TROUBLED AUSTRIA

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 186, 8 August 1935, Page 16

TROUBLED AUSTRIA

POLITICAL SCHEMING.

ONLY DEAD RULERS AT PEACE MENACE OF FASCIST GUNS. The traveller who comes to Austria looking for peace and unity 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. When weary of trying to analyse the conflicting political factions surviving from two.recent civil ware and to estimate their influence on future events, he can, by paying the inconsiderable 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 Hapsburgs. They alone (writes Sir Percival Phillips, from Vienna, to the "Daily Telegraph") appear to be together in concord.

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 the door 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 beggare.

Considering what Vienna hae gone through, 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 laet year. They resisted.

The Government forces shelled their headquarters and homes, suppressed all trade unions and confiscated their funds, hanged ten of their leaders within three hours of being sentenced, and declared that the only political organisation sanctioned was its own, with the Heiniwehr as the only unofficial armed body. Four months later Chancellor Dollfuss abolished the Republic 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 whchi as many as 200 bombs were exploded daily in Vienna and the provinces; they assassinated Dollfues, 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.

Nazis Raising Their Heads. So ended the second civil war last summer, but not the two movements directed against the Fascist or so-called 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 Treaty of Versailles 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 not to fear, Germany, tand they propose to follow the same tactics. Terrorism being "olitfdf thefflfjiie'stio.j|rat present, as thejr- i&ve" no arms, they-Kave turned to ■intensive propaganda. Despite the "vigilance of the Government, their activity has increased enormously.; I

Thfe Socialists have kept together and are likewise engaged in a lively propaganda offensive. Far from being£owed, their publicists boast of the good fight made against Fascism in defence of the Republican Constitution. They point tp the vast model housing schemes which have been realised in the industrial outskirts of Vienna, and the improved condition of the working classes as 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, and, 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 flag.

All 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 Prees 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.

Talk of Monarchy. One hears much discussion in a guarded way of the possibility of the monarchy being restored. The Chancellor, Dr. Schuschnigg, ie 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 unofficial representative of the "Emperor Otto." When the spring parade of the Vienna garrison was held recently, the troops marched past the President, the Chancellor—and the Archduke.

The monarchy is favoured by a section of the middle-class population, which associates the prosperity of prewar daye with the Hapsburgs, and en 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 to-day is in favour of Austrian independence.