!!!Verstaatlichung

Nationalisation, transfer of control and/or ownership of private 
enterprises to the state (  (see) Enterprises, State-owned) in line 
with the economic principles of socialism. From 1918 a serious concern 
of Austrian Social Democrats, who, while not aiming at complete 
socialisation along the lines of the Soviet Union, advocated 
government control of all key industries. Thus, after the end of the 
First World War, there was a state commission for socialisation in the 
Austrian Parliament. Its first chairman was O.   (see) Bauer, who was 
succeeded by W.   (see) Ellenbogen, but its activities petered out 
after the ''Nationalrat ''elections of 1920 when the Christian Social 
Party obtained a majority in Parliament. After World War II industries 
were nationalised; this was done with the approval of the 
conservatives in order to enable the government to take over the 
plants and enterprises seized by the Allied powers under the decisions 
of the Potsdam Conference of August 1, 1945. This only proved possible 
in respect of enterprises in the zones occupied by the three western 
allies, but not in the Soviet occupation zone.

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Nationalisation was based on two Nationalisation Acts (BGBl.   (see) 
Federal Law Gazette No. 168, of July 26, 1946, and BGBl. No. 81, of 
March 26, 1947). The First Nationalisation Act covered the largest 
three Austrian joint-stock banks (Creditanstalt-Bankverein, 
Laenderbank and Oesterreichisches Credit-Institut) and numerous 
industrial enterprises in the fields of mining (coal, iron ore, 
copper, lead and others), iron and steel production, the non-ferrous 
metal industry, mechanical engineering, industrial plant production, 
ship-building, and the petrochemical and chemical industries. The 
Second Nationalisation Act transferred the majority of the electricity 
generating plants into the ownership of the provinces, while the 
largest power plants were placed under the control of special 
organisations in which the Federal government held a majority interest 
(Oesterreichische Elektrizitaetswirtschafts AG, Verbundgesellschaft). 
In Austria, nationalisation merely resulted in the takeover of equity 
interests by the public authorities; the legal structure of the 
companies was not changed, and former owners received compensation, 
with the exception of former   (see) German Assets, in which cases 
expropriation was effected without compensation. Nationalisation of   
(see) USIA enterprises, which were under Soviet administration from 
1946-1955, was only possible after conclusion of the State Treaty 
between Austria and the Allied powers. For several decades, Austria's  
 (see) Nationalised Industry was of utmost importance to the country, 
and it was only in the 1970s and 1980s that its enterprises slipped 
into deficit , making   (see) Privatisation necessary in many 
instances.


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