Introduction

On 12 February 1934 fighting broke out in Linz between government forces and the Social Democratic Party. Within hours Vienna was up in arms, and the fighting soon spread to other parts of Austria. A few days later the party was destroyed, and Austria seemed to many observers to have joined the ranks of the fascist states. The violence of the fighting, particularly the shelling of the vast workers’ housing complex, the Karl-Marx-Hof, and the summary execution of a number of the leading figures in the fighting, horrified the civilised world. The struggle of the Austrian workers against the systematic destruction of democratic freedoms, their desperate, frustrated and hopeless fight against overwhelming odds, and their determination that their country should not go the same way as Italy and Germany was an inspiration to many to form an anti-fascist front in which the struggle for socialism became subordinated to the defence of democracy. Yet from the very outset there was a feeling that this effort was too late. The attitude of the Western democracies towards the fascist states and the Stalinist purges in the Soviet Union, and the failures of the popular front governments in Spain and France reinforced this sense of hopelessness. As time went by 12 February ceased to be an inspiration and became a myth, but a myth that could be interpreted in several different ways. Was it an example of determined proletarian class consciousness betrayed by incompetent or even sinister leadership? Did it show the hopelessness of armed struggle against government forces, and thus the need for compromise with extreme right-wing governments? Was it a revolution, or merely a mindless brawl? Was the Social Democratic Party destroyed by its own internal weaknesses, or was it crushed by the government? These questions were not merely the result of various exiles banging their heads against various ideological walls, but they involved fundamental issues of socialism, democracy and fascism. It is largely for this reason that 12 February still excites strong responses, as the discussions at a symposium held in Vienna on the 40th anniversary amply demonstrate. ¹ Old political 2resentments certainly linger on, but they now seldom stand in the way of an objective analysis of the failures of the Austrian republic.