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Pernersdorfer, Bahr, Mueller, and others—who admit that Austria, if it is to exist longer, must be transformed. Vain attempts—all these German plans aim to maintain the German-Magyar hegemony, even though they would like to reach their goal in a more clever and decent manner.[1]
Austria is, in all its substance, its history, geography, and ethnography, a denial of the modern State and nationality. From its very foundation it had no raison d’être of its own, being an outpost of Germany and serving that empire; it is a mere annex to Germany even to-day. By its mediæval dynastic theocratism it is the denial of democracy and nationality. Some Pangermans quite properly condemn the national amorphism and lack of character of Vienna (to quote Mueller as a recent example).
28. Count Czernin emphasises the peculiar vitality and strength of Austria-Hungary. We have already made it plain that Austria is not a natural federation of nations, but that it is kept alive through Jesuitism and blood and iron; the Pope himself, a friend of Austria, called the late Emperor for his terrorism during the war “the blood-thirsty sovereign.” Gladstone’s condemnation of Austria is wholly justified. But the fact is, that in the present war Austria gave no proof of its vitality; it was twice defeated by Russia; it was defeated even by the small despised Serbia, and only Germany saved it from downfall. The war demonstrated the complete inefficiency, entire degeneration of the leading archdukes and aristocrats, and the same qualities are exhibited by the new emperor and his chancellors who cannot say a single manly word, but only repeat phrases with the usual stupid cleverness. Emperor Charles is under the influence of the Clericals; without experience, without political ideas, without a will for modern policy, he naturally leans upon the ancient and sole idea of his dynasty. In the affair of his letter to Prince Sixtus, Emperor Charles showed anew the substance of Austria’s policies—lying.[2]
The true state of things has manifested itself in this war. The Czecho-Slovaks, Jugoslavs, Ukrainians, Italians, Rumanians, and very soon the Poles also, refused obedience and took a stand against Austria—60,000 executions and the assistance of Germany upheld the Habsburgs for a while. Even the Magyars are against Austria, and among the Germans the Pangermans have been the greatest radicals in demanding the annexation of Austria to Germany. Pangermans reconciled themselves during the war to Austria, but their only reason is, that Austria carries out unconditionally the task assigned to her by Bismarck and Lagarde, as one of the leaders (deputy Iro) says plainly. Europe and America have the choice between a degenerate dynasty and the liberty of nine nations, for even the Germans and Magyars will reach a higher degree of political morality if they are compelled to give up the exploitation of other nations and their subserviency to a reactionary dynasty. Austria has been on the downgrade for a long time; step by step it had to surrender parts of its territory (Swiss, Belgian, Italian); Prussia thrust it out of Germany, and the final internal dissolution began with the introduction
- ↑ In this respect the program of the German Socialists, Renner and Bauer, shows no essential difference from the Pangerman program. Renner accepts Naumann’s Central Europe and national autonomy, as he and Bauer explain it, merely as a concession for the purpose of preserving Austria-Hungary and her German character.
- ↑ Emperor Charles wrote for the benefit of the President of the French Republic, in the evident hope that the French would not see through the trickiness of himself and his advisers; his real plan was expressed in another letter, addressed to Ferdinand of Rumania; here he emphasised the idea that kings must now hold together to defend monarchism against the democratic movements.These principles agree literally with the aims which Emperor William pursued, just as Bismarck and Count Czernin, the friend and adviser of Charles, made William’s principles his own. I gave a report of a memorandum of Count Czernin, written for Francis Ferdinand, in which he emphasises the importance of William’s plans to maintain monarchism by a close union of the monarchs; in that memorandum emphasis also is laid upon the German character of Austria-Hungary and its friendship with Germany. (See the article in Plekhanov’s Edinstvo of June 9, 1917; reprinted in the Christian Science Monitor.)
