The events in Austria show up in a striking way the position the organised Christian religion occupies when it comes into politics and the uselessness of Christian doctrines to curb the violence of adherents fighting for property rights. The party to which the Austrian Chancellor belongs, the Christian Social Party, is a definitely religious body, giving prominence to its Christian beliefs. Not only the Heimwehr. but also the other three officially recognised auxiliary forces which helped in the attack on the workers, the Sturmscharen, the Catholic Freiheitsbund, and the Christlich-Deutschen Turner, are avowedly religious bodies.
After one Heimwehr leader had announced that they proposed to turn Austria into a Christian State it was another, Major Fey, who promised "scores of hangings all over Austria" and engaged more executioners. It was reported that this promise of a "Christian State" was followed immediately by an exodus of Jews fleeing from the implied threat of pillage and persecution.
(From the Socialist Standard, March 1934.)
No comments:
Post a Comment