The History Of European Parliaments Knows Few Battles So Passionate, So Fierce.

Obstructions in the Vienna National Assembly in 1897 and in the Carniola Regional Assembly in 1902

Abstract

In the 1880s, the term obstruction also became established in Slovenian political language. The article describes in more detail the obstruction in the Vienna National Assembly in 1897 and the obstruction of the Slovenian Catholic deputies in 1902, which was the first example of the use of obstruction tactics in the Kranj Regional Assembly. In both cases, in addition to technical obstruction, the opposition MPs resorted to “wild obstruction” (noisy disruption of a normal sitting, of the Speaker of the House or of speakers on the opposite side). The two obstructions were successful, as the German deputies in the Vienna National Assembly obtained the resignation of the Prime Minister Count Badeni at the end of November 1897, and the Slovene Catholic deputies prevented the normal session of the Regional Assembly of Kranj from June 1902. In September 1904, they succeeded in breaking the coalition of Slovene liberals and German landlords and in getting the resignation of the Regional President by proposing that the Regional Committee should not accept letters from the Regional Government written only in German.