Austria

on the World Today

THE Allied Control Council building, with the four flags of the occupying authorities flying over the main entrance, stands in the center of Vienna. The four main hotels of the city belong one each to the French, the Russians, the Americans, and the British. How do the Austrians get along with the Russians? How, indeed, do tho Austrians get along with the Americans, the British, the French?

In 1943, from Moscow, the Allied powers told the world of their intention to see Austria reestablished as an independent state with political and economic security. In 1945, Russian forces liberated the country and, without consulting their allies, set up, under Dr. Karl Renner, an Austrian government. Then came the agreed four-power occupation; and in June, 1946, a new control agreement contained a pledge that all four would “assist the Austrian Government to re-create a sound and democratic national life based on stable economic and financial conditions.”

Austria would be treated as a liberated country, her only “punishment" being a subjection to certain controls reserved to the occupying powers under the agreement. These controls would give the Allied powers a voice in Austrian affairs and a responsibility for the political and economic reconstruction of the country. Otherwise, the Austrian government would have full authority to run the state. As soon as possible, a treaty would be signed and the Austrians would be left, it was hoped, in peace.

Such, then, was the general shape of an ideal plan made at a time when there were hopes of a continuing Allied unity. In practice these dreams, though they have not turned into the nightmare of a Berlin, are of the kind that come between sleeping and waking. They are the pulling out from a long sleep, the effort needed to wake, and the lying still while plans are made for the arrival of a new day.

Inside the Allied Council building, meetings take place regularly in a friendly atmosphere. The chairmanship passes by monthly rotation from one power to another. Outside, the International Sector quadripartite police car, driven by a national of the chairman of the month, is a familiar sight. There are heated arguments between ihe Allies in the streets; there are frequent “incidents" at the various zonal frontiers. Nevertheless, the machinery works.

The three Western powers are consistently trying to give over more and more control to the Austrian government and to plan economic reconstruct ion measures for ihe country as a whole. Except in matters which suit their purpose, such as currency reform, the Russians are doing all they can lo be obstructive. It is a familiar pattern.

The East-West intercourse

The division of Austria into four zones interferes with the free flow of goods and services between the eastern and western sections of the country and is generally discouraging to over-all economic planning. Some of the most important resources and enterprises in eastern Austria cannot be counted as coming within the Austrian economy. The Russians claim these properties as German assets under the Potsdam Agreement and have brought a large number of them into a big industrial corporation under their aegis (Administration of Soviet Controlled Industries in Austria).

Of these the most important is oil. All of Austria’s very large resources of production and refining are in Russian hands. The Russians claim to give the Austrians their due, but actually they have not done so. Next comes food. The Austrians would eat better if the Russians allowed releases from their zone into the western zones.

The Russians have a strangle hold on Austrian communications. Shortly after the war ended, the occupying armies, for security reasons, had to take over communications; and agreements were made prohibiting international communications and centralizing control in Vienna. As in so many other instances, the Western powers now find themselves bound to agreements, made in good faith, which have turned out to be handicaps.

Telephone and telegraph communications si ill do not exist between Austria and Germany. There is full censorship over international telephone and telegraph messages. The Russians can — and do — summarily terminate wire communications between their zone and the rest of Austria. The construction of new lines can be done only with Allied (read Soviet) approval. The use of circuits by private subscribers, and even the Austrian police, is subject to Allied (Soviet) approval. The use of wire circuits from Vienna by the Western powers depends upon Soviet approval. All international mail to and from Vienna is censored and the Russians maintain major unilateral censorship installations in the city.

The Western powers would like a flat turn-over to the Austrian government of all communications except those needed for military purposes. The Russian aim is to restrict to a minimum the intercourse with Western Europe and to censor such communications as they are not able to stop.

Going my way ?

Another problem is the grimly long list of Russian abductions, one of the worst of which occurred in June, when Chief Inspector Anton Marek, a senior official of the Ministry of the Interior and only two ranks below the level of Minister, was kidnaped by the Russian secret police. Western proposals that arrests of Austrian officials should become the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior, who would hold the accused until the Allied powers could act on their cases, meet with the blank refusal of the Soviet authorities. They would agree, they say, if the Allied Council could be allowed full control over all Austrian federal officials.

There cannot be much love lost between the Austrians and the Russians. Apart from everything else, it is a bitter thing for a cultured people to be overrun by an uncultured people. It is said that Generalissimo Stalin’s greatest mistake has been to let the Russians see Europe and Europe see the Russians. As far as all four powers are concerned, a local saying of the Austrians best sums up their feelings: “The Russians rape, the French seduce, the Americans buy, and the British marry.”

Against such a background Dr. Karl Renner and his government are maintaining a clean record of internal stability, resistance to Communism, support of democratic reconstruction, and devotion to national independence.

There are two main political parties in Austria which divide power almost equally between them. Both the People’s Party, largely Catholic, and the Socialist Party have deep roots and their dominance could be shaken only by the blast of a sharp deterioration in the economic situation. The Communist Party is small and has no significant effect on the policies of the government.

Belonging to one or the other of the two parties, the members of the government stand fearless against Russian pressure, and despite the ten-year gap in administrative experience they are doing a fine job of putting their country on its feet.

The men responsible

The President, Dr. Renner, was leader of the Peace Delegation at St. Germain in 1919 and can look back on a long life of public service, He is a wise man, straightforward, and given to saying what he means. Oskar Helmer, the Minister for Internal Affairs, was hunted by the Gestapo from 1938 onwards; and while fighting was going on near Vienna, he was building up a government for Lower Austria. He, too, has the courage of his convictions.

Leopold Figl, the Chancellor, is only forty-six. He is a descendant of one of the oldest peasant families in Austria and can claim to have held land there since 1573. For five and a half years during the war he was dragged from one concentration camp to another. Dr. Adolph Schärf, the ViceChancellor, and Dr. Peter Krauland, the Minister of Reconstruction and Economic Planning, were also imprisoned at various times.

Youngest is the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Karl Gruber, who was born thirty-nine years ago in Tyrol. During the war he did some remarkable work for the Allies in Germany and founded resistance groups which spread to Austria. In ihc spring of 1945 he took charge of this work in Tyrol. He has great personal courage and ability. These men are representative of the leaders of a country whose existence as an independent state is an essential element of European stability.

The turn for the better

Because of war and occupation — which, especially in the Russian zone, means a continuing heavy drain on the country’s resources — the level of Austrian agriculture and industry is low. These economic conditions have caused unrest and discontent among the people, a situation which the Communists have not failed to use for attacks on the government. On the other side of the picture, the Federation of Trade-Unions, representing the 1,120,000 organized workers in Austria, has stood firm behind the government.

Everyday living conditions have taken a turn for the better. The daily ration has gone up from 1700 calorics in November, 1947, to 2200 calories. Farm produce is piled high and sells at reasonable prices in the market places. The currency has been stabilized; houses are being rebuilt and historic monuments restored.

Austrians yodel again

The ebullient spirits of the Austrians have always found expression in singing and dancing. Skiing in winter and swimming in summer are part of daily life. Now, they can do them on fuller stomachs. Austrians realize, however, that just, as the world-famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Vienna State Opera must work hard to reach their prewar standard, so the Austrian people must do their part to put their country on a sound economic basis. They cannot rely forever on foreign aid.

Because the re-establishment of the tourist trade is vitally important to Austria, refurbishing is going on all over the western part of the country. By next spring towns and villages will once again show gaily painted houses garlanded with flowers.

Imports of food and livestock amount to 12 percent more than they did before the war. To reduce these and make way for the purchase of badly needed raw materials, domestic deliveries must increase. One of the country’s most important economic tasks, therefore, is to restore its agricultural production and ensure that the full amount consistent with the producers’ legitimate needs is delivered by the farmers.

Austria’s natural resources include iron and other mineral ore deposits, valuable petroleum, large timber and water-power reserves. These are supported by coal imports, which are financed largely from foreign assistance and stand now at the high level of 400,000 tons of hard coal equivalent a month. As a result, heavy industry production is about 20 per cent above what it was in 1937. The lighter industries still have very far to go to do as well. Hydroelectric power capacity at present is 35 per cent greater than it was in 1937.

Exports and barter

Austrian exports are going up steadily but with a corresponding increase in imports. Switzerland is buying more, but7 trade with Germany and Poland, except for coal imports, is far below the pre-war level.

Trade with the Soviet-controlled countries is lower than pre-war, though this is less apparent in the case of imports, which, during the first six months of 1948, amounted to 30 per cent of all Austrian commercial imports as against 40 per cent in 1937.

This was due to large imports of coal from Poland and czechoslovakia against hard dollars. Exports have dropped from 33 per cent to 19 per cent. But the over-all pattern of Austrian exports has not changed much: the percentage of exports of finished items in 1948 was 70, compared with 65 per cent in 1937.

The dollar shortage and the weak bargaining position of a small country have forced Austria into bilateral trading. She has no fewer than fourteen trade agreements. Two (with Bulgaria and Italy) are based on barter only, two (with Switzerland and Bizonia) on bilateral clearing.

The rest (with Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Lolland, Hungary, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Poland, Czechoslov akia, and eventually, when the recently initialed agreement becomes effective, Yugoslavia) are mixed, allowing for both barter and clearing. A certain shift from bilateral to multilateral trade is expected under EGA auspices among the member countries.

Settle the treaty

Considering the present international trade situation, Austria’s foreign trade is moving the right way. Bui Austria must have enough foreign help to permit the import of the materials and equipment she so urgently needs. Given it, she should be in a position to export surpluses of electric power, petroleum products, iron and steel products, textiles, paper, and chemicals.

A peace treaty for Austria would strengthen the government’s hand by removing the economic burden and political interference of occupation. Then Austria could become an independent nation not relying on foreign aid, and with an acceptable standard of living.