Evening star., 1918-02-17
O|STRUST CAUSE OF; !.
STRIKES IN AUSTRIA
Fear That Nations Were In- {:
sincere Resulted in Walk
outs, Says Writer.
PROMISED CONCESSIONS
BY PAUL SCOTT MowRER.

BY PAUL SCOTT MOwRER.
to The Sunday Star and
Chicago Daily News. Copyright. 1915.
WITH THE FRENCH ARMIES. Feb
ruary 16.-It is now possible to give a
brief resume Of the recent peace strikes
in Austria and Germany. The strikes
in Austria were spontaneous. They
were occasioned by the victory Of the
over the diplomatic party in
Germany, and the fear Of the people
that the government was deceivins
them and not really trying to make
peace The strikes were started by the
Industrial workers and spread quickly
to clerks and office employees. The
general direction was assumed by the
socialist party.
Immediately the government offered
to make peace at an early date, and
promised certain economic concessions.
with the result that the strikers re-
turned to work January FL with tho
understanding il the promises were
not kept they would renew the strike
There were no important disorders The
government without actually having
encouraged the strikes made political
use of them in an attempt to influence
the attitude of the German imperf1ifsts.
Austrian socialist newspapers, for ex-
table campaign against German impe-
rialism. The Austrian strikers had re-
preached the German socialists bitterly
for their lack of solidarity. About the
time their strike ceased their appeals
began to bear fruit.
Organize Huge Strike.
Certain radical elements organized .
nation wide strike in Germany, which
began WELL but was soon dfsintegrated
for lack of organization and drm Lead
ership. The majority socialists. after
the strike, but probably insincereiy.
with desire to see it fail. There were
hourly proofs of confusion and inco-
herence. The Munich workmen re-
turned to the factories on the same DAY
that the Nuremburgers walked out.
The Westphalian miners struck. but
the metal workers refused to do so.
While the strikers in Berlin were de-
manding peace the strikers in the sea-
ports were merely demanding bread.
The decentralization of the German
states and towns and their dissimilar
interests undoubtedly make success
full general strike difficult. The atti-
tude of the majority socialists in
creased this difficulty. The minority.
led by Hasse, wanted peace. but Schei-
demann and the majority were only
lukewarm. and probably would be con-
tent il they obtained nothing more
than electoral reformk.
Few Disorders in Bavaria.
In Bavaria there were few disor-
ders. The strikers were allowed to
meet and were ultimately subdued by
mild means. In Prussia the govern
ment allowed the strikes to continue
few days in the hope that there would
be corresponding strikes in France and
England, but as these were not forth
coming it decided on recourse to the
usual Prussian methods. On January
80 the central committees were dis
solved, meetings were forbidden and
the labor headquarters closed. On
January 81 martial law was proclaimed
and recalcitrant strikers were shot in
the streets. On February a special
court-martial began to operate. The
strike was broken.
Both the Austrian and German strikes
showed the strong influence of the Rus
sian revolution. The organization OF
the committee was about the same as
in Russia. but with the essential diff
ference that there were no soldiers in
the Austro-German committees. Now
that the war with Russia seems to
have come to an end it is deemed likely
that the strikes will not be renewed in
the immediate future.