[Annex]
Establishment of Self-Government for
Austria
a.—administrative reconstruction
1. When a tripartite Allied Commission is established in Vienna one
of its tasks will be to build up an Austrian administrative machine
as rapidly as possible. It will be recalled that there is now
virtually no central Austrian administration and that the
Reichsgaue, into which the country is divided for purposes of civil
administration, are governed directly from Berlin. The
reconstruction of effective forms of political life in Austria, and
the establishment of an Austrian Government, will be dependent upon
the prior establishment of an efficient administrative machine. As
this machine is built up, direct administration by the Allied
Commission would give place to indirect control, and this control
would be relaxed as rapidly as conditions allowed in order to
encourage Austria to attain her independence. A new stage of control
would begin when an Austrian Government was established.
b.—provisional government
2. The establishment of a fully representative Austrian Government
will raise difficult problems. It will be essential that elections
to a constitutent assembly should be held as soon as practicable,
and that they should be conducted by Austrians and not by the
Allies. It is for Austrians, under Allied supervision, to undertake
such matters as the compilation or revision of electoral registers
and to decide the method of election. For this task an Austrian
administrative machine will be inadequate; there will be need for
some kind of provisional Austrian Government, taking the form
perhaps of a Committee of Liberation. To find a body of Austrians in
whom sufficient confidence will be felt may not prove an easy
task.
3. It is impossible to predict what will be the exact complexion of
the Austrian political situation immediately after the collapse of
enemy resistance. But it appears in any case desirable that the
Allied representatives should, as soon as possible after the
establishment of an Austrian administrative machine, encourage the
formation, on a provisional and ad hoc basis,
of an Austrian coalition body to act as a kind of National Committee
of Liberation. The method of constituting this Committee must depend
upon prevailing conditions. If political life revives quickly, all
political parties in Austria should be required to nominate
representatives to a National Committee. The membership should be
roughly proportionate to the strengths of the parties as far as
these can be ascertained. Recognition on a provisional basis would
be accorded to this Committee, which would act as a stop-gap and
prepare general elections under Allied supervision.
[Page 480]
4. If, however, there is something approaching a political vacuum,
more positive action will be required on the part of the Allied
representatives. The Allied representatives may well find it
necessary themselves to determine to a greater or lesser extent the
constitution of a National Committee. Nominees might be sought
either from among seemingly qualified political leaders and party
representatives or from among the heads of the Civil Service in the
reconstituted central administrative machine, or perhaps by a
combination of the two.
5. Whatever the process by which the National Committee is nominated,
particular regard should be paid to two major factors:—
- (a)
- Every effort should be made to ensure that the National
Committee is an adequate coalition body, particularly in
order to minimise the danger that renewed political activity
might take the form of a revival of that cleavage between
the urban and rural populations which so sharply conditioned
Austrian politics between 1918 and 1938. The occupying
authorities may be faced with an Austrian political body
claiming to represent the nation, but in fact representing
only one or other of the traditional groups. To recognise
such a body as a national authority might well prove fatal
to the unity of the new Austria.
- (b)
- During the initial process of constituting a National
Committee it will be preferable to draw upon Austrians who
have been resident in Austria rather than upon returned émigrés.
c.—general elections
6. The advantages of holding an early general election for a
constituent assembly as the basis for a representative Austrian
Government are obvious. In no other way could the new free and
democratic Austria be born. A long period of authoritarian rule,
whether by an Allied commission or by a nominated body of Austrians
under Allied control, would damp democratic ardour and offer
opportunity for the emergence of crypto-fascists and other
undesirable elements, not excluding pan-Germans.
7. Thus, general elections should be held as soon as possible, but
some delay will be inevitable in view of the practical limitations
which will exist, e.g.:—
- (a)
- Detailed preparations for general elections throughout
Austria can only be undertaken after a National Committee
has been constituted.
- (b)
- Time will be needed in which to compile even approximately
accurate electoral registers. Very many Austrians, primarily
those serving in the German army, are dispersed abroad. And
there are the Germans in Austria to be combed out.
- (c)
- It is desirable to purge Austria as far as possible of
Nazi influence before elections are held.
- (d)
- It may well be that Austrian political life and the
reconstitution of political parties will not be far enough
advanced to enable general elections to be held promptly and
in a satisfactory manner.
[Page 481]
d.—local government
8. While provisional arrangements are being made at the centre with
the formation of a central National Committee, it should be possible
to begin building from below, from the lowest level of the commune
(Gemeinde).
9. The local population should be encouraged to take an active part
in the reconstitution of its communal life. In most cases it will
probably be necessary in the first place to reconstitute the
communal councils and administrations, partially at least, by direct
nomination on a provisional and ad hoc basis.
This nomination would ideally be made by the local inhabitants by
whatever process was locally practicable and acceptable, subject to
confirmation by Allied authority. If the process of nomination were
to approximate to a rough-and-ready election, so much the better.
(Uniformity of procedure in communes would not be essential.) But in
practice it may well be that in many cases the Allied authority will
have to nominate the provisional communal or urban councils.
10. These provisional communal pr urban councils would as far as
possible approximate to local committees of liberation in liberated
territories. The functions of the provisional communal
administration would be broadly twofold:
- (a)
- the maintenance and, where necessary, reform of communal
administration in accordance with any general directions
from Allied authority,
- (b)
- the preparation of regular communal elections and in
particular of local electoral registers.
11. Many of the obstacles to early general elections would also apply
to regular communal elections, but probably in lesser degree, and to
this extent it might be possible to hold local elections throughout
Austria before general elections. If this were practicable it would
be desirable, and in this case it is possible that some system might
be devised whereby the elected communal councils might nominate
representatives to form a provisional national assembly alongside
the National Committee.
e.—provincial government
12. In the federal State of republican Austria, provincial (Lander)
administrations and assemblies stood between those on the communal
and national levels; there were no assemblies on the level of the
districts (now called Kreise, but known up to
1938 as Verwaltungsbezirke), which were only
subordinate units of administration. Under German administration the
provinces have become Reichsgaue without
undergoing any very radical territorial modification.
13. The Allied authorities will need to ensure the continued
functioning of provincial administrative machinery, and it may well
prove
[Page 482]
advantageous that
provincial administrations should be headed by-provincial committees
of Austrians. These provincial committees would probably have to be
constituted in the first place in much the same way, mutatis mutandis, as the central National
Committee; they would be coalition bodies nominated ad hoc, preferably by Austrian party
organisations, but not improbably with more or less active Allied
participation. In the provinces, as at the centre, it will be
important not to grant recognition to bodies claiming a
representative character which they do not in fact possess.
14. Some such ad hoc procedure for
constituting provincial committees would be necessary if, as appears
probable, the limitations on early provincial elections are much the
same as in the case of national elections. It will be necessary to
decide whether provincial committees should prepare forthwith for
regular provincial elections or whether the question of these
elections should be postponed for settlement by the Austrian
constituent assembly. This decision must largely depend upon
conditions prevailing in the Austrian provinces after Allied
occupation.
f.—conclusions
15. The conclusions are:—
- (a)
- The Allied representatives should take steps as soon as
possible after the establishment of an Austrian
administrative machine to secure the formation on a
provisional and ad hoc basis of an
Austrian National Committee of all parties to act as a
stop-gap and prepare general elections under Allied
supervision.
- (b)
- Members of the National Committee should preferably be
nominated by the Austrian political parties. If, however,
there is something approaching a political vacuum, the
Allied representatives may well find it necessary themselves
to determine the constitution of the committee to a greater
or lesser extent.
- (c)
- It will be particularly desirable that the National
Committee should be an adequate coalition body in view of
the previous cleavage between the urban and rural
populations of Austria. It will be important to try to
prevent a revival of this cleavage, and care should be taken
not to grant recognition to any body claiming a
representative character which it does not in fact
possess.
- (d)
- During the initial process of constituting a National
Committee it will be preferable to draw upon Austrians who
have been resident in Austria rather than upon returned émigrés.
- (e)
- Detailed preparations for general elections throughout
Austria can only be undertaken after a National Committee
has been constituted. Despite the practical limitations
which will inevitably cause delay, free elections to a
constituent assembly should be held as soon as they can be
arranged. They should be conducted by Austrians, not by the
Allies.
- (f)
- Simultaneously with the provisional constitution of a
National Committee at the centre, arrangements should be
made for the emergence of democratic local government.
Provisional communal councils
[Page 483]
should be constituted and they should
make preparations for communal elections.
- (g)
- It may well prove advantageous that provisional committees
be constituted at the head of provincial administrations.
The provincial committees should be constituted in the same
way, mutatis mutandis, as the
National Committee. The holding of provincial elections had
best be reserved for decision in the light of conditions
prevailing after Allied occupation.
