the telephone service greatly increased the difficulty of reaching the men who had gone to bed after a night's standing-by. Before anything but a very inadequate police force had been got together, tens of thousands of workmen had marched on to the Ringstrasse, where they quickly came into collision with the police. The employment of force by an obviously weak body infuriated instead of intimidating the men and women, whose first intentions had been peaceful enough; sabre charges proved insufficient, the police made use of their revolvers, to which the masses replied with showers of stones. They stormed a small police station and burnt it out, and then forced their way to the Palace of Justice, which they held responsible for the acquittal and set it alight. By midday the Palace was in flames, as the firemen were prevented from approaching the building; the police, who had been roughly handled despite the use of pistols, were provided with rifles, and opened a deadly fire on the crowd. Before nightfall, over seventy persons, including several women, had been killed or mortally wounded by the bullets of the police, while four policemen were killed; many hundreds were wounded. The Palace of Justice was completely burnt out, despite the appeals of the Social-Democratic leaders, who vainly risked their lives in the endeavour to calm the mob. The Socialist leaders, declaring that the police had acted with great brutality and had continued firing after the necessity had ceased, took command of the spontaneous general cessation of work and declared a twenty-four-hour general strike and a traffic and communications strike until further orders. On July 16 there were further conflicts in the suburbs, where many workmen were wounded and six killed.

The Social-Democrats demanded an immediate Parliamentary inquiry, but the Chancellor declined to summon the National Assembly until the strike in the telephone and postal services had come to an end. In the provinces, notably in Tyrol, the "Heimwehr" (anti-Socialist armed irregular forces), compelled the railway and postal servants to break off the strike and resume their duties. News reached the capital that suspicious movements of Hungarian troops were taking place near the frontier of Burgenland, which it was known Hungary desired to recover, and Italian intervention was also feared. The Socialists, alarmed, broke off the strike unconditionally at midnight on July 18. The municipality of Vienna gave a public funeral to fifty-seven of the eighty-five civilian victims of the riots on July 20. The six police victims were buried on the following day. The attempt of the Social-Democrats to pass a vote of no confidence" in the Government on July 27 failed: a Parliamentary inquiry was refused by the Chancellor. On July 29 the Inter-Allied Organ of Liquidation (charged with supervising the disarmament of Austria) protested against the "Gemeindeschutzwache," or municipal special constables, whom the Mayor had recruited from

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the ranks of the Socialists after July 15, and had armed with the usual police pistols. The municipal council decided next day to dissolve this body and replace it by a body of armed watchmen to do duty inside the municipal buildings only. The consequence of July 15 was the growth of strong feeling against the Socialist Party, especially among the Catholic peasantry of the remote provinces. The Socialists for their part endeavoured to recover credit with the masses by representing the Police President of Vienna, Herr Schober, as an official who delighted in wallowing in blood. As this virulent campaign died down, the more moderate Socialists, realising the danger to themselves and to the country of such extraordinary political bitterness as prevailed, made various discreet overtures to the majority parties with a view to learning on what terms a coalition might be brought into being. The Government, however, was in no mood to listen to these cautious suggestions, which were quickly disavowed by the Socialist Left Wing. Throughout the autumn, Heimwehr parades continued to be held, and were usually answered by Socialist Schutzbund parades in the same places a few weeks later. On November 26 a Frontkämpfer made a determined attempt to assassinate the Socialist Mayor of Vienna, Dr. Karl Seitz, with a revolver, but all the shots went astray. On December 12 Dr. Renner (SocialDemocrat), the first Chancellor of the Republic, again spoke in favour of co-operation between the Christian-Socialist (Clerical) Party and the Socialists, but his words were given a hostile reception in the Press of the Right. The end of the year found the gulf between the Socialist and non-Socialist groups as wide as ever, and enrolling of peasants in the Heimwehr forces still in full swing.

Apart from this ill-omened picture of brooding political storms, the end of the year found Austria in a much better position than at the beginning. The economic and financial situation had improved. The winter "seasonal increase" in unemployment appeared one month later than usual, and tourist traffic greatly increased. The country vigorously pursued its policy of the open door to visitors. The passport visa was abolished between Austria and the following countries on the dates named: Holland, March 15; Portugal, May 1; Denmark and Iceland, June 15; Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Finland, August 1; and Lettland, September 20. The Beethoven Centenary Festival of March 26-31 attracted a great many foreigners to the country.

On March 29 the Treaty of Arbitration with Sweden signed on May 28, 1926, was ratified, and entered immediately into force. On March 23 a "most-favoured-nation" commercial agreement with Abyssinia likewise became effective. On April 2 the Arbitration Treaty with Poland, signed on April 16, 1926, was ratified; it came into force on May 2. A provisional Trade Agreement concluded with Albania on April 14 came into force on July 1.

By Government Decree, the provisions concerning duties on cattle and flour governed by exchanges of Notes between Austria and Yugoslavia and Austria and Switzerland came into force on July 31. On the same day, another Decree established a supplementary Tariff Agreement with Czechoslovakia (signed on July 21) to the Commercial Treaty of May, 1921; it involved a number of mutual tariff concessions. On August 16 the Treaty was ratified by which Austria, as the result of a resolution of the League of Nations Assembly passed in December, 1920, became a member of the League.

On August 2 the Ministry of Justice was re-created by Act of Parliament, and on August 31 Dr. Dinghofer, the Minister without Portfolio, was temporarily appointed to fill the office. The Socialist motion for amnesty for the July rioters was rejected on November 3.

Though little was heard of the question of union with Germany during the year, the work of unifying the legal systems of the two countries continued. On September 1 a Bill setting up a common criminal code for the two countries was given a first reading in Parliament. There was an interesting joint session of the special Parliamentary Committees of the German Reichstag and the Austrian Nationalrat in Vienna to discuss the details of the proposed common criminal code. This was the first occasion since 1848 that Austrian and German Parliamentarians have co-operated in legislative work. Dr. Marx, the German Chancellor, and Dr. Stresemann, the Foreign Minister, took this opportunity of visiting Vienna. There were a number of private conferences, but in their public speeches, neither the German nor the Austrian statesmen made any direct allusion to the question of union.

Great satisfaction was caused in Austria when representatives of the Powers guaranteeing the League of Nations Reconstruction Loan to Austria, who met in London on October 11 and 12, gave their consent to the issue of an Austrian Government loan for productive investments not exceeding 725 million Austrian Schillings. Simultaneously, Austria's application to the Reparations Commission to waive its lien with respect to Reparation claims as far as this proposed loan was concerned, was referred by that body to its Financial Section. On November 29 the Vienna City Council accepted the terms of a Municipal Loan to be applied to the investment needs of the municipal undertakings to the amount of thirty million dollars bearing 6 per cent. interest which was floated through the National City Company of New York and heavily oversubscribed.

On October 28 outstanding questions arising out of the sequestration of Austrian property in Canada during the war were settled by Canada handing to Austria a cheque for 527,000 Canadian dollars, the proceeds of the sale of Austrian property in Canada, less Austrian debts to Canadians. The direct Vienna-London

telephone cable was opened on December 1. It was announced on December 16 that in view of the decreased cost of coal, the Federal Railways would not proceed for the moment with the programme of electrifying the lines, of which four hundred kilometres already carry electrically-driven trains.

THE third session of the Central Executive Committee (Zik), which met on February 14, dealt with the State Budget, the situation in White Russia, and other topics of minor interest. The fourth session of the Congress of the Soviet Union, which was held April 16-26, was attended by 1,601 delegates with a full vote, and by 747 delegates with a consulting vote. Nearly a quarter of the delegates were non-party, and 8 per cent. were women. Nothing of importance was said at the Congress in the field of social legislation, but some striking declarations were made on questions of foreign policy. The Commissary for War, M. Voroshilov, drew a picture of war in the future, and demanded elementary military training for the whole nation, including the youths and women. He ended his speech amid loud applause with the words of Lenin: "Be on guard because you are surrounded by enemies." Stalin defended his Chinese policy against the criticisms of the Opposition, pointing out that the conditions in China were not yet favourable to the establishment of soviets of workers, soldiers, and peasants. The national question in the Union was discussed at length. The General Secretary of the Ukrainian Communist Party, M. Koganovitch, spoke on the relationship between the Union and the Ukraine, declaring that the hopes entertained by the international bourgeoisie of a severance of the Ukraine from the Union were vain. The Congress elected a new Central Executive Committee (Zik) of 585 members, a third of whom were non-party men, and also the Committee of Chairmen, consisting of 27 members. Kalinin was again elected as President of the Union of Soviet Republics. This post can, however, be alternatively occupied by the Presidents of the other five Republics of the Union, i.e., Ukraine, White Russia, Transcaucasia, Usbekistan, and Turkmenia. Yenukidse was again elected Secretary of the Zik. The Central Executive Committee

confirmed the Council of People's Commissaries elected by the Congress. It consists of:

The Congress adopted a resolution ordaining that in view of the peaceful development of the Soviet Union its sessions should be held only every two years.

A serious development soon after took place in foreign affairs. Relations with Great Britain had already become strained during the first months of the year, and diplomatic Notes were exchanged which caused great alarm all over Europe. On May 12 the premises of the Arcos in London were searched by the English police. M. Litvinov vigorously protested against this act on May 18, and on May 26 the Trade Agreement of 1921 was denounced. M. Rykov declared before the general meeting of the Moscow Soviet that this rupture of relations would be the first step towards war. He accused Great Britain of espionage against Russia, and said that Russia would retaliate against England in the economic field. The Prime Minister of Canada also rescinded the Trade Agreement of 1921, but no other State followed the example of Great Britain.

The Anglo-Russian conflict was somewhat aggravated owing to an exchange of angry telegrams between M. Rykov and the British Labour leaders with regard to repressive measures taken by the Chief Political Department, the G.P.U., against Russian counter-revolutionaries. At the end of June the connexion between the Russian and English trade unions was dissolved.

The Anglo-Russian conflict did not affect the attitude of the Border States towards the Soviet Union. Russian relations with Poland passed through a crisis after the assassination of the Soviet Ambassador in Warsaw, M. Voikov, by a young Pole of Russian origin. M. Litvinov despatched strong Notes to Warsaw, to which the Polish Government replied in a conciliatory tone. The Russian Press attacked Poland, but after a time normal relations were resumed. On September 17 a new Ambassador was sent to Warsaw in the person of M. Bogomolov, a former first Secretary to the Russian Trade Mission in London. No progress was made in the negotiations with Poland for a pact of