75 years ago workers in Austria took up arms in an attempt to stop the fascists from taking power. Unfortunately, although the workers fought valiantly, the reformist leaders who dominated the labour movement refused to move in the direction of revolution and thus the workers suffered a terrible defeat. Today, as similar conditions begin to re-emerge what are the lessons we can draw?
The extreme right has risen again in Austria leaving many shocked. In reality what we have in Austria is growing political instability with swings to the left and the right as successive governments come up against the opposition of ordinary working people. Meanwhile there is ferment in the unions and within the ranks of the Social Democracy, the SPÖ.
The grand coalition in Austria has fallen apart, the two main parties
of Austria,
the Social Democrats and the Conservatives came under the opposing pressures of
the bosses and the working class. In the ranks of the labour movement a
militant mood is developing. The long established relative social peace is at
an end as the Austrian workers prepare to join their brothers and sisters
across Europe in a fightback against the
bosses onslaught.