Page - 875 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

Continuation in Brest 875 negotiations in Brest, improvement of the food situation, the early election of local councils and an alleviation of the military regime. Seidler promised to do everything to bring about peace in Brest. During the meeting, Czernin was contacted, who declared that he would renounce territorial demands in Brest-Litovsk. What appeared to be a concession to the Social Democrats had actually long since been fixed. In all the other points, the Social Democrats were made promises and the wool was pulled over their eyes. In Hungary, the strikes were also ended by Prime Minister Wekerle promising the workers that he would fulfil their demands, though without saying in concrete terms what he would actually undertake.2080 On 21 January, the party leadership of the Austrian Social Democrats called for a resumption of work. The result actually amounted to nothing. Seidler had promised something that was beyond his power to achieve. The improvement of the food system was in itself not a question of reforms but rather of the available quantities. The election of the local councils could only take place once the national constituencies had been fixed. And in the case of the suspension of the militarisation of businesses, no progress was made either. The January strikes were only a prelude, however. The radicals were in no way satisfied with the solution. They insulted and abused their comrades who had negotiated the compromise ; there were tumultuous scenes. Karl Renner was briefly detained by furious workers in Wiener Neustadt.2081 Wherever the people did not feel bound to the compromise, above all in Bohemia, the strikes only now truly set in. A temporary calming was only visible at the point when the deploy- ment of the military or a German invasion of Bohemia was feared.2082 During all of this, the rumour circulated that the entire movement had been organised at the insti- gation of German socialists, who in view of the impossibility of gaining support for a compromise peace in the German Empire had appealed to their Austrian comrades.2083 Continuation in Brest On 19 January 1918, the Foreign Minister assured the Austrian Prime Minister that he was consistently striving for a peace without annexations. However, as had been seen at the opening of the peace negotiations in December, the absence of annexations could be interpreted in many ways. The negotiations in Brest-Litovsk had been resumed on 9 January following an in- terruption over the New Year, which was supposed to enable a final invitation to be directed at the western powers to participate in the talks. The situation had changed. The Russian delegation was no longer led by Adolf Abramovič Joffe, but instead by the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Trotsky. Ukraine wanted to abandon its state