Diskursverweigerung und Gewalt

This book is about political conflict in the First Austrian Republic, in a region which can be aptly described as having been a focal point of social and political antagonism in the times under consideration. Its main subject, the somewhat nebulous phenomenon of political radicalism, was studied from a closer viewpoint and pinpointed in a representative selection of events. It was not only incidents of greater national significance, such as the outcome of the Schattendorf trial, the so-called Pfrimer Putsch or the deconstruction of democracy, that had contributed to the already tense atmosphere on the local front. Day to day scuffles, paramilitary parades, inflammatory speeches and street rallies triggered off a spiral of violence. This book focuses on the question of how and to what extent political parties and movements were able to influence the life and thought of so many people and made some of them become irreconcilable enemies. A glance behind the scenes of those inglorious times shall hopefully enable a far better understanding of what impact political interaction had on the region in question. After an introduction into the methodology and theory, followed by a brief summa