Social Unrest or ’’Attempted Red Revolution“? The Austrian General Strikes 1950 and the Role of Soviet Secret Services as Seen by British Intelligence in Austria

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article deals with the strikes and protests in occupied Austria in September and October 1950 and the view of British intelligence on them. As one of the four occupation powers, the British side monitored these events quite closely. Its intelligence services drew special attention to the question if these strikes were supported and used by the Soviet forces in Austria to cause public unrest or maybe even political changes. For them, the worker’s protests had the potential to become another conflict in the already present Cold War. Based on existing studies on the strikes and archival material on British intelligence services in Austria at that time, the article analyzes British estimations available and how they estimated the situation and role of the protest movement.