BLACK VIENNA BLACK VIENNA THE RADICAL RIGHT IN THE RED CITY, 1918–1938 Janek Wasserman CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London Jacket illustration: Poster by Victor T. Slama, 1932. Ho-ruck nach links! Waehlt sozialdemokratisch! (Heave-ho to the left! Vote Social Democratic!). Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Plakatsammlung, P-398. Reproduced with permission. Copyright © 2014 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the pub- lisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2014 by Cornell University Press Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wasserman, Janek, 1980– Black Vienna : the radical right in the red city, 1918–1938 / Janek Wasserman. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8014-5287-1 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Right-wing extremists—Austria—Vienna—History— 20th century. 2. Political culture—Austria—Vienna— History—20th century. 3. Vienna (Austria)—Intellectual life—20th century. 4. Vienna (Austria)—Politics and government—20th century. 5. Austria—Politics and government—1918–1938. I. Title. DB855.W37 2014 320.53'3094361309041—dc23 2014000747 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acknowledgments vii List of Abbreviations ix Introduction: Reconsidering “Red Vienna” 1 1. The Emergence of Black Vienna 15 2. The Austro-Marxist Struggle for “Intellectual Workers” 47 3. The Spannkreis and the Battle for Hegemony in Central Europe 74 4. The Verein Ernst Mach and the Politicization of Viennese Progressive Thought 106 5. Österreichische Aktion and the New Conservatism 132 6. The Rise and Fall of Politically Engaged Scholarship in Red Vienna, 1927–1934 158 7. The Triumph of Radical Conservatism in the Austrofascist State, 1933–1938 188 Conclusion 218 Bibliography 227 Index 247 v Acknowledgments Many people contributed to the completion of this book. Gerald Izenberg served as my primary reader and commentator. Hillel Kieval was involved the entire way, helping to keep my arguments and prose sharp. Malachi Hacohen read all sections of the book and offered con- structive feedback and encouragement. I am also grateful to Howard Brick, Paul Michael Luetzeler, Vincent Sherry, and Corinna Treitel for reading the manuscript and providing the initial suggestions for its improvement. The book benefited greatly from the feedback and assistance of numerous scholars around the world. Mitchell Ash served as my Betreuer in Vienna in 2008–9 when I was a Richard Plaschka fellow; he recommended I look at Viennese conservatives. Gary Cohen took an early interest in the project and invited me to a provocative workshop at the Center for Austrian Studies. Samuel Moyn aided me during the article submission process at Modern Intel- lectual History, which resulted in a tighter second chapter. Jerrold Seigel acted as an outstanding host at the New York Group in European Intellectual and Cultural History, where I first presented work on the monarchists. While I was there, James Chappel, Thomas Ort, and Richard Wolin offered insightful criticisms. Katie Arens has been an ideal interlocutor on the Vienna Circle at Austrian Studies Association conferences. Fritz Stadler generously opened the Institut Wiener Kreis archives to me. Dozens of friends and colleagues have read and engaged with this project. I thank the anonymous readers of my first two articles—for Modern Intellec- tual History and Central European History, respectively—and the readers who reviewed the manuscript for Cornell University Press for their extensive and constructive comments. At Washington University, Sara Jay, Bryan Knapp, Jacob Labendz, and Emma Moran were all intensively involved with early drafts of this work, and I am indebted to them for all the questions and sug- gestions. Heather Morrison and Erin Hochman have been my most frequent intellectual foils, particularly after long days in the Viennese archives. At the University of Alabama, Holly Grout, Daniel Riches, and Jenny Shaw closely read my work in our European History Workshop. John Beeler, Steve vii viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Bunker, Teresa Cribelli, Jimmy Mixson, and Josh Rothman have made Tus- caloosa a delightful environment for research and recreation. A special thanks goes to Margaret Peacock. Our daily exchanges about all things European history and our simultaneous negotiation of the publication process have made the experience more bearable. I thank the staffs at the libraries and archives I used for tracking down countless sources and directing me to other potential documents. George Thompson has been an amazing adviser on publication questions for the past year, guiding me sagely through the entire process. I also thank John Acker- man at Cornell University Press for his help from day one. His intensive and conscientious attention has greatly improved the finished product. I have received outstanding institutional support along the way. The Depart- ment of History at Washington University funded several research and conference trips. The Bundesministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung in Austria granted me a Richard-Plaschka-Stipendium to spend a year in Aus- tria. The Austrian Cultural Forum in New York has twice funded confer- ence trips to the German Studies Association to present research. A Research Grants Council fellowship from the University of Alabama permitted me a trip to Central Europe in 2012. Finally, I thank my family for their emotional support during this entire process. This book would not have been possible without their love and forbearance. Abbreviations AZ Die Arbeiter-Zeitung CS Der christliche Ständestaat FD Der Freidenker JÖA Jahrbuch der österreichischen Arbeiterbewegung JÖLG Jahrbuch der österreichischen Leo-Gesellschaft K Der Kampf MAK Museum für angewandte Kunst Plakat-Sammlung Kultur Die Kultur NR Das neue Reich ÖV Der österreichische Volkswirt RP Die Reichspost SL Das ständische Leben SZ Die schönere Zukunft VL Das Vaterland WPB Wiener politische Blätter ix Introduction Reconsidering “Red Vienna” On Election Day in April 1927, the conserva- tive Viennese newspaper Die Reichspost featured Chancellor Ignaz Seipel’s final political announcement to Austrian voters on its front page. Seipel called on the Austrian people to vote for the Einheitsliste, the antisocialist coalition of bourgeois parties, in order to counteract the nefarious intentions of the Austrian Social Democrats: “The victory of the Einheitsliste will guard the Austrian people against the greatest evils. It will hinder the super- fluous and harmful tension that still exists between Red Vienna and the other provinces. It will mean that Austria will not appear to a disapproving world as a domain of 90 percent Bolsheviks and an outpost of 100 percent Bolshevism.”1 Seipel attacked the “Soviet-style” socialization measures of the Social Democrats and castigated the educational and cultural programs of the Austro-Marxists as unfruitful and damaging to the nation. On the next page, Reichspost editor Friedrich Funder continued Seipel’s assault, likening the socialist leaders in Vienna to an elephant in a china shop, destroying all the city’s good qualities. The virulence of these attacks was nothing new; the choice of terminol- ogy was. For the first time in a major publication, the term “Red Vienna” 1. Ignaz Seipel, “Der Sieg der Einheitsliste,” RP, April 24, 1927, 1. Translations mine unless otherwise noted. 1 2 INTRODUCTION was employed, pejoratively describing the municipal government and its socialist leadership. Previous epithets had focused on city hall and its radical, partisan policies—for example, “city hall dictatorship,” “city hall Bolshe- vism,” “proletarian dictatorship,” “red city hall,” “class dictatorship,” and “tax and finance terrorism.” In 1927 conservatives cast Vienna itself as a bastion of revolutionary socialism, a threat to the good people of Austria, and an enemy to the rest of the world. The Red Vienna strategy produced mixed results at best. The Social Democrats recorded their best showing of the First Republic, garnering 42.3 percent of the vote and seventy-one mandates in parliament, yet the Einheitsliste—which consisted primarily of the Christian Social and Greater German People’s Party but also included monarchist organizations and factions of the Austrian National Socialist Party—won the election and maintained control of the federal government. Austrian politics took a radical turn in 1927; conservatives intensified their attacks on Red Vienna thereafter. On July 15, angry protesters set the Vien- nese Justizpalast ablaze after the acquittal of three right-wing paramilitary men on trial for the murder of two people in Schattendorf. In the ensuing chaos, the police opened fire on the crowd, killing eighty-nine people and injuring more than five hundred. The socialists condemned the action and called for a general strike and the resignation of the police chief. The coun- try seemed on the verge of civil war, yet the