1918: Hunger Riots and Strikes

Hunger was a constant companion for a growing portion of the Austrian population during the First World War. Despite food rations and the production of substitutes (e.g. “war bread” diluted with chestnut flour), food production could only satisfy an ever-smaller part of the demand; in the final year of the war and in the first year of peace – 1918/1919 – only a quarter to a third of the demand was met. The poor supply of foodstuffs had a particularly massive effect in cities, starting with the first “hunger winter” of 1916/1917. “Foraging trips” in the country and self-catering in allotment gardens only minimally eased the need. When in January 1918 flour rations were cut in half, a massive protest broke out, the starting point of which was the industrial labour force in Vienna’s Neustadt: at the height of the strike, on January 18, 1918, there were up to 370,000 workers on strike, which, however, did not have any immediate success.

The end of the war did not improve the food situation: despite the lifting of the Allied blockade and numerous international aid measures (free school meal programmes), the food situation remained precarious. In Vienna and other cities, hunger riots, strikes and lootings frequently took place. In the western part of the Republic, the insufficient food supply was one of the reasons for the desire for an “Anschluss” (union) to the German Reich. Only with the stabilisation of the Austrian economy following the end of the inflation and the introduction of the Shilling currency in 1924, was there a discernible improvement in the food situation.