Ditto Pölzl

August "Ditto" Pölzl (28 June 1907 – 15 April 1994) was an Austrian politician and trade unionist. He joined the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) in 1934, and represented the party in the Styrian provisional state governments after World War II as well as the state parliament until 1957. He broke his ties with the KPÖ in 1957.

Life and career

Youth and entry into politics Pölzl was born in Eggenberg on 28 June 1907. In 1932, he took part in building the Jungfront movement, and in Graz he worked with Otto Fischer and Willy Scholz to challenge the control the party leadership had over the Jungfront. He was a member of the municipal council of Eggenberg from 1932 to 1934. the first of which was formed under the leadership of Social Democratic politician on 8 May 1945, before the arrival of the Red Army. His role in this was that of a trade union representative, rather than representing the KPÖ as such. He contributed with texts to the Grazer Antifaschistischen Volkszeitung ('Graz Anti-Fascist People's Newspaper').

Pölzl remained in his post after the British takeover of Styria on 24 July 1945 and the formation of a new provisional state government on 7 August 1945 (in which the British military authorities reduced the share of communist government members from three to two). He became the president of the provisional board of the , an entity whose role worried the British military authorities during the autumn of 1945.

Pölzl was (landtag) in 1945, where he became one of two KPÖ deputees in Styria and one of 15 KPÖ state parliament deputies across Austria, In the late 1940s, he was the vice president of the Styrian Chamber for Workers and Employees. Between autumn 1946 and January 1947, he and other members called for the party to resign from the Austrian government. Pölzl felt that the party should have prioritized mass struggles rather than government participation, and he and the other critics were worried that the role of the party in the government would alienate the grassroots of the party. Pölzl also argued that a trade union representative at a major corporation would be more valuable for the party than a government minister. Pölzl's resignation occurred in the aftermath of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He rejoined the Social Democratic Party in 1967. Pölzl died on 15 April 1994 after a brief period of severe illness.