REDS END STRIKE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27514, 7 October 1950, Page 7

REDS END STRIKE

Soviet Zone Of Austria SECURITY MEASURES CONTINUED NZPA— Reuter— Copyright Rec. 9.50 p.m. VIENNA, Oct. 6. Austria’s two-day-old general strike of Communist workers was called off last night a few hours after the Government had protested to the Big Four Powers against Soviet support for the strikers. Announcing the end of the strike, the Communist-sponsored Action Com-' mittee declared that the strike had fulfilled its purpose by showing the solidarity of the workers. The committee claimed that the Austrian Government and the Western Powers had exerted pressure against the workers. The strike had never involved more than, 50,000 of Austria’s 1,500,000 workers. Shortly after the strike was called off, the Communist demonstrators released their strangehold on the Austrian railway lines.

The Ministry of the Interior announced that its security precautions would be continued until complete reports were received from all parte of the Soviet occupation zones. . The Communists had succeeded in sealing off every road and rail route out of Vienna to the west except one when it was decided to call off the general strike. With military precision, hundreds of'Communist action squads had wrecked key points on Vienna’s tram network. Throughout the day Austrian police in the Soviet sector of Vienna and through the Russian zone had been powerless to intervene in these actions. There was little trouble in tfie west zone of Austria yesterday, but throughout the. Soviet zone repeated clashes were reported among factory workers. The strike was called in protest against the Government’s defiance of Communist workers’ demands on prices and wages. Fears of a Vienna blockade similar to the Berlin blockade started a wave of buying of nonperishable foods at panic prices. In London the British Foreign Office spokesman said that the Soviet authorities’ action in preventing the free movement of Austrian police in the Soviet-occupied districts of Austria was a clear breach of the control agreement of 1945. The spokesman said articles 2 and 3 of the agreement, under which the four occupying Powers exercise their functions in Austria, specifically require them to support the power and authority of the Austrian Government and to facilitate the execution of its authority.