In a way, I agree with your views, but what I am looking for here is more than just a new socialist republic, but in a way, I would seek two objectives with the referendum
First of all, obtain some rhetoric and publicity in defense of the self-determination of the people, which can later be used to request independence from colonial powers and make the USSR the champion of the anti-colonial struggle (yes, I know it is hypocritical with the history of the USSR, but politics and hypocrisy are firmly linked)
And secondly, it would be a less apparent objective, honestly, I don't think the Austrian electorate would vote to be a new Socialist Republic even if they were drunk with five liters of vodka or bribed with a million rubles in gold, joining the GDR? ? even more unlikely, although I have to admit that it would be curious to see how it would develop, taking into account that they would not have a common border and would have to go through Czechoslovakia, would they join the Austrian State? Would it be the most obvious option and the one I believe that he would win in any case, but the point would be that by including the possibility of joining the FRG, he will sound the alarm in the capitals of Western Europe and the United States, which will rush to force the FRG and Austria to never again unify into a single state, forcing the FRG not to annex the Soviet zone even if it won, and this is where the magic is, it would only take a diplomatic error like in 1870 for Austro-German relations with the rest of the Western powers to be resolved. agrien, pausing and delaying certain agreements in the worst case and breaking the creation of the EEC in the best, while in this case they could try to combine these two nations into a kind of Yugoslavia otl, without committing to any bloc and trying to get the best of both, this being the only option of having a neutral Germany and Austria, because although they are anti-communist, they would be angry enough with the Western bloc to willingly collaborate with it.