The Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 27, 1934. MURDER MOST FOUL.

Evening Star, Issue 21783, 27 July 1934, Page 8

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 27, 1934. MURDER MOST FOUL.

Gkuman Nazism has made haste to explain that the Nazi coup in Austria by which Dr Dollfpss has lost his life was not inspired from Germany. The plot may have been purely internal, but Austria lias suffered badly from the fact that the headquarters of the German Nazi organisation ar© in Bavaria, with which she lias a common frontier. German Nazis, in their zeal for absorption of the smaller country, have encouraged previous outrages of violence by their Austrian comrades of like faith, and Bavaria has been a refuge for Austrian Nazis as often as they have incurred the wrath of their own Government. A few weeks ago Herr Hitler’s subjects were being accused of fomenting outrages and disturbances for the purpose of destroying the tourist traffic which is a main source of revenue to Austria. And the Austrian Nazis, in their hatred of Ddllfuss, ’have been ready enough for acts ot destruction by which they might increase his difficulties. Bad examples also can be infectious. The first sketchy story of the Austrian revolt is not without resemblance to Herr Hitler’s story of the German Nazi plans for a revolt which he thwarted. A section of the Storm Troopers were to attack the Government by force, hold the Chancellor as a prisoner for fortyeight hours, and supplant his colleague? by their friends at their own sweet will. That plot, or supposed plot, was nipped in the bud. Austrian Nazis got further with then conspiracy. Disguised as Heirawehr. police, and soldiers, one band of them forced tlveir way into the Chancellery, where several Ministers were assembled, while a second band seized possession of Austria’s equivalent of Broadcasting House, whence false reports were issued. Dr Dollfuss was killed —not, it would seem, in a melee, but cold-bloodedly and deliberately by successive shots—when the Chancellery was captured. The success of the revolt was short-lived, as it was bound to be, nn Jess all of the Ministers could have been seized together or they and the army had been first subverted. Government troops, with the aid of machine gnus and gas, recovered Broadcasting House and compelled the conspirators to stand a siege in the Chancellery, which they held only for a few hours.

The coup might have happened before, and no one would have been surprised. Something like it was expected in February, after Dollfuss, with -the' aid of the Heimwehr—Prince Starhcinberg’s and Major Fey’s Austrian (nonGerman) Fascists—had struck his blow at the Social Democrats. The Chancellor’s claim that a Socialist revolution was then nipped in the bud did not pass examination for the most part, after time was given to examine it. The explanation received more generally is that Dollfuss had his choice of two parties—Heimwelp - and Social Democrats—as allies against the Austrian Nazis who were willing to take their orders from Germany. The Heimwehr were dependable, and they were an armed force. Between the Socialists and his own Catholic Party there could never be more than artificial and uncertain co-operation. Destruction of the Socialists’ power was the Hcimwehr’s price for their alliance, and Dollfuss paid it. The “ revolution ” was first provoked, then suppressed with what for Austria was drastic thoroughness, though some Germans may have marvelled at its mildness. That was the Nazis' real chance. Their chief enemies, the Heimwehr and Socialists, had disabled each other. But the expected Nazi coups were not attempted, possibly because the Government had shown unexpected reserves of strength. If a section of the Heimwehr, and not Nazis, had been responsible for the latest enormity it would have come closer to the German example. The Heimwehr. under Prince Starheniberg, had made risings at an earlier period. At the same time that ho founded his corporative ” Government, very much on the Italian mode), with Starheniberg and Fey in chief positions, Dollfuss set himself to break down the

excessive power of that force as Herr Hitler had begun to do with his Storm Troopers. It was sought to incorporate them, after heavy reductions, in a more general force, the “ Fatherland Front.” with Doll fuss in supreme command and Starhemberg as his first lieutenant. The Heimwehr. therefore, had its own cause for discontents. A writer in that most judicial journel, the ‘ Round Table,’ who rejects Dr Dollfuss’s account of the February ” revolution.” calls Starbemborg and Fey “ freebooters.” The Dollfuss Government goes on under another head. But no one knows how long it can go on or what will be the next development. The death of Dr Dollfuss means a tragic loss for his country in its present position. With his own party numbering, perhaps, less than a fifth of the electorate, while lie lived he preserved a stable Government. All the world could admire his courage" and his resourcefulness. And he stood for an independent Austria, which in present circumstances is a first need of Europe. His churchman’s piety may have mingled with some of the cunning of the serpent; his smile gilded a despotism—in an Austria split by four parties, two of them very much given to violence, that might well be the only practicable form of government—but, backed firmly by Mussolini and the Vatican, he did some great things. His treaty with Italy for the economic re-establishment of Austria and Hungary was one of them. He held his own against Hitler, Will the next ruler of Austria be able to do as much? The suggestion that Mussolini surrendered him to Hitler and agreed to his removal from office as a part of agreements at Venice is not credible. The agreements at Venice do not seem to have amounted to much.