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AUSTRIAN POLITICS IN 1930s,
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Focus on experiments in socialism, goals of SDAP. Also discusses economic problems, end of parliamentary gov't., Austrian Nazi party.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Focus on experiments in socialism, goals of SDAP. Also discusses economic problems, end of parliamentary gov't., Austrian Nazi party.

Paper Introduction:
EXPERIMENT IN SOCIALISM In the 1930s, Austrian politics was marked by an experiment in socialism, an attempt by the left wing to institute a socialist utopia in the country as an example to the world. The working class set out to create a distinct working-class culture and a socialist politics at the municipal level in Vienna and other cities. The left-wing politics of Vienna set the tone for much of the 1920s, leading to its own destruction by the growing power of the right wing once Austria was targeted by the Nazis in the 1930s. The socialist experiment in Vienna would attempt to bring massive political and social change to the city, instituting far-reaching programs for the benefit of the poor and working class. Austrian politics proper began with the creation of the

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One of these, Marie Jahoda, wrote, In Vienna we lived with the great illusion that we would be a generation of fulfillment, that our generation would establish democratic socialism in Austria. Works CitedGruber, Helmut. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.Solsten, Eric. Red Vienna: Experiment in Working-Class Culture 1919-1934. Engelbert Dollfuss became chancellor in 1932 and sought to maintainpower by moving to authoritarian rule. Vienna was the socialist jewel in Austria, as noted, while thecountry as a whole was dominated by the Christian Social Party. Seipel remained the key public figure in Austrian nationalpolitics throughout the 192 s. Modern Austria: Empire and Republic, 1815-1986. online edition: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/attoc.html. The left-wing politics ofVienna set the tone for much of the 192 s, leading to its own destructionby the growing power of the right wing once Austria was targeted by theNazis in the 193 s. Theleadership of the Social Democrats protested but did nothing else. This was a great endeavor to the youngAustromarxists in Vienna. Austrian politics proper began with the creation of the Firstrepublic in 1919. Hitler declaredthat he did not want to annex Austria but that he did want Dollfussreplaced. Otto Bauer was thenthe leader of the SDAP, and Ignaz Seipel the leader of the CSP and at timeschancellor. EXPERIMENT IN SOCIALISM In the 193 s, Austrian politics was marked by an experiment insocialism, an attempt by the left wing to institute a socialist utopia inthe country as an example to the world. So long asMussolini backed him, Dollfuss could resist Nazi pressure. The strains in Vienna and elsewhere in Austria continued to developuntil civil war erupted in 1934 at the instigation of the Nazis.Hostilities started in the regional capital of Upper Austria, Linz, thenspread to Vienna, where for three days some 2 , underground members ofthe dissolved left-wing militias battled government forces. The ascensionof Dollfuss in 1933 created a new threat. Washington, D.C.: Federal Research Division, 1993. Our whole lives were based on this fundamental idea. Vienna had a citygovernment of Social Democrats which purposely sought to make health andhousing programs and the socialist-inspired "workers' culture" of "RedVienna" into a model for the rest of Austria (Solsten). New York: Doubleday, 1988.Jelavich, Barbara. Berlin became the newcapital for intellectual ferment after that, and the working class emergedto leave its imprint on Vienna. The Treaty of St. The SDAP was at the time able to outmaneuver the CommunistParty for control and direction of the workers' and soldiers' councils thatwere created in imitation of the revolutionary government in Russia. Vienna was given the status of a provinceunder the 192 constitution and was the SDAP stronghold. Theproject evolved on the basis of daily practice and emerged from the centralbelief that culture could play a significant role in the class struggle.It differed from other versions of Marxism in that it promised a taste ofthe socialist utopia of the future in the present, and it did so bylocating the beginning of the transformation leading to the utopia withincapitalist society itself. The socialist experiment was directed at more than developingmaterial well-being for the working class, and the ultimate goal was thecreation of a "new human," intended to be honest, selfless, community-minded, industrious, and soberly joyful: True, Red Vienna was a political and cultural island in a country that was predominantly conservative; but the Social Democratic leadership appeared confident that the capital city would function as a laboratory for progress and that the new human beings it was to produce would eventually conquer the rest of Austria and link up with kindred movements in a Socialist Germany and other Marxist countries in Europe (Hofmann 191). For almosttwo decades, Austria would be split three ways politically and culturally.The Social Democratic party was entrenched in the capital and was firmlyaligned against a bourgeois power structure. TheSDAP won 4 .8 percent of the vote in the parliamentary elections ofFebruary 1919, compared with 35.9 percent for the CSP and 2 .8 percent forthe Nationals. The Reds were the Marxists, theclerical party was the Blacks (a reference to the black cassocks of theRoman Catholic priests), and the Blues were the Pan-German nationalists(based on their symbol of the blue cornflower). The centerpiece of the SDAP's experiment was the municipal socialismin Vienna, and that city was receptive to innovations that would enhancethe lives of its working class. TheSDAP suppressed the old imperial army and founded a new military force, theVolkswehr (People's Defense), under SDAP control, intended to containrevolutionary agitation and guard against bourgeois counterrevolution. The working class set out tocreate a distinct working-class culture and a socialist politics at themunicipal level in Vienna and other cities. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.Hofmann, Paul. Social reformswere also carried out in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hannover, Brussels, Paris,Lyons, London, Stockholm, and other major cities, but the socialists didnot aspire to as comprehensive a goal of transforming the municipalenvironment as they did in Vienna, leading to even more daring experiments: Success in municipal reform encouraged them to undertake the far more comprehensive cultural transformation of the workers' lives implicit in their Austromarxist perspective. The intent throughout was toimprove the living environment of the working population. A "revolution in the soul of man," after all, conjured up a delving into the innermost reaches of life in the private sphere- -an expansion of the notion of culture to encompass the workers' total life, from the political arena and workplace to the most personal and intimate settings (Gruber 6). Vienna had once been the sparklingcultural capital of Europe but had lost its position with the onset ofWorld War I and the collapse of the monarchy. The Viennese. The governmentproclaimed martial law. Austria: A Country Study. Germain was thensigned on September 1 , 1919. In this way, the one power that might have opposed Hitler wasremoved (Hofmann 218-219). The political structures of that time would continue intothe early 193 s in Austria and in Vienna. The SDAP faced an Austria suffering extreme economic dislocation andtensions with the ruling Christian Social Party (CSP). Without Hitler's knowledge, however, the Austrian Nazi partyunder the leadership of Theo Habicht undertook a conspiracy to force theformation of a Nazi-controlled regime (Jelavich 2 5). While the provisional government had declared the Austrianstate to be a constituent state of the German republic, the treaty barredAustria from joining Germany without the consent of the League of Nationsand insisted that the new state call itself the Republic of Austria ratherthan the German-Austrian Republic. Today there is no doubt that this was an illusion, but it is also doubtless that this illusion was constructive and enriching to life (Gruber 6). The partyused its power to build what would become known as a Red Vienna, a utopianexperiment that would draw international attention and create fiercecontroversy at home (Hofmann 189-19 ). However, the economic situation in Vienna turned sour by the end ofthe 192 s, and the socialist experiment began to come apart. He did not have the majority heneeded to rule, so he issued a proclamation that effectively endedparliamentary government in Austria in 1934: Dollfuss's assumption of full power in the state was accompanied by a curbing of civil liberties, including freedom of speech, assembly, and the press...His two major opponents remained the Social Democrats and the National Socialists, two parties with little else in common (Jelavich 195).At the same time, Dollfuss resisted Nazi efforts to annex Austria, and inthis he depended greatly on the support of Mussolini in Italy. The Austrian Socialist Party, orthe SDAP, was then the smallest of the three parliamentary blocs, but itreceived a preeminent role in the postwar provisional government because itwas considered to be able to maintain public order in the face of therevolutionary situation created by economic collapse and military defeat inWorld War I. The attempt by the Socialist party to create a comprehensiveproletarian counterculture was an experiment in trying something new anddifferent by blending culture and politics through a complicated network oforganizations aimed at transforming the working class in Vienna. It was at this sametime that the workers in Vienna rose against the Dollfuss regime in an actthat would lead to the virtual end of Austrian socialism (Gruber 3-4). Dollfuss almost immediatelybanned the left-wing militias of the Republic Protection Corps. Among these were an ambitioushousing program and the extension of public health and social welfareservices and the radical reform of education. Viennahad the unique power to raise substantial taxes allowing the city fathersto carry out extensive social reforms. In Vienna, tensions were seenamong the Reds, the Blacks, and the Blues. The Nationals then withdrew from the coalition and leftbehind a SDAP-CSP government to negotiate a settlement to the war and writea constitution. The socialist experiment in Vienna would attempt tobring massive political and social change to the city, instituting far-reaching programs for the benefit of the poor and working class. Much of the left-wing leadership fled the countryas the power of Red Vienna was broken and the Dollfuss regime named theChristian Social politician Richard Schmitz new mayor of Vienna and tookover former Social Democratic institutions, such as the adult-educationsystem. Universal suffrage was instituted in 1919,giving the socialists absolute control of the municipal government. At thesame time, the Nazis were increasing their attacks on the government inVienna by releasing tear gas in department stores to frighten off shoppers,smearing house walls with pro-Hitler graffiti, and in time started bombings(Hoffman 216). The way was now open for the Nazis to take overentirely and eject the Dollfuss regime, leading to the situation that wouldprevail as World War II began. The brown shirts of theNazis would add another color to the mix in the 193 s (Hofmann 189). Constitutional reform introduced in 1922 affirmed Social Democraticcontrol of Vienna and gave Vienna the status of a Land, or a semi-autonomous region, so that thereafter the Socialist rulers of the capitalwielded the same legal powers as the regional governments of Lower Austriaand the other seven territorial units in the federal government. The new Austrian state was sometimesreferred to as the First Republic (Solsten).

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