The Dynamics of Fascism 1017Social Democratic Party, drew members from both peoples. By the late
1930s, it was apparent that the greatest threat to parliamentary rule in
Czechoslovakia would come from Nazi Germany, as Hitler seized upon eth
nic tensions in the Czech Sudetenland between the German-speaking pop
ulation and the Czechs. Consequently, even Central and Eastern Europe’s
most stable country was not immune from destabilizing ethnic rivalries.
Fascism in Austria
In Austria, the undersized, German-speaking remnant of the Habsburg
Empire, fascism was closely tied to German nationalism and anti-Semitism.
Moreover, lying between Germany and Italy, Austria almost inevitably came
under the influence of those states. During the 1930s, Mussolini wanted to
absorb the Austrian Tyrol, although only the southern part was Italian speak
ing, and Hitler wanted Germany to annex all of Austria. The Nazi Party of
Austria was eager to assist Hitler by destabilizing political life.
The split between right and left in Austria led to “Bloody Friday,” July 15,
1927, when police killed a hundred striking workers during demonstrations
in Vienna by Socialists protesting right-wing violence. Yet in Vienna social
democracy was rooted in areas of public housing on the edge of the city.
The contrast between the stately inner city, where some of the old Habs
burg nobles still lived, and its political “red belt” of working-class housing
could not be missed. Much of the tax burden fell on the Viennese middle
classes, which were for the most part socially conservative, fervently
Catholic, and overwhelmingly supportive of the conservative ruling Chris
tian Social Party. Anti-Semitism had deep roots in Vienna as well as in
provincial Austria. As everywhere, the Depression accentuated existing social
and political tensions and violence.
The violent anti-parliamentary groups in neighboring Bavaria, where
Hitler had got his start, served as a point of attraction for the Austrian
Nazis. Members of the Austrian right-wing Home Guard wore traditional
green woolen coats, lederhosen, and Alpine hats, but carried quite modern
machine guns. The Social Democrats formed their own guard, determined
to protect their members.
In 1933, Chancellor Dollfuss, a diminutive, awkward man who wore tra
ditional Austrian peasant garb because he was proud of his provincial ori
gins, dissolved the Austrian Parliament because it stood in the way of an
authoritarian state. In February 1934, after Home Guard raids on workers’
organizations and newspapers, the workers of Vienna, led by the Social
Democrats, undertook a general strike. Fighting erupted when Dollfuss
unleashed the Home Guard and army against the left. Army units attacked
the industrial suburbs with artillery fire, killing several hundred workers
during four days of fighting. Police closed down all Social Democratic
organizations, and tried and executed some of their leaders. Dollfuss then
banned all political parties except the fascist Fatherland Front.