III Lueger's
First Anti-Semitic Speech*
For my part, I like to ignore the small differences which might exist
between one or other of the parties about the method of the struggle; I have
very little regard for words and names, and much more for the cause. Whether
Democrat or anti-Semite, the matter really conies to one and the same thing.
The Democrats in their struggle against corruption come up against the Jews at
every step, and the anti-Semites, if they want to carry out their economic
programme, have to overcome not only the bad Jews but the bad Christians also.
All my party comrades share my opinion that it is the
first duty of a Democrat to take the side of the poor oppressed people and to
take up the fight with all determination against the unjustified and even
harmful domination of a small fraction of the population. To be sure, the
Manchester-Liberal papers have the habit of describing a Democrat in somewhat
different terms. They aim, for instance, that it would be the duty of such a
Democrat to come forward as an enemy of the Christian religion, to mock and
ridicule its believers and priests. But we know that the motive of such a
manoeuvre is solely to mislead the people, which we may deduce from the
remarkable fact that were anybody to come forward against the Jewish religion
and ridicule its doctrines and believers he would be branded by the same organs
as a reactionary obscurantist. However, this strange conception can be seen
even more clearly in an economic question. Quite shamelessly the Liberal organs
threaten the confiscation of the property of the Church and claim that the
goods of the "dead hand" are harmful. By this means an attempt is
made to divert the attention of the people from the property of the
"living hand" which, in my view, harms the people in a most grievous
way. But what a yell of rage would go up from the Liberal press if one were to
substitute the slogan "confiscation of Church property with the slogan "confiscation
of the goods of the conscious, living hand!" He who would dare this would
risk at once being portrayed as injuring the sacred rights of property, as
anarchist, a columnist who wanted to subvert tile social order and destroy all
existing things. And now I ask: is the title of property of the conscious, living hand stronger or mote
sacred than the title to the property of the Church? Surely not. And so it is
mote than extraordinary if one were to confiscate the property of the comparatively
poor priests and through this help the rich of another denomination to
increase their wealth!
0 V, Oct. 2, 1887.
From Peter Pulzer: The Rise of Political Antisemitism in Germany and
Austria, 1964.
Nachlass Karl
St. Slg. Zl. 1257/12
Box III
Mappe: Los von
Rom. . Diverses
Fragmentary draft of a speech presented in Moravia about 1891.
Gentlemen !
Citizens of this city have asked me
time and again to deliver a talk in Iglau about the principles of the Christian
Social Party, and when I heeded this appeal, I considered this the fulfillment
of a duty every9ne has who represents the interests of the people.
Before I address the topic at hand, I want
briefly to discuss two matters:
1.) I did not come to set citizen against
citizen.
The Christian Social Program does not aim to incite,
but rather to reconcile; it is not a fight of all against all,
but rather a harmonious formation of different interest groups against
the stratification of human society by professions and
occupations.
2.) Press: here, too, as always in the liberal
press, abuses, invectives and the most insolent lies. After 15
years of fighting with the liberal press, I have developed a rather thick
skin, thank goodness. Therefore, I shall limit my comments and simply say
that the liberal press, sometimes also called Jewish liberal, or Jewish Press,
is the most impudent press on this earth, that it was and is the ally and
accomplice of all robberies and thefts that have been committed against the
Christian people. In Vienna, only fools
and those on the same moral level support it; all decent and intelligent people
reject it with disdain. Whether or not
what the "Maehrische Grenzbote" has said about me is true, you will
be able to decide for yourselves by attentively listening to my talk. You will be able to judge whether I speak
the truth or not--therefore, whether I belong to the instructors or the
corrupters of the people.
When the ideas of freedom swept victoriously
from France throughout Europe all people embraced them joyously. A new time of happiness had dawned; the road
was paved for mankind to achieve its highest ideal of perfection. Barriers erected through the wisdom of our
forebears for the purpose of upholding order were impetuously torn down. Old and established institutions that
constrained the titanic powers of mankind were ridiculed. People yearned for the splendid dawn of a
new day rising from the ruins.
In Austria, too, Enlightenment.. People waited
and waited for the happiness that was to come.
But happiness did not come. On the contrary, one felt ever more
uncomfortable.
Even more freedom; perhaps this will help.
More freedom came, but happiness did
not.
Shares were printed, banks were founded, wildest
speculations were carried on at the stock market; then came the crash and 10
and behold: the people were left with printed paper while others prospered with
money.
Of course, in Austria, the so-called freedom
turned into an incredible fraud.
Representatives of the people became representatives
of capital and oppressors. The
representatives were the ones who participated in all the fraudulent
activities, and when salvation was necessary, they proceeded on the premise of
manus manum lavat. You bow to me, I'll
bow to you. .
Tremendous amount of justified embitterment
among the people.
When particularly In Bohemia and Moravia there
wasn't a breakthrough, this was because of the nationalities' problem.
The embitterment is the reason for new parties.
A long period of strife.
Finally, Vereinigte Christen; now, strife again, but people will know
how to put the agitators in their proper place.
Therefore, together: the Christian Social Program.
Protection of honest work, i.e., both physical
and mental, against the oppression by international capital.
a) Farmers
1) suspension of land division
2) land tax relief and
determination of a debt ceiling
3) protective tariffs. Promotion of farmer's
district cooperatives.
b) Craftsmen
Development of a cooperative system, etc.
c) Workers
international protection1 etc.
d)
Suspension of work on Sundays and holidays--
also for officials
e) Improvement of civil
servants' skills
f) Private Officials
against abuses of temporary
office worker
system
Protection against arbitrary
termination
Nationalization
re state
monarchists
re politics
for support and development
of peoples' freedoms
re education
Christian school and
therefore separation according to university (and) confessions...
State revenues for the
benefit of citizens
Criticisms: extra homework, military
supplies
a) Clericalism
hatred for priests.
loss of countless German positions
Jews to cherish their religion
b) Nationalism
Bruenn, Germans in the Czech
camp.
c) Anti-Semitism
Jews, the leaders of the liberals Capital
usurers. Exploiters
of property.
incite
the classes…
incite
the nations
Jewish press against clergy
and religion, therefore, we believe: the Jews have no right to become judges,
political officials and officers, and must be pushed back.
Christians again have upper hand
Indigenous property
Indigenous labor
then peace and quiet will return …
Lueger's criticism of the liberal press here anticipates Karl Kraus.
Speech draft
Ca. 1886
Nachlass Karl Lueger
St. Slg. zl. 1257/12
Box II
Mappe: Redekonzepte
Margarethen Meeting of the trade
association. Thousands of posters. All
voters. When they came they were
rudely insulted and depicted as disturbers of the peace and scandal mongers in the
liberal papers, and the papers lied about a reign of terror of the anti-liberal
league.
Friday a meeting of the Democratic
Club in the 7th District was held.
Kronawetter, Dr. Lueger with his staff? Dr. Leuger did not rise. Opponents and followers of Kronawetter. Naturally, you don't hear a whisper about
those meetings attended by many thousands that proceed quietly, at which even
our opponents can speak undisturbed--these meetings are simply ignored.
Whether these tactics will be useful?
I doubt it. For a while, the one
or the other who gets his wisdom only from the daily press may let himself be
deceived; those, however, who know the truth only hate and resent this brood of
liars all the more; each one of them becomes an enthusiastic apostle of our
teachings who will conquer for us more and more new territory among the people
and who will undermine the ground on which the liberal press carries on its
doings.
But if you ask yourself: why has the liberal press sunk to such
depths? There is only one answer: it
sunk to this depth because the party it serves had long since disappeared, and
was replaced by lies and hypocrisy, corruption and thirst for power.
That is how it is with the "Presse” In
addition, it mostly belongs to Jews, and all events, therefore, are treated
solely on the basis of whether they are useful or damaging to the Jew.
I said: lies and hypocrisy; corruption
and thirst for power.
That the liberal press is full of lies needs
no further proof.
It lies in editorials, reports, in local news,
in municipal reports, in telegrams in the economic section; it lies between the
lines in the feuilletons it lies in novels, it lies in advertisements.
It lies directly by inventing untruths,
deliberate untruths.
It lies indirectly by ignoring important facts
and thereby in readers to draw incorrect conclusions.
It is hypocritical. It flatters the powerful as long as it believes they are serving
its interests. It does so in order to deceive the powerful and the dangerous
enemies who constantly work towards undermining the last vestiges of power...
It feigns reverence for the pope, because it
believes it to be momentarily advantageous to throw sand into the eyes of the
people. But it continues to ridicule
Christianity, to undermine faith among people, solely so that the masses are
robbed of any moral footing, that they become easy prey for big business and
sink into slavery.
It feigns love for Vienna, lauds the
golden Viennese heart, the good nature of the Viennese, and their cheerfulness,
but it is the liberal press that drove us Viennese out of the theaters, that
made us suspicious and robbed us of our cheerfulness. It feigns love for the German nation; but not the true
national sentiment, rather only agitation against other nations. Any attempt to solve the national question
is cunningly defeated; anybody who views a Czech or a Slav as a human being is
branded a traitor and encouraged to keep fighting; all that just so the sharks
among the people can complete their destruction undisturbed.
It preaches love for property, but only
insofar as it concerns its own property and that of its clients. It praises the great robbers who seize
millions, even billions, in property of others, as the masters of mankind; and
if one of these robbers has the misfortune of being accused by the public
prosecutor, then he is treated as kindly as if he had perished on the field of
honor.
It is the great and overt opponent of the
little lottery because its profit does not fill their pockets or those of
certain bankers. On the other hand, it
lauds certain minor lottery tickets and does everything possible to induce
people to play the stock market.
Now and then, they even oppose corruption, but
only when they believe they can conceal their own corruption. They act like a thief who is being pursued
and while trying to escape shouts with the rest "stop him"...
The liberal press is corrupt; it is corrupt
because it exclusively serves high finance…
Internal and external entanglements are
created in order to carry out stock market maneuvers; telegrams are forged; men
with great influence on world affairs are left to become sicker and sicker and
then they are made well again in a piquant way, however the press wishes. Pronunciamentos of monarchs are misquoted
because the press knows very well that retractions are not requested pursuant
to Article 19. But if an official paper prints a correction, then the matter is
twisted in such a clever way that the impression remains that the original
article was true.
The way wages are paid is also corrupt. The
exploited are being paid according to their cooperation…
It doesn't matter whether a company is solid
and respectable or not. If the people
are cheated, what does the press care so long as it profits? The people are stupid, forget quickly, and
are gladly taken in again by the sharks.
The liberal press is immoral.
Only piquant --that's the slogan.
Whether family happiness is destroyed or people are sent to their death
doesn't matter. .
The liberal press doesn't spare the family. It isolates the most intimate affairs in
order to publicize them, and if there is nothing, it simply fabricates
stories. King Ludwig of Bavaria, and Crown
Prince.
Reports about court trials are corrupt, and
the public literally has become a curse for the administration of justice.
The advertisement business is
corrupt. Secret illnesses,
fraudulent transactions, matchmaking ads...
Prying and merciless persecution mania.
Prying everywhere: Municipal Council,
parliament, at all levels. If
misfortune happens, janitor, Greissler.
If he is thrown out, or he can't find out anything, then he lies. If he is corrected, he says: the correction
is wrong.
Conclusion: The Viennese liberal press is the most
corrupt and disgraceful press in the whole world... "Neues Wiener Tagblatt"--we do nothing; we only shout,
don't improve things. It is true; we
always want to fight these bandits on legal grounds, and we keep on believing
that our call for help will be heard.
We hope the state authorities not only will continue to enforce the
present measures against the press, which we applaud, but also will vigorously
proceed against the excesses of the liberal press.
But I warn the liberal press: it should not
ridicule and scorn those whom it deceived, lied to, and exploited.
Farmer cries
for vengeance
Tradesman cries
for vengeance
Official cries
for vengeance
Widows and Orphans cry
for vengeance
Religion and fatherland cry out for
liberation, and the day will come when these cries will be heard by the proper
authority. The day of liberation for
the Christian people from servitude in which we now languish will come and the
day of vengeance for the disgrace tolerated and suffered.