Austro-Hungarian strike of January 1918

However news of the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia encouraged workers in Vienna and more generally across Europe to emulate their example with the demand that the war be ended or more strikes would be organised.

[1] The leadership of the Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs (SDAPÖ) was slow to react although the youth wing of the party started to organise and local sections also prepared for action.

On 19 January, Workers' Council received a delegation led by Count Ottokar Czernin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs who promised that territorial demands would not jeopardise the peace negotiations.

The Minister-president, Ernst Seidler von Feuchtenegg promised to reform the war benefits and to establish a food service and the democratisation of municipal election law.

By noon the strike had spread across all industries, and 40,000 workers took part in fifteen different demonstrations which were prevented by the police from converging on the centre of Budapest.