Black Vienna

The Radical Right in the Red City, 1918–1938

Janek Wasserman

• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN:
  9780801452871
• eBook ISBN:
  9780801455216
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

Interwar Vienna was considered a bastion of radical socialist thought, and its reputation as "Red Vienna" has loomed large in both the popular imagination and the historiography of Central Europe. However, as Janek Wasserman shows in this book, a "Black Vienna" existed as well; its members voiced critiques of the postwar democratic order, Jewish inclusion, and Enlightenment values, providing a theoretical foundation for Austrian and Central European fascist movements. Looking at the complex interplay between intellectuals, the public, and the state, he argues that seemingly apolitical Viennese intellectuals, especially conservative ones, dramatically affected the course of Austrian history. While Red Viennese intellectuals mounted an impressive challenge in cultural and intellectual forums throughout the city, radical conservatism carried the day. Black Viennese intellectuals hastened the destruction of the First Republic, facilitating the establishment of the Austrofascist state and paving the way for Anschluss with Nazi Germany.Closely observing the works and actions of Viennese reformers, journalists, philosophers, and scientists, Wasserman traces intellectual, social, and political developments in the Austrian First Republic while highlighting intellectuals' participation in the growing worldwide conflict between socialism, conservatism, and fascism. Vienna was a microcosm of larger developments in Europe—the rise of the radical right and the struggle between competing ideological visions. By focusing on the evolution of Austrian conservatism, Wasserman complicates post–World War II narratives about Austrian anti-fascism and Austrian victimhood.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• List of Abbreviations
• Introduction: Reconsidering “Red Vienna”
• 1. The Emergence of Black Vienna
• 2. The Austro-Marxist Struggle for “Intellectual Workers”
• 3. The Spannkreis and the Battle for Hegemony in Central Europe
• 4. The Verein Ernst Mach and the Politicization of Viennese Progressive Thought
• 5. Österreichische Aktion and the New Conservatism
• 6. The Rise and Fall of Politically Engaged Scholarship in Red Vienna, 1927–1934
• 7. The Triumph of Radical Conservatism in the Austrofascist State, 1933–1938
• Conclusion
• Bibliography