$Unique_ID{COW00222} $Pretitle{376} $Title{Austria Chapter 1. General Character of the Society} $Subtitle{} $Author{Eugene K. Keefe} $Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army} $Subject{austria republic war first austrian social spo empire world government} $Date{1976} $Log{Vienna*0022201.scf } Country: Austria Book: Austria, A Country Study Author: Eugene K. Keefe Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army Date: 1976 Chapter 1. General Character of the Society [See Vienna: Courtesy Embassy of Austria, Washington DC.] The modern Republic of Austria (Republik Osterreich) is a direct descendant of the Habsburg empire, which collapsed in 1918. The republic that was established at the end of World War I and later referred to as the First Republic, survived as an independent state for only twenty years; in March 1938 Adolf Hitler annexed Austria, beginning the seven-year period known as Anschluss (union with Germany). In a 1943 meeting of the foreign ministers of the principal allies-the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States-Austria was recognized as a victim of nazi aggression, albeit with a reminder of its participation in the war on the side of the Germans. The Allies declared their intention to liberate Austria and see it reestablished as a free and independent state. When liberation came in the spring of 1945, the Republic of Austria (the Second Republic) was reestablished, but it was also occupied by American, British, French, and Soviet military forces and remained so until 1955. Vienna, the capital, was under quadripartite control all during the occupation. Until World War I the people of Austria were citizens of a large multinational empire of which their capital, Vienna, was the symbolic center and the Habsburgs the hereditary rulers. From the year 1278 a member of the Habsburg family had ruled Austria, and for much of that time the Habsburg ruler of Austria was also emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Anticipating by two years the demise of that peculiar confederation of German states that called itself holy and Roman and empire and, by definition, was not any of the three, Emperor Franz II proclaimed himself hereditary emperor of Austria in 1804. Two years later the Holy Roman Empire expired, but Franz II had ensured the continuity of Habsburg rule in Austria. After defeat in a short war against Prussia in 1866, Emperor Franz Josef I agreed to the Compromise (Ausgleich) of 1867 by which the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary was created. The long-lived Franz Josef I who reigned from 1848 until his death in 1916, was concurrently emperor of Austria and king of Hungary. The last Habsburg ruler of Austria-Hungary was Karl I, who succeeded Franz Josef I in the midst of World War I and renounced the throne on November 11, 1918, one day before the establishment of the Republic of Austria. The twenty-year existence of the First Republic was complicated by a multitude of problems, not the least of which was the aftermath of the defeat suffered in World War I. The subsequent economic chaos seemed insurmountable; the contraction from vast empire to small republic had destroyed the former economic system, and the new Republic of Austria as well as the other successor states in Central Europe groped for new economic relationships. In addition to the economic woes that beset the people of Austria and their leaders, there was also a serious question of identity; many people questioned the validity and the viability of an independent Austria, stating that it should be united with Germany. Anschluss, however, was an action forbidden in the Treaty of Saint-Germain, by which the victorious Allies of World War I dictated the peace terms to Austria. Eventually, in 1938, Hitler overrode any arguments about Austrian identity and forcibly annexed the country, unopposed by the Austrians or by the powers that had previously forbidden Anschluss. For the next seven years Austria as an independent political entity did not appear on the map of Europe. In 1945, when Austria was liberated by the World War II Allies, the country was again enjoined to avoid any renewal of Anschluss; but in the Second Republic the voices favoring such a union were few compared to the numerous advocates during the interwar years. In the post-World War II period and particularly after the Allies drew up the Austrian State Treaty of 1955 and removed their occupation forces, the Austrians developed a sense of nationhood that had been comparatively lacking in the First Republic. Since 1955 Austria has been free, sovereign, and neutral, and its citizens, in general, take price in being Austrians rather than worrying about whether or not they should call themselves German-Austrians and accentuate their Germanness. Austria, a small state (32,375 square miles) located in south-central Europe, reverted to its prewar borders after liberation in 1945 (see fig. 1). Its neighbors are Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Italy, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), all of which have had close relations with Austria in the long course of European history. Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, known as successor states, were ruled from Vienna until the breakup of the Habsburg empire during World War I. The northern province of Italy called Alto-Adige was known to the Austrians as South Tirol and was also part of the old empire until it was ceded to Italy after World War I. Switzerland had at one time been part of the Holy Roman Empire under Habsburg rule but fought for and won independence at the end of the fifteenth century, even though that independence was not officially recognized until the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648. Germany (at the time a multitude of German states) had also been part of the Holy Roman Empire under the Habsburgs but, with the end of that confederation in 1806, the German states began a separate development and, after defeating the Habsburgs in the short Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the Germans severed the final political tie with the Habsburgs. Austria's terrain is dominated by the Eastern Alps, which cover about three-fifths of the country. The remainder consists of foothills, river valleys, and lowlands. In addition to the dominant Alps, two other European mountain ranges also intrude into the small country-if not as mountains, as highlands or foothills. These are the small part of the Bohemian massif found in northern Austria and the small stretch of the Carpathian Mountains that crosses the border from Czechoslovakia. Austria's highest peak is the Grossglockner (12,461 feet), located at the point in the Eastern Alps where the provinces of Carinthia, Salzburg, and Tirol meet. The Danube River is the most important waterway; entering the western part of the province of Upper Austria from West Germany, it traverses the country for 217 miles before exiting in the east at Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Ethnically, Austria is a very homogeneous country, particularly as compared with the multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire from which the republic was created. The two principal minority groups in the early 1970s were the approximately 25,000 Croatians of Burgenland and 20,000 Slovenians of Styria and Carinthia. Actually, the ethnic Slovenians may number three or four times that figure, but official statistics list only those who gave Slovenian as their first language rather than listing all who consider themselves ethnic Slovenians but whose first language is German. In 1974 German was spoken by over 99 percent of the population. The social structure of Austria from the late nineteenth century has been closely attuned to the development of the two major political groupings. The socialist faction appealed to generally anticlerical industrial workers, whereas the conservative faction was made up of an alliance between churchgoing farmers and small businessmen. The end of the empire brought about the disappearance of the aristocracy, which had occupied the peak of the social pyramid, but the social groupings under the socialist and conservative banners remained essentially the same. The post-World War II period witnessed a great increase in the middle class, which did not seem particularly attracted to either group. The two major postwar parties, the Socialist Party of Austria (Sozialistiche Partei Osterreichs-SPO) and the Austrian People's Party (Osterreichische Volkspartei-OVP), were forced to soft-pedal some of their ideological tenets in order to broaden their appeal. The SPO abandoned many of the anticlerical positions that had offended regular churchgoers in the past, while the OVP adopted ideas of separation of church and state in an effort to break down its strong clerical image. The result was that social distinctions in the memberships of the two parties became blurred, and the old method of categorizing the social structure according to political affiliation was no longer valid. Education, achievement, and income in Austria are more likely to be indicators of social status than political affiliation or family background. Education is the key to upward social mobility but, despite laws on equal opportunity, many children are restricted in their educational advancement because of the socioeconomic level of their parents. Children from low-income families are much less likely to continue education beyond compulsory limits than are those from middle and higher levels, despite learning abilities and potential. Education is compulsory through the first nine years; but for those who wish to go further, that is, to seek secondary or higher education, a decision must be made at the end of the fourth grade in order that the student be directed into the proper educational channel. The bulk of Austrian students leave school at the end of the compulsory period, the final year of which is devoted to vocational studies. Despite these limitations, enough students were reaching university level in the early 1970s to overload the system and cause a raising of admission standards. Because education is the means of upward social mobility, and notwithstanding the various obstacles, young people are seeking and obtaining more education than preceding generations. Austrians, German-speaking Swiss, and Germans of both Germanys constitute a cultural community bound together by a common language and a common cultural heritage. Achievements in every field of artistic and intellectual expression have been numerous and have often received worldwide acclaim. There is a difficulty, however, in labeling some of the artists as having been Austrian, German, or Swiss, and sometimes scholars are at odds as to whether or not definite separations can be made. The Nibelungenlied, one of the greatest epic poems of the Middle Ages, is often described as an example of early German literature in the same articles that attribute its authorship to an anonymous Austrian minstrel. Similarly, Walther von der Vogelweide, the great lyric poet of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, is invariably mentioned as "the great German poet," although he was Austrian born and spent his early years at the Babenberg court in Vienna. In the twentieth century the works of Franz Kafka have been referred to as German literature even though Kafka was born in Prague of Austrian-Jewish parents. In music German-born Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms lived most of their lives in Vienna. These artists, writers, and composers and many others were linked by the common thread of the German language and, in effect, they belong to the German-speaking cultural community rather than to specific national entities. Politics in Austria since the beginning of the Second Republic in 1945 have been dominated by the country's two major parties: the SPO and the OVP. Austrians as well as outside observers of Austrian affairs usually refer to the OVP as conservative and the SPO as socialist but, since World War II, both parties have moved closer to the center of the political spectrum in their efforts to appeal to greater numbers of voters. In the results of general elections for the Nationalrat (National Council), both parties have usually been quite close in popular vote and in number of seats allotted under the proportional system. The only other party to be represented in the Nationalrat since the late 1950s has been the Freedom Party of Austria (Freiheitliche Partei Osterreichs-FPO, a small, right-of-center party that won 5.5 percent of the vote and ten Nationalrat seats in the election of 1971. The Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische Partei Osterreichs-KPO) had three, four, or five seats in the legislatures of the first fifteen years of the Second Republic, but in 1959 the KPO vote fell below the percentage required to win a Nationalrat seat and has remained below that percentage in all subsequent elections. For the first twenty-one years of its existence, the Second Republic was governed by successive coalitions of the OVP and the SPO; both parties were determined to set aside the old enmities-socialist versus conservative-and work together for the reconstruction of the country. The coalition was never an easy or a comfortable relationship because of the ideological differences of the partners, but the determination of each to accommodate the other proved to be stronger than the long-standing antagonisms. The country's political peace and stability under its coalition governments provided an atmosphere not only for postwar recovery but also for sustained economic growth over the entire period. When the voters gave the OVP a majority of the Nationalrat seats in the election of 1966 and Chancellor Josef Klaus formed the Second Republic's first single-party government, the political system shifted from two-party coalition to one-party administration with no political upheaval and no major change in the functioning of the government. In the regularly scheduled election of 1970, the SPO outpolled the OVP in the popular vote but did not win a majority in the Nationalrat. Rather than return to coalition politics, Chancellor Bruno Kreisky formed a minority government that ruled for the next eighteen months. Kreisky then asked for dissolution of the Nationalrat and new elections. In the ensuing election-October 1971-the SPO won 50.04 percent of the popular vote and 50.8 percent of the seats in the Nationalrat. This was the first time an Austrian party had ever won a majority of the popular vote. In early 1975 both the ruling SPO and the opposition OVP were preparing for general elections scheduled for October. The presidency of the Second Republic has been an SPO preserve since World War II. Karl Renner, the seventy-five-year-old highly respected socialist statesman, was elected to the post in 1945 by a unanimous vote of the Bundesrat (Federal Council) and Nationalrat meeting in joint session. (Succeeding presidents have been elected by referendum.) Renner was a former president and also chancellor of the First Republic and had headed the provisional government during the interim between the end of nazi rule in April 1945 and the first postwar election in November. After Renner's death six candidates vied for the office, but none secured the necessary majority. In a runoff in May 1951 SPO candidate Theodor Korner defeated OVP candidate Heinrich Gleissner, retaining the office in socialist hands and becoming the country's first popularly elected president. After Korner died just before the end of his term in 1957, Adolf Scharf, leader of the SPO and vice chancellor, won election over Wolfgang Denk, who had been nominated jointly by the OVP and the FPO. Scharf was reelected in 1963 but died two years later. He was succeeded by Franz Jonas, a former socialist mayor of Vienna. Because the chancellorship had been held by the OVP and the presidency by the SPO since 1945, some political observers popularized the theory that Austrian voters preferred the two top offices to be divided between the two major parties. This theory was discarded in 1970, however, when President Jonas was reelected only one year after nominating Bruno Kreisky to be Austria's first SPO chancellor. When Jonas died in office in 1974 he was succeeded by Rudolf Kirchschlager who, although not a party member, was the candidate of the SPO. Internally Austria is divided into nine provinces (Lander; sing., Land), of which Vienna, also the capital city, is the most populous. Each province is headed by a governor who is appointed by a popularly elected legislature. Most authority is constitutionally vested in the federal government, but provincial governments do have significant responsibility in the fields of health, education, and welfare. Provincial governments have recourse to the federal Constitutional Court if they believe that local prerogatives have been usurped by federal agencies. Below the province level, governmental authority is exercised by elected officials at district or community level, but their responsibilities are limited, and decisions are generally made at the federal level. Austria's foreign policy is inextricably intertwined with its policy of permanent neutrality, the maintenance of which is necessarily a factor in all dealings with other countries or with groups of countries. After gaining full sovereignty in 1955, that is, after foreign occupation forces had been withdrawn, Austria made application for membership in the United Nations (UN), indicating that its concept of neutrality did not imply isolationism or avoidance of international involvement. In fact Austria was eager for active participation in international organizations that had no military overtones. As a small state located between the East-West blocs that evolved after World War II, Austria was convinced that its independence and neutrality were best served by a foreign policy that worked toward a relaxation of tensions in Europe. In practice the country has remained active in peacemaking and peacekeeping roles and has urged use of Vienna for all kinds of international meetings and as headquarters for a great many international organizations. The economy is described by Austrians as a "social market system" in which the forces of a free market economy are tempered by government control to ensure the maintenance of an extensive social welfare system. In addition to government regulation, there is also extensive government ownership of economic enterprises. The alcohol, salt, and tobacco industries, for example, are government monopolies, and communications and transportation are almost entirely government owned and operated. In addition, about one-third of heavy industry and about three-fourths of the banking system have been nationalized. Also important in the social market economy are the roles played by the chambers of agriculture, business, and labor. The chambers are public corporations that are legally constituted to represent the interests of their constituents. Membership in the respective chambers is compulsory for all farmers, entrepreneurs, and wage and salary earners, and the chambers have a legal right and responsibility to review pending legislation that affects their areas of interest and to make recommendations to the legislature. The country's labor force of slightly over 3 million people is protected by a comprehensive plan of social insurance that began in the second half of the nineteenth century when the government enacted various labor laws to protect the working man or woman from exploitation. The system developed, and by the turn of the century Austria was a world leader in social legislation; its leadership in labor-management relations has continued to the present day. As a result there is little labor strife, and man-hours lost to strikes have been minimal. Despite problems caused by worldwide inflation and recession as well as by the energy crisis, the Austrian economy remained sound in early 1975, and the growth that had been the hallmark of the post-World War II period seemed to be continuing. The rise in the gross national product (GNP) for 1974 was higher than in any other of Europe's industrialized countries, and the rates of inflation and unemployment were held within limits considered acceptable by the authorities. Tourism, however, which Austria relies on partially to offset an unfavorable trade balance, declined during 1974 as the upward revaluation of the Austrian schilling brought higher prices and recession kept potential tourists at home. The country's policy of perpetual neutrality prohibits military alliances and restricts the armed forces to defense missions only. Austria's neutrality, like that of Sweden but unlike that of Switzerland, does not prohibit membership in the UN or the participation of Austrian units in UN peacekeeping forces. Austria's armed forces are small, numbering fewer than 40,000 men, almost 90 percent of them serving in the army and the remainder in the air force. There is no navy. About two-thirds of the entire force consists of conscripts who serve six to eight months' active duty. Direction and control of the armed forces are vested in the country's top civilian authorities. The president is titular head as commander in chief, but the chancellor presides over the National Defense Council, which is actually responsible for military policy. The minister for national defense is the chancellor's coordinating official for military matters.