The Republikanischer Schutzbund (, SchB; ) was an Austrian paramilitary organisation established in 1923 by the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria to defend the Austrian RepublicCompare: in the face of rising political radicalisation after World War I. The Schutzbund, whose membership peaked at about 100,000 men in 1925, was armed and organised on military lines. In the July Revolt of 1927 it worked with government authorities to try to prevent the spread of violence, but it largely sat out the Pfrimer Putsch in September 1931 because it had failed so quickly.
Under the right-wing authoritarian government of Engelbert Dollfuss, the Schutzbund was banned on 31 March 1933, and the Austrian police began arresting its members and searching for weapons. When they attempted to enter the Social Democrat's headquarters in Linz on 12 February 1934 to look for arms, local Schutzbund members opened fire and sparked the Austrian Civil War. The Schutzbund was quickly defeated by the superior numbers and weaponry of the police and Austrian Army. Many Schutzbund members were arrested and nine men were executed, a number of whom were prominent in the Schutzbund. The Social Democratic Party was banned, and with it the Republikanischer Schutzbund came to an end.
History
1918–1927
Precursor organisations
Due to the political and administrative disorder in immediate post-war Austria, public safety could not be guaranteed by the state alone. In order to defend armament and other large factories against potential marauders and also to protect the general population, improvised civil police forces were formed throughout Austria. The most significant of the forces were established by the socialists in November 1918 to safeguard the founding of the First Austrian Republic.
In response to the large-scale creation of right-wing militias, the workers’ militias () were maintained after the re-establishment of basic public order. They formed the organisational core of the later Schutzbund.
In 1920, the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SDAPÖ) officially sanctioned the merger and extension of the various workers’ militias into a single unified, but for the time being unarmed, militia. The decision was a response to the dangers posed by the new Horthy government in Hungary and the right-wing "gangs crossing the border from Bavaria". In the clashes with Hungarian militiamen over the status of Burgenland, the consolidated workers’ militia received arms from the Austrian state.
Development
In 1921, Julius Deutsch of the SDAPÖ – who had previously been Austrian minister for the army – pushed for the development of Austria's only fundamentally unified workers’ militia into a consolidated and properly organised party militia. After intra-party talks, Deutsch in 1922 proposed the creation of a Republikanischer Schutzbund, which was officially registered with the federal government as an association in 1923.
During the four years of development of socialist militia activities, armaments and degree of military organisation were the most controversial questions discussed by the socialists. Most in favour of regular arms for the Schutzbund were the Communists. Despite its relative unpopularity, the Communist Party of Austria still had influence in various workers’ organisations, among others those tasked with the development of the Schutzbund. Julius Deutsch likewise favoured consistent armament, although he attempted to delay it in 1923 due to potential complications with the Entente powers over re-armament questions. Despite confiscations of weaponry by the Entente and some arms sales for funds, the consolidated workers’ militia in 1921 possessed roughly 26,000 rifles, 225 machine guns, 2.5 million rounds of ammunition and several artillery pieces.
The years from 1923 to 1927 saw various clashes between the main political actors of the time and their paramilitaries – socialists with the Schutzbund and the conservative Christian Social Party with the Heimwehren (Home Guards) or other paramilitary organisations. The Austrian National Socialists also grew in importance, clashing with both socialists and Christian conservatives.
July Revolt of 1927
Immediate background
The small town of Schattendorf in the recently annexed, previously Hungarian state of Burgenland had been the site of several violent clashes between socialists and conservatives. Particularly after 1926, Hungarian irredentists and land-owning farmers, representing a significant share of local conservatives, clashed on a regular basis with the majority of the population sympathising with the socialists, who were mostly factory workers and peasants. In January 1927, Schutzbund members from Schattendorf confronted members of the right-wing and Heimwehr-associated Front-line Fighters' Association (), which led to a minor skirmish. After it had died down and both parties were leaving, members of the shot from ambush at the Schutzbund members, wounding five and killing two – a six-year old boy and an adult war veteran.
The murders of Schattendorf, as they were known, led to protests across all of Austria, particularly in Vienna, where they climaxed in a brief strike.
The Revolt
Three men were charged with murder in Schattendorf and tried before a jury. The three, locals of Schattendorf, considered their actions to be self-defence against alleged gunshots coming from the Schutzbund members. The jury acquitted the three on all counts.
The socialists had originally introduced and popularised the concept of jury trials as part of their political programme and considered it propagandistically unwise to organise a formal protest against the verdict. As a result, while news of the acquittal led to immediate protests across Vienna in the early hours of 15 July 1927, they were spontaneous and unplanned. The protests were later unwittingly directed by police riot control action to the Palace of Justice, where the protests reached their height. Given its lack of interest in organising a protest, party leadership had not activated the Schutzbund in advance. It was called to action when it was clear that large masses of workers had filled the streets to take part in the protest and when the Viennese police asked them for help. At that point, the majority of Schutzbund members received an order to mobilise, although some refused the order and remained part of the protesting masses. By 1 PM, roughly 2,400 Schutzbund men had arrived at the scene, armed and in uniform, where they faced tens of thousands of protesters.
The Schutzbund, together with Vienna's mayor Karl Seitz and Theodor Körner, chair of the Federal Council, attempted to pacify the masses in order to prevent further violence. After the Palace of Justice was set ablaze, Schutzbund members successfully opened a corridor among the protesters to make way for firefighters and saved a few dozen guards from the flames.
Eventually, Viennese police chief Johannes Schober ordered the police to open fire on the protesters. 84 were killed and more than one thousand wounded, including 11 dead and 34 wounded among the Schutzbund.
1927–1934
Immediately following the July Revolt and further militarisation of right-wing militias, SDAPÖ leadership recognised the need for Schutzbund reforms in order to guarantee its military capabilities. Party leadership instituted a reform committee – among its members were Julius Deutsch, Otto Bauer and Theodor Körner – to work out a concrete reform programme. The lack of discipline among the Schutzbund men was a particular problem, and Körner forced strict military discipline for the post-reform Schutzbund. As Deutsch said, the Schutzbund was finally to become the "guard of the party and the trade unions". Körner from then on opened Schutzbund meetings not in a comradely way, but by ordering "Attention!"
New Schutzbund recruits had to sign a declaration of commitment and swear an oath, candidates were screened more thoroughly, and they were required to have been members of the party for at least two years. “Technical” (military) and administrative organisation were strictly divided, as was common in militaries. The Schutzbund also received a more stringent hierarchy consisting of groups, platoons, companies and battalions in ascending order by members. Körner was appointed one of the lead strategists of the Technical Committee and Rudolf Löw as his secretary. Alexander Eifler was appointed commander of all Schutzbund formations in Vienna.
Pfrimer putsch
In the years following the July Revolt, there was a lessening of the constant threat of violence under which Austrian politics had existed. The Heimwehr went through a period of stagnation, even organisational degeneration. Despite their unity on some central ideals, the movement had always been relatively heterogeneous and riddled with strife. Following various unsuccessful attempts at furthering their influence on Austrian politics as well as the temporary resignation of long-time, more moderate Heimwehr leader Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg, Walter Pfrimer, a radical Tyrolean Heimwehr leader, felt that a coup akin to Mussolini's March on Rome was necessary to realise the political aims of the Heimwehr. The result was the in 1931. The coup attempt started in the evening of 12 September 1931, when some 14,000 Heimwehr men spread out across most of Styria, arresting mayors and public officials. In order to replicate the March on Rome, Pfrimer and 600 more Heimwehr men made their way to Amstetten, after which they planned to march to Vienna. They were easily stopped by the Austrian Armed Forces in Amstetten and arrested.
SDAPÖ and Schutzbund leadership were informed of the coup attempt shortly after the Army and police, which allowed the Schutzbund to mobilise its forces in Styria as quickly as possible. Party leadership, however, ordered the Schutzbund not to use force against the putschists, as they were already reported to be retreating.
The coup attempt was easily repelled, most putschists were able to return to their homes and received only mild punishments for their participation. Pfrimer fled Austria for a few months.
The Austrian Civil War of 1934
Background
The climax of the Schutzbund as a party paramilitary was the Austrian Civil War that lasted from 12 to 15 February 1934. It was the prime type of situation for which the Schutzbund had originally been organised.
The Austrian political situation had become more divided in the two years preceding the Civil War. The Pfrimer putsch proved socialist fears that the Heimwehr movement was not just theoretically but also practically willing to stage a coup. Likewise, the mild response by Federal Army and police forces had shown a clear lack of willingness from the conservative Austrian government to oppose such actions decisively. Emil Fey, the radical Viennese Heimwehr leader, stated in an interview in February 1932 that a new coup was in the works, this time originating from Vienna, which would force the current government either to accept their conditions for political change or to resign. Heimwehr leaders were called into government by Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in May 1932. Emil Fey assumed the post of Minister for Public Security in early 1933, which gave him control of the Austrian police and gendarmerie. At the same time, the Heimwehr was declared an “assistant force” to the Austrian police and army.