Socialist Uprising in Austria 1934

A failed socialist uprising, in February 1934, was triggered by a police search for weapons belonging to the outlawed Republikanischer Schutzbund (the armed militia associated with the SDAP*), in Linz. An unsuccessful general strike followed the police search, along with artillery attacks by the army on a Vienna housing project. Within four days, the socialist rebellion was crushed. Both the SDAP and its affiliated trade unions were banned, and key leaders were arrested or fled the country. Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss (governing on the basis of a 1917 emergency law) promulgated a corporatist constitution in May 1934, and his Fatherland Front (Vaterländische Front) became the only legal political organization. Austrian society, however, remained divided into three camps: the nationalist bloc that was associated with the Heimwehr (the armed militia originally associated with the CSP**) and the bloc represented by the CSP struggled for control of the Fatherland Front; the socialist bloc fell back on passive resistance; and the nationalist bloc, dominated by the outlawed Nazi Party, boldly conspired against the state with support from Germany.

*SDAP -- Social Democratic Workers' Party (Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei)

**CSP -- Christian Social Party (Christlichsozial Partei)

References

Military History, 1133; Austria - A Country Study.

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