Trotting course speech

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Dollfuss at the lectern

The trotting course speech was a keynote speech given on September 11, 1933 by Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss . In it he expressed his rejection of party rule and parliamentarism and outlined the principles according to which the political system should be rebuilt into the desired corporate state .

prehistory

After the so - called self - elimination of parliament in March 1933, the Dollfuss government ruled authoritarian with the help of the War Economic Enabling Act . While many of his Christian Social Party colleagues wanted to use the exclusion of the Social Democratic Labor Party from parliament to force the Social Democrats to agree to a new constitutional reform, Dollfuss sought a more fundamental reformulation of politics and tried to prevent a return to “formal democracy”. In the meantime, the Fatherland Front (VF) had been set up as a collective movement for all Austrians “loyal to their fatherland” , and in the summer of 1933 its membership increased rapidly.

From September 7 to 12, 1933, the first general German Catholic Day took place in Vienna . Dollfuss used the presence of so many people from the federal states to announce the program of the new movement. Therefore, the first general roll call of the Fatherland Front was scheduled for September 11th on the Viennese trotting arena.

The framework of the rally

The flag of the Fatherland Front, as it was first seen on September 11, 1933

The event had a military character, the participating organizations, led in part by music bands and flag-bearers, entered in closed trains and formed long columns on the lawn. There was a wide variety of uniforms from various associations on display. Represented were, for example, the Ostmärkische Sturmscharen , the Austrian homeland security , the military gymnasts , the front fighters association , Tyrolean riflemen and charges of the Cartellverband . Planes of the Patriotic Volunteer Air Corps circled over the square .

The celebration was scheduled to start at 5:00 p.m., but by then not all of the participants were on the pitch. According to a report in the Neue Freie Presse , there were over 29,000 participants, other sources said over 30,000. Due to lack of space, the civil formations of the Vienna VF did not take part; a separate parade was scheduled for them in October.

At 5:30 p.m. the national anthem sounded and Federal President Wilhelm Miklas appeared in the festival box. There were also leaders of the homeland security with federal leader Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg and Minister Emil Fey .

For the first time, the cross was shown publicly as a symbol of the Fatherland Front on the Führer standard.

At 17:45 Dollfuß appeared in the uniform of a Kaiserjäger - lieutenant and went through an image formed in the crowd trellis to grandstand to the lectern. After a few introductory words by VF Managing Director Otto Kemptner , Dollfuss gave his speech, which - repeatedly interrupted by applause - lasted about an hour.

The central focus of the speech was the rejection of the party system. It was Dollfuss' final turn to the authoritarian state, the so - called Austro - Fascist course . In the speech there were some references to the past, some of which were transfigured in a socially romantic way. As an alternative to the class struggle , the social order as a combination of labor and capital was propagated. There are hints of criticism of capitalism . The self-determination of Austria as a German state and the importance of its task for safeguarding German culture were also emphasized .

After the speech the national anthem was sung again and torches lit to march off. Dollfuss led the train on horseback in the direction of the city. In front of the outer castle gate , grandstands were set up for the guests of honor, and a brightly lit Turkish tent between the grandstands. In front of this tent, the Chancellor and his companions took over the defile from the crowd.

Content of the speech

Dollfuss began his speech by mentioning two anniversaries: the 500th anniversary of St. Stephen's Cathedral as a “work of art of Christian German culture” and the 250th anniversary of the liberation of the Turks . From the then defender of the city, Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg , he drew the bow to his political ally, Heimatschutz-Bundesführer Starhemberg.

He praised the estate order in the time of Prince Eugene , in which there was still no rising of the workers against the masters, when economy and life were unity. He called this period historically incorrectly the Middle Ages , as the social democratic workers' newspaper smugly remarked. Since the time of the French Revolution, for example, this harmonious order was out of balance, which led to the epoch of Marxism and materialism . Because of their successes in science and technology, humanity has become haughty and megalomaniac. The answer was the catastrophe of the World War and the subsequent economic and mental collapse. Nevertheless, the "down-to-earth population" succeeded in preventing materialism and godless Marxism from assuming sole rule "in their homeland.

On March 4, the parliament eliminated itself, saying it “ perished because of its own demagogy and formalism. This parliament, such a representation of the people “will and must never appear again.

In the fight against Marxism, the National Socialist movement had stabbed the government in the back, which had been forced in this two-front war to take the leadership of the state firmly in hand. In a few months, the government would have achieved more than in years. The currency would be secured, inflation prevented, unemployment had fallen and Austria had become an international tourist destination. Religion would be taught again in schools.

In a central point, Dollfuss listed which political currents are now over and what should take their place:

“The time of liberal capitalist thought, the time of liberal capitalist social and economic order - it is over. The time of Marxist leadership and seduction is over. The time of party rule is over, we reject synchronism and terror. We want the social, Christian, German state of Austria, on an estate basis under strong authoritarian leadership. "

As an example of professional collaboration, Dollfuss cited the farmer who ate soup with the servants at the same table from the same bowl. Such a feeling of togetherness must be reawakened among the people. The Arbeiter-Zeitung countered that the former Federal President Michael Hainisch presented the reality of agricultural workers in his book The Landflucht far less rosy. Living under the same roof meant that the servant and maid made it impossible to run their own household and start their own family.

On the subject of "Austria as a German state", Dollfuß said:

“We want the social, Christian German state of Austria. Yes, we are so German, so naturally German that it seems superfluous to emphasize this. We have to preserve German culture in this Christian part of Central Europe and shape it in Austrian form for the Christian-German culture. We leave the judgment of who will ultimately have served Germanness better to future generations. "

Finally, he characterized the Patriotic Front:

“The Fatherland Front is today a movement, not an addition of two or three parties, or movements, but an independent large patriotic movement that obliges its members to emphasize what unites, to put aside what divides and not to belong to any movement aims at the class or cultural struggle. So the idea of ​​community should go beyond today and go with organizational power over the whole of Austria […] Belonging to the Fatherland Front, wearing the common badge is a commitment to participate in the construction of our homeland on a Christian and class basis a declaration of will to overcome the party state. "

At the end of the speech he expressed his conviction that with the common task of making up for the mistakes of 150 years of intellectual history and “building a new house on new paths in our homeland”, he would fulfill a higher mission: “ God wants it! "


Web links

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Emmerich Tálos , Florian Wenninger : Das Austro-Fascist Austria 1933–1938 (=  Politics and Contemporary History . Volume 10 ). Lit, Münster 2017, ISBN 978-3-643-50814-0 , pp. 45 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  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. 291 .
  3. ↑ a b Irmgard Bärnthaler : The Fatherland Front. History and organization . Europa Verlag, Vienna / Frankfurt / Zurich 1971, ISBN 3-203-50379-7  ( formally incorrect ) , p. 24 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k The rally of the Patriotic Front. In:  Neue Freie Presse , September 12, 1933, pp. 3–4 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp
  5. ↑ a b Irmgard Bärnthaler: The Fatherland Front. History and organization . Europa Verlag, Vienna / Frankfurt / Zurich 1971, ISBN 3-203-50379-7  ( formally incorrect ) , p. 27 .
  6. ^ Emmerich Tálos : The Austrofascist system of rule: Austria 1933–1938 (=  politics and contemporary history . Volume 8 ). 2nd Edition. LIT Verlag, Münster 2013, ISBN 978-3-643-50494-4 , p. 70 f . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  7. ↑ The torchlight procession of the Patriotic Front. In:  Neue Freie Presse , September 12, 1933, p. 4 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp
  8. ↑ The speech of the Federal Chancellor. In:  Arbeiter-Zeitung , September 12, 1933, p. 2 (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / aze.
  9. ^ "Professional" plans. In:  Arbeiter-Zeitung , September 12, 1933, pp. 1–2 (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / aze.
  10. ^ The non-partisan Patriotic Front. In:  Reichspost , September 12, 1933, p. 3 (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / rpt.