Part 5 — CHAPTER XXV

THE GOVERNMENT AND PARTIES OF AUSTRIA

I. The Constitution

511. Amendment.—The constitution promulgated March 4, 1849, made provision for a definite process of amendment. Upon declaration by the legislative power that any particular portion of the fundamental law stood in need of revision, the chambers were to be dissolved and newly elected ones were to take under consideration the proposed amendment, adopting it if a two-thirds majority could be obtained in each house. Upon all such proposals the veto of the Emperor, however, was absolute. Neither the diploma of October 20, 1860, nor the patent of February 26, 1861, contained any stipulation upon the subject, nor did any one of the fundamental laws of 1867 as originally adopted. By act of April 2, 1873, however, passed at the time when the lower house of the Reichsrath was being converted into an assembly directly representative of the people, the Law concerning Imperial Representation was so modified as to be made to include a specific stipulation with respect to constitutional amendment in general. Under the terms of this enactment all portions of the written constitution are subject to amendment at the hand of the Reichsrath. As in European countries generally, no essential differentiation of powers that are constituent from those that are legislative is attempted. The process of revision is made even easier than that prescribed by the ill-fated instrument of 1849. It differs in no respect from that of ordinary legislation save that proposed amendments require a two-thirds vote in each of the chambers instead of a simple majority. Since 1873 there have been adopted several amendments, of which the most notable were those of 1896 and 1907 relative to the election of representatives.

II. The Crown and the Ministry

III. The Reichsrath—the Electoral System

517. The House of Representatives: Composition.—The lower chamber, as constituted by fundamental law of 1867, was made up of 203 representatives, apportioned among the several provinces and elected by the provincial diets. The system worked poorly, and a law of 1868 authorized the voters of a province to elect the stipulated quota of representatives in the event that the Diet failed to do so. Still there was difficulty, arising largely from the racial rivalries in the provinces, and by an amendment of April 2, 1873, the right of election was vested exclusively in the enfranchised inhabitants of the Empire. The number of members was at the same time increased to 353, though without modifying the proportion of representatives of the various provinces. Further amendment, in 1896, brought up the membership to 425, where it remained until 1907, when it was raised to the present figure, 516.

518. Early Electoral Arrangements: Law of 1873.—The broadly democratic electoral system which prevails in the Austrian dominions to-day is a very recent creation. With the introduction of constitutionalism in 1867 the problem of the franchise became one of peculiar and increasing difficulty, and the process by which the Empire has been brought laboriously to its present condition of democracy has constituted one of the most tortuous chapters in recent political history. The conditions by which from the outset the problem was complicated were three in number: first, the large survival of self-assertiveness on the part of the various provinces among whom parliamentary representatives were to be distributed; second, the keenness of the ambitions of the several racial elements for parliamentary power; and third, the utter lack of experience and of traditions on the part of the Austrian peoples in the matter of democratic government.

520. The Electoral Law of 1896.—Under the Windischgrätz and Kielmansegg ministries which succeeded no progress was realized, but the cabinet of the Polish Count Badeni, constituted October 4, 1895, made electoral reform the principal item in its programme and succeeded in carrying through a measure which, indeed, was but a caricature of Taaffe's project, but which none the less marked a distinct stage of progress toward the broad-based franchise for which the radicals were clamoring. The Government's bill was laid before the Reichsrath, February 16, 1896, and was adopted unchanged within the space of two weeks. The general suffrage which the Socialists demanded was established, for the election, however, not of the 353 representatives already composing the lower chamber, but merely of a body of 72 new representatives to be added to the present membership. In the choice of these 72 additional members every male citizen twenty-four years of age who had resided in a given district as much as six months prior to an election was to be entitled to participate; but elections were to be direct only in those districts in which indirect voting had been abolished by provincial legislation. Votes were to be cast, as a rule, by ballot, though under some circumstances orally. All pre-existing classes of voters were left unchanged, and to them was simply added a fifth. The aggregate number of electors in the Empire was raised to 5,333,000. Of the number, however, the 1,732,000 comprised in the original four curiæ were still to elect 353 of the 425 members of the chamber, with the further inequity that many of the persons who profited by the new arrangement were included already in one or another of the older classes, and hence were vested by it with a plural vote. Although, therefore, the voting privilege was now conferred upon millions of small taxpayers and non-taxpayers who never before had possessed it, the nation was still very far from a fair and democratic suffrage system.

521. Renewed Agitation: the Universal Suffrage Law of 1907.—Throughout the decade following 1896 electoral agitation was continuous and widespread, but not until 1905 did the situation become favorable for further reform. In September of the year mentioned Francis Joseph approved the proposal that universal suffrage be included in the programme of the Fejérváry cabinet in Hungary, and the act was taken at once to mean that the sovereign had arrived at the conclusion that the democratizing of the franchise was inevitable in all of his dominions. In point of fact, by reason of the prolonged parliamentary crisis of late years at Vienna, the Emperor was fast arriving at precisely such a conclusion. Stimulated by current developments in Hungary and in Russia, the Austrian Socialists, late in 1905, entered upon a notable series of demonstrations, and, November 28, Premier Gautsch was moved to pledge the Government to introduce forthwith a franchise reform bill based upon the principle of universal suffrage. February 23, 1906, the promise was redeemed by the presentation in the Reichsrath of proposals for (1) the abolition of the system of electoral curiæ, (2) the extension of an equal franchise to all males over twenty-four years of age and resident in their district a year, (3) the division of Austria racially into compartments so that each ethnic group might be protected against its rivals, and (4) the increase of the number of seats from 425 to 455, a fixed number to be allotted to each province, and in each province to each race, in accordance with numbers and taxpaying capacity.

The outlook for the bill in which these proposals were incorporated was at first not promising. The Social Democrats, the Christian Socialists, and the Young Czechs were favorable; the Poles were reserved in their attitude, but inclined to be hostile; practically all of the German Liberals were opposed; and the landed proprietors, long accustomed to dominate within the preponderant German element in the Reichsrath, were violently hostile. In April, 1906, while the bill was pending, the Gautsch ministry found itself without a parliamentary majority and was succeeded by a ministry made up by Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst. This ministry lasted but six weeks, and June 2 the coalition cabinet of Baron Beck assumed office. Convinced that the establishment of universal and direct suffrage would afford the best means of stimulating loyalty to the dynasty, as well as the only practicable means of freeing the Government from parliamentary obstructionism, Emperor Francis Joseph accorded the Beck ministry his earnest support in its purpose to push to a conclusion the task of electoral reform. The effort attained fruition in the memorable Universal Suffrage Law passed by both houses of the Reichsrath in the closing days of 1906 and approved by the Emperor January 26 of the following year. The measure, which was in form an amendment of the fundamental law of December 21, 1867, concerning Imperial Representation, was opposed by the conservative and aristocratic members of both houses and by the extremer representatives of the various nationalities; but, like other portions of the constitutional system of the Empire, it may not be amended save by a two-thirds vote of both houses, and it is likely to endure through a considerable period unchanged.

Before 1907 After 1907

Germans of all parties 205 233

Czechs 81 108

Poles 71 80

South Slavs (Slovenes, Croats, Serbs) 27 37

Ruthenes 11 34

Italians 18 19

Roumanians 5 5

—— ——

418 516

The striking feature of this readjustment is, of course, the increased number of seats assigned to the non-German nationalities. In proportion strictly to population, the Germans still possess a larger number of seats than that to which they are entitled. But the aggregate is only 233, while the aggregate of Slavic seats is 259. Even if the former German-Italian bloc were still effective it could control a total of only 257 votes; but, in point of fact, the Italians in the Reichsrath to-day are apt to act with the Slavs rather than with the Germans.

After decision had been reached regarding the distribution of seats in accordance with races it remained to effect a distribution geographically among the provinces of the Empire. To each of the several provinces was assigned an aggregate quota which, in turn, was distributed within the province among the racial groups represented in the provincial population. The allotment made, in comparison with that prevailing under the law of 1896, was as follows:

Before 1907 After 1907

Kingdom of Bohemia 110 130

Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, with the grand-duchy of Cracow 78 106

Archduchy of Lower Austria 46 64

Margravate of Moravia 43 49

Duchy of Styria 27 30

Princely County of Tyrol 21 25

Archduchy of Upper Austria 20 22

Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia 12 15

Duchy of Bukovina 11 14

Duchy of Carniola 11 12

Kingdom of Dalmatia 11 11

Duchy of Carinthia 10 10

Duchy of Salsburg 6 7

Margravate of Istria 5 6

Princely County of Görz and Gradisca 5 6

City of Trieste and its territory 5 5

Territory of Vorarlberg 4 4

—— ——

425 516

524. The Reichsrath: Sessions and Procedure.—By the law of 1867 no limit was fixed for the period of service of the parliamentary representative. The life of the Reichsrath, and consequently the tenure of the individual deputy, was terminated only by a dissolution. Under provision of an amendment of April 2, 1873, however, members of the lower chamber are elected for a term of six years, at the expiration of which period, as also in the event of a dissolution, a new election must be held. Representatives are indefinitely eligible for re-election. Vacancies are filled by special elections, which may be held at any time, according to procedure specified by law. Representatives receive a stipend of 20 crowns for each day's attendance, with an allowance for travelling expenses.

IV. Political Parties

The nationalities represented within the Empire fall broadly into three great groups: the German, the Slavic, and the Latin. In an aggregate population of 26,107,304 in 1900 the Germans numbered 9,171,614, or somewhat more than 35 per cent; the Slavs, 15,690,000, or somewhat more than 60 per cent; and the Latins, 958,065, or approximately 3.7 per cent. The Germans, comprising the most numerous of the individual nationalities, occupy exclusively Upper Austria, Salsburg, and Vorarlberg, the larger portion of Lower Austria, north-western Carinthia, the north and center of Styria and Tyrol, and, in fact, are distributed much more generally over the entire Empire than is any one of the other racial elements. The Slavs are in two principal groups, the northern and the southern. The northern includes the Czechs and Slovaks, dwelling principally in Bohemia and Moravia, and numbering, in 1900, 5,955,397; the Poles, comprising a compact mass of 4,252,483 people in Galicia and Silesia; and the Ruthenes, numbering 3,381,570, in eastern Galicia and in Bukovina. The southern Slavic group includes the Slovenes, numbering 1,192,780, in Carniola, Görz, Gradisca, Istria, and Styria, and the Servians and Croats, numbering 711,380, in Istria and Dalmatia. The peoples of Latin stock are the Italians and Ladini (727,102), in Tyrol, Görz, Gradisca, Dalmatia, and Trieste, and the Roumanians (230,963) in Bukovina. Within many of the groups mentioned there is meager survival of political unity. There are German Clericals, German Progressives, German Radicals, German Agrarians; likewise Old Czechs, Young Czechs, Czech Realists, Czech Agrarians, Czech Clericals, and Czech Radicals. Austrian party history within the past fifty years comprises largely the story of the political contests among the several nationalities, and of the disintegration of these nationalities into a bewildering throng of clamorous party cliques.

527. Centralists and Federalists.—The more important of the party groups of to-day trace their origins to the formative period in recent Austro-Hungarian constitutional history, 1860-1867. During this period the fundamental issue in the Empire was the degree of centralization which it was desirable, or possible, to achieve in the reshaping of the governmental system. On the one hand were the centralists, who would have bound the loosely agglomerated kingdoms, duchies, and territories of the Empire into a consolidated state. On the other were the federalists, to whom centralization appeared dangerous, as well as unjust to the Empire's component nationalities. Speaking broadly, the Germans, supported by the Italians, comprised the party of centralization; the Slavs, that of federalism. The establishment of the constitution of 1867, as well as of the Compromise with Hungary in the same year, was the achievement of the centralists, and with the completion of this gigantic task there gradually took form a compactly organized political party, variously known as the National German party, the German Liberals, or the Constitutionalists, whose watchwords were the preservation of the constitution and the Germanization of the Empire. For a time this party maintained the upper hand completely, but its ascendancy was menaced not only by the disaffected forces of federalism but by the continued tenseness of the clerical question and, after 1869, by intestine conflict. As was perhaps inevitable, the party split into two branches, the one radical and the other moderate. During the earlier months of 1870 the Radicals, under Hasner, were in control; but in their handling of the vexatious Polish and Bohemian questions they failed completely and, April 4, they gave place to the Moderates under the premiership of the Polish Count Potocki. The new ministry sought to govern in a conciliatory spirit and with the support of all groups, but its success was meager. February 7, 1871, a cabinet which was essentially federalist was constituted under Count Hohenwart. Its decentralizing policies, however, were of such a character that the racial question gave promise of being settled by the utter disintegration of the Empire, and after eight months it was dismissed.

The Germans now recovered, not their earlier power, but none the less a distinct measure of control. November 12 there was established, under Prince Windischgrätz a coalition ministry, comprising representatives of the German Liberals, the Poles, and the Clericals, and this cabinet was very successful until, in June, 1895, it was wrecked by the secession of the Liberals on a question of language reform in Styria. After four months, covered by the colorless ministry of Count Kielmansegg, Count Badeni became minister-president (October 4, 1895) and made up a cabinet, consisting largely of German Liberals, but bent upon an essentially non-partisan administration. The two tasks chiefly which devolved upon the Badeni ministry were the reform of the electoral system and the renewal of the decennial economic compromise with Hungary, to expire at the end of 1897. The first was accomplished, very ineffectively, through the electoral measure of 1896; the second, by reason of factional strife, was not accomplished at all.

531. The Language Question: Parliamentary Deadlock.—The elections of 1897 marked the utter dissolution of both the United German Left and the coalition which had borne the designation of the Right. Among the 200 Germans elected to the Chamber there were distinguishable no fewer than eight groups; and the number of groups represented in the aggregate membership of 425 was at least twenty-four. Of these the most powerful were the Young Czechs, with 60 seats, and the Poles, with 59. Profiting by the recently enacted electoral law, the Socialists at this point made their first appearance in the Reichsrath with a total of 14 seats. Taking the Chamber as a whole, there was a Slavo-Clerical majority, although not the two-thirds requisite for the enactment of constitutional amendments. The radical opponents of the Government were represented by the 51 German Liberals only. But no one of the Slavic groups was disposed to accord its support save in return for favors received. In the attempt to procure for itself a dependable majority the Badeni government succeeded but in creating confusion twice confounded. The Young Czechs, whose support appeared indispensable, stipulated as a positive condition of that support that Czech should be recognized as an official language in Bohemia and Moravia, and by ordinances of April-May, 1897, the Government took it upon itself to meet this condition. Within the provinces named the two languages, Czech and German, were placed, for official purposes upon a common footing. The only result, however, was to drive the Germans, already hostile, to a settled course of parliamentary obstruction, and before the year was out the Badeni cabinet was compelled to retire.

The Gautsch ministry which succeeded proposed to maintain the equality of the Czech and German tongues in Bohemia; wherefore the German Liberals persisted in their obstructionist policy and declared that they would continue to do so until the objectionable ordinances should have been rescinded. March 5, 1898, the Government promulgated a provisional decree in accordance with which in one portion of Bohemia the official tongue was to be Czech, in another German, and in the third the two together. But no one was satisfied and the ministry resigned. The coalition government of Count Thun Hohenstein which succeeded labored in the interest of conciliation, but with absolutely no success. Parliamentary sittings became but occasions for the display of obstructive tactics, and even for resort to violence, and legislation came to a standstill. By the use of every known device the turbulent German parties rendered impossible the passage of even the most necessary money bills, and the upshot was that, in the summer of 1898, the Government was obliged to fall back upon that extraordinary portion of the Austrian constitution, commonly known as Section 14, by which, in default of parliamentary legislation, the crown is authorized to promulgate ordinances with the force of law. The period of extra parliamentary government here inaugurated was destined to be extended through more than six years and to comprise one of the most remarkable chapters in recent political history.

532. The Nadir of Parliamentarism.—Following the retirement of the Thun Hohenstein ministry, at the end of September, 1899, the government of Count Clary-Aldingen revoked the language decrees; but the parliamentary situation was not improved, for the Czechs resorted forthwith to the same obstructionist tactics of which the Germans had been guilty and the government had still to be operated principally on the basis of Section 14. A provisional government under Dr. Wittek, at the close of 1899, was followed by the ministry of Dr. Körber, established January 20, 1900; but all attempts at conciliation continued to be unavailing. In September, 1900, the Reichsrath was dissolved and the order for the new elections was accompanied by the ominous declaration of the Emperor that the present appeal to the nation would be the last constitutional means which would be employed to bring the crisis to an end. Amid widespread depression, threats of Hungarian independence, and rumors of an impending coup d'état, the elections took place, in January, 1901. The German parties realized the largest gains, but the parliamentary situation was not materially altered, and thereafter, until its fall, December 31, 1904, the Körber ministry continued to govern substantially without parliamentary assistance. In 1901-1902, by various promises, the premier induced the combatants to lay aside their animosities long enough to vote the yearly estimates, a military contingent, and certain much-needed economic reforms. But this was virtually the sole interruption of a six-year deadlock.

533. Electoral Reform and the Elections of 1907.—With the establishment of the second Gautsch ministry, December 31, 1904, a truce was declared and interest shifted to the carrying out of the Imperial programme of electoral reform. From the proposed liberalization of the suffrage many of the party groups were certain to profit and others had at least a chance of doing so; and thus it came about that the great electoral law of 1907 was carried through its various stages under parliamentary conditions which were substantially normal. Its progress was attended by the fall, in April, 1906, of the Gautsch ministry and, six weeks later, by that of its provisional successor. But by the coalition government of Baron Beck (June 2, 1906 to November 8, 1908) the project was pushed to a successful conclusion, and in its final form the law was approved by the Emperor, January 26, 1907.

The promulgation of the new electoral measure was followed, May 14, by a general election, the results of which may be tabulated as shown on the following page.

Each of the twenty-six groups here enumerated maintained at the time of the election an independent party organization, although in the Chamber the representatives of certain of them were accustomed to act in close co-operation. To the clericals and conservatives of all shades fell an aggregate of 230 seats; but among the various groups of this type there has never been sufficient coherence to permit the formation of a compact conservative party. Among the liberal and radical groups lack of coherence was, and remains, still more pronounced. The most striking feature of the election of 1907 was the gains made by the Social Democrats and the Christian Socialists, to be explained largely by the extension of the franchise to the non-taxpaying and small taxpaying population.

Seats after election of 1907 Seats in previous Chamber

Social Democrats 90 11

Christian Socialists 67 26

German Clericals 29 29

German Progressives 23 60

German Radicals 24 46

German Agrarians 21 4

Independent Pan-Germans 8 7

Pan-Germans 3 15

Polish Club 54 66

Polish Radicals 16 0

Polish Independent Socialists 3 0

Ruthenes 28 9

Jewish Zionists 3 0

Young Czechs 19 47

Old Czechs 6 3

Czech Realists 2 0

Czech Agrarians 25 5

Czech Clericals 19 2

Czech Radicals 10 8

Slovene Clericals 22 19

Slovene Liberals 3 6

Italian Liberals 4 12

Italian Clericals 10 6

Croats 9 7

Serbs 2 0

Roumanians 5 4

534. The Elections of 1911.—The truce by which the election of 1907 was accompanied was not of long duration, and November 8, 1908, the ministry of Baron Beck was driven by German obstructionism to resign. After three months as provisional premier Baron von Bienerth, former Minister of the Interior, made up a cabinet which included representatives of a number of parties and which, despite occasional readjustments of portfolios, exhibited a fair measure of stability throughout upwards of two years. In December, 1910, the Czechs and Poles precipitated a cabinet crisis in consequence of which the ministry was reconstructed (January 9, 1911) in such a manner as to strengthen the Slavic and weaken the Germanic element. But the forces of opposition were not appeased, and as a last resort the Government determined upon a dissolution and an appeal to the country. The results, however, were by no means those which were desired. At the general elections, which took place June 13 and 20, the Christian Socialists, from whom the Government had drawn its most consistent support, were roundly beaten, and June 26 Baron von Bienerth and his colleagues resigned. The ministry thereupon made up was presided over by Baron Gautsch. It, however, endured only until October 31, when it was succeeded by that of Count Stuergkh.

V. The Judiciary and Local Government

537. The Provincial Governments: Composition of the Diet.—Each of the seventeen political divisions of the Empire has a government of its own, established on the basis of its Landesordnung, or provincial constitution. The executive, for affairs that are considered strictly divisional, consists of a provincial council, the Landesausschuss, composed of the president of the diet (nominated by the Emperor) as ex-officio chairman and from four to eight members variously elected within the province. Imperial interests are specially represented in the province, however, by a Statthalter, or Landespräsident, appointed by the crown, and independent of local control.

Except in the case of some of the larger towns, which have special constitutions, the rural and urban communes of the Empire are organized upon the same pattern. The executive authority is vested in an elective committee, or council, presided over by a Vorsteher, or burgomaster, chosen from the members of the committee. The Vorsteher is not removable by the central authorities, and over his election they possess no control. In certain of the towns the place of the communal committee is taken by a corporation. In every commune there is an assembly (the Gemeindevertretung), the members of which are elected for three (in Galicia six) years by all resident citizens who are payers of a direct tax. For the purpose of electing assemblymen the voters are divided into three classes, very much as under the Prussian electoral system, and this arrangement, indeed, comprises virtually the only non-democratic aspect of the communal constitution. In Galicia, Styria, and Bohemia there exists also a district assembly, elected for three years (in Galicia six) and made up of representatives of great estates, the most highly taxed industries and trades, towns and markets, and rural communes. A committee of this body, known as the Bezirksausschuss, administers the affairs of the district.