1950 Austrian general strikes

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The Austrian General Strikes of 1950 were organised by the Communist Party of Austria with half-hearted support of the Soviet occupation authorities. In August–October 1950 Austria faced a severe social and economic crisis caused by anticipated withdrawal of American financial aid and a sharp drop in real wages. Negotiations between the government and the trade unions stalled, and on September 26 the Communists launched the first general strike. A total of 120 thousand industrial workers walked out of factories, disrupted railroad traffic and harassed government officers. Austrian government, the Socialists and trade unions defused the situation and on September 27 the Communists backed off. The second strike of October 4–5, limited to Vienna and Soviet-occupied Lower Austria, also ended in a humiliating defeat.

The Soviet support to Austrian Communists was limited to the disruption of police action and provision of trucks for moving communist agents. The British and American occupation forces provided only moral support to the Austrian government. All former allies left use of force. No one was killed but dozens of police officers and civilians were injured in street fights.

The strikes of 1950 are routinely called a putsch^[1] but actual goals of the Communists remain unknown. According to contemporary American press, the August strikes were "the most widespread and potentially dangerous since the end of World War II".^[2] Historians agreed: "the developing strike was the most dangerous since the end of the war" (Bader),^[3] "few Cold War confrontations in Austria were more potentially explosive than the Communist-inspired strikes of September and October 1950" (Williams).^[4]