Evening star., 1934-02-25

stance which for Americans should
have primary Importance. What has
occurred, particularly in Vienna, does
not in any sense represent an upris-
ing inspired by the example or in
fluence of Moscow 1t was not in
any sense a revolution designed to
establish a Socialist or Communist
regime. On the contrary, it was a
hopeless and hapleSS reSiStance-in
the last ditch-of the majority of the
population of one of the worlds
greatest cities to a destiny at once
tragic and ineSCapable.
During the postwar years political
control in Vienna has been lodged in
the hands OF the representatives of
that majority which, measured by
American or British standards, might
be described as progressive or liberal,
but not revolutionary. In that time
the financial resources of the Austrian
capital have been employed in the
amelioration of the conditions of the
masses. Vast model tenementS, like
the Karl Marx Building, which the
other day became the target of artil-
lery, were constructed. Vienna itself
became the paradise of the worker
but on terms far nearer to the spirit
of the new deal than of the old
gospel of red revolution.
Socialists Backed Hitler.
Vienna was, however, the industrial
and commercial center of an agri-
cultural state which was conservative
and even reactionary by tradition.
The socialist majority in the city was
therefore unpopular alike with the
elements in the provinces which
looked to Berlin for their lead and
those which found their inspiration
in Rome. AS a consequence both
the opponents of Hitler, and his fol-
lowers in Austria outside of Vienna,
were equally eager to destroy the
Democratic and Socialist elements
which controlled the capital.
AS between the NaZis and the
Fascists-that is, the followers of Hit
Ter, who sought the union of Austria
with Germany as opposed to those
who endeavored to preserve Austrian
independence through alliance with
Italy-the Socialists gave their sup
port to the latter. Thus during the
recent months when DollfuSS was en-
gagged in a life and death struggle
with the Nazis, he had the invalu-
able support of the Socialists of
Vienna. But on his part he was to-
tally hostile to these leaders.
=, As the struggle became more acute
Dollfuss was gradually driven or led
into an attack upon the Socialists,
designed to enlist for himself and his
regime the support of those reaction
ary elements in the provinces which
were drifting over to the Nazi cause
To retain the support of these reac-
tionary elements outside of Vienna,
he was. therefore, brought step by
step into a campaign against the
VienneSe Democracy. Thus the ma
jority in Vienna found itself presently
caught between the upper and lower
millStoneS of Fascism and Nazism
In fact the Socialists of Vienna
were caught like rats in trap. They
had supported the reactionary gov
ernment Of DollfuSS as the Social
Democrats OF Germany had main
tanned the Nationalistic regime of
Bruening-as a lesser evil But at
length and far too late they in turn
were brought to the realization that
whether Dollfuss or Hitler triumphed
in Austria, they were doomed-politi-
cally, socially, personally. Thus they
took up arms-foredoomed to defeat
not in the hope of victory, but
because they perceived that the choice
was between the fate which had over
taken Jews and Social Democrats in
Germany, and death with guns in
their hands.
Democracy Loses Hold
In the larger sense, too, it can
make little difference whether Fas-
cism or Nazism triumphs eventually
in Austria In either case democracy
as we in the West understand it has
lost Its last fOOthOld beyond the swiss
and French frontiers. The war that
was to make the world safe for de-
mocracy has ended by transferring
the control OF the larger part of the
population and territory of the Euro
pean continent to the control of die
tators. And along with that transfer
has gone the extinction of liberal
and international ideals in Central
and Eastern Europe.
The bloody repression of the So
cialists in Austria must be compared
with the similar repression of demo-
cratic aspirations all over Europe fol-
lowing the revolutions of 1880 and
1848 Liberty as we understand it
in America, Britain and France and
few of the smaller states of the
Continent, has succumbed to a reac-
tion as blind, brutal and far-reaching
as that which followed the French
Revolution. Violence and passion
have replaced reason and justice.
Between what happened in Vienna
and in Paris there is not the small
est real resemblance. The uprising
in Paris was not revolt against a
social system or a political form. 1t
was, on the contrary. a spontaneous
protest against individual men who
had exploited the existing machinery
of government for personal profit or
prestige. 1t was a popular revolt like
that of the American people in the
election of 1882, but it took the form
of mobs because there was in France
no political means Immediately avail
able to bring about a change in ad-
ministration
Once. however, the Daladier gov
eminent had collapsed and the Dou-
mergue cabinet of national salvation
had been established, the real dis
turbance in Paris and in France gen.
orally was over In that respect the
February revolution in 1884 recalled
the July revolution of 1890: Then
Paris rose against the Bourbon dy-
nasty and substituted that of Or
leans; but it did not seek or achieve
a revolution in the social or political
system end it was nearly two decades
later before a republic was briefly es-
tablishe@ after a new uprising in
Paris, this time against the Orleans
monarch.
Communists Gain.
Even the general strike which fol-
lowed on the heels of the recent
change in government was not in it.
self revolutionary but rather designed
to warn the government and the new
leaders that the democratic and So