Neue Freie Presse
- Resignation of the Hungarian Cabinet.
- Withdrawal of the Safety Men Approved.
- For a Locarno of Domestic Politics.
The Vienna Neue Freie Presse of 15 October 1926 reported from Budapest that Count Stephan Bethlen had handed the resignation of the entire Hungarian cabinet to the Regent after an extraordinary council of ministers. The Regent reserved his decision and kept the government in office, and informed circles expected Bethlen to be reappointed and to reshuffle his cabinet modestly. A London telegram gave the British miners' district vote confirming the recall of safety men, 450,150 to 184,336, while stressing that the decision mattered little. An editorial called for a 'Locarno' of Austrian domestic politics, arguing that a mortgaged, hungry country could afford only internal peace, and welcomed Louis Loucheur's plan for a large economic conference around April.
Translation
Resignation of the Hungarian Cabinet.
…the resignation was decided. At half past five the Prime Minister went to the Regent and announced the resignation of the entire government. The Regent reserved his decision and entrusted the outgoing government with continuing to conduct affairs. The following official statement was issued: Prime Minister Count Stephan Bethlen appeared in audience before the Regent this afternoon at half past five. In consequence of the decision of the extraordinary Council of Ministers held today, he submitted the resignation of the entire cabinet. The Regent took note of the Prime Minister's submission, reserved his decision on the resignation and entrusted the government with continuing to conduct affairs. In informed circles it is said that Count Bethlen will be entrusted once again and that a moderate reconstruction of the cabinet will then…
Withdrawal of the Safety Men Approved.
Telegram from our correspondent. London, 14 October. The executive of the miners met this afternoon to receive the results of the votes that had come in from the individual districts on the withdrawal of the safety crews. As was to be expected, the radical elements among the miners in the individual districts confirmed the decision of the last delegate conference to recall the safety crews, by 450,150 votes for and 184,336 votes against. As already emphasized, this decision has only limited significance, since barely 10 percent…
For a Locarno of Domestic Politics.
…all of this with the inner meaning: the times are too stormy, the foundation of the new states is too feeble, the fear of material ruin and of dependence on the outside world is too great for useless remembrance and futile strife still to have room in our mortgaged house. History has become a luxury; unbridled passions can be afforded only by one whose throat is not choked by hunger. The form of life that Austria must have by virtue of its economic make-up is internal peace. The former minister Loucheur, the French Stinnes, as one could still call him a few years ago, has in a very important lecture sketched the plan of a great economic conference, which is to take place around April and whose purpose is to generalize the principles of the iron pact, the idea of widening the market and of systematizing production, and in particular to bring about conditions worthy of human beings in Central Europe: work for the unemployed, occupation for the idle, order in a wretched chaos, reason and self-restraint in an age of squandering. Minister Loucheur has said what every reasonable Austrian has been stressing for years: the rehabilitation of the economy is in…
Context
The Regent and the franc forgery affair behind Bethlen's government
The Regent to whom Count Bethlen submitted the cabinet's resignation was Admiral Miklós Horthy, whom the national assembly, under pressure from the national army, had elected regent of the Kingdom of Hungary on 1 March 1920. Bethlen's government in 1926 was burdened by the franc forgery affair, a nationalist plot to counterfeit French 1,000-franc notes that enjoyed the patronage of high-ranking military and civilian officials. Twenty-four conspirators were tried in Budapest in May 1926, and most received light sentences in what is believed to have been a deliberate cover-up by Bethlen himself. The excerpt gives no reason for the resignation. It records only the decision of an extraordinary cabinet meeting, the Regent's reserved judgement and the expectation in informed circles that Bethlen would be entrusted with the government again.
Bethlen's hold on power after the October resignation
The informed circles quoted in the report expected the resignation to end not in a change of leader but in Bethlen's reappointment and a moderate reconstruction of the cabinet. Later events show that the crisis did not remove him. Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary between 8 and 15 December 1926; Bethlen's Unity Party won 161 of the 245 seats, and Bethlen remained Prime Minister. The excerpt itself records only the formal procedure of resignation and the expected reappointment, while the December result confirms that Bethlen still led the Hungarian government after the December election.
Loucheur's proposed conference and the 1927 World Economic Conference
The editorial's hopes rested on a proposal by the former French minister Louis Loucheur. The conference he had first suggested in 1925 became the first international economic conference formally sponsored by the League of Nations, following the success of the League's stabilization loans, particularly in Austria and Hungary. It met in Geneva from 4 to 23 May 1927, a little later than the April date the paper anticipated, with representatives of 46 League member countries. The editorial's stress on Central Europe matches Loucheur's own preference for a European focus, which lost out to Arthur Salter's wish for an international reach, reflected in the official name World Economic Conference. The paper also held up the principles of the iron pact as a model to be generalized; at Geneva, efforts to restrain cartels were debated but failed because national positions differed too widely.
Austria's government crisis in October 1926
The call for a Locarno of domestic politics appeared in a month of Austrian government crisis. Rudolf Ramek was federal chancellor until October 1926, while Ignaz Seipel remained active in the background as chairman of the Christian Social party. Unlike Seipel, Ramek had better relations with the provinces and tried to calm domestic politics. His government finally fell over the school conflict of 1926; at the same time civil servants demanded pay rises that were not compatible with the agreements with the League of Nations, and this civil servants' strike led to his resignation. Seipel then returned to the chancellery. The editorial's picture of a mortgaged house in which history had become a luxury was written in this setting: although the Geneva Protocols had brought the lifting of League financial control over Austria in 1926, the League agreements still limited what the government could grant.
Original
Rücktritt des ungarischen Kabinetts.
die Demission beschlossen wurde. Um ½6 Uhr begab sich der Ministerpräsident zum Reichsverweser und meldete den Rücktritt der Gesamtregierung an. Der Reichsverweser behielt sich die Entscheidung vor und betraute die zurückgetretene Regierung mit der Weiterführung der Geschäfte. Amtlich wurde folgende Verlautbarung erlassen: Ministerpräsident Graf Stephan Bethlen erschien heute nachmittags um ½6 Uhr beim Reichsverweser in Audienz. Infolge des Beschlusses des heute abgehaltenen außerordentlichen Ministerrates überreichte er die Demission des Gesamtkabinetts. Der Reichsverweser nahm die Unterbreitung des Ministerpräsidenten zur Kenntnis, behielt sich die Entscheidung über die Demission vor und betraute die Regierung mit der Weiterführung der Geschäfte. In informierten Kreisen verlautet, daß Graf Bethlen die Wiederbetrauung erhalten und dann eine mäßige Rekonstruktion des Kabinetts
Zurückziehung der Sicherungsleute gebilligt.
Zurückziehung der Sicherungsleute gebilligt. Telegramm unseres Korrespondenten. London, 14. Oktober. Der Vorstand der Bergarbeiterschaft trat heute nachmittag zu einer Sitzung zusammen, um die aus den einzelnen Bezirken eingegangenen Abstimmungsergebnisse über die Zurückziehung der Sicherungsmannschaften entgegenzunehmen. Wie zu erwarten war, haben die radikalen Elemente in der Bergarbeiterschaft in den einzelnen Bezirken den Beschluß der vorigen Delegiertenversammlung, die Sicherungsmannschaften abzuberufen, mit 450. 150 Stimmen für und 184. 336 Stimmen dagegen bestätigt. Wie bereits betont, hat dieser Beschluß nur eine eingeschränkte Bedeutung, da kaum 10 Prozent
Für ein Locarno der inneren Politik.
das alles mit dem inneren Sinne: Die Zeiten sind zu stürmisch, die Basis der neuen Staaten ist zu schwächlich, die Angst vor dem materiellen Untergang und vor der äußeren Abhängigkeit ist zu groß, als daß unnützes Erinnern und vergeblicher Streit noch Raum haben könnten in unserem verpfändeten Hause. Die Historie ist zum Luxus geworden, ungezügelte Leidenschaften kann sich nur der gestatten, dem Hunger nicht die Kehle zuschnürt. Die Lebensform, die Oesterreich vermöge seiner ökonomischen Gestaltung haben muß, ist der innere Frieden. Der ehemalige Minister Loucheur, der französische Stinnes, wie man ihn noch vor einigen Jahren nennen konnte, hat in einem sehr wichtigen Vortrag den Plan einer großen Wirtschaftskonferenz entworfen, die im April etwa stattfinden soll, und deren Zweck es ist, die Grundsätze des Eisenpaktes, die Idee der Verbreiterung des Marktes und der Systemisierung der Produktion zu verallgemeinern und insbesondere in Mitteleuropa menschenwürdige Zustände herbeizuführen: Arbeit für die Arbeitslosen, Betätigung für die Müßigen, Ordnung in einem erbärmlichen Chaos, Vernunft und Selbstbeschränkung in einer Epoche des Verschleuderns. Minister Loucheur hat gesagt, was jeder vernünftige Oesterreicher seit Jahren betont: Die Sanierung der Wirtschaft ist im