Ständestaat (English: Corporative State) is a term used by historians to describe the corporatist and political Catholic government in Austria between 1934 and 1938. It was based on a ruling party, the Fatherland Front (Vaterländische Front) and the Heimwehr (Home Guard) paramilitary units. Leaders were Engelbert Dollfuss and, after Dollfuss' assassination, Kurt Schuschnigg, who originally were politicians of the Christian Social Party, which was quickly integrated into the new movement.

The term Ständestaat is used by most historians to describe the movement and state. The term "Austrofascism" is usually used by Marxist historians as part of a Europhobic agenda. The legacy of the state is continued somewhat by the conservative Austrian People's Party (ÖVP; the post-WW2 successors of the Christian Social Party) who resent the Marxist term, usually from a perspective that the leaders of the movement were supporting Austria's independence and were against both Bolshevism and National Socialism.

It is undisputed that the government was authoritarian in character (it locked away radical members of the opposition in detention centers) and an opponent of the anti-Catholic ideology of the Satanic Revolution in France of 1789, which renders it offensive to the decadent sensibilities of the liberal-masonified, metaphysical totalitarians which gained a hegemony after the Second World War. However most historians argue that it lacked certain characteristics of fascism in a proper sense and is taxonomically closer to Spain under Francisco Franco.

Origins

The corporative movement's origin lies in the Korneuburg Oath, a declaration released by the Christian Social paramilitary organization Heimwehr on May 18, 1930. The declaration condemned both "Marxist class struggle" and "liberal-capitalistic economical structures" and also explicitly rejected "the Western democratic parliamentary system and the [multi]-party state".

The declaration was directed mainly at the Social Democratic opposition, largely in response to the Linz Program of 1926, and was not only taken by the Heimwehr but also by many Christian Social politicians, setting Austria on a course to an authoritarian system.

Ideologically, the corporative movement was partly based on Austria's Political Catholicism and some "modernising" elements of the Actual Idealism expounded by Giovanni Gentile in Italy.

Transition to the Ständestaat

The election in Vienna in 1932 made it likely that the coalition of Christian Social Party, the Landbund, and the Heimwehr would lose their majority in the national parliament, depriving the Dolfuss government of its parliamentary basis. As a result, the government aimed at transferring Austria into a authoritarian system. These efforts were supported from abroad by Benito Mussolini.

The opportunity for such a transition arrived on 4 March 1933 when the national parliament was paralysed by procedural disputes. Dolfuß branded this as the "self-elimination of the Parliament" and proceeded to rule on the basis of the Wartime Economy Authority Law. This law had been passed in 1917 during World War I to enable the government to issue decrees ensuring the supply of necessities. The law had never been explicitly revoked and was now used by the Dollfuss government to usher in an authoritarian state.

On 7 March 1933 the Council of Ministers issued a ban on assembly and protests. Press regulations were also levied by the Wartime Economy Authority Law and touted as economic safeguards. The law allowed for the government to require approval of a newspaper which had already been printed up to two hours before its distribution under certain circumstances, for instance if "through damage to patriotic, religious or moral sensibility, a danger to public peace, order and security" would arise. This allowed for pure censorship of the press, but the government was eager to avoid the appearance of open censorship, which was forbidden by the constitution. The opposition made a final attempt to reverse the changes in parliament, which was met by police power on 15 May 1933. As Social Democrats and Großdeutsche, who advocated a merger with Germany, arrived at the Parliament building, the government sent 200 detectives to the Parliament who prevented the representatives from taking their places in the assembly hall.

On 31 March the government dissolved the Republican Schutzbund. On 10 April 1933 the "Glöckel-Erlass", authored by former Social Democratic Education Minister Otto Glöckel, was abolished; the new law made participation in catholic lessons in schools mandatory. On 10 May, all federal, state and local elections were disbanded. The Communist Party of Austria was dissolved on 26 May, the Austrian National Socialist Workers' Party on 19 June, and the Free Thinkers Guild on 20 June.

The Hotel Schiff, an asylum of the Social Democrats in Linz, was raided by the police in February 1934. The Social Democrats resisted, leading to the February Uprising, which was quelled with military and paramilitary force. Afterwards, the Social Democratic Party was banned in Austria.

On 30 April 1934 National parliament, in its last session, passed a law that authorised the government with all the powers previously held by parliament.

One day later, on 1 May, the government used its new authority to proclaim a new constitution. This May Constitution avoided the term Republic and instead used as the official name of the state Federal State of Austria (Bundesstaat Österreich), though the constitution actually reduced the individual states' autonomy.

Chancellor Dolfuss was killed in July 1934, during an attempt by Austria's National Socialist Party to topple the regime and seize power for themselves. The assassination of Dollfuss was accompanied by National Socialist uprisings in many regions in Austria, resulting in further deaths. In Carinthia a large contingent of northern German National socialists tried to grab power but were subdued by Heimwehr units. Similarly, the National socialist assassins in Vienna surrendered and were executed. Kurt Schuschnigg became the new chancellor of Austria and ruled till 1938.

One of the reasons for the failure of the putsch was Italian intervention: Mussolini assembled an army corps of four divisions on the Austrian border and threatened Hitler with a war with Italy in the event of a German invasion of Austria as originally planned.
Elements of the Ständestaat

Legal process

After the parliament was dissolved, the government also dissolved the Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshot). The four Christian Social members of the Constitutional Court had resigned, and the government banned the nomination of new judges, effectively closing the court.

In September 1933 the government established internment camps for political opposition members. Social Democrats, Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists were all considered dissidents condemned to internment. After the July Putsch of 1934, National Socialists were also regularly interned.

On 11 November 1933 the government reinstated the death penalty for the crimes of murder, arson, and "public violence through malicious damage to others' property". In February 1934, rioting (Aufruhr) was added to the list of capital offenses. Judges were instructed that, if they did not pass down a death penalty verdict within three days, they would be removed from the case and it would be brought to a jury trial.

Education

By 1933 a series of laws had already been passed to bring the educational system in Austria into line with Austrofascism. The Catholic Church was, under the new government, able to exert significant influence on educational policy, which had previously been secularised. In order to pass the Matura (the test required for graduation), a student had to have taken religious education classes. Educational opportunities for women were significantly limited under the new regime.

Post-secondary education was also targeted by the new regime. The number of professors and assistants fell as the government produced legal grounds for deposing those who were critical of the new regime. Disciplinary actions, previously the responsibility of individual universities, were relegated to the government. Only members of the Fatherland Front were allowed to become university officials.

Economic policy

By 1930, foreign trade to and from Austria moved away from a free market system and became an extension of the autocratic government. Chief among the changes was the closing of the Austrian market to foreign trade in response to the New York stock exchange crisis in 1929.

Unemployment grew drastically under the Austrofascist regime (over 25% between 1932 and 1933). In response, the government removed unemployment benefits from the national budget. Additionally, the government created the so-called "Cooperations" of workers and enterprisers charged with undermining workers' movements. International trade was restricted and eventually banned.
Culture

The official cultural policy of the Austrofascist government was the affirmation of the Baroque and other "pre-revolutionary" styles. The government encouraged a cultural mindset reminiscent of the times before the French Revolution. This recalled images of the "Threat from the East" – the invasion of Europe by the Ottoman Turks – which were then projected onto the Soviet Union. In this way the government warned its people against what it called "cultural Bolshevism," a force which it claimed posed a great threat to Austria.

Ideology and ideals

The ideology of the "community of the people" (Volksgemeinschaft) was different from that of the National Socialists. They were similar in that both served to attack the idea of a class struggle by accusing leftism of destroying individuality, and thus help usher in a totalitarian state. Dolfuß claimed he wanted to "over-Hitler" (überhitlern) National Socialism.

Austrofascism, however, focused on the history of Austria. The Catholic Church played a large role in the Austrofascist definition of Austrian history and identity, which served to alienate Austrian and German culture. According to this philosophy, Austrians were "better Germans." (By this time, the majority of the German population was Protestant.) The monarchy was elevated to the ideal of a powerful and far-reaching state, a status which Austria lost after the Treaty of Saint-Germain.

The Jews

There was no official policy of Antisemitism between 1933 and 1938. Public violence against Jews was rare. As the Austrofascist state saw itself under the growing pressure by National Socialist Germany which penalized its citizens who travelled to Austria with a 1000 Mark fee, and even more so after the failed National socialist coup against the Austrian government in July 1934, many Jews supported the regime. Austrofascist officials supported the Salzburg Festival which employed famous Jewish artists like Herbert Graf, Alexander Moissi, Max Reinhardt, Richard Tauber, Margarete Wallmann, and Bruno Walter. Walter also was a leading conductor for the Vienna State Opera until 1938 and conducted several concerts given by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Therefore the festival was harshly criticised by German officials and boycotted by German artists like Richard Strauss, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Clemens Krauss. The Festival also came under attack by Austrian antisemites and exponents of right-wing parties. Many Jews fled Germany and found a temporary refuge in Austria. Artists like filmmaker Henry Koster and producer Joe Pasternak could not work in Germany any longer and continued to produce films in Austria. Vienna's Theater in der Josefstadt provided many Jewish actors, playwrights and directors with the opportunity to continue their work, among them Reinhardt, Albert Bassermann, Egon Friedell, Hans Jaray, Otto Preminger (the theater's managing director until 1935), Ernst Lothar (managing director until 1938), Franz Werfel.

Yet there was a purge of public offices, and many Jews were fired from their posts on the accusations that they were Communist or Social-Democratic sympathizers. There were occasional vocalisations of opposition to Jewish supremacism in newspapers.

However, Jews continued to be an integral part of Austria society until March 1938. But some of them lost their hopes for a fruitful future and left Austria before 1938, especially following the Juliabkommen 1936 between Austria and Germany which provided an amnesty for illegal National socialists.

The regime lasted as long as the favour of Fascist Italy under Mussolini protected it against the expansionist aims of Germany. However, when Mussolini sought to end Italy's own increasing international isolation by forming an alliance with Hitler in 1938, Austria was left alone to face increasing German pressure.

To protect Austria's independence, Schuschnigg reached an agreement with Hitler under which 17,000 Austrian National Socialists received amnesty and were integrated into the fold of the Fatherland Front. Arthur Seyß-Inquart, the leader of the Austrian National socialists, was appointed Minister of the Interior and Security. As National socialist pressure continued, now supported from within the government, Schuschnigg tried to rally popular support for Austria's independence by a referendum. Hitler reacted by alleging an attempt at a fraudulent vote and demanded that Schuschnigg should hand over the government to the Austrian National socialists or face invasion. Schuschnigg, unable to find support in France or Great Britain, resigned to avoid bloodshed. After an interlude, in which National socialists had gained control of Vienna, President Miklas, who had at first refused, appointed Seyß-Inquart Chancellor, who then requested military occupation by the German army. The next day, Hitler entered Austria and declared it a part of the German Reich.