Nazism and the Working Class in Austria: Industrial Unrest and Political Dissent in the 'National Community'

206 Pages·2002·6.231 MB·English

by  Tim Kirk

The image of Hitler as a demagogic ‘pied piper* leading astray the
‘little people* of Austria is as misleading as it is powerful. Nazism
and the working class in Austria is a case study of the ambiguous
relationship between state and society under the Nazis. It places the
experience of Austrian industrial workers in the Third Reich in a
broader historical context, from the origins of the earliest ‘national
socialist’ movements in the backwaters of the Habsburg empire to
the end of the Second World War. Workers did not seriously
attempt or even expea to overthrow the Nazi regime in the face of
unprecedented surveillance and terror; but neither were they won
over, and their oppositional strategies and disgruntled political
opinions reveal a truculent workforce, rather than one which was
contented and converted.

Nazism and the working class in Austria

Nazism and the working class
in Austria
Industrial unrest and political dissent in the
‘national community *
Tim Kirk
University of Northumbria, Newcastle
g g | C a m b r id g e
^j|jF UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 irp
40 West 20th Street, New York, ny 10011-4211, USA
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia
© Cambridge University Press 1996
First published 1996
Printed in Great Britain at the University Press, Cambridge
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress cataloguing in publication data
Kirk, Tim, 1958-
Nazism and the working class in Austria: industrial unrest and political
dissent in the ‘national community’ / Tim Kirk,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN o 521 47501 5 (hardback)
i. Working class-Austria-History-20th century. 2. National socialism-
Austria. 3. Austria-Economic conditions-1918-1945. 4. Austria-History-
20th century. I. Title.
HD8410.K57 57 1996
305.5/62/0943609043-dc20 95-48269 en»
ISBN 0521 47501 5 hardback
For my parents

Contents
List of tables page xi
Acknowledgements xii
Maps
‘Alpine and Danubian Reichsgaue*, 1939 xiii
Greater Vienna, 1939 xiv
Introduction 1
Peculiarities of Austrian historiography 1
Fascism and the working class 4
Resistance and society 9
The First Austrian Republic: society and economy 12
Aims, methods and sources 15
1 Austrian fascisms, ‘Austrofascism’ and the working class 19
Austrian politics 19
The radical Right before 1914 20
Austrian fascisms and the working class in the First Republic 26
The working class on the defensive: economic and political crisis and
the rise of fascism 1927-1933 30
Civil war and the establishment of dictatorship 1932-1934 40
Dictatorship and opposition 1934-1938 43
2 Economic integration and political opposition between
the Anschluss and the war 48
Problems of political resistance 1938-1939 50
Unkept promises and incipient disaffection: problems of economic
integration 56
Popular disappointment and developments in labour discipline 61
3 The war economy and the changing workforce
1939-1945 68
Securing a supply of foreign labour 71
Women 77
4 Work discipline in the war economy 86
War economy measures 88
Refusing to work: insubordination and breach of contract in the war
economy 93
ix
x Contents
Work discipline among foreign workers 99
Sabotage and resistance 102
5 Popular opinion and political protest in working-class
communities 109
Anti-Nazi propaganda and dissenting opinion 112
Führerbeleidigung lèse-majesté in the Third Reich 116
The litde Hitlers: people, party and protest 118
Hitler, the war and the workers 121
The standard of living and civilian morale 128
Towards demoralisation and defeat 130
A National community’? 132
Conclusion 135
Notes 142
Select bibliography 171
Index 185