Dollfuss and the Future of

John Gunther

Volume 12 • Number 2

The contents of Foreign Affairs are copyrighted.©1934 Council on Foreign Relations, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction and distribution of this material is permitted only with the express written consent of Foreign Affairs. Visit www.foreignaffairs.com/permissions for more information. DOLLFUSS AND THE FUTURE OF AUSTRIA By John G?nther two VIRTUALLY unknown years ago, Dr. Engelbert Doll fuss has become the political darling of Western . Two have seen him in the chambers years ago you might ? of the Austrian which he killed his parliament subsequently ? cherubic little face gleaming, his small, sturdy fists a-flutter career a and wondered what sort of awaited politician so per as as sonally inconspicuous. This year and Geneva well have done him homage. Whence this sudden and dramatic are rise? Partly it derives from his personal qualities, which events considerable; partly it is because made him Europe's first a sort bulwark against Hitler, of Nazi giant-killer. And stature came to him paradoxically because he is four feet eleven inches high. Dollfuss was born a peasant and with belief in God. These are two facts paramount in his character. They have contributed much to his popularity, because Austria is three-fifths peasant, a with population 93 percent Roman Catholic. Much of his comes extreme personal charm and force from his simplicity of and amount to manner; his modesty directness almost na?vet?. no no Here is iron statue like Mustapha Kemal, fanatic evangelist a like Hitler. A foreigner approaching Dollfuss with compliment will hear a broad farmer's accent in "Ach . . . aber reply, gehen Sie . . ." on . . His are ("Oh, go .") speeches extraordinarily to unsophisticated. He listens speeches of other members of his like Dr. the Finance with the cabinet, Buresch, Minister, respectful a attention of child in school. When he speaks himself, he is no or cant tense, awkward, overworked, sincere. There is pomp in him. He enjoys jokes about his size. And his deep religious faith gives him something of the curious innocence of old, wise an as to priests, innocence impregnable the wiles of adversaries as the most glittering sophistication. seems to come His smallness, too, makes him popular. Affection for four feet eleven. Let no mistake easily " anyone " one, however, a this Millimetternich for weakling. When he took office at was so people laughed him, gently, because he small; they had forgotten the good old story of David and Goliath. Yet Dollfuss

Council on Foreign Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Foreign Affairs ® www.jstor.org DOLLFUSS 307 not on not does rely primarily cleverness. He is clever in the way was that the other Metternich clever. He is small, rubbery, a tough, and strong. He is tiny physically, but not dwarf. His are smallness is shapely; all the features, diminutive, well-formed. was a Dollfuss born in Texing, hamlet in Lower Austria about on 80 miles from Vienna, October 4, 1892. Thus he is the youngest as well as the littlest of the dictators. His mother and brothers still cultivate the soil on the farm where he was born. He worked at his way through school, studied law the University of Vienna, and went to as a student in economics. The war graduate came at a and he served three years the front. He went in private and a first lieutenant, no mean feat in the old army. After the war he entered Austrian politics. This means that he had to swim thereafter in one of the most confused and confusing whirlpools knows. The a are Austrians, gentle and civilized people, almost unique in that they deplore aggressive . The Austrian does not think that he is better than anyone else, he sometimes wonders as nature if he is good; his political is skeptical, lazy, and fatalistic; or he thinks of the irridentism of Hungary the chauvinism of as scorn Germany simply ill-bred. But this of international serves to at ballyhoo intensify political strife home. The Aus trians use all their energy on fellow Austrians. Seldom with bloodshed. The Austrians abhor bloodshed. Otherwise the coun to war try would have succumbed civil long ago. The Austrians simply talk, talk, talk, and then compromise. The main opposing factors in the civil struggle have been the reactionary peasants of Catholic Social the hinterland and , progressive and concentrated in their agnostic, Marxist citadel, Vienna. ten a Austrian history for years has been tug of war, religious and as as economic well political, between these highly competitive and exclusive forces. mutually a Dollfuss became, naturally, member of the Christian Social astute party, led by that cleric, Monsignor . He was a interested mostly in farming and he organized peasant's league was in Lower Austria. By 1927 he director of the Lower Austrian a Agrarian Chamber. He became deputy. The federal railways an needed agricultural expert and he joined its administrative In over council. October 1930 he took the presidency of the rail was amore or ways. But he still less obscure figure. In March 1931 a as an he got cabinet post Minister of Agriculture. A year later 3o8 FOREIGN AFFAIRS exasperating cabinet crisis provoked the resignation of the mi nority Christian Social government of Dr. Buresch. Dollfuss was to a new unexpectedly called form government. The legend is that on he prayed all night before accepting. He did accept, and May a coalition a 20, 1932, formed which commanded majority of one in exactly the Nationalrat> the lower chamber of parlia ment.1 one was No thought he would last long. He simply another to Christian Social lamb led Social Democrat slaughter. But fate was on his side. The immediate issue was ratification of the Lausanne Loan which was to to bring 300,000,000 schillings hard-pressed Austria. The Social Democrats and Pan-Germans ? seems ? opposed ratification because this quaint today the a to protocol contained provision forbidding Austria jeopardize its independence by union with another country, e.g. Germany. Dollfuss wanted the loan ratified. Here enter two main factors sense a in the story: (1) his luck, (2) his of drama. On August 3 censure motion of faced him. Early that morning Dr. Seipel died. swore a successor Dollfuss promptly in and dragooned every member of his coalition, sick or well, into the chamber. One was on deputy carried in by three comrades, another tottered up two came crutches, and others direct from hospitals swathed in The censure motion was one vote. Dollfuss bandages. defeated, by even ? won. And by such unconventional, tyrannical behavior! on exclaimed the Austrians, shocked and impressed. Then August the ratification came Dollfuss won and one 17 up. again, again by vote. The was the former Chancellor Dr. ? missing adversary Schober who had died the night before. next was eco During the few months almost all his work in nomics and finance. He cleared up the wreckage of the Credit Anstalt, the great Austrian bank which had crashed the year set before. He about stringent reforms in the civil service and rail to road administration. He sought thaw the frozen trade of Central Europe by relaxing currency restrictions and negotiating clearing treaties. He uneasily maintained his shaky coalition. arms com Europe first heard his voice in January. An Italian 1 was The party line-up the following: Dollfuss coalition: Opposition: Christian Socials. 66 Social Democrats. 72 . 8 Pan-Germans. 10 ? . 9 ? Total. 82 Total. 83 DOLLFUSS 309

200 to pany smuggled 50,000 rifles and machine guns Hungary, town as with the Austrian Hirtenberg relay point. News of this out secret and illegal operation leaked and the Powers protested. The French and the British demanded not only the return of the arms a on but statement oath proving that they had recrossed to return arms the frontier. Dollfuss agreed the but flatly refused to sworn as give any statement requested. The Franco-British an to a demand was, he said, insult the honor of sovereign nation. went The Powers climbed down. Dollfuss's prestige up. On March 4, 1933, the Austrian parliament committed suicide. In a about whether or not a squabble, marvelously Austrian, certain deputy had improperly voted, the speaker, the Social two Democrat Dr. Renner, lost his temper and resigned. The too. deputy speakers lost their heads and resigned This left the a not recon Nationalrat without chairman, and, legally, it could a or can stitute itself, because by law only speaker deputy-speaker call a session. It was a ridiculous little contretemps, but it ended on parliamentarism inAustria. Dollfuss pounced his opportunity. never He resigned office (having learned the good political lesson to are was offer resignation except when you indispensable) and a reappointed with emergency powers. On March 7 flood of to decrees deluged Austria. Dr. Dollfuss had begun his march . 11 enormous Meantime, and foreboding, the shadow of Adolf was over are Hitler falling Austria. The Austrian people German; two are the countries contiguous; the Nazi triumph in Berlin was bound to produce echoes of emulation in Vienna. The last general election in Austria, in November 1930, had given the not a was not to Nazis single seat. Naziism indigenous the skepti cal, civilized soil of Austria. But it grew. Provincial elections in 16 vote 18 April 1932 gave the Nazis percent of the in Vienna, 22 percent in Lower Austria, percent in Salzburg. By the time Hitler became German Chancellor, Nazi leaders in Austria (and were agitators imported from Germany) shouting defamations of as Dollfuss, claiming Austria part of . The Nazis in Berlin want the Gleichschaltung (assimilation) not of Austria largely because their Pan-German tenets do hold water so as Austrian Germans sneer at the swas long 6,500,000 tika instead of worshipping it. Union of Austria with Germany is 3io FOREIGN AFFAIRS a an cardinal point in Nazi doctrine. Hitler himself is Austrian. a Hitlerite Germany badly needed triumph in foreign policy. serve to at The offensive against Austria would cloak discontent reasons home. For these and other the onslaught began, and was Dollfuss jerked by Hitler, his enemy, into international celebrity. And the rage of the Nazis when he refused to lie down on and be eaten, when he insisted the right of Austria to remain a independent, precipitated grave European crisis. Had the Nazis behaved less stupidly Austria might very well have fallen into their lap. Dollfuss might easily have been manoeuvred into elections, which the Nazis could have won. was The biggest Nazi card Austrian defeatism; the Austrians to was more or don't like fight and their attitude in early spring want us so less, "Oh well, if the Germans badly, why not?" And was Dollfuss, precariously juggling his majority, in constant danger of sabotage and betrayal by jealous partisans. Any party out to was leader might sell him spite the others. Moreover, he not a fighting only the Germans outside the country but perhaps own quarter of his people. But instead of biding their time the Nazis an of terrorism and violence. began extraordinary campaign to to on own This served challenge Austria stand her feet, awoke dormant Austrian patriotism, and rallied many lukewarm citizens to the Dollfuss banner. Two years before, even the Social Demo crat was party firmly pro-. Now it is the opposite. Reason : the Hitler terror. The list of acts of Nazi violence in Austria during the spring summer a too to and is long one, long print. Shootings, intimida were tions, assaults, bombings, slanders and libels, of daily occurrence. Dr. Dollfuss fought back. On May Day he forbade the usual Social Democrat celebrations and to the amazement of ? as a the populace filled the Ring with troops and barbed wire show of force against the Nazis. On May 16, the Bavarian Minis ter of Austria on a was ex Justice, visiting tour, a on pelled. The Germans retaliated by imposing iooo-mark fine German tourists to Austria, a serious blow to the Austrian tourist traffic; Dollfuss retaliated by closing all the Brown Houses in some Austria, forbidding the Nazi uniform, and arresting hun In dreds of Nazi agitators. His luck kept with him. Berlin the was ex Austrian press attach?, Dr. Wasserbaeck, arrested and was to pelled. This happened the night before Dollfuss address the London Economic Conference. The incident dramatized his DOLLFUSS 311

a appearance and he got great ovation. The Nazis countered with 20 was more violence. On June Dollfuss decided that enough Nazi enough and outlawed the party. a one of wars ever known And then began war, the queerest a war anywhere, fought bloodlessly (except for casualties in minor border but a war nevertheless. The Nazis invaded frays) ? Austria. They crossed the frontier through the air. Their their radio station inMunich planes dropped propaganda leaflets; was on first hurled speeches. The first broadcast July 16, the on weeks the pamphlet raid July 25. Throughout the following tension increased until the Great Powers found it intolerable; was to first Dollfuss given permission increase his army by 8,000 men to full treaty strength; then France, Britain and Italy an answer. protested in Berlin. The Germans gave evasive The went on and airplane raids stopped, but the broadcast raids violence in Austria increased. Things looked dark for Dollfuss. in went to to But presently the tide turned. Dollfuss Italy visit Mussolini, his third talk with him in the year, and returned with a in does not want promise of Italian support his pocket. Mussolini to Austria to go Nazi. This would in effect bring Germany the to are Brenner pass and almost Trieste. There 200,000 Germans in the South Tyrol and the further Germany is away from them the better Mussolini likes it. to At home Dollfuss turned from defense to attack. He sought as an build up something concrete and positive in Austria alter native to Naziism, and so created what he called the Fatherland was not to be a It was to be an Front. This party. organization, a movement rather, above parties, which the parties might join. ? ? 01 Its program bold indeed for Austria was unification the on a basis. country patriotic Dollfuss was moved to this step by the gradual realization that as was the party system in Austria elsewhere in Central Europe breaking down, while bitter partisan rivalries between individual was more more leaders meanwhile becoming and intense. Even at were the Social Democrats, ossified the top, disintegrating below. Some young socialists joined the Nazis. The Nazis flirted to to a with the socialists hoping incite them general strike. The socialists did not fall into this trap, and indeed informally offered Dollfuss a coalition instead. Dollfuss turned them down. His 312 FOREIGN AFFAIRS

excuse was that if he allied himself with the Marxists he would own lose his right wing, the Heimwehr, to the Nazis. Even so the even socialists tolerated Dollfuss, passively supported him; they was own knew that he their best defense against the Nazis. to man Party lines began lose their significance. A young named was a near Schwaninger, for instance, killed in Nazi frontier raid was a a Kufstein; he member of Heimwehr patrol and the an Heimwehr gave him imposing martyr's funeral. Actually, he a was Social Democrat. But after his death the Heimwehr pre ferred to conceal this and the Social Democrats did not claim a him. Again, in , serious strike broke out in the steel works com of the Alpine-Montan Gesellschaft, the biggest industrial pany in Austria. The Social Democrat workmen there were persuaded by Nazi agitators, obeying orders from Berlin where the company is partly owned, to down their tools. The govern ment stepped in, sided with the workers, raised their wages, and a to run installed commisar the company. Meantime, the Styrian Heimwehr had gone Nazi. Confusion mounted on confusion. Christian Social officials in , where the Nazis were especially strong (possibly because Carinthia is the Austrian province furthest away from Germany), used Social Democrats as an bodyguards. There was, finally, unwritten understanding that the socialist general staff would support the government with now their private armed forces if the Nazis, reaching the crest of their strength, invaded Austria and attempted to capture Linz or Salzburg. Dollfuss, alarmed by these imtimations of party chaos, nursed his a Fatherland Front carefully for few months. Then, choosing moment a his well, he called huge meeting for September n, the 250th anniversary of the delivery of Vienna from the Turks, and the 500th of the erection of St. Stephen's Cathedral. Ostensibly was to the meeting be the high point in the campaign against the Nazis. Dollfuss announced also that he would use the occasion to outline the future policy of the government. He did, very thor oughly. He sounded the death of the old party system. And he virtually overthrew the Austrian constitution. Passages from the are speech worth quotation in full:

The time of the old, liberal capitalistic thought is over, the time of the old, liberal ordering of society; the time of Marxist leading and misleading {f?hren . . . and verf?hren) of the people, and of parties and party bossing, is over. . . . But the government will not go in for Gleichschaltung or terror. We will DOLLFUSS 313

create a social, Christian, German state of Austria on Staendische foundations a ... with strong authoritative leadership. In the fight against the government will never take away the rights of the workers. The government was restrained only by its German-ness from taking the steps to protect Austrian honor and independence {i.e. against the Nazis) which it would have taken against any other country long ago. Even if Austria is small and poor, it has a right to its honor. The speech produced cries of resentment from two supporters of the government, each of whom interpreted it in different ways. Vice-Chancellor Winkler, the leader of the Landbund and organ izer of a National Front of his own, attacked "Austro-" and warned Dollfuss that the new system must be democratic. Young Prince Starhemberg, titular leader of the Heimwehr, de cided that Dollfuss had gone entirely and threatened to boycott the Fatherland Front if he hadn't. Dollfuss acted with energy and precision. On September 21, with the schism getting more daily serious, he reorganized his cabinet. He eased Winkler war out, removed General Vaugoin from the ministry, which he had held for twelve years, and made him instead president of the railways; withdrew Major Fey from headship of the police; cajoled Starhemberg into allegiance; and himself took five port folios. The little Chancellor, be it noted, saw to it that the ? police,? army and Heimwehr the legal armed forces of the country were all three delivered into his hands. The episode is remarkable nor in that Dollfuss used neither force threats. The day before people in the coffee houses had been asking what would be the result of the crisis; they laughed and said, "Oh, as usual, a com was no promise." But there compromise. Dollfuss, with his earnest voice and innocent for was eyes, asked power, and power him. a given Without murmur, like hypnotized sheep, Vaugoin over handed the army, Winkler the Vice-Chancellorship, and Fey the police. The Heimwehr and the Christian Social Party then formally entered the Fatherland Front. Old General Vaugoin on as were started work the railroads if he re-tackling the army organization which he had begun twelve years ago. Dollfuss has an over amazing power his close associates. His friends in the gov ernment him as regard the Hebrew judges regarded the infant Samuel. The Nazi attack seemed meantime to have burned itself out. one can be No sure; by the time this article is in print Dollfuss or a a may be in exile prisoner in Nazi concentration camp; but at the end of autumn he seemed safe. The fairly Germans, having 314 FOREIGN AFFAIRS

moment left the Disarmament Conference, for the had bigger than Austria to and the fact that their November 12 game watch; " were on an elections fought incredible, almost grotesque, appeal to on peace," made frontal onslaughts Austria difficult. And of course the attempt of a young Nazi to assassinate Dollfuss helped him enormously. His luck again! A button deflected the a an bullet; and the bullet deflected crisis. The campaign for was internal loan just getting under way, and his escape from a death inevitably dramatized it into considerable success. autumn. a So Dollfuss stood in the He had breathing spell. What next? IV was to new The first job write and promulgate the constitution. The Russians gave the word "Soviet" to the world, Italy and Germany contributed respectively "Fascismo" and "Nazi." same we to to use a In the way may have learn uniquely Austrian to word express the basis of the projected Austrian system, means "Staendische." Untranslatable literally, it something be tween a "corporative" and "guild." The idea is borrowed from Papal Encyclical, the Cuadrag?simo Anno of 1931, wherein the Pope pleaded for the end of social strife and urged the adoption of a of as a cure for class war. corporative organization society Obviously it will follow closely Catholic principles and ; but it is not identical with the Mussolini system. Details of the constitution are not but yet ready, it appears that industries, trades, and professions will be required to organ on a ize themselves guild basis. Employers and employees alike are to join the guilds. Each guild will have representation in a the Staendehaus. Members will not corporative chamber, be elected by general franchise but appointed by the local guild units. Class organizations, like the trade unions and federations of industry, if not actually dissolved, will be stripped of power. The government of the state will be multi-cameral. The Nationalrat to to as a is be reorganized, according present plans, Volkshaus with about 75 members instead of 165. They will probably be elected on modified party lines. The upper house, the Bundesrat, as at will, present, represent the federal provinces, but apparently a a in the form of small federal council instead of large assembly. Above Staendehaus, Volkshaus, and the reformed Bundesrat is to a new 20 be council of state of about members, apparently to be DOLLFUSS 315

to chosen by the President of the Republic represent expert opinion in finance, agriculture and industry. These plans may change; indeed, daily reports bring conflicting versions of the can project. And the scheme hardly be put into operation for some months at least. a to Meantime Dollfuss has second job. He has deal somehow with the Social Democrats. no Dollfuss is friend of Viennese Social Democracy. From the steer a center beginning he announced that he would course, on on devoted equally to attack the socialists to his left and the to as Nazis his right. As far back April the socialist defense force, was the Schutzbund, (theoretically) dissolved. Recently the as warmer. were sault grew The special financial privileges of Vienna curtailed. The Arbeiter Zeitung, the chief socialist newspaper, a on labors under cruel censorship. Socialist workers the railways, to who number 85 percent of the personnel, have been ordered join on the Fatherland Front pain of losing their jobs.2 Socialist pa are rades, meetings, and speeches forbidden. This is all bad worse come. enough, but may "We shall deal with the Austrian our Bolsheviks in due time and at convenience," recently said now Major Fey, the Vice-Chancellor. "Heraus with the Marxists in the Rathaus!" shouts young Starhemberg. So far Dollfuss has to refused be stampeded by the Heimwehr into overt destruction cause a of the Socialist Party. This would general strike which might bring the Nazis in. The socialists feel very badly let down. They say, with great overt justice, that for six months they have refrained from opposi to in not to tion Dollfuss order embarrass him in his fight against were own the Nazis. They saving their necks by this policy, of course. worse They hated the Nazis than they hated Dollfuss. But what is the point of having let Dollfuss save them, if now he as turns to exterminate them just the Nazis would have done? now They expected gratitude, and Fey threatens them with con are centration camps. The Social Democrats the largest party in a Austria, and the best organized. They have created magnificent one socialist experiment in Vienna, turning it into of the most prosperous and progressive municipalities in the world. Some 60,000 families have been housed in handsome tenements built 2 was an over This early order by General Vaugoin when he took the railways. But, even under Dollfuss, Austria remains characteristically Austrian. At a recent press conference an official of was the chancellor's office asked if the Vaugoin order was "serious." "Ach, pure rhetoric," he re are plied. Nevertheless, the socialists frightened. A member of the Fatherland Front must sign a pledge renouncing class struggle. 3i6 FOREIGN AFFAIRS out taxes to of and distributed workmen practically rent free. An Slums have been abolished. immense program of paternalism now to is in successful operation. Is this achievement crash in ruins? a Time and time again the socialists have threatened general one. strike. But not since 1927 have they called A reason is their own war decency. They don't want civil and bloodshed. Their decency is, of course, ruining them; because it is Dollfuss' best weapon against them. He continually presses them harder, on are too or too to gambling the chance that they decent, timid, make real trouble. But now some sort of showdown approaches. The Staendische system, if it is introduced full force, means the death of trade unionism. The Social Democratic Party must or fight fall. some The Dollfuss adherents claim with justification that the to socialists have only themselves blame for their unhappy plight. a They are out in the cold not because Dollfuss is villain but be cause socialism, in its moderate Second Internationale form, crushed between Communism and Naziism, is as old-fashioned as a not want to a horse-car. Dollfuss does personally be dictator. But throughout all Central Europe the old party system is was a to dying; handmaiden private capitalism; a the world economic crisis has dealt private capitalism staggering blow; and democracy innocently enough takes the consequences. on Enemies of Dollfuss, the other hand, say that he is sparing Austria the mercies of Brown Fascism to make for a only way as Black Fascism fundamentally repressive. He is crushing the Nazis only to crush the socialists too. His Fatherland Front does a not arise from the hearts of the people but is simply clever dodge to with which fight the Nazis, and the Staendische scheme is more a to nothing than fancily-worded swindle defraud the workers or ? of their remaining rights. Italo-Fascism Hitler-Fascism they are one to and the same, according this view, and equally per nicious. not mean a One thing is certain. The Dollfuss system will terror. But if the Nazis do somehow succeed in taking Austria, a are then there will be butchery. Proportionally there many are concen more Jews in Austria than in Germany8, and they trated conspicuously in Vienna, where much anti-Semitism lies 3 are There 194,584 Jews in Austria, 2.93 percent of the population. In Germany the percentage is less than one percent. DOLLFUSS 317 not latent. Austria, moreover, will be simply Gleichgeschaltet like or a Saxony Bavaria; Austria is disorderly and rebellious province to An be sacked and punished. Austrian Legion has been formed in Germany, presumably to take part in this adventure. And it is manner said that all of Bavarian and Silesian roughnecks, whom to the Germans themselves will be glad get rid of, have been a ? ? promised free hand in the streets of Vienna, when and if Dollfuss fails. v a to one The little Chancellor has still third ambition develop, which has brought him much international attention: his theory can out that Austria live alone. Anschluss is legally of the ques a tion, because the Powers forbid it; Hapsburg restoration uniting a sort Austria and Hungary into of rump-monarchy is often talked about, but is hardly practical politics at the present time; and the to a are obstacles general Danubian confederation prob ably insuperable. These have been the three orthodox solutions to the Austrian "problem." Dollfuss says "No" to all three. As as far back September 1, 1932, he announced his belief that Aus tria could and should stand alone and live alone. Now to make an out an an active patriot of Austrian is immense task. Austrians are or or or Viennese, Tyrolese, Styrians, Carinthians; their local runs pride high; their national pride usually is dormant. Part of the extreme charm of Vienna is one its concentration in organism of rival local these spirits, plus the blood confusion of Hungarians, Jews, Czechs, Slovaks and other sorts of Slavs who have watered, colored, and peppered the original Teuton stock. But Austria, is to become a a nation says Dollfuss, nation; more, permanently neutral, peaceful, and self-sufficient, like Switzerland. The country must, nevertheless, play politics with its hungry to an neighbors. It listens attentively vague proposals for Italo Hungaro-Italian bloc. It listens equally attentively to the surrep titious blandishments of Dr. Benes and the Little Entente. More a over, with Vienna the heart of Europe, it inevitably is point of friction in between the rivalries Central Europe and the a of Germany, France, and Italy. Austria is (a) permanent block to so German Mittel-Eutopa dreams, long as it withstands the a vital in Italian Nazis; (b) factor ambitions vis-?-vis Jugoslavia, and at the same an to time embarrassment Italian friendship with an to Germany; (c) absolute necessity the independence of 3i8 FOREIGNAFFAIRS

Czechoslovakia. And the loss of Austria's independence would be a to a to grave embarrassment Hungary, shock Great Britain, a and calamity for France. At the moment it seems that fear of some Hitler has drawn Italy and France closer together than in years. Dollfuss, the little boy, by bearing the brunt of the Hitler has the fellows attack, brought big together. The Powers have been kind to Dollfuss not for his own ? merely sake. They admired his courage yes. They enjoyed the spec a ? tacle he provided of good fight yes. But they knew that his stand was a test case of the whole peace treaty structure. Dollfuss, a state a by opposing Hitler, made Austria in effect committed to rather than a revisionist and other status-quo policy; states, to watching Dollfuss, have been inclined dilute the pure liquors of true as we their revisionism. This is especially of Italy, who, have on already noted, does not want the Prussians the Brenner. Nor do any of the Powers want to encourage Germany in further adventures in prestige politik. a sort In general, too, Dollfuss has become of 1933 variant of the Pilsudski who ten years ago beat the Bolsheviks off from the as a gates of Warsaw. Then, now, powerful national but latently to out international crusade sought spread beyond its original confines. Pilsudski prevented communism from overspreading a Western Europe. Today Dollfuss in Vienna stands in similar relation to militant Naziism. It is on his head that the first Nazi wave has broken. Should Austria go Nazi, then Hungary and even even Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, may feel the are Hitler hammer. The frontiers of Germany tingling from the to are aggressive strain which they submitted from within. From to Holland Danzig, right around the circle, Naziism seeps from across the borders. Note the new items in the Germany military ? expenditure of Denmark, of Holland, of Switzerland three states never as to which before thought of themselves subject was possible invasion. Austria the objective of the first attack. It was a to failed. But it lesson. Europe gives thanks little Dollfuss.