Squarely on the shoulders of Dr. Dollfuss lies the responsibility for the blood now being shed in Austria.
It has been obious for some time that neither Great Britain nor Italy would have the courage openly to support Austria in her fight against Nazi encroachment.
Wise policy called for acceptance of the Socialist willingness, and the willingness of the Premier’s own Christian Socialist Party, to enter into a broad united front with all the democratic parties to save Austria from the Nazis and Fascism.
Dr. Dollfuss, skillful in the past, made a grave mistake. He chose to lean on the weak and untrustworthy reed of the Heimwehr…. Heimwehr victory would merely bring Nazi control of Austria that much mearer. With the grim experience of Germany in mind, it seems better to Austrian liberals and workers to die on the the barricades than in the concentration camps of a Nazi Austria.
Their battle is Europe’s battle against brown shirt barbarism.
New York Evening Post.
FED NORDICS
Vienna, which is about all there is left of Austria, is a big city, with mearly two million inhabitants, one-seventh of them of the race-Hungarians, who once race. Hungarians, who once boasted of their descent from Arpad’s legions that came conquering from Asia, also Czechs, Spaniards, Slovaks and all sorts from the Balkans, Few of the socalled “Nordics” live in Austrian territory that Hitler seems deterined to annex; 250,000 Austrian Jews will wish for Dollfuss’ success in his fight to prevent seizure of the government by Socialists, and to prevent Hitler bringing Austria under the rule of his Nazi swastika.
AUSTRIA GOES FASCIST
If ever civil war was meedless that in Austria is the most futile. A weak and bysterical government, frightened by the Nazi treason which it was too cowardly to combat, turned its artillery instead on the workers loyal to the republic. To keep out Hitler, Dolfuss tried to outdo HItler.
Doubtless Great Britain and France, now that the damage is done, will go through the motions of supporting Austria when she brings her case against Germany before the League of Nations. But the real battle has been won by Hitler before it starts. His aim was to destroy democracy in Austria, and he has maneuvred Dollfuss into doing it for him.
Belated gestures by the Powers, or resolutions by the League which they dominate, are not likely to change that tragic fact.
A LESSON
The revolution in Austria proves merely that the Austrian Socialists have learned a lesson from the events in Germany. In Germany the Social Democratic party waited until it was too late to put up a defense, and paid dearly for it. The Austrian Social Democrats, seeing what happened to their comrades in Germany,elected to fight on barricades rather than be sent away to concentration camps…proving that they and …courage-two qualities which the German Social Demorcrats lacked…
It may be said that the revolution in Austria saved the prestige and the influence of Socialism all over the world…The liberals of all the world, of course, wish this uprising the greatest possible measure of success. But even if the revolution should end in defeat…it would not detract from the heroic nature of the Socialist attempt in Austria…
The Jewish leaders of the Socialist Party in Austria there can be no doubt, will certainly exhibit unusual fighting spirit. They know that they are fighting not only for the working class, not only for the freedom of the masses, but also for themselves and for all the Jews of the land. In Austria more than anywhere else the fate of the Jewish community depends ## on the success of the progressive forces…
The Day, New York.
GERMAN DEBTS
An American correspondent in Berlin reports that Germany pays its propagandists in this country. If this be the case, it is the first sign of Germany’s willingness to pay her debts if not to, then at least in, the United States.
Jewish Morning Journal New York.
DOLLFUSS TO BLAME
…The Sociatist workers of Austria are determined to die on the barricades, fighting for freedom, rather than let themselves be suppressed and incarcerated in the concentration camps of a Fascist Austria.
The general strike and the armed revolt were forced upon the Austrian workers by the reactionary Dollfuss government. The entire responsibility for the rivers of blood which have been spilled and which yet will be spilled in Austria rests exclusively upon Dollfuss and his aides…
To the last moment the Social Democratic Party refrained from giving the signal for a general strike and an armed revolt, for it wisher not only to fght but also to win.
Jewish Daily Forward.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
