wilhelm A. Wilhelm, had to retire from their work in the consumer association .

In 1924, Kaff was expelled from the SDAP, to which he had been a member since 1884. This began his time as an anti-social democratic political pamphleteer. In a series of brochures, mostly published by Moritz Perles , often in several editions, Kaff castigated the politics and in particular the economic policy of the SDAP and the institutions close to it. He essentially represented the conceptions of the conservative to German national political groups.

Siegmund Kaff died on January 6, 1933 and was buried on January 11 in the urn grove of the Simmering fire hall (Department 8, Ring 1, Group 6, Number 5). The grave was abandoned in 2018.

Works (selection)

• From the realm of the British cooperatives. Original report on the cooperative members ' trip to England , Vienna (GöC) 1909
• The usury, its causes and its opponents. a contribution to the economic history of our time Vienna (M. Perles) 1925
• Politics and business, or, like cooperative counterfeiting, inflation ... fights Vienna (M. Perles) 1926
• Socialism as a commodity or true socialism. A pamphlet against the Marxist Kipper and Wipper Vienna (M.Perles) 1926
• Austro-Bolshevism or freedom in Krähwinkel. Contemporary considerations Vienna (M: Perles) 1927

literature

• Robert Schediwy : The inter-war period in the field of vision of the "Free Cooperative . In: Johann Brazda , Siegfried Rom (Ed.): 150 years of consumer cooperatives in Austria. Research association development and history of consumer cooperatives . FGK, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-9501499-2-9 , ( Series of publications by the research association Development and History of Consumer Cooperatives 3), especially S 88f., 113, 121.
• Franz Strommer, Roswitha Strommer: With confidence in the power of the housewife. The role of women in the Austrian workers' consumer associations. 1856 to 1977 . FGK, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-9501499-0-2 , ( series of publications by the research association Development and History of Consumer Cooperatives 1), especially S 65.
• Heribert Sturm (Ed.): Biographical lexicon for the history of the Bohemian countries . Volume 2: I - M . Oldenbourg, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-486-52551-4 , especially p. 80.

Web links

• Literature by and about Siegmund Kaff in the catalog of the German National Library