 |
 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)
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