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The Soviet Union, the Austrian Communist Party, and the Anschluss Question, 1918-1938

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

Extract

During the interwar period, the leadership of the Soviet Union did a onehundred- eighty degree turn in its policy toward the political link-up between Austria and Germany. The Soviets first denounced the victorious Western powers’ prohibition of the Anschluss. Later they showed outright opposition to the Nazi drive for German unification in Central Europe. The Austrian Communist Party and international communism promptly executed the same turnabout. In accordance with the new line, during and at the end of World War II, the Soviet Union joined the Allies in supporting the restoration of Austrian independence and sovereignty.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1980

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References

1. Low, Alfred D., The Anschluss Movement 1918-1919 and the Paris Peace Conference (Philadelphia, 1974), pp. 366 ftGoogle Scholar.

2. Low, Alfred D., “The First Austrian Republic and Soviet Hungary,” Journal of Central European Affairs, 20, no. 2 (July 1960): 174203 Google Scholar. The First Soviet Hungarian Republic was widely referred to as an “adventure” because its staying power was doubted from the very start.

3. Pravda, March 27, 1919.

4. Izvestiia, May 16, 1919.

5. Soziale Revolution (Vienna), June 28, 1919.

6. Der Weckruf (Vienna), November 9, 1918. Iff?

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10. Die Rote Fahne (Vienna), July 7 and July 31, 1919.

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12. Hartmann to Renner, August 9, 1920, in Ősterreichisches Staatsarchiv, Neues Politisches Archiv, Carton 110, pp. 670-71 (hereafter cited as OS.NPA, with the carton number preceded by the designation C).

13. Report to Gruenberger, OS.NPA, CS3, p. 42.

14. Envoy's report to Austrian Foreign Minister Mataja, in ibid., p. 99.

15. Ibid.; see also envoy's report, July 10, 1925, in ibid., p. 169.

16. Ibid., p. 131.

17. Ibid., p. 132.

18. Pravda, March 23, 1931; see also OS.NPA, CS5, pp. S07-8.

19. Envoy's report, March 31, 1931, in OS.NPA, CSS, pp. 502-6.

20. Ibid., p. 505.

21. Izvestiia, March 24, 1931; see also OS.NPA, CS5, pp. 509-12.

22. Izvestiia, March 27, 1931; see also envoy's report, March 31, 1931, OS.NPA, CSS, pp. 513-14.

23. Report of May 1931, in OS.NPA, C5S, p. 514.

24. Izvestiia, February 29, 1932; see also OS,NPA, C55, pp. 201 ff.

25. Izvestiia, February 29, 1932.

26. Ibid., March 27, 1932.

27. Envoy's report, March 29, 1932, in OS.NPA, CSS, pp. 222 ff.

28. Envoy's report, in ibid., p. 530.

29. Envoy's report, in ibid., CS6, pp. 34-35.

30. Ibid., pp. 53-54.

31. Ibid., p. 55.

32. Report to secretary of state, Moscow, June 28, 1935, National Archives, Washington, D.C., Box 6846, 863.01/198, pp. 1-2. - 33. Envoy's report, June 27, 1935, in OS,NPA, C56, pp. 256-58.

34. Ibid., pp. 261-62, 265.

35. Envoy's report, “Stimmen der Sowjetpresse” [June 1935], in ibid., p. 327.

36. Ibid., pp. 365-67; see also Izvestiia, January 27, 1936.

37. Pravda, January IS, 1936; see also OS.NPA, CS6, pp. 360-63.

38. OS,NPA, CS6, p. 419.

39. Envoy's report, April 21, 1936, in ibid., p. 416.

40. Pravda, July 14, 1936; OS.NPA, CS6, pp. 486 ff.

41. OS.NPA, C56, p. 487.

42. Ibid., pp. 583 ff.; Izvestiia, November 16, 1936.

43. “International Overview,” March 20, 1937, in OS,NPA, CS6, pp. 693-96; Izvestiia, March 20, 1937.

44. Envoy's report, September 1, 1937, in OS,NPA, C56, p. 803.

46. Fischer, Das Ende einer Illusion, pp. 61-62.

47. Fischer, An Opposing Man, p. 291.

48. Fischer, Das Ende einer Illusion, p. 59.

49. Envoy's report, April 30, 1937, in OS.NPA, C56, pp. 718-21.

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54. Ibid., p. 27; see also Klahr, Alfred, “Zur nationalen Frage in ŐsterreichWeg und Ziel, March 1937, and April 1937 Google Scholar (reprinted in Die Kommunisten im Kampf, pp. 26-39). 5

55. Klahr, “Zur nationalen Frage”; also in Die Kommunisten im Kampf, pp. 28-29

56. Klahr, Alfred, “Die nationale Frage und die Stellungnahme der Kommunisten in OsterreichCommunist International, October 1937 Google Scholar; see also OS,NPA, CS6, p. 44.

57. Klahr, Alfred, “Zur Diskussion über die AnnexionWeg und Ziel, August 1938 Google Scholar (reprinted in Die Kommunisten im Kampj, pp. 93-98).

58. Ibid.

59. Valentin, F, “Gibt es eine österreichische Nation?,” Der sozialistische Kampj (Paris), 1938 Google Scholar, nos. 9 and 10; F. Valentin, “Der faschistische Frieden und die europaische Revolution, ibid., 1938, no. 11; and Klahr's reply in Weg und Ziel, January 1939 (reprinted in Die Kommunisten im Kampj, p. 109).

60. Izvestiia, February 17, 1938; A. J., “A First Step on the Road to the Anschluss,” in OS,NPA, CS6, pp. 914-18.

61. Pravda, February 17, 1938; A. J., “A First Step,” pp. 919-22.

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64. Communist International, April 1938, pp. 406-7.

65. Ibid., p. 406.

66. Ibid., May 1938, pp. 491-92 flf.

67. Ibid. 68. Ibid., pp. 493-94. 69. Ibid., June 1938, p. 542.

70. Ibid., pp. 546-49.

71. Kurt Funk, “The German Working Class and ‘Greater Germany,'” ibid., pp. S50-SS.

72. Communist International, August 1938, pp. 720-22.

73. Ibid., pp. 847-59; this contains references to Freies Deutschland, no. 31 (1938) and to DerNeue Vorwärts, no. 273 (1938).