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.