Austrian Reds Try To Split Large parties

Northern Advocate, 22 December 1948, Page 5

Austrian Reds Try To Split Large parties

(By Hubert Harrison, Reuters Correspondent)

VIENNA (By Airmail). —The Austrian Communists are trying, by every possible method, to drive wedges into the solid block of the huge People’s Party and Socialist coalition which at present makes them an insignificant and impotent minority here. One of the latest efforts, according to the Socialists, was their attempt to found a splinter Socialist Party which would work with them on a Socialist Unity Party (SED) basis, by the use of the former assistant general secretary of the Socialist Party, Edwin Scharf (not to be confused with Dr Schaerf, the Socialist Vice-Chancellor), who published a pamphlet entitled: ‘T Can No Longer Keep Silence,” on the eve of the Socialist Annual Congress.

In this he appealed to all members to cooperate with the Communists and join in the class war against the People’s Party. This pamphlet, which was widely distributed at considerable cost, was paid for, according to Scharf, from funds provided by well-wishers. It contained violent attacks on the present leaders of the Socialist Party, and a plea that the party should cooperate with the Communist Party to secure the unity of the working class. On the grounds that the pamphlet contained secret party ■ documents which Scharf obtained when assistant general secretary and had no right to publish, and because of its pro-Com-munist policy, Scharf was expelled from the Socialist Party. His case was debated during the annual party congress for nearly three hours, and although only one vote was cast in favour of his remaining in the party, there were quite a number of abstentions. At a Press conference later, Scharf stated that he had wide support in the rank and file of the party and would try to secure readmission so that he could continue his propaganda for the unity of the working class.

Helmer, has declared that it. is prepared to deal with any attempts at a “putsch” and is confident in its power to retain mastery of the situation.

Other wedges which the Communist Party has tried to use to split the Government forces are the various groups which have tried to found a fourth party.

STATEMENT DENIED This statement is denied by competent Socialist officials, who say that, in spite of his underground work for the Communists during the three years of his secretaryship, Scharf was isolated and had practically no support in the party. Although the Scharf attempt seems to have failed in its attempt either to win the Socialist Parly to collaborate with the Communists, after the example of the Socialist parties ol' Hungary and Czechoslovakia, or to split, as did the Social Democratic Party in Germany, the Communists still appear to be sure that they will be in a position before long to form a Government in Austria.

An Austrian police official has declared that a list of the new “government” has been found.

According to him, the Communists hoped to win power partly d.v winning over the Left Wing of the Socialist Party to join them and partly by a “putsch” led by some 100 Communist members of the Vienna police and supported by some thousands of armed workers from the Soviet zone of Austria.

MINISTRY READY In addition, he declared that orders had been given by the Soviet authorities that all car owners in the Soviet zone must be prepared to put thencars at the disposal of the Communist Party in case of need —which he interpreted as meaning that they must use them to rush the armed “factory guards” from the zone of Vienna.

The Austrian Ministry of the Interior, under the veteran Socialist, Oscar

There have been several attempts, all of which the Communists have supported, whatever the nature of the group making the attempt.

In most cases these have been groups of comparatively unknown people, who have declared that they want a party which will follow a middle-way, left of the Catholic Agrarian People’s Party and right of the Marxist Socialist Party.

The latest of these groups, the “Democratic Union,” was so middle-of-the-road that it was even prepared to try to get help from both the Marshall and Molotov plans at the same time.

COMMUNIST HOPE The Communist support of such groups is due to their hope that they will split the “bourgeois” vote, and by taking away the Left Wing members of the People’s Party and the Right Wing members of the Socialist, leave these two at present dominant parties weaker and less able to cooperate. The People’s Party, they hope, would then become vulnerable to attacks as being Right-Wing Fascist, which the Socialist Party, shorn of its extreme right, would be more vulnerable to pleas on a class basis to join forces with the Communists. In addition to these wedge-driving attempts, the Communist Press and members of Parliament never give up their attempts to drive a wedge between the Socialists and the People’s P&rty.

They are always working to show up any differences between the two parties. to suggest corruption among the People’s Party Ministers or doubledealing on the part of the Socialists.

ELECTIONS NEXT YEAR As the elections draw near—they must be carried through next year whether there is a slate treaty or not —and the struggle for supremacy between the People's Party and the Socialists grows more intense, these efforts to split them one from another are becoming more insistent and appear to be having more effect. But both Socialist and People’s Party leaders agree that however intense the strife between them and whatever the results may be as regards the victory of the one or the other of the big parties, there is no doubt that the Communists will remain as they are at present, “an insignificant minority,”

with even fewer 'votes and less members of Parliament than now. At present, they have four members out of 165.