Austria and The Communist International, 1918-1938

Four scholars attached to the Institute of Contemporary History at the University of Vienna with many years of experience working in Moscow archives plan to complete a study on several main aspects of the activities of the Communist International, sometimes called Comintern or Third International: how the revolutionary impulses sent from Russia impinged on Austrian politics in the restless years between the collapse of the Hapsburg monarchy and the end of Austrian independence in 1938; and conversely, how did events in Austria influence international Communist strategy or indeed the policies of the Soviet government, especially its clandestine operations in the West. It is clear that political disturbances in Austria were followed closely in Moscow and shaped its revolutionary tactics: first, in the years 1918-20, when Austria was surrounded by short-lived Soviet Republics and shaken by an upsurge in radical consciousness among Austrian workers, which led to negotiations between the Communist and Socialist Internationals (`2 1/2 International`); second, when the massacre of demonstrators by the Viennese police on 15 July 1927 were misinterpreted by the Comintern and later used as justification for the ultra- left policies of the international communist movement in the periode 1928-34; third, how the Communist International, while initially misreading the significance of the armed revolt of Austrian socialist militias in February 1934, later under the leadership of Georgii Dimitrov, the new General Secretary, employed the Austrian `example` of 1934 to signal the wish for better relations with socialist and Labour parties, a policy turn-around which later became universal under the slogan of the `Popular Front`; fourth, the increase in prestige for the Austrian section of the Comintern and the prominence of its leading cadres (Fischer, Fürnberg, Koplenig) gained within the world movement and the extent to which the communist resistance against the corporatist regime of Dollfuss and Schuschnigg influenced the anti-fascist tactics of the Comintern. Apart from this analysis of three periods, the study also looks at three less-known phenomena: firstly, Vienna as a temporary base for communist parties outlawed in their native countries and as a liaison point between such parties and Moscow emissaries; secondly, how and why Vienna served as an important `rezidentura` for Soviet espionage; finally, how the Austrian government monitored and persecuted such subversion.This research would bring Austria into the forefront of comparative Comintern studies and highlight political tensions within the Austrian First Republic.

On the basis of the insights gained, the project title should now read "International Communism in Austria,1918- 38". Hannes Leidinger and Verena Moritz examined the years 1918-27, specifically the establishment of diplomatic relations between Austria and the Soviet Union and the tensions which emerged between Soviet diplomats and emissaries of the Communist International who operated from Austria. Vienna as a basis for the monitoring of the Communist parties in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, or for activities of the Soviet secret services, was also analysed, from the vantage point of policy-makers in Moscow and as seen by the Viennese police, especially under its President Johannes Schober. The existence of a Comintern Bureau in Vienna, or of representatives of CPs illegal in their own countries (esp. Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Rumania) and the political refugee problem in Austria were also examined. The description of the in-fighting in these parties, which was due to differences in the Comintern leadership and the tensions between the leading cadres working in the underground, is portrayed against the general strategy of Moscow in promoting nationalist and agrarian movements in the Balkans. In covering the years 1927-38, Barry McLoughlin was dealing with fundamentally changed political parameters: the increasingly authoritarian course of Austrian internal politics after July 1927 and the establishment of the Stalinist dictatorship in the USSR. As regards the KPÖ, the party went into steep decline until 1930 and was managed by KPD emissaries in 1930-31. The fear that the KPD would be driven underground in Germany motivated the Comintern in 1930 to establish a clandestine radio station in Vienna to maintain links with the Communist underground of the neighbouring countries, and to channel funds. Espionage operations were no longer directed by Soviet Embassy staff but by "illegal" agents with false identities who recruited members from the KPÖ, which by now had established its own "illegal apparat". This collaboration could be reconstructed as follows: illegal passport procurement, supporting the Vienna offices of foreign Comintern sections, espionage operations abroad and the murder of "defectors". Following the Austrian Civil War of February 1934 the KPÖ (banned by Dollfuss in May 1933) grew in strength. Within the Comintern the KPÖ was accorded more influence in the hope that it would regain legal status in the face of the dangers posed to Austrian independence by Hitler`s aggressive foreign policy after 1936.