His career as a political activist began in the Young Socialists ("Sozialistische Arbeiter-Jugend" / SAJ). After the brief but brutally suppressed insurrection of February 1934 the Young Socialists were banned: three months later a post-democratic government structure emerged in Austria. After the SAJ was declared illegal, on 18 February 1934 a meeting of its former officers took place in the woods west of Vienna. Under the leadership of Roman Felleis and Bruno Kreisky the participants founded the "Revolutionäre Sozialistischen" (RS / "Revolutionary Socialists") organisation.
