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Austro-Hungarian Political Parties

There was a dangerous want of cohesion of the Austrian and Hungarian Parliaments, with an utter inability to accomplish necessary legislation. The parties and factions fought incessantly for the interests of their respective nationalities, and neglected state affairs and sadly needed social reforms entirely. There was haggling, scheming, and intriguing for every school, every railroad station, and every official post in the monarchy, while the great questions of the day were neglected, postponed, or run over without serious consideration.

The majority and minority of the the Austrian House of Commons were not, as in other parliaments, of one party or at least of a group of harmonious, homogeneous parties; neither of them represented a principle or embodies an aim. By the end of the 19th Century the majority consisted merely of a number of heterogeneous groups of various and differing interests and aims, who were joined solely by the greed for power and the desire to gain as much as possible at each voting.

The most numerous and most influential of all parties was the "Club of the Poles," embracing nearly all the members from Galicia, with exception of a few Routhenians and Socialists; they aspired to the leadership of the House, with its consequential privileges, aimed chiefly at autonomy for Galicia, and ultimately at the reestablishment of the Polish kingdom. Next in number and importance were the "Czechs" from Bohemia and Moravia, desiring the detachment of these provinces and Silesia from Cisleithania, and as soon as possible their own Parliament, army, etc. They were divided into two groups : the feudal-clerical "Old Czechs," who leaned more toward reactionary ideas, and the radical "Young Czechs," who were outspoken Panslavists, Russophiles, and Hussites.

The real old stock of the majority was formed by the so-called "Conservative Club," composed of the feudalistic nobility and the Roman Catholic clergy, and aiming chiefly at the regaining of the supervision of the schools by the clergy, the retaining of the privileges of the nobility, and the prevention of the introduction of the popular vote. Nearest to them with regard to aims at Church and school, but separated in politico-economical questions, stood the "Catholic People's Party," recruited principally from the agricultural districts of the Alps. They formed the balance of parliamentary power, but were in great danger of losing their influence and being divided into two powerless groups, because the national feeling was aroused among their constituents, the German peasants of the Alps.

Then followed the "Club of the Southern Slavs," composed of the Slavonian members from the coastlands and Daimatia, who were autonomiste Panslavists and aspired after the establishment of a South Slavonic state, comprising Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Dalmatia, if possible, with Servia and Montenegro.

Finally must be mentioned the small but very energetic and noisy group who call themselves "Christian Socialists," but were, in fact, anti-Semites, pure and simple, consisting of a few members from Vi?nn? and Lower Austria, under the leadership of Vienna's mayor, Dr. Lueger; they were absolutely colorless with regard to nationality, politics, or anything else, their motto being solely: "Down with the Jews!"

The minority showed a very similar picture of small disunited fractions. Not attached to the minority by any sympathy or similar aims, but voting with it on most questions, were the small groups of the Italian Club, from the south of Tyrol and Trieste, a number of Socialists and Democrats from different provinces, and various of nationality, and some "Wilde," unattached to any particular party. The German Progressive Party, the remnant (very little altered) of the former Liberal and Constitutional parties, recruited chiefly from the industrial centers of the German provinces, and standing for a liberal, constitutional, centralistic monarchy. Next to them in importance and spirit was the German People's Party, from the German districts of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Styria ; these were the German Radicals, aiming at the hegemony of German influence, and being driven, through suppression of the Germans by the government on the one hand and by the pressure of their electors on the other, toward the desire for a union with Germany.

This union was the outspoken aspiration of the most radical wing of the minority, the German National Party, created by the famous Schoenerer, the leader of the obstruction. A split in the German Club led to the formation of a new party, the German Nationalists. Their representative, Georg von Schonerer, soon distinguished himself by his immoderate Chauvinism and bis insane hatred of everything Austrian. In parliament there were at first very few who had the courage to join him ; for the policy he advocated was nothing short of high-treason. On the other hand, he had an enormous following among university students, with a scattering of raw lads from the Gymnasia and Technical Schools. Very soon there developed among these young people a regular Schonerer cult. It signalised itself by uproarious demonstrations, and chose for its symbol the corn-cockle, popularly supposed to be the Emperor "William's favourite flower-a proof that the Emperor of the German Nationalists is not a Habsburg, but a Hohenzollern.

Its chief distinguishing mark was now its hatred of the Jews, who found in the Liberals their warmest protectors and supporters. It was the German Nationalists who first made anti-Semitism an important social and political factor in Austria; and it was their anti-Semitism, rather than their Germanism, that raised the Nationalists to a position of influence which otherwise they could hardly have reached; for the feeling of nationality was not very strong in the German-speaking population of Austria. But dislike of the overpowering Jewish element, and dissatisfaction with the Liberalism that supported its claims, were emotions shared by nearly everybody; and the antiSemites welcomed the new movement as a potent barrier against Jewish encroachments, though they had no very clear notion of what it or its leaders meant. Except in Bohemia and Moravia, the German Nationalists failed to reach the great mass of the people. Its chief lever, anti-Semitism, was no longer its own; it had passed into the hands of the Christian Socialists, a party rapidly forcing itself into notice. Nationalism of the Radical-German type was chiefly confined to certain well-defined classes: the lawyers, physicians, professors, and of course, as before, the students. These last, when they did not belong to the aristocratic or military class, were almost invariably staunch supporters of Schonerer. Therefore, for a long time the Schonerer party, which had only two representatives in the Reichsrath, was unable to play any very important part.

No doubt the German party in Parliament comprised many members (chiefly among the great landed proprietors) who detested these proceedings and clearly foresaw their dangerous consequences; but these warning voices were drowned by the infernal din made by their frenzied compatriots. They had neither strength nor courage to break with their fanatical allies ; afraid lest, by an open rupture with them, they should incur the reproach of being un-German. That no measures to this end would be too extreme for them was proved by Schonerer, in the memorable session of November 8th, 1898, when he gave utterance to the wish that he might see the day when the armies of the German Empire would march into Austria, there to 'deliver' the German people.

Similar conditions, although not so pronounced as in Austria, prevailed in the Parliament across the Leitha in Hungary. The majority of both houses was formed in the late 1890s by the Liberals, who stood by the Ausgleich of 1867, and wished to prolong it under the same conditions, but made - for the sake of patriotic appearances - a show to reduce the unjustly low quota which they contribute toward the common expenses ; they were liberal and progressive in matters of Church and school, but used all possible means to Magyarize the Slavs, Germans, and Roumanians of the kingdom. The minority of the House was composed of a clerical Roman Catholic party that wished the subordination of the school under the clergy ; the radical Magyar Independent Party, whiceh aimed at a mere "personal union" with Cisleithania, and finally at the entire detachment and independence of Hungary from Austria ; the Germans from Transylvania, who wished to preserve their nationality ; the members of Roumanian nationality, who would prefer being a part of the kingdom across the frontier ; and the members, elected by the Croatian Diet, who were the most energetic opponents of the reigning Magyar policy, but had no power whatever, because they were not entitled by the Constitution to vote on matters connected with Hungarian laws, educational and home affairs.

The Ministry of Count Badeni did not interfere with the "Vier Kurien," but added to these a fifth class (E), established on the principle of universal suffrage, and embracing the laborers and small burghers. Moreover, by the provisions of this new law, the landowners and capitalists were compelled, according to the system known as "plural voting," to cast their votes a second time. The tax-qualification of voters was reduced from 10 fl. to 4; and, as a result, the number of voters increased from 1,700,000 in 1896 to 3,600,000 in 1898. The Diet was dissolved; and the first election under the new system, owing to the large popular vote cast in Class E, resulted in the complete overthrow of the Centralists and Liberals. On the other hand, the Anti-Semites, the Christian Socialists, and the Social-Democrats, under the leadership of Dashinski, made a triumphal entry into the Palace of the Imperial Diet at Vienna.