The extrapolation of the political struggle in Austria to the corps of civil service of employees of state institutions and the phenomenon of forcing them to loyalty as a reflection of authoritarian tendencies in domestic politics. The second half of the 1920s – early 1930s

Importance. The transformation of the phenomenon of loyalty as an integral part of the professional ethos of civil servants in Habsburg Monarchy institutions is analyzed, following its collapse in 1918 and the establishment of a parliamentary republic in Austria. It traces the formation process of political camps in Austria in the 1920s, accompanied by the promotion of their own narrow-party and, as a rule, utopian ideas about democracy, which differed from its classical parliamentary version. At the same time, special attention is paid to the development by the Austrian government of measures to counter the abuse of their official positions by employees of state institutions for party and political purposes. The purpose of the study is to examine the activities of political parties and extra-parliamentary forces represented in the Austrian Parliament in the second half of the 1920s and early 1930s, in particular, the Heimwehr, aimed at using the professional experience of government officials in party and political interests.

Materials and Methods. The content of the concept “employees of state institutions” is revealed. Based on a critical analysis of statistical data, individual documents of political parties in domestic and foreign research literature using historical and comparative historical and genetic methods, the process of extrapolation of the political struggle in Austria in the second half of the 1920s and early 1930s to the official activities of government officials has been traced.

Results and Discussion. Cases of violations of the principle of “party neutrality” by employees of state institutions in Austria in the second half of the 1920s and early 1930s have been identified, the practice of using “administrative resources” in some government departments to ensure the loyalty of their employees to the government has been analyzed, and measures taken by them at the legislative level to prevent politically motivated behavior have been highlighted officials.

Conclusion. The collapse in 1920 of the Austrian government coalition formed as part of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (hereinafter referred to as the SDPA) and the Christian Social Party (CSP) in Austria contributed to the widespread dissemination of party thinking, which penetrated, among other things, into the corps of government employees considered neutral in this sense. The Government sought to prevent the growing politicization of government employees in the context of socio-economic and instability in the second half of the 1920s and early 1930s. To this end, the “administrative resource” was widely used in key government departments to purge the state apparatus of supporters of the SDPA and fill it with representatives of the government CSP. As a result, the inadmissibility of the participation of employees of state institutions in political activities was fixed at the legislative level.