ideological factions so much as representatives of provincial governments. Streeruwitz's inaugural address on 7 May mainly dealt with economic and foreign policy but also included a firm commitment to representative democracy. Ideological disputes should be settled, Streeruwitz declared, by the people's elected delegates, not by extraparliamentary force. The statement was an unmistakable jab at the Heimwehr, a paramilitary force whose influence was based entirely on its ability to threaten violence. The implied espousal of a strong legislature also was a rejection of the idea of a dominant president. Although Streeruwitz also promised to assume "the role of an honest broker" (), the Heimwehr instantly decided that Streeruwitz was an enemy. Streeruwitz's government was seemingly successful at first. The ruling coalition and the Social Democrats reached compromises on a number of strategic issues. Tenancy law, unemployment insurance and the pension system were reformed. Tensions appeared to decrease, and the early summer was peaceful. On 18 August, however, a bloody street fight in Sankt Lorenzen im Mürztal, Styria, brought the belligerence to the surface again and heightened it to unprecedented levels. Both the Heimwehr and the Schutzbund, the Social Democratic militia, had announced a rally for the same place and day. Competing Heimwehr and Schutzbund rallies were a semiregular occurrence, but the participants were usually kept in check by police. Even though he had been warned that the Sankt Lorenzen police would not have the numbers to keep the two factions apart, Governor Rintelen refused to prohibit the rallies or to arrange for the army to send assistance. The resulting clash ended with 3 dead and 55 injured, 27 of them severely. Rintelen immediately went to work using the disaster to undermine the chancellor. The fallout left Streeruwitz discredited and the Heimwehr emboldened. The militia openly threatened a putsch if the government failed to comply with its demands for constitutional reform. Streeruwitz petitioned his old industrialist allies to cut off the funding they had been providing to the Heimwehr, but the industrialists declined. Even Seipel, his former mentor, now turned against him. When Streeruwitz left Austria to represent the country at the Tenth General Assembly of the League of Nations, his opponents used his absence to co-ordinate his overthrow and to agree on a successor. Streeruwitz's fate was sealed. Faced with vicious attacks from all sides, impossible demands and a threat on the part of the Landbund to leave the coalition, Streeruwitz