On Monday, the SPÖ commemorated the victims of the “February Fights” of 1934. Party leader Andreas Babler took part in memorial events in Steyr and Vienna-Donaustadt.
In Steyr, Babler quoted the writer Elfriede Jelinek, who recently said at the demonstration against right-wing extremism in Vienna that she could hear a monster – fascism – breathing. “I promise to protect you from this monster,” said Babler, making an appeal for democracy and against “the hatred” that the FPÖ is stirring up. He is the only one who can prevent the danger posed by FP boss Kickl.
In a broadcast, Babler recalled the horrors of Austrofascism and National Socialism: “We have to name the cause: a divided society, ravaged by poverty and economic crisis, and a party that was in a frenzy of power.” It is the SPÖ’s job to hold society together, to pay attention to social balance and never to accept when some people feel superior.
The SP federal managing directors Klaus Seltenheim and Sandra Breiteneder also turned against the FPÖ: “The hatred of the FPÖ has reached a frightening level.” The FP wants to isolate: “It wants the Orbanization of Austria. We must and will prevent that.”
Blue Trouble
The FPÖ reacted angrily. General Secretary Christian Hafenecker spoke of historical ignorance and audacity: “On the one hand, the Freedom Party was only founded 20 years later, on the other hand, the socialists represented an armed military association in the 1930s.” “Comrade Babler” should not forget that the SPÖ and theirs “Marxist unity within the party” still clings to the lips of the Soviet Union with its cruel crimes and is the only party in Austria to uniform its youth, the Red Falcons.
VP club boss August Wöginger saw a memorial “to all the victims who fought for a free Austria”. He called for respectful interactions in politics and society as the basis for peaceful coexistence.
The largest memorial event took place in the evening at the Goethehof in Vienna-Donaustadt. This community building in February was a place of resistance against the Dollfuß regime.
The victims of the “February Fights” should be a reminder to never forget and to fight with all their might against the beginnings of authoritarian tendencies, said Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig (SP). The high number of right-wing extremist crimes and the Europe-wide shift to the right show how much this vigilance is necessary. The hasty evacuation of the Dollfuß Museum in order to forestall contextualization by experts was also a “devastating signal” in the 90th anniversary year of the February fighting.
