PREPARATIONS
Leo, who had almost no chance to speak with anyone except Lotte and his
cleaning woman, had lately made the acquaintance of two men whom he
considered important. One was the Deputy Wenzel Krötzl, the other the
proprietor of the great department store in the Kärtnerstrasse, Herr
Habietnik.
Leo had met Krötzl in the following manner: Returning home late one
night from the coffee-house where he used to read his papers and
magazines, he found a man lying on the bottom step, very much the
worse for liquor, weeping bitterly and making vain efforts to get on
his feet. Leo helped him to his apartment, which was located under his
own studio, and discovered, by the way, that he had before him the
honorable Deputy Wenzel Krötzl, whose avocation was that of real estate
profiteer. Not only was this advertised on the door, but as he reeled
forward and back Herr Krötzl persisted in proclaiming at the top of his
voice:
“If any’un shayzh I’m drunk he’zh a crook an’ a Jew beshidezh! I’m a
duly ’lected dep’ty an’ memmer o’ the Nash’n’l ’Shembly, an’ I got
fifty houzhezh to shell w’at ushed to b’long to them Jew shwine!”
In the course of time Leo had opportunity to learn that Herr Krötzl
was not only a rabid anti-Semite but also a notorious drunkard, who
usually had a drop too much even at breakfast at the Parliament buffet.
However, he had considerable gifts of persuasion, and was quite popular
among his constituents for his homely way of putting things. He was
a widower, and from time to time harbored in his home a presumable
housekeeper--occasionally one that had barely passed the legal limit of
fourteen years.
It was in a much more conventional manner that Leo met Herr Habietnik.
M. Dufresne was accustomed to supply his wants in the line of ties
and underwear in the Kärtnerstrasse department store, which in spite
of its epidemic of woolen still carried the best wares; and on one
such occasion he had entered into conversation with Herr Habietnik.
The latter was delighted to wait personally on this Frenchman of
distinction who bore himself impeccably and knew that a blue cheviot
suit required a pearl-gray silk tie. There ensued an animated talk
in the course of which Leo saw how deeply the intelligent merchant
suffered from prevailing conditions. Thereafter the two frequently met
in the store, and finally made occasional appointments to meet in the
Grabencafé.
After the National Assembly had been dissolved Leo hastened to get in
touch with Herr Habietnik again, and in the course of the conversation
asked him for his opinion on future developments.
“Well, the Socialists are working full steam again, and will win
back the votes they lost the last time. The Christian-Socialists and
Pan-Germans have lost their heads, and haven’t come out with their
platform as yet; but of course everyone who is not a Social-Democrat
will have to vote for one of the two.”
“So that the Jewish law may remain in force?”
“Maybe, if the Socialists don’t get the two-thirds majority necessary
for every constitutional amendment. For I’m afraid that the
Christian-Socialists and Pan-Germans won’t have the courage to repeal
the special legislation against the Jews. I mean--I should say I hope,
for if the Jews come back they may eventually even take away the store
from me.”
“Nonsense,” Leo declared energetically. “No one can take from you what
you have. Perhaps they’ll buy it from you, or the former owner will
content himself with a partnership with you. But the most important
thing is that you’ll be able to throw out the Alpine hats and woolen
skirts, and will be able to arrange your displays as you used to.”
Habietnik’s eyes shone as he replied with genuine warmth:
“Yes, indeed! That’s the most important thing! When I think that there
might be life and luxury here again, as in the old days--no, that dream
is too beautiful to come true.”
“Listen here, Herr Habietnik,” said Leo, laying his hand on the
merchant’s arm, “you’re the man to make this dream come true. We
are still weeks away from the elections. That’s long enough for the
formation of a Citizens’ Party, consisting of the liberal elements,
the solid merchants, scholars, lawyers, artists, and industrialists,
with the frank and open motto: ‘The repeal of the special legislation
against the Jews!’ Take it up today, form a committee of twelve, to
include three merchants, three industrialists, three steadily employed
office workers, and three men of the free academic professions. Since
you have no newspaper at your disposal as yet, print ten thousand
posters, organize district committees, make propaganda from street to
street and from house to house, and you cannot fail to be successful. I
am a stranger and therefore not as familiar with conditions as you; but
this enables me to judge more objectively, and I am quite sure that a
considerable section of the public will greet the new party with great
enthusiasm.”
Herr Habietnik was all enthusiasm. That very evening he gathered about
fifty downtown merchants, manufacturers, and lawyers, and at one
o’clock in the morning there was organized a committee that had at its
disposal a fund amounting to millions, pledged by the members of the
group.
The new party was called “the Party of the Active Citizens of Austria,”
stood on a wholly liberal-bourgeois platform, and began its work with
an animated and thorough campaign of agitation. No one except Herr
Habietnik knew that it was the Frenchman Dufresne who composed the
leaflets and proclamations.
Their success surpassed their wildest expectations. Formerly the people
had been highly suspicious of every attempt to found a democratic
bourgeois party, because the Jews would always push themselves to
the fore. But this time it was a purely Christian matter--the names
of the leaders were sufficient guarantee that this was no conspiracy
hatched by exiled Jews--and all the people who had been harmed by the
Jewish law crowded the committee headquarters to join the new party.
They came in swarms, the merchants, the jewelers, the assistants of
the great tailors, the unemployed chauffeurs--they brought their
wives, and the rush became ever greater, in spite of the hue and cry
raised by the Christian-Socialist papers. The _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ kept
quiet, refraining from all aggression. Its chiefs knew that while the
Party of Active Citizens would doubtless take many votes from the
Social-Democrats, it would, on the other hand, attract all the votes
that usually remained uncast, and some of those that would have gone to
the Christian-Socialists and Pan-Germans. So it limited itself to an
occasional polemic against some plank of the Citizens’ platform; but
in doubtful districts there even were some secret combines of the two
parties.
As April third, the date which had been set for the election,
approached, the entire world began to show interest in the outcome. The
foreign exchanges, adopting an attitude of waiting, permitted the krone
to rest peacefully in the depths; in Vienna the excitement grew hourly,
and gave rise to repeated excesses and malignant riots. For all the
parties worked with every means at their disposal: The anti-Semites
shouted of treason, and told hair-raising stories of the international
conspiracy of the Jews; the Social-Democrats agitated against the
peasants--who, they said, were robbing the workers of the city--and
against the Christian demagogues who had only wanted to enrich
themselves through the expulsions of the Jews; the new Citizens’ Party,
however, continually put out enormous posters that demonstrated with
figures the terrible misery prevailing in Vienna since the expulsion,
and showed how the city had actually degenerated into a gigantic
village, how all the spirit and enterprise had vanished from its life.
Over and over again, in every key and variation, they asserted:
“The special legislation against the Jews must be repealed. But at
the same time it will be the business of a wise and conscientious
government to keep out those elements that did not reside in Vienna
before the world war, unless they can prove before a competent court,
composed of members of the middle and working classes, that they are
willing and able to do useful, productive, valuable work which is
essential for the common good of Austria.”
In the Chancellor’s office there were daily sessions that lasted far
into the night, where consultations were held as to the best way of
counteracting the new party and the re-invigorated Socialist group.
Schwertfeger had had the right instinct. An enormous new loan had to
be floated, the krone had to rise, so that the people would see how
solidly all Christendom stood behind them--then the government would
be victorious. Immediately after the dissolution of the Parliament
Professor Trumm, the Minister of Finance, had hurried to Berlin, Paris,
and London, to beg and to plead. In vain! The great Christian leagues
abroad, the French anti-Semites, the Dutch Christians--all expressed
their sympathy and friendship, inquired eagerly after the fate of the
many millions they had already sacrificed to the cause, and refused to
unseal their pockets again. Most disappointing of all was the reaction
of the American billionaire, Mr. Huxtable, on whom they had counted
with absolute certainty. He answered none of their telegrams or pleas;
and ten days before the election there came a cable from the Austrian
government’s confidential agent in New York, with this crushing message:
“Huxtable unapproachable. Secretly married to Jewish girl from Chicago.
Intends to sell loan given Austria three years ago to Kuhn and Loeb
Banking Company for quarter of value.”
Schwertfeger began to freeze into his now habitual gloom, the
anti-Semitic chiefs lost their heads entirely; but Mayor Laberl did
something that created a tremendous sensation. Three days before the
election he resigned from the Christian-Socialist Citizens’ Club,
and joined the Party of Active Citizens. And more than half of the
Municipal Council followed his example.
On this day a warm wind blew away the last traces of snow from the
hills about Vienna. And in the Billrothstrasse studio two young people
were clasped in an ardent and yearning embrace. He whispered:
“Oh, when will you be mine?”
And she replied dreamily:
“If you could only take off that little beard--it tickles me so!”