As in most of the nascent European democracies of the time, politics in Austria took on a highly ideological flavour. Both the socialist and the conservative camp did not merely consist of political parties, but possessed far-ranging power structures, including their own paramilitary forces. The conservatives began organising the Heimwehr (German: Homeguard) in 1921–23; in response, the Social Democrats organised paramilitaries called the Republikanischer Schutzbund (German: Republican Protection Association) after 1923.