in Austria, leaving Dollfuss to govern as a dictator with absolute powers. Immediate measures included removing the right of public assembly and freedom of the press. The opposition accused him of violating the constitution. An attempt by the Greater German People's Party and the Social Democrats to reconvene the council on 15 March was prevented by barring the entrance with police and advising President Wilhelm Miklas to adjourn it indefinitely. Dollfuss would have been aware that Nazi troops had seized power in neighbouring Bavaria on 9 March. Finally, on 31 March, the Republikanischer Schutzbund (paramilitary arm of the Social Democratic Party) was dissolved (but continued illegally). Subsequent events Dollfuss then met with Benito Mussolini for the first time in Rome on 13 April. On 23 April, the National Socialists (DNSAP) gained 40 per cent of the vote in the Innsbruck communal elections, becoming the largest voting bloc, so in May all state and communal elections were banned. On 20 May 1933, Dollfuss replaced the "Democratic Republic" with a new entity, merging his Christian Social Party with elements of other nationalist and conservative groups, including the Heimwehr, which encompassed many workers who were unhappy with the radical leadership of the socialist party, to form the Patriotic Front (Vaterländische Front), though the Heimwehr continued to exist as an independent organization until 1936, when Dollfuss' successor Kurt von Schuschnigg forcibly merged it into the Front, instead creating the unabidingly loyal Frontmiliz as a paramilitary task force. The new entity was allegedly bipartisan and represented those who were "loyal to the government". The DNSAP was banned in June 1933. Dollfuss was also aware of the Soviet Union's increasing influence in Europe throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, and also banned the communists, establishing a one-party Austrofascist dictatorship largely modeled after Italian fascism, tied to Catholic corporatism and anti-secularism. He dropped all pretence of Austrian reunification with Germany so long as the Nazi Party remained in power there. Although all Austrian parties, including the Social Democratic Labour Party (SDAPÖ) were banned, Social Democrats continued to exist as an independent organization, including its paramilitary Republikaner Schutzbund, which could muster tens of thousands against Dollfuss' government. In August 1933, Mussolini's government issued a guarantee of Austrian independence ("if necessary, Italy would defend Austria's independence by force of arms"). Dollfuss also exchanged 'Secret Letters' with Benito Mussolini about ways to guarantee Austrian independence. Mussolini was interested in Austria