For the third time in a row, the “Füllnis February 12th” organized a demonstration on the occasion of the annual day of the February fights in 1934, under the solution
"Memory means fighting"
. Implementing this solution is one of the tasks of democratic and revolutionary forces with regard to such historical anniversaries. This means drawing teachings out of the events and establishing a connection with questions of revolutionary politics today.
In retrospect, we have to ask: Did you do justice to this claim?
Symposium for the 90th anniversary
On February 10th and 11th
"In the roar of the Dollfuss' cannons ..."
A symposium, organized by February 12, takes place. Although the symposium is now a week ago, it still seems to be relevant to some aspects of it and to assess their importance for the fight today.
Many were surprised in advance about the selection of the lecturers, because most of the historians, professors and so -called "experts" related to the SPÖ were the subject. According to the selection of the speakers, the events in February 1934 were mainly presented at the symposium in the sense of social democracy. However, it was precisely the leadership of social democracy, which in the run -up to the February battles called for years and tried to prevent the armed survey against Austrofascism until the end. Those who fought were against the line of social democratic leadership. It was the then revolutionary KPÖ that represented the most advanced positions within the labor movement. To deny this role of the KPÖ, as was made on the symposium, should prevent the corresponding teachings from being drawn today.
It should be mentioned that the ÖH and the KPÖ can also be found among the supporters of the symposium. It is really weak that the KPÖ indicates this social democratic hegemony in such an uncritical manner, while historians like Hans Hautmann have already found:
"If the social democratic leader had been the will, a February 12, 1934 would never have taken place in the form."
Not only did some lectures never manage to mention the KPÖ in their contributions, the historian and author Hans-Peter Weingand even went as far as the communists were the "real enemy" social democracy, not fascism. What most of the SPÖ representatives agreed on is the rejection of the revolutionary struggle and the defense of the bourgeois state apparatus. For example, Florian Wenninger, head of the Institute for Historical Social Research (IHSF), countered the question from the audience, whether it was not a mistake that the struggle was not made in a revolutionary manner, succinctly with
"Back then there was no revolutionary situation"
. He did not explain how he gets this assessment. Emmerich Talos, a well -known social democrat, critically explained the theory of "class cooperation" in the Austrofascist concept of the stands in his presentation. When asked from the audience, whether the social partnership is not a continuation of this concept of "class cooperation" today was skilfully sewed around. The one -sided concentration on Austrofascism by many of the lecturers, as well as the denial of the role of revolutionary forces, is precisely to prevent the teaching of the teachings of February 34 with questions of today's politics. So "memory means fighting" is made an empty word sleeve.
Lessons from the February fights
"Remembrance means fighting" must mean pulling teachings for today in order to advance and strengthen the democratic and revolutionary movement. Which teachings were drawn by lecturers of the symposium for today? In the panel discussion at the end of the event, the question of the parallels between then and today was replied:
"Even today, the ÖVP tries to overtake the FPÖ on the right"
. If this is not an indirect voting promotion for SPÖ and the Greens, it can only be the spread of a superficial and bourgeois concept of fascism, because the role of capital and the question of class rule no longer plays a role. There were no answers to questions from the audience who wanted to address the role of the class character of fascist rule, as well as the importance of the workers' unit and folk front.
There were also positive aspects and discussions within the symposium, but overall a hegemony of social democratic positions must be found in the lecturers. A party of capital, as the SPÖ is today to open the door to dominate the content of the content, will not lead to a strengthening of the anti -fascist or revolutionary movement, but on the contrary weaken it. "Memory means fighting" should be taken seriously in both theory and practice!
