The Christian Social Party, Part 4
The International Workers' Day event hosted by the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) was once just one of the countless parades held in Vienna.
At first, the establishment had thrown collective fits, convinced the "Reds" were staging a mass uprising. Now, however, it was merely a day for SDAP supporters to rally. Of course, that didn't mean its significance had diminished. The SDAP was a punching bag, constantly battered by the nobility, the imperial court, the bureaucracy, the military, and the Christian Social Party alike. But Workers' Day was the single day of the year when the party could hold its head high and puff out its chest.
"All nations are equal! Ethnic divisions are nothing but an illusion conjured by imperialists and capitalists!"
"Waaaaah!"
"Look around you, everyone! See how vast a crowd has gathered. On this day, we are all one!"
"SDAP! SDAP!"
Of course, the supporters participating in the Workers' Day event were mostly those who barely managed to cling to the lower-middle class. It was proof of the party's practical limitations—that the SDAP's reach had not yet extended to the poorest of the working class.
And then, a new figure stepped onto the stage.
"After extensive research and deliberation, we have found the one and only way to expand our party's base and improve the lives of the working class. It is none other than the Stahl-Ferdinand Model!"
The traditional base of the Social Democratic Workers' Party consisted of radical republicans advocating for universal suffrage. Naturally, the name "Ferdinand" was not a welcome one.
"And now, we have invited the mastermind behind this model to join us today. Please welcome Stahl!"
The crowd began to murmur. Because the Archduke was backing him, Stahl had been able to secure his own unique base of support. In the uneducated slums, marketing the Archduke's patronage worked wonders.
However, for the traditional SDAP supporters—who could at least read and write, and who paid close attention to political affairs—it was a different story. If anything, the presence of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was hindering Stahl's efforts to expand his reach.
As expected, the reception is cold.
Marx Stahl was well aware of this. Hadn't their strategic alliance with the SDAP almost fallen through because of this very issue?
I have to turn things around with this speech. If I blow this, it's all over.
Stahl repeatedly rehearsed the speech in his mind.
No stable livelihood, no stable mind. I shouldn't bring up abstract concepts like ethnicity or universal suffrage.
With that thought, Stahl stepped up to the podium. The murmuring did not stop.
"Hello, everyone. I am Marx Stahl, Director of the Stahl-Ferdinand Research Institute."
"Booー!"
"Get lost, you imperial lackey!"
Don't lose your nerve. To seize the initiative, Stahl firmly shut his mouth and stared down the crowd.
At first, all kinds of jeers were thrown at him, mocking him for being a mere eighteen-year-old frozen with stage fright.
"D-Director Stahl! Please, say something!"
Yet, as he calmly surveyed the crowd without losing his composure, the audience grew flustered instead and fell silent.
Silence can be a sign of nervousness and inexperience, but sometimes, it is the ultimate display of charisma.
Overwhelmed by Stahl's silence, the crowd soon began to watch him with bated breath, anxious to hear what he would say.
"I began a social experiment in the slums of District 16. A mere research institute, a mere clinic, a mere night school, a mere handful of police officers, a mere few posters! I wanted to see how much they could change this society. The results were astonishing. It proved that the world is changed by the accumulation of things so small we dismiss them as 'mere' trifles."
At that moment of absolute focus, Stahl spoke first of his success.
To persuade a crowd, logic is secondary, and even emotion is not the primary key. What matters most is who the speaker is.
Stahl was no longer just a lackey of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; he was now the man who had successfully reformed the slums.
"Before I am a social reformer, I am a scientist. I have developed penicillin, which will one day liberate humanity from pathogens. And as a scientist, I know exactly what to do once an experiment succeeds. The trial of the Stahl-Ferdinand Model was a success. What is the next step?"
The crowd waited with curiosity for Stahl's next words.
"It is to share these proven results with all of you. A research institute will be built on your streets. A clinic will be built. A school where your children can learn will be built. Public safety will be secured! Your children will grow healthier and smarter! The way to ensure no one goes hungry is simple: keep them healthy and keep them educated. I started in District 16. Now, I am coming to you!"
No one would reject an offer to fill their bellies, cure their illnesses, and educate their children.
Indeed, Stahl's arch-rival, the Christian Social Party, had approached voters with similarly simple gestures.
It was a populist speech of the simplest kind. But in politics, the simpler it is, the more devastatingly effective it becomes.
Clinics! Sanitation! Education! Income growth! These incredibly simple yet universally desired promises struck a deep chord in the hearts of the crowd. By the time the speech neared its end—
"I do not know much about politics. But I know exactly how to make sure you can put food on your tables! Trust me, Stahl, just this once!"
"Stahl! Stahl!"
"Waaaaah!"
"Stahl for Chancellor!"
"Stahl for Mayor!"
The initially icy atmosphere transformed into wild enthusiasm in an instant. It was the moment Stahl's latent talent for public speaking, which even he hadn't known he possessed, was unleashed.
Watching Stahl's speech, Viktor Adler broke into a cold sweat.
We would have been in deep trouble if we had made an enemy of him.
Although the party leadership had decided to support Stahl, there was little they could do if the rank-and-file members and voters refused to accept him. This Workers' Day event was, in essence, a test for Stahl.
He is a youth of barely eighteen. I wasn't sure if he could withstand the hostile glares of our party members.
No matter how intelligent a person is, most freeze when stood before a massive crowd. Yet Marx Stahl, far from being intimidated by the multitude, had successfully stamped his presence into their minds.
"Excuse me, Chairman... Wasn't the Archduke supposed to be the one pulling the strings of this youth, Stahl?"
"It seems we were mistaken. It is the other way around. Stahl is the one pulling the Archduke's..."
Viktor Adler suddenly realized he was on the verge of saying something highly dangerous and quickly changed the subject.
"In that case, there is nothing holding us back. With that young man, we might actually be able to snatch the mayor's seat from that clown Karl Lueger."
Of course, the Social Democratic Workers' Party wasn't cooperating with Stahl out of pure charity. They, too, had been constantly visiting the institute to expand their own influence in the slums. At any rate, this affair cemented an incredibly bizarre political alliance between the Archduke and the SDAP. Now, it was time to launch their political offensive.
"Director, there's nothing we can do about the bureaucrats throwing a wrench in the works regarding the Penicillin Lottery."
"It doesn't matter. We only need to target the Christian Social Party."
"And how do we do that?"
"By pressuring them through public opinion, of course."
Given the nature of the Empire, the nobility and the bureaucracy wouldn't budge an inch no matter how much public opinion was mobilized. After all, why would they listen to the loud voices of common subjects whom they viewed as lowly insects? No sane person tries to reason with a mosquito buzzing in their ear.
However, the Christian Social Party was a right-wing populist party. If they lost public support, they would have nothing left. Once the Christian Social Party felt the squeeze of public pressure, they would quickly tuck their tails and call off the aristocratic bureaucrats they had mobilized.
And pressuring the Christian Social Party was remarkably simple.
"I understand the Christian Social Party has allocated a budget for Vienna's urban improvement project! What are your plans for utilizing those funds?"
"We plan to establish charity clinics in the slums and downtown areas, centered around the churches. The city budget will partially subsidize treatment costs. In the long term, we also plan to install tram lines."
Around the time the Stahl-Ferdinand Research Institute was established, the Christian Social Party had also allocated an unprecedented budget to develop the city of Vienna. Their mutual hostility wasn't without reason; they were targeting the exact same demographic. In that case, all Stahl had to do was leverage the public support channeled through the SDAP to hijack their project.
"So, should we understand this as integrating the church into the Ferdinand-Stahl Model?"
"...The Stahl Institute was established in January of this year. We drew up our budget last September."
"But do you plan to adopt that model in how you execute the budget?"
"We have no intention of spending our budget in such a vulgar manner."
"The Christian Social Party is trying to scrap the Vienna urban development project!"
"N-No! That's not it! Our project is completely different from that Jew's scheme!"
Because the Vienna municipal government, led by Karl Lueger and the Christian Social Party, relied on public funds, their pace of reform was sluggish. Consequently, even though they had started much earlier than Stahl, they appeared to be a step behind.
Stahl exploited this gap. No matter what handouts or development projects the Vienna government proposed, he linked them to the Stahl-Ferdinand Model.
It wasn't difficult. He simply had to actively promote his model to the workers who supported the SDAP. Filled with hope for the future, they would go around talking about the Stahl-Ferdinand Model everywhere.
Naturally, they put intense pressure on the municipal government to adopt the model. Thanks to this:
"Why on earth is the Vienna government refusing to follow the Stahl-Ferdinand Model when they have such a successful precedent right in front of them?"
"Oh, they're just talking. Aren't they already copying it anyway?"
Or:
"I heard Mayor Karl Lueger said the Stahl-Ferdinand Model should be thrown into the gutter."
"Apparently, the city bureaucrats are actively trying to sabotage it too."
"That bastard Karl Lueger! He claims to be on the side of Vienna's citizens, but he's trying to scrap the budget!"
It was a perfect catch-22.
Whether they supported the Stahl-Ferdinand Model or rejected it, they were doomed!
If they supported it, they would lose because Stahl would hijack all the credit for a project they had initiated.
If they rejected it, it would look like a declaration that they were abandoning slum development altogether, leading to their ruin.
How are you going to block this one?
"Um, Mayor... You need to stop attacking the Jews for now."
"Why? Why on earth should I?! That brat is a filthy Jew. As a politician of the Empire, I can never stop exposing the truth!"
"There are rumors going around calling you a 'Jewish copycat,' Mayor."
"I started it first! That bastard Stahl copied me! Spread that narrative instead!"
"That will only backfire. Most of the construction projects in our plan have barely broken ground..."
Karl Lueger flipped his office desk like an enraged bull. His face flushed crimson, unable to contain his fury.
Normally, he would have resorted to all kinds of filthy lies—alleging corruption in the lottery business or secret connections with Jewish capitalists. But with the Archduke backing his opponent, he had to watch his tongue.
It was an absolute defeat for the Christian Social Party!
"Organize a rally immediately."
"Pardon me, but what do you plan to speak about?"
"I will address the threat of Jewish Bolsheviks."
"Mayor, just three days ago you warned against the threat of Jewish capitalists."
"The stupid masses will forget in three days anyway! Just organize it!"
The secretary barely managed to hold the mayor back. In this state of utter hysteria, there was no telling what reckless words might slip from his mouth.
"Mayor. You must not claim the Archduke is a Jew, as you did during your drinking session the other night."
"He's not a Jew! He's just an incompetent, brainless idiot swayed by the silver tongues of Jewish communists!"
"Mayor..."
No matter what they did, the Christian Social Party had lost the narrative. Of course, this wouldn't immediately flip the balance of seats in parliament.
Even if the Christian Social Party lost a significant portion of the common citizens' votes, the Austrian parliament weighted votes based on property and class. Thus, no matter how many of the masses deserted them, the actual shift in seats would be a mere two or three at most.
However, the weight of those two or three seats was immense. Frankly speaking, the Christian Social Party was nothing more than a minority party within the Imperial Parliament. The ones who truly held the majority of seats were the German National Party, dominated by the nobility and capitalists.
Yet, through overwhelming manipulation of public opinion, the Christian Social Party had somehow managed to seize the mayoralty. The moment they lost that public support, everything would crumble.
"Mayor. It's not over yet."
"What?"
"Archduke Franz Ferdinand has aligned himself with the Social Democratic Workers' Party. The imperial court will surely react negatively to this soon."
"...So you want me to beg for scraps from that lantern-jawed Jewish Kaiser, Joseph?"
"For us, that is the best option."
"Argh, argh, argh, aaaaaaargh!"
To be an anti-Semitic fascist, one must embrace contradictions—believing Jews are simultaneously Bolsheviks and filthy capitalists.
Karl Lueger despised the nobility and the imperial court, and he despised Jews. Of course, if forced to choose, he hated Jews more.
Lueger resolved this contradiction through the delusion that the nobility and the imperial court were merely puppets of the Jews.
But now, he had to wait for a scenario where the Kaiser—whom he believed was in league with the Jews—would rein in Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whom he saw as a Jewish lapdog.
Of course, a future Hitler would have clapped his hands in glee, laughing at the Jews destroying each other.
Unfortunately, Karl Lueger was a novice anti-Semite who had arrived thirty years before Hitler. The prospect of having to borrow the strength of the imperial court—which he utterly loathed—was driving him to the brink of madness.
In other words, he did not yet possess the mental fortitude to endure such contradictions.
Furthermore, whether the imperial court would actually crush Stahl remained entirely to be seen.