25 February 2000
International protests have been launched since Jörg Haider, leader of Austria’s Freedom Party was invited to form a coalition government with the conservative Austrian People's Party. The Freedom Party openly expresses xenophobic views targetting foreigners and other such “undesirable elements” within the country and mixes nationalist ideology with an ultra-conservative economic platform. Haider himself remarked that he was an admirer of German nazi leader Adolph Hitler’s economic policies and referred to the nazi SS troops as staunch heroes (shades of Ronald Reagan!).Is Haider a fascist, a nazi? Not in the old sense of the word. Haider is slick and markets himself well. He is fashionable, clean cut, not like the jackbooted Stormtroopers of the 1930s wearing swastika armbands and bands of unemployed toughs beating up and killing innocent people.
But as an admirer of the economic policies of the nazis one must take a closer look at Haider.
In the 1930s, the rise of nazi political power in Germany found a great many admirers both in Germany and amongst western political leaders. “The trains finally run on time”, was a prevalent remark. “Economic order” was “restored” following the wake of runaway hyper-inflation and the Depression. Not much, however, is said about the complete repression and destruction of the independent German trade union movement, the drive to rearmament, the controls that forced workers wages down. In this era of so-called “globalisation”, Haider’s economic beliefs hold sway over the powers that be. Like the corporate heads and the corporate mentality of world leaders, Haider’s beliefs are completely in step - cut wages, increase profits, increase military spending, cut the power of organised labour.
Very much like the UK’s Labour Party leader, Tony Blair, Haider calls for internal order and stability, cutting crime as a social priority. Haider himself has compared himself to the new brand of European “social democracy”. The difference is that, unlike Tony Blair who singles out so-called “welfare cheats”, Haider adds a xenophobic twist in his method that further carries over into a fundamentalist nationalism.
What is particularly worrisome is that the the Freedom Party and Haider have been able to garner support from significant sections of the working class. They have been able to play upon the fears of workers - fear of unemployment, wage reductions, rising prices, the economic instability of the Austrian economy in the global market - channeling them into the suspicion and irrational hatred of the poorest of workers, foreigners, displaced persons (particularly Eastern Europeans, Turks). The poison of racism grows as segments of the working class become scapegoats for the ills of capitalism itself.
International outcries against Haider and his Freedom Party have abounded. On one hand, this can be cheering as masses of people denounce racism, right-wing attitudes. Where the protests fall short is that they do not see that such racist beliefs are but symptoms of the problems generated by capitalism. As long as capitalism is unchallenged and goes unquestioned the system will pit worker against worker as they battle for economic survival. Political leaders will indiscriminately scapegoat the weakest and most poorly organised amongst the population.
As a Socialist, I believe that Haider and his followers present an ugly
dimension in the political process. It is a phenomenon that is inextricably
linked to capitalism and represents an ideology spawned of the system
itself. And, as a Socialist, I hold that the only real way for workers
around the world to fight back is to turn away from such ideological
nonsense, question the basis from which it is generated (capitalism), and
make a conscious choice for Socialism and at last put an end to a system
that divides worker against worker.