London Office of the Austrian Socialists

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The London Bureau of the Austrian Socialists (also called London Bureau or London Bureau ) was a party branch of the diplomatic mission of the Austrian Socialists ( AVOES ) founded on April 24, 1941, with jurisdiction in Great Britain and based in London, the center of Austrian exile policy. Their "executive members" Oscar Pollak and Karl Czernetz exercised a decisive influence on the Austrian exile policy through the office.

prehistory

At the end of March 1938 the top functionaries of the Austrian socialists Joseph Buttinger and Otto Bauer, who had fled from Brno and Austria, together with the secretary of the Socialist Workers ' International (successor organization to the Second International ) Friedrich Adler and other functionaries of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) and their illegal successor organization, the Austrian Revolutionary Socialists (RS) , founded a joint exile organization. This was the diplomatic mission of the Austrian Socialists ( AVOES ), which was designed as a small decision-making body (maximum 15 members) with subordinate, but not voting member organizations (clubs). Their program was presented in the Brussels Manifesto . The aim was to support an all-German socialist revolution to be carried out after Hitler, which would have to be initiated and carried out by the local socialists. Supporting a struggle against Hitler was just as out of the question as working with other political groups in exile that did not commit to these goals. The formation of an Austrian government in exile would have to be prevented, as it would, under certain circumstances, decisively restrict the freedom of action of the revolutionaries.

In the course of the German campaign in the west in 1940, the AVOES members fled abroad, with Oscar Pollak and Karl Czernetz coming to London and setting up the London office in April 1941 . Pollak justified this step, which took place without commission, but with subsequent toleration from the management (Joseph Buttinger, Friedrich Adler) of AVOES in New York, with technical connection problems between London and New York due to the war, which could force local clubs to act independently might not be in the sense of the AVOES.

Composition of the London office

In addition to the two "executive members", Karl Ausch , Alois Buttinger , Marie Jahoda and Johann Svitanics were nominated as "advisory members". The organ of the office was the London Information of the Austrian Socialists in Great Britain . The affiliated Austrian Labor Club was open to all socialists and sympathizers.

activities

After the German attack in 1941, the Soviet Union turned to cooperation with the West. The Austrian communists, who had hitherto camouflaged themselves to organize and support the Austrian exile in Great Britain, now succeeded in bringing together the bulk of the Austrian exile in the Free Austrian Movement (FAM), which was declared politically neutral . However, both the Christian Social Exile Group and the London Office refused to join this movement, which was perceived as a communist front organization. The refusal to cooperate by the London office ultimately led to the exodus of two thirds of the members of the Austrian Labor Club , the exodus of the 'rebels' took place under the leadership of Maria Köstler, Viktor Roll and Anni Hatschek. Before them, the Allina group had already left the club. The main reasons for these resignations were on the one hand the refusal of the London office to join forces with other Austrians in the fight against Hitler and on the other hand the refusal to speak out clearly in favor of an independent Austria. In order to take the second argument off the top, the office finally advocated the reversal of the annexation of Austria, but only to give the Austrians the opportunity immediately afterwards to be able to decide more freely for or against a common future with Germany.

With the Moscow Declaration , with which the Allies committed themselves to a free, independent post-war Austria on October 31, 1943, the London office with its plans for Austrian self-determination finally fell on the defensive. This was reinforced by the fact that the Free Austrian Movement, in accordance with Moscow's instructions, swung into the Austrian patriotic propaganda line. The Austrian communist Alfred Klahr , who worked in Moscow, had prepared this line in a series of articles in which the Austrians were accorded the status of an ethnic group clearly demarcated from the Germans. When Friedrich Adler described the memorandum in the Austrian Labor Information as a dictation, outrage broke out in exile circles, which was particularly intense in London. The London office responded with a blow to break free. On November 3, 1943, it founded the Austrian Representative Committee , which set itself the goal of restoring a free and independent Austria. With the exception of the communists, it was also possible to integrate representatives of all political groups. As expected , the reaction of the Free Austrian Movement , which was much stronger in terms of personnel and wanted to found an Austrian National Committee , was negative. The result was an - to be expected - stalemate, with which the last chance to form a representative foreign representation of all Austrians recognized by the Allies was lost. The establishment of the "representative body" is therefore less to be seen as a serious initiative for a establishment, but as a move to prevent it.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The socialist struggle. Issue 1.
  2. ↑ Maimann: Returning is a constant concern of ours. 1975, p. 122f.
  3. ↑ Maimann: We are constantly concerned with returning. 1975, p. 311.
  4. ↑ Path and goal. Issues 1937 and 1938.

swell

  • RS correspondence. Communications from the diplomatic mission of the Austrian Socialists. 1938, ZDB -ID 2305896-1 , (official body of AVOES).
  • The socialist struggle. = La Lutte Socialiste. Journal Antihitlérien. ZDB -ID 531261-9 , (official body of AVOES).
  • Path and goal. Monthly for questions of democracy and scientific socialism. ISSN  0043-2024 , (Journal of the Austrian Exile in Moscow).
  • Joseph Buttinger : Using Austria as an example. A historical contribution to the crisis of the socialist movement. Publishing house for politics and economy, Cologne 1953.
  • Helene Maimann : Politics in the waiting room. Austrian policy in exile in Great Britain 1938–1945 (= publications of the Commission for Modern History of Austria. Vol. 62). Böhlau, Wien et al. 1975, ISBN 3-205-08566-3 (also: Wien, Univ., Diss., 1975).
  • Helene Maimann: Returning is a constant concern of ours. About fleeing and coming back. In: Helene Maimann (ed.): The first hundred years. Austrian Social Democracy 1888–1988. Brandstätter, Vienna / Munich 1988, ISBN 3-85447-307-9 , pp. 236–241.
  • Manfred Marschalek: Underground and Exile. Austria's socialists between 1934 and 1945 (= Socialist Library. Department 1: The History of Austrian Social Democracy. Vol. 3). Löcker, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-85409-137-0 .
  • Hans Christian Egger: The exile politics of the Austrian social democracy 1938 to 1945. Thought structures, strategies, effects. Grin Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-638-92810-6 (At the same time: Vienna, Univ., Diss., 2004: The Politics of the Foreign Organizations of Austrian Social Democracy from 1938 to 1946. Thought Structures, Strategies, Effects. ) .