Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 26 - AUS-CHI.pdf/54

 AUSTRIA-HUNGARY [AUSTRIA : 1901. 1897. the emperor refused to accept it, and he had therefore to 360 363 Brought forward do the best he could and turn for support to the other Slovenians— nationalities. The strongest of them were the fifty-nine 11 Clerical Slovenians 5 Poles and sixty Young Czechs; he therefore attempted, as Kadical ,, 16 16 Taaffe had done, to come to some agreement with them. Italians— The Poles were always ready to support the Government; . 14 Liberal Italians among the Young Czechs the more moderate had already . 5 Clerical ,, 19 19 attempted to restrain the wilder spirits of the party, and 11 9 Croatians. they were quite prepared to enter into negotiations. They 2 2 Serbs did not wish to lose the opportunity which now was open Ruthenians— to them of winning influence over the administration. Ruthenians. What they required was further concession as to the Young Rutbenians 11 — 11 language in Bohemia. In May 1897 Badeni therefore Rumanians— published his celebrated ordinances. They determined (1) Rumanians. that all correspondence and documents regarding The Young Rumanian every matter brought before the Government language 6 5 officials should be conducted in the language in ordinances 425 425 Total which it was first introduced. This applied to of 1897The most remarkable result of the elections was the the whole of Bohemia, and meant the introduction of disappearance of the Liberals in Vienna. In 1879, out of Czech into the government offices throughout the whole 37 members returned in Lower Austria, 33 were Liberals. of the kingdom; (2) after 1903 no one was to be Now the Christian Socialists were first with 28, then the appointed to a post under the Government in Bohemia Socialists with 14, and the few remaining seats were until he had passed an examination in Czech. These divided between the Nationalists and the Kadicals. It ordinances fulfilled the worst fears of the Germans. The was impossible to maintain a strong party of moderate German Nationalists and Radicals declared that no business constitutionalists, on whom the Government could depend, should be done till they were repealed and Badeni disunless there was a large nucleus from Lower Austria. missed. They resorted to obstruction. They brought in The influence of Lueger was very embarrassing; he had repeated motions to impeach the ministers, and parliament now a majority of two-thirds in the town council, and had had to be prorogued in June, although no business of any been elected burgomaster. The emperor had refused to kind had been transacted. Badeni had not anticipated confirm the election; he had been re-elected, and then the the effect his ordinances would have; as a Pole he had emperor, in a personal interview, appealed to him to with- little experience in the western part of the empire. During draw. He consented to do so; but, after the election of the recess he tried to open negotiations, but the Germans 1897 had given him so many followers in the Reichsrath, refused even to enter into a discussion until the ordinances Badeni advised that his election as burgomaster should had been withdrawn. The agitation spread throughout be confirmed. There was violent antipathy between the the country; great meetings were held at Eger and Aussig, Christian Socialists and the German Nationalists, and the which were attended by Germans from across the frontier, transference of their quarrels from the Viennese Council and led to serious disturbances ; the cornflower, which had Chamber to the Reichsrath was very detrimental to the become the symbol of German nationality and union with Germany, was freely worn, and the language used was in orderly conduct of debate. The limited suffrage had hitherto prevented Socialism many cases treasonable. The emperor insisted that the from becoming a political force in Austria as it had in Reichsrath should again be summoned to pass the necesthe national divisions have sary measures for the Ausgleich; scenes then took place Socialism. aGermany, jwayS impand eded the creation of a centralized which have no parallel in parliamentary history. To meet Socialist party. The first object of the working classes the obstruction it was determined to sit at night, but this necessarily was the attainment of political power; in 1867 was unsuccessful. On one occasion Dr Lecher, one of there had been mass demonstrations and petitions to the the representatives of Moravia, spoke for twelve hours, Government for universal suffrage. During the next years from 9 p.m. till 9 a.m., against the Ausgleich. The opposithere was the beginning of a real Socialist movement in tion was not always limited to feats of endurance of this Vienna and in Styria, where there is a considerable indus- kind. On 3rd November there was a free fight in the trial population; after 1879, however, the growth of the House; it arose from a quarrel between Dr Lueger and the party was interrupted by the introduction of anarchical Christian Socialists on the one side (for the Christian doctrines. Most’s paper, the Freiheit, was introduced Socialists had supported the Government since the conthrough Switzerland, and had a large circulation. The firmation of Lueger as burgomaster) and the German anarchists, under the leadership of Peukert, seem to Nationalists under Dr Wolff, a German from Bohemia, the have attained considerable numbers. In 1883-84 there violence of whose language had already caused Badeni to were a number of serious strikes, collisions between the challenge him to a duel. The Nationalists refused to allow police and the workmen, followed by assassinations; it Lueger to speak, clapping their desks, hissing, and making was a peculiarity of Austrian anarchists that in some other noises, till at last the Young Czechs attempted to cases they united robbery to murder. The Government, prevent the disorder by violence. On 24th November the which was seriously alarmed, introduced severe repressive scenes of disturbance were renewed. The president, Herr v. measures; the leading anarchists were expelled or fled Abramovitch, an Armenian from Galicia, refused to call on the country. In 1887, under the leadership of Dr Schoenerer to speak. The Nationalists therefore stormed Adler, the Socialist party began to revive (the party of the platform, and the president and ministers had to fly violence having died away), and since then it has steadily into their private rooms to escape personal violence, until gained in numbers; in the forefront of the political the Czechs came to their rescue, and by superiority in programme is put the demand for universal suffrage. In numbers and physical strength severely punished Herr no country is the 1st of May, as the festival of Labour, Wolff and his friends. The rules of the House giving the president no authority for maintaining order, he celebrated so generally. Badeni after the election sent in his resignation, but determined, with the assent of the ministers, to propose

26