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Wolfgang Mueller
Stalin, Renner and the Soviet part in the re-establishment of political structures in Austria in April/May 1945
Keywords: Stalin, Karl Renner, Österreich, Kommunistische Partei Österreichs, Sowjetische Besatzungsmacht
On the basis of recently discovered Soviet archival records this article re-assesses the plans and measures of the Soviet and the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) for the re-establishment of political structures in Austria after World War II. In the first phase of Soviet operations in April 1945, Stalin ordered Dimitrov to send an “initiative group” of Austrian communists to their country in order to gain political influence there. Another measure envisaged to strengthen communist influence was that other political parties should be prevented from becoming active until the Allied Commission on Austria was set up. Only then was a provisional government to be formed that was to include all anti-fascist democratic parties. When the Red Army entered Austria, it started to set up local administrations consisting mainly of communists. It was only due to the appearance of the veteran social democrat Karl Renner and his offer to re-establish a government that Stalin started the second phase of political action in which a popular front was to be created. The Soviet high command in Austria licensed political parties and Renner to form a provisional government consisting of social democrats, conservatives and communists. Although his cabinet looked like one of the Soviet-installed popular front governments in Eastern Europe, Renner had created several mechanisms that limited communist power. In the first Austrian elections after World War II, the communists suffered a crushing defeat.
Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag
Print ISSN: 0042-5702
Volume: 54, 01/2006
Pages: 125 - 154