March 23, 1934, Page 1

TALK ON COMMUNIST
AND SOCIALIST VIEWS
OF AUSTRIAN STRIKE

T. Draper and G. Tyler Speak
      At Social Science Club
              Symposium

        Gus Tyler of the Young Peoples' Socialist League and Theodore Draper, former president of the club, discussed socialist and communist interpretations of the Austrian situation at the Symposium on Austria held by the Social Science Club on Wednesday.

          Mr. Tyler defended the socialist leaders of Austria by saying that they had prepared the Austrian workers to fight, buying them guns and ammunition, and urging them to revolt. He said that the slogan of the Social-Democratic party of Austria was,"We will go down, but not without a fight."

          Mr. Draper pointed out that the general strike in Linz which precipitated the uprising was called by a committee which had no organizational connections with the Social Democratic Party. He cited the mass support of communist activity in Linz long before the February revolt and quoted Otto Bauer's statement on his attempt to prevent the Linz workers from revolting. Mr. Draper quoted from a history written by Otto Bauer, the theoretical leader of the Austrian socialists, in which Bauer claimed that in 1919, the Austrian Soviets were put down by the Volkswehr, a socialist controlled militia, and commented on Bauer's assertion that if the Austrian socialist leaders had not been jailed in 1934 they would have been able to quiet that revolt, too.

          Mr. Joseph Cohen, in the discussion that followed, said that "When Austrian socialists mounted the barricades, they ceased to be socialists and became communists and bolsheviks, since social-democracy consists of a peaceful road to socialism."

          Dorothy Sapan, president of the club, announced that Professors Thomas E, Coulton and Jesse D. Clarkson will speak on War at the next meeting in room 301L next Wednesday at noon.

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May 20, 2004