Saturday, 7 December 1929: Nazis Gain in Thuringia Elections

Germany:

Berlin:  Reaction to Reichsbank President Hjalmar Schacht’s broadside relative to the Young Plan (see Dec. 5) is fierce, both from inside and outside of Germany.  The federal government says that for Schacht even to make such statements risks violating Germany’s agreements following the World War.  And sources within the government are letting it be known that Schacht may not be asked to attend the second round of meetings on the Young Plan, scheduled to start in a couple of weeks in The Hague.

Outside of Germany, the French press see Schacht’s comments as political maneuvering for leadership of the nationalist movement within Germany (especially with Alfred Hugenberg in decline after his Liberty Law fiasco), as well as posturing in advance of the upcoming Hague conference at which the debt payments will be discussed. 

Schacht’s memo, though, is already producing a divide within Germany.  Bankers and big industry are tending to line up behind Schacht’s analysis, hailing the statement as just the kind of strong tonic Germany needs to solve its economic problems.  The government of Chancellor Hermann Mueller has called for a vote of confidence in the Reichstag next Wednesday.

Weimar:  Meanwhile, elections for the legislature (or “Landtag”) of the central German state of Thuringia are being held today.  By nightfall, when results are coming out, it is clear that the national socialist party (nazis) have scored another victory, though their numbers are still small.  The nazis have garnered 11% of the popular vote, which will give them 6 seats in the Landtag, making them the 3^rd-largest party.  That’s far below the 34% earned by the leading Social Democrats.  But enough that it will make forming a coalition government difficult without including the nazis. 

Vienna:  

The Federal Assembly (parliament) approves the constitutional revisions that Chancellor Johann Schober has been working on for five weeks.  The changes: reduce the autonomy of socialist-leaning Vienna within the country, but retain its status as a state; reduce Vienna’s tax contribution to the federal government but steer part of it to an adjoining state; introduce direct election of Austria’s President; broaden some of the President’s powers, for example emergency powers and to dissolve Parliament, but also restrict others in an attempt to avoid dictatorship; and call for absorption of the Social Democratic militia into the state police.  Of immediate practical importance, the changes are thought to defuse the potential for a coup by the nationalist Heimwehr paramilitary, as both nationalists and socialists got some of what they wanted.

China: 

The nationalist government capital of Nanking is cut off from communication, as rebel troops have it under siege.  Many of Chiang Kai-shek’s best generals have defected.  Communist rebel forces are also still reported to be advancing on Canton.  Both Nanking and Canton, as well as Shanghai and Hankow, are under martial law.  British gunboats are preparing to remove British nationals.  Chiang is reportedly mustering 70,000 troops for a last stand in his capital.