Founded following the example of the National Socialist Deutsche Arbeitsfront, the Soziale Arbeitsgemeinschaft (SAG) was the political workers’ organization of the Austro-Fascist regime. Its goal was to convince the working class of the advantages of the new state, fighting against mostly negative attitudes towards it. It was part of a thought-out concept of various integration policies, which not only served as insurance for the regime, but which were an expression of larger design ideas for society as a whole.

In the framework of this project, activists, goals and practices of the SAG were extensively investigated for the first time. This enabled conclusions on several central characteristics of the regime: the interaction of repression, integration and the poor social situation of the working class; the active role of Christian unionists; as well as the regime’s ambivalent relationship with National Socialism.