Papers and Documents relating to the Foreign Relations of Hungary, Volume 1, 1919–1920 (Budapest, 1939)

Documents

4i8 1920 shipments. I also requested information from him concerning the steps taken by the Austrian Government to prevent unlawful interference with these shipments by the boycott leaders. I informed Ippen that in my opinion no more shipments of fruit would be sent from Hungary to Germany, in consequence of this painful incident, until the receipt of guarantees from Austria that their transit will not be impeded. Ippen replied that the Austrian Government had done everything within its power to insure non-interference by the boycott leaders with these transit shipments. However, its measures may have been ineffective since the Government has not the means at its disposal to force compliance with its wishes. In the absence of such means, the Government would be unable to offer, however much it would like to, any guarantees against the repetition of what it regards as acts of force majeure. Nevertheless, he is reasonably certain that fruit shipments from Hungary will no longer be held up. He bases this belief on the fact that the Austrian Government and he himself have negotiated with the boycott leaders and the latter have expressed willingness to permit these shipments to Germany to pass through Austria. Ippen requested me to urge my Government to dispatch another food shipment if for no other reason than as an experiment. He said that the prospects for the termination of the whole boycott movement are of the best but he fears that if we adopt an intransigent attitude, these promising prospects may disappear. Mr. Ippen is convinced that if the matter is not pressed from either side, some reassuring statement concerning the labour movement by the new Hungarian Government would supply a pretext for the termination of the boycott. I assured Mr. Ippen that I would convey his statements to my Government but I was careful not to give him any encouragement. No. 475. 215/res. pol. The Hungarian Charge d'affaires in Vienna, Mr. Masirevich, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Count Teleki. [TRANSLATION] No. 881/pol. VIENNA, July 20, 1920. I am reliably informed that the Austrian socialists concluded in Copenhagen a secret defensive and offensive alliance