DIVIDED AUSTRIA

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 1, 1 July 1935, Page 16

DIVIDED AUSTRIA

RENT BY DISSENSIONS

STILL AWAITING PEACE

TIDES OF FACTION

The, traveller who comes to Austria looking for peace and unify is at last driven to the conclusion that they can only.be found as. a kind of museum exhibit preserved in the seclusion of the grave, writes Sir Pcrcival Phillips in the "Daily Mail." When weary of trying t > analyse the conflicting political factions surviving from two recent civil wars and to estimate their influence on future events, he can, by paying the inconsiderate sum of sd, descend into a lofty crypt-beneath the little church and monastery garden of the Capuchins, in the heart of old Vienna, and there meditate on the serene unanimity of 140 dead Habsburgs. They alone appear ,to be together in concord. They.are assembled in orderly rows or, the stone floor of five vaulted chambers—Emperors and Empresses and a hostof forgotten Archdukes and Archduchesses, bearing witness to two and a half centuries of Habsburg rule in Europe. Francis Joseph is there in a plain copper chest between his murdered wife, Elizabeth, and the Crown Prince Rudolph, who also died by violence. Marie Louise, Napoleon's second wife, lies humbly beside her son, the Duke of ■ Reichstadt, upon .vhose bier are French flowers and the tricolour. Maximilian of Mexico is not far away, in a massive casket bearing the arms of 'the Empire that destroyed him. THEIR HISTORY. The. history of the Habsburgs and their decline can be read Jn these emblems of decayed mortality. Maria Theresa and her Consort all but fill one ■■■ alcove with ■ their ponderous baroque catafalque, overrun- with weeping cherubs and the attendants of Death. Lesser shell's show the frend: towards greater simplicity in the succeeding years, until they are no^more than plain metal boxes, with a crucifix; and a dim, brass plate on the. tarnished lids. . . . . The-crypt is silent, filled with shadows, and very cold. An aged friar moves among the dusty coffins calling the-roll of the dead. When, he is finished the lights fade out, he-locks thevdoor on peace and unity, and you climb a steep, tiled-staircase to ■ the world above, where • there is only hatred, doubt, despair, and a multitude Of beggars. . . These depressing evidences of disunity are not patent to the casual tourist. lie is justified in concluding at first that all is well with Austria. The fighting is over, a strong arm keeps down revolution, and Vienna is calm. Life appears to go on quietly arid normally, if sadly, and without signs of- tension. There is no parade oC military force, in Fascist guise or otherwise. Foreigners are welcomed with traditional kindliness, and circulate freely, without restrictions open or veiled. Considering what Vienna has gone Ihrough, its power- of endurance is little short of marvellous. First it was the battleground of Socialists and Fascists. The present regime, which was built on Italian money and munitions, tried to disarm the Socialists in February of last year. They resisted. \'. : HOMES SHELLED. The' Government forces shelled their headquarters .and. Lumes, suppressed alFtrade unions, and confiscated their funds, hanged ten of their .leaders vyithin three hours of being sentenced, and'declared, that the only political organisation sanctioned was its own, with the Heimwehr as the only unofficial armed body. Four months later Chancellor Dollfuss abolished, the Republi- and proclaimed the Corporative State, based on the/Italian Fascist model. The Austrian Nazis, who had remained quiet during the February fighting, then began their Terrorist campaign, in which as many as 200 bombs were exploded daily in Vienna and the provinces; they assassinated Dollfuss, and so ushered in the second civil war. They were put down after severe fighting, 13 leaders were hanged, and several thousand years' penal servitude were divided among others. So ended the second civil war last summer, but not the two movements directed against the Fascist or socalled Fatherland Front. The 'Nazis, > after months of despondency, are again raising their heads. The return of the. Saar to. Germany and Germany's denunciation of the Tr.eaty of Versaille. have given them new courage., They are-saying in effect that Hitler has shown them the way By lifting his voice and banging his fist on the table he has compelled his enemies abroad.to respect, if riot to fear, Germany, and they propose to follow the same tactics. ! Terrorism being out of the question at'present, as,they have no arms, they have turned to intensive propaganda. Despite the vigilance of the Government, their, activity' has increased enormously. STOOD FIRM. The Socialists have kept together and are likewise'engaged in a lively propaganda offensive. Far from being cowed, their publicists boast of the good fight" made against Fascism in defence of the Republican Constitution. They point to the vast model housing schemes which have been realised in. the industrial outskirts _of Vienna, and the improved condition of the "working classes rj practical results of a Socialist policy. The gutted Socialist headquarters now enclosed by barbed wire they regard,' as a monument to the battle which was at least half-won. Like the' Nazis, .they have held aloof from co-operation with the Government, arid, like them, profess that love of the- Fatherland prevents them from reinforcing the so-called Fatherland Front. Also in active opposition are the Communists. They have lately grown in numbers. Because of the inability of the Socialists to form a Government, either by revolution or by agreement, to restore democracy and the freedom of the trade unions, there has been 'a : perceptible drift of embittered workers to the Red Flag. AH three parties expound their divergent aims through underground channels which the Government has been powerless to close. Newspapers unfavourable to the regime which were suppressed have, appeared again in other forms. Censorship of the Press is so strict that even Court proceedings cannot be published save in the form prepared by an official. Evidence tending to reflect on the Government .is deleted. The result, is that while a political.trial is attended by .the public in force, eager to learn the truth, the seats reserved for the Vienna newspapers are empty. Illegal literature of all kinds is smuggled daily into the country. The Socialist newspaper "Arbeiter Zeitung," the official organ of the party, is now published in Czechoslovakia as a weekly. It claims to have a larger circulation than when issued as a daily in Vienna. OVER THE FRONTIER. Despite the penalty of five years' imprisonment for any ' person circulating banned publications, it is

brought across the frontier in large numbers and distributed by party agents, who collect subscriptions and remit them secretly to Czechoslovakia. Every district in Vienna has its illegal Socialist, Nazi, and Communist stencilled newspapers in the form of broadsheets. Every large industrial concern is organised by both Socialists and Communists on the cell system.

The relative strengths of the parties can only be determined accurately by a General Election, but I am told that a liberal estimate of the following of the Fatherland Front is 30 per cent, of the population, leaving 40 per cent, to the Socialists and 30 per cent, to the Nazis. The effect of a deadlock on such a basis is obvious. The Government's attempts to overcome' it have met with no success.

One hears much discussion in a guarded way of the possibility of the monarchy being restored. The Chancellor (Dr. Schuschnigg) is said to be toying with the idea, and this is borne out by the appointment of officials known to be in favour of it Monarchist organisations which were -formerly banned now meet freely. The Archduke Eugene, who returned to Austria last summer, is very much, in the public eye. He appears at ceremonial functions, where he is regarded as the unofficia 1 representative of the-"Emperor Otto." When the spring parade of the Vienna garrison was held this month the troops marched past the President, the Chancellor—and the Archduke. MONARCHISTS. . The monarchy is favoured by a section of the middle-class population, which associates the prosperity of prewar days with the Habsburgs, and so hopes for their return. The Government undoubtedly realises that a definite move to restoration might unite' the Socialists and Nazis, as well as intensify Germany's hostility and that of the Little Entente, which today is in favour of Austrian independence. , Excluding the factional leaders and their militant following, the people generally are numb and despondent, after the repeated upheavals which have reduced Austria almost to ruins. Their power of resistance, which was never of the highest, has been further sapped, and'they'are more inclined than ever to drift with the tide whichever way it'flows. • The conflicting propaganda fed them by the contending parties has created a state of bewilderment, in which fear of Germany, fear of Italy, and fear of each other appears to; be about equally intermingled. If they are thankful, for the synthetic peace imposed by Fascist machine-guns as the alternative to another civil war, they are also conscious that the way to real and lasting peace is still obscured, and their progress is hampered by a multiplicity of leaders anxious to direct them by different routes. • ■■ •. , '