Message of Greetings to the Second Austrian Party Congress

Author(s)	Frederick Engels
Written	26 June 1891

First published in the Arbeiter-Zeitung, No. 27, July 3, 1891 and in the pamphlet, Verhandlungen des zweiten österreichischen sozialdemokratischen Parteitages, abgehalten zu Wien am 28, 29. und 30. Juni 1891, Vienna, 1891
Printed according to the newspaper, checked with the pamphlet
Published in English for the first time in Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 27

Collection(s): Arbeiter-Zeitung (Vienna)

Engels wrote this message of greetings in response to an invitation to take part in the second congress of the Social-Democratic Workers ' Party of Austria, which was enclosed in Victor Adler's letter of June 22, 1891.

The second congress of the Social-Democratic Workers ' Party of Austria was held in Vienna on June 28-30, 1891 and attended by 193 delegates. The congress discussed the state and the work of the party, the campaign for universal, equal and direct suffrage, the May Day celebrations, the party's participation in the international socialist workers ' congress of 1891 in Brussels (see Note 109), the trade unions, social reform in Austria, and some other issues. Summing up the results of the congress, Arbeiter-Zeitung, the party's central organ, wrote on July 3, in the editorial "Unser Parteitag zu Wien " that the Austrian Social Democrats could be satisfied with their congress which testified to the internationalist character of the party and its clarity and unity on tactical questions.

London, June 26, 1891

Dear Comrades,

Please accept my warmest thanks for your kind invitation to the Second Party Congress of the Austrian Social Democrats, and at the same time my regret that I shall not be able to attend in person; my best wishes for the successful course of your deliberations.

Since Hainfeld,^[1] when the Austrian workers 'party found its feet again, you have made enormous progress. This is the best guarantee that your present Congress will be the starting point for new and even more important victories.

The invincible inner strength possessed by our party is proved not only by its successes following swiftly one upon another, not only by the fact that it, as last year in Germany, has this year overcome the state of emergency in Austria. ^[2] It shows its strength far more by conquering obstacles in all countries, and accomplishing things where the other parties, recruited from the propertied classes, come helplessly to a halt. While the propertied classes of France and Germany feud with irreconcilable hatred, French and German proletarians work hand in hand. And while, around you in Austria, the propertied classes of the various crown lands lose the last remnants of the ability to rule in their blind national discord, your Second Party Congress will display the picture of an Austria which no longer knows national discord — the Austria of the workers.

Frederick Engels

↑ Between December 30, 1888 and January 1, 1889, Hainfeld (Lower Austria ) hosted a unity congress attended by 73 socialist delegates from nearly all Austrian provinces. The congress founded the Social-Democratic Workers 'Party of Austria and adopted a programme labelled "Declaration of Principles " and based on the main tenets of Marxism. The Declaration named as its objectives the political organisation of the proletariat and the advancement of its class-consciousness, campaign to turn the means of production into public property, emancipation of all working people from economic dependence, the attainment of political rights and enhancement of their cultural level. The Declaration proclaimed proletarian internationalism an organisational principle and the foundation of practical work. But it failed to mention the issues of seizure of political power by the proletariat, the forms of its political rule and its attitude to the peasantry.
↑ Engels is referring to the repeal of the Anti-Socialist Laws introduced by the reactionary governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary to combat the socialist and the working-class movement. On the Anti-Socialist Law in Germany see Note 2. Austria passed Anti-Socialist and Anti-Anarchist laws in 1884. They were used to subject socialist and trade-union organisations and their press to police persecution or ban them, and to deport their leaders. However, in June 1891, the government was forced to repeal them under pressure from the mounting strike movement and the mass actions of the Austrian workers on May Day 1890 and 1891.

[1] Between December 30, 1888 and January 1, 1889, Hainfeld (Lower Austria ) hosted a unity congress attended by 73 socialist delegates from nearly all Austrian provinces. The congress founded the Social-Democratic Workers 'Party of Austria and adopted a programme labelled "Declaration of Principles " and based on the main tenets of Marxism. The Declaration named as its objectives the political organisation of the proletariat and the advancement of its class-consciousness, campaign to turn the means of production into public property, emancipation of all working people from economic dependence, the attainment of political rights and enhancement of their cultural level. The Declaration proclaimed proletarian internationalism an organisational principle and the foundation of practical work. But it failed to mention the issues of seizure of political power by the proletariat, the forms of its political rule and its attitude to the peasantry.

[2] Engels is referring to the repeal of the Anti-Socialist Laws introduced by the reactionary governments of Germany and Austria-Hungary to combat the socialist and the working-class movement. On the Anti-Socialist Law in Germany see Note 2. Austria passed Anti-Socialist and Anti-Anarchist laws in 1884. They were used to subject socialist and trade-union organisations and their press to police persecution or ban them, and to deport their leaders. However, in June 1891, the government was forced to repeal them under pressure from the mounting strike movement and the mass actions of the Austrian workers on May Day 1890 and 1891.

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