Page 307 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

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The year 1918 started with a great wave of industrial strikes in the Austro-Hungarian
Monarchy. On 3 January, a partial strike was launched in the Wlaslovits and Komporday
cutlery factory in the town of Stósz (Štós). 50 soldiers of the Imperial and Royal 34th Infan-
try Regiment were detailed to carry out policing duties there. On 14 January, a company of
the same regiment marched in the village of Máriahuta-Zakárfalva (Žakarovce), where the
workers of the Austrian Mining and Ironworks Company were out on strike. On the same
day, a 100-strong company of the reserve battalion of the Imperial and Royal 82nd Infantry
Regiment was sent to a coal mine near Petrozsény (Petročani) in Transylvania. 15
On 18 January, a five-day long general workers’ strike started in Budapest, organised
by the social democrats. It spread over to several small towns in the country, and involved
about 200,000 participants. It was the first time that the state deployed policing troops in
16
large numbers. On 18 January, 17 police companies, set up by the reserve units of the in-
fantry regiments garrisoned in the capital, i.e. the Imperial and Royal 32nd, 38th and 52nd;
the Bosnian 1st and 3rd; as well as the Royal Hungarian 1st, 29th and 30th, were detailed
to maintain security. Two days later their number reached 42. Companies of Imperial and
Royal, Bosnian, and Royal Hungarian infantry regiments were also deployed in the country,
in Pozsony (Bratislava), Nagykanizsa, Érsekújvár (Nové Zámky), Szombathely, Magyaróvár
and Selmecbánya (Banská Štiavnica). During the strike, several infantry battalions and
17
cavalry units of the field army were also sent to the Hungarian capital. 18
Radicalisation and the shortages of supplies led to strikes primarily in the industrial areas
throughout the year. On 5 March, factory workers in Budapest unilaterally decided on intro-
ducing the eight-hour working day. That evening, 15,500 infantrymen, 145 machine guns, 200
cavalrymen and 18 guns were available to be deployed for policing tasks in the capital. On 9
March, the troops that General Lukachich had ordered to Budapest from the country occupied
public buildings and factories, and patrolled the main streets. The management of the factories
were able to keep their positions with the backing of the troops, and the strike was broken.
On 18 March, a few hundred coal miners and volunteer workers stopped working in Lupény
(Lupeni) and the valley of the Zsil (Jiu) River in Transylvania, due to the shortage of supplies and
clothing. The military headquarters in Nagyszeben (Sibiu) detailed 2,000 soldiers to the mining
district. As a result of negotiations with the trade unions, the strike came to an end on 22.
On 7 April, 6,500 people went on strike in the rolling mill of Resicabánya (Rečiča) be-
cause of their low wages. Owing to the presence of military troops, the negotiations with the
workers were successful.
In the coal mine of Somsály near the town of Miskolc two people died and many were
injured in a volley of the gendarmerie, which took place on 7 April as a consequence of the
planned one-day strike. The workers were forced to take up work again by five companies
of policing troops.
On 9 June, 2,000 miners started a strike in Felsčgalla and Tatabánya. Although 350 Ger-
man and Czech soldiers of the 11th Rifle Regiment’s reserve battalion took action, the strike

15 Plaschka, Haselsteiner and Suppan. Vol. I: 59.
16 Ibid: 68-73.
17 Ibid: 77-80.
18 Ibid: 87-88.