Khrushchev Gets the Austrian Cold Shoulder

...In conversations with Socialist leaders he banteringly called them "Comrades...

...At Salzburg he announced that the Soviet Union would protect Austrian neutrality against "threats" from the West...

...There was a little more action among the summer tourists at the Carinthian lakes, mostly West Germans, who at least raised their cameras and took snapshots...

...This happened at Graz and it works every time...

...This might have been aimed at the European Economic Community (EEC), the "Inner Six" economic group led by France and West Germany, which Austria has not joined...

...Their flags had the white-and-red Austrian colors on one side and the Soviet hammer and sickle on the other...

...The suggestion caused great resentment and was considered a direct attempt to give Austrian neutrality an Eastern "bias...

...None of the Socialists fell into the trap of calling Khrushchev "Comrade...

...Finally, Khrushchev topped his performance by his violent outburst against Konrad Adenauer during his press conference in Vienna...

...He did exactly the same at the Renault works during his visit to France...

...In general, however, there was not much to push back in Austria...

...This announcement was the carefully prepared climax to the whole visit, a vicious threat in no way diminished by his having uttered it in private conversations with Austrian Government officials a week before (with the obvious intention of "leaking" it to the West...

...As the temper of Khrushchev's outbursts rose, so did the discomfiture of Austrian Government leaders...

...The Austrians rejected Khrushchev and Khrushchev saw it...

...At that very moment Soviet cameramen are on the spot and take the films which will later be shown to Moscow film audiences with commentary such as: "Here are brutal Austrian policemen pushing back the Austrian people who want to cheer Khrushchev...

...On the wayside, the farmers' families sat outside their houses, motionless as family portraits...

...As soon as Khrushchev had gone, Raab and other Austrian leaders became more outspoken: but by then the damage caused by their silence had already been done...

...In no country which Khrushchev has visited was the popular response so meager...

...Khrushchev Gets the Austrian Cold Shoulder In no country the Soviet Premier has visited has the popular response been so meager—and in no country has it been better shown that neutrality does not answer all problems By Joseph Friedl Vienna Premier Khrushchev's visit to Austria was harmful for international relations, a disappointment for Austrians and probably a failure for Khrushchev himself...

...There is a frenzied onrush, all the Communists want to be round their idol, and the surprised policemen, anxious to prevent Khrushchev from being crushed, push the running enthusiasts back...

...The Austrians believe that they learned in the bitter school of Soviet occupation how to deal with the Russians and imagined that because the Soviet Government agreed to sign the Austrian Treaty in 1955, it had singled Austria out once and for all to demonstrate its good will...

...Khrushchev compared Adenauer to Hitler, then threatened that if the West German Bundestag decided to meet in West Berlin in September, he might sign a peace treaty with East Germany at that time and so prevent West German members of Parliament from returning to Bonn...

...In the country it was not much better...

...Khrushchev likes to make ponderous jokes and Austrians heard enough of them...

...So when he notices a group of (safe) Communist sympathizers waving flags, he suddenly rushes past his police guards and into their midst...

...they did not speak...

...Then Khrushchev arrives and wants to meet the "man in the street...

...For various reasons the Austrians had assumed that Khrushchev would use his stay in Austria for some spectacular conciliatory gesture toward the West...

...Khrushchev started his visit with polite reference to coexistence and to Austrian neutrality, but his speeches became increasingly violent and menacing toward the West each day as his tour progressed through Austria...

...They did not wave...

...The president of the Austrian trade unions, Franz Olah, icily replied: "You may call me what you like...

...Raab is ailing and has already given up leadership of the conservative Austrian People's party...

...His visit antagonized many and proved to the world and to the Austrians themselves that neutrality does not solve all problems...

...This offended the Austrians, who think it is an essential part of neutrality for a neutral country itself to decide whether its neutrality is threatened or not...

...In spite of his apparent readiness to talk to "ordinary" people...

...Before Khrushchev comes to a country, his police chief travels ahead (in Austria it was Police General Sacharov) and fixes every detail of the security measures in agreement with local police authorities...

...At Graz Khrushchev said that participation in large economic blocs was a threat to the independence of small countries...

...But the reference was purposely phrased so vaguely that it could also include the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), the "Outer Seven" to which Austria does belong...

...This impertinent demand was understood as a request that Austria act as a Soviet stooge against Italy...

...The actual attendance was smaller...

...He called Raab "the capitalist" and when Raab protested that he was only a very small capitalist, he went on to call Raab "the small capitalist" ("which might have amused Khrushchev—but only him—because Raab is a big, burly man...

...Only in his farewell speech to Khrushchev at the Vienna airport did Raab make a faint move of defiance: He said that Khrushchev had made full use of the freedom of speech which was a part of the freedom so prized by Austrians, but that the Austrians could not agree with all Khrushchev had said...

...It was almost like a symbol of their two-faced "patriotism...

...This has proved to be an illusion...

...About three per cent of Austrian voters vote Communist and one might have assumed therefore that about three per cent of the population would have been on the streets to cheer Khrushchev...

...The rest of the onlookers were glum...

...When the Socialists failed to address him in the same way, Khrushchev said: "Then 1 must address you as Mister Comrade...

...Furthermore, the head of the Austrian coalition Government, Chancellor Julius Raab, made the mistake of accompanying Khrushchev on the entire tour, thus depriving himself of the opportunity to reply in an independent speech elsewhere...

...Khrushchev repeatedly expressed fears that as a "simple proletarian," as he called himself, he would be deceived by the "small capitalist's" cleverness...

...At the dinners they had little opportunity to dissociate themselves from Khrushchev's pronouncements, because the guest always speaks after the host...

...At Klagenfurt Khrushchev went a step further and told the Austrians that their neutrality was no mountain range behind which they could hide from world affairs...

...He may soon resign and was perhaps overanxious to share the limelight with his guest...

...He asked them to "advise" Italy to abolish Joseph Friedl, a specialist in foreign affairs who has reported from Vienna for a number of years, covered Soviet Premier Khrushchev's recent official visit to Austria...

...Khrushchev traveled in his big yellow bus followed by a dozen similar buses filled with journalists from all over the world...

...they did not smile...

...Communists simply do not play the game unless you allow them constantly to change the rules...

...Western military bases near the Austrian frontier...

...Another favorite trick of his is to run away from his police cordon to "meet the crowd...

...At the nationalized Voest steel works at Linz he was told several times that the factory belonged to the Austrian state, yet he referred to the directors as "capitalists...

...At some street corners groups of a few hundred loyal party members stood bunched together waving flags and shouting "Nikita...

...Khrushchev never really listens to them...

...As EFTA was formed particularly to enable its members to maintain their neutrality, the veiled threat against EFTA created more alarm...