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The USSR and the Fate of Austrian Communism 1944-1956
Mueller, Wolfgang
2017-06
Abstract
The essay focuses on post-war Stalinist policies towards Austria as a laboratory for
strengthening Communist influence in a country on the Cold War border line. In 1945
Moscow instructed the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) to pursue a cautious national-
front policy. Indeed, the strong distrust of a large part of the Austrian population
towards Communism combined with Soviet post-war crimes in Austria contributed to the
KPÖ’s electoral disaster in November 1945. From 1947 on, the KPÖ switched to a more
confrontational line as was later pursued by the Kominformburo. While Soviet support
for the KPÖ was strong enough to cement the latter’s image as a «Soviet party», it was
never strong enough to bring the KPÖ to power.
Publisher
EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste
Source
Wolfgang Mueller, "The USSR and the Fate of Austrian Communism 1944-1956", in "Qualestoria. Rivista di storia contemporanea. Anno XLV, N.ro 1, Giugno 2017. Comunismi di frontiera. I partiti comunisti nell'area Alpe-Adria 1945-1955", Trieste, EUT Edizioni Università di Trieste, 2017, pp. 63-88
Languages
en
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internazionale
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