The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-30
On the
World Front
Bella Kun on Austria
Heimwehr and Nazis
Forces Behind Them
BY HARRY CANNES

Nv mn z IAi14SAS GhApRAlNh
could be printed now than the
che by Comrade Bella Kun,
entitled "The February Strug-
gle in Austria and It's Les
sons" Reading this pamphlet
is like looking at Austrian
events through powerful political
1eld glasses. The Workers Library
Publishers is rushing an English
translation off the press, ready for
odsy or tomorrow.
Meanwhile, we quote the follow
1g on the capitalist forces in Aus
ria, their internal and external tie
Fps. which gives more information
and analysis than can be found
in tons of the boss newspapers:
THE Anschluss question became
he central question of the Euro
pean policy of the leading imperi-
alist powers, especially of Germany,
France and Italy, with England
pursuing a "tacking" policy the
whole time.
austria became a medal point Of
European imperialist policy; the in
ner political naturalization of af-
fairs in Austria became inter-
twined with the sharpening of the
European situation, which in its
turn led to further extreme deep
ening of the already existing con-
tradictiOns within the camp of the
Austrian bOurgeOisie.
THE warning factions Of the bour-
geoisie, split as they were on ques-
tionS of internal politics, formed two
great camps on the Anschluss ques-
tion-the adherents of the An-
schluss with Hitler Germany (the
national-socialists, who, according
to various estimates, exercise inf1u-
ence over one-third of the bour-
geoisie of all strata) and the OPP
ponents of the Anschluss (the
"Fatherland Front" which COM
prises the Christian Social Party
and Heimwehr fascism).
Apart from the two great fascist
parties, the Landbund l. and
League) does not take any definite
stand towards the Anschluss.
THE largest party of the AUS
TRAN bourgeoisie which forms
component part of the now ruling
Fatherland Front is the Christian
Social Party. This party, as the
Oldest party of Austria after the
Socisl-Democratic Party, a party
which originated in the pre-war
period and has been in power for
long time, possessed the oldest and
largest mass organizations of all
bourgeois parties. 1t is the party
Of native Austrian finance capital,
of the large manufacturing indus
try, of those capitalist circles which
are connected first and foremost
with French and English finance
capital and have their markets in
the Balkan and Danube countries.
Its supporters are recruited mainly
from the urban tty-bourgeoiSie,
from the mountain peasantry in the
Alpine districts. 1t possesses organ
izations in all the provinces of AUS
tria. It also possesses small labor
wing and its own trade unions, in
which backward elements from the
working class and from the ranks
of the employees are organized. 1t
is anti-Semitic in moderation.
1.-THE capitalist strata which stand
behind the Christian-Social Party
had always been against the AM
schluss with Germany. They feared
competition of German capital on
the home market. They had before
them the example OF Slovakia,
where the more powerful Czech
finance capital has brought the in
dustry of Slovakia to complete
standstill since the latter's amalga-
nation in the Czechoslovakian re-
pubic.
Their interest in the markets of
the Danube and Balkan countries,
Hungary in particular, determined
the orientation of considerable parts
Of the ChristianSoci Party on
the formation of a Danube fedora
ton instead of an Anschluss with
Germany; they are defenders of the
restoration of the Hapsburg dynasty.
Their policy was largely deter
mined by the interests of the Cath
ole Church, and this also led to
the accentuation of their opposition
to the Anschluss after the setting
up of the Hitler dictatorship, from
which the Austrian clergy feared
the curtailment Of the hegemony
of the Catholic Church. The Chris
tian-Social Party, as the governing
party responsible for the crisis, has
lost many OF its petty-bourgeois adj
herents.
THE partner of the Christians
Social Party in the Fatherland
Front, which carried through the
fascination Of Austria, is the Heinz
atschutzwehr Home Defense
Corps, called the Heimwehr.
THE desperate position of the
Austrian petty handicraftsmen.
small traders and middle peasants
has driven many of them into the
ranks of the Heimwehr, but on the
other hand, the Heimwehr has only
been able to win very small NUM-
Der Of followers in the ranks of the
workers.
The National Socialist L a b or
Party of Austria (Nazis) was res
gional branch of the German Ma
tional-Socialist Party. Since the
sharpening of the contradictions be-
fefa c4,.;o
under foreign political pressure,
has given this organization the title
of an independent party. Neverthe-
less, it has remained nothing more
than a branch department of the
German National-Socialist Party.
headed by "prefect" of ,Hitler's.
This party is backed by that part
of Austrian heavy industry which
is in the hands of German finance
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