Political Radicalism in Late Imperial Vienna: Origins of the Christian Social Movement, 1848-1897

"This book is an outstanding example of historical scholarship. John Boyer is a professor at the University of Chicago and has been editor of the Journal of Modern History for decades. The book delves deeply into local Viennese politics and you have a real sense of a changing Vienna as well as how politics actually functioned on the ground. The story Boyer tells is of the growth and development of the political Catholic movement (Christian Socialism) and especially its charismatic leader, Karl Lueger, who is known as the first anti-Semitic mayor in Europe. What Boyer shows is the rational, reasoned building and growth of a political movement. Previous historiography understood Lueger as a populist politician who used anti-Semitism for populist ends, but Boyer shows the many interrelated, interlocking reasons for the success of Lueger. It was not just ideology—though that played a part. Rather, the movement was built from the ground up. There was dissatisfaction among many of the artisans, there was mobilization by the lower priests in suburbs, there was the articulation of ‘Christian values’ in relation to capitalism and the changing world. Another factor was disappointment with the promise of liberalism. Lueger brought all of these elements together, and built it into an incredible electoral machine. “The book delves deeply into local Viennese politics and you have a real sense of a changing Vienna” He did it by appealing to what Boyer calls the unity of the Bürgertum (middle-class citizens), which was first glimpsed as a political force in 1848. At that time there had been a hope that fundamental reform was possible. Boyer argues that the liberals betrayed that vision to some extent—being quite elitist and relying on property and taxes to slow and prevent democratic participation and social reform. What Lueger did was to unite the Bürgertum, to get the artisans, the priests and democrats, then the bureaucrats and teachers, and, finally, the propertied middle class—who were all dissatisfied with liberalism—and to slowly combine them into a party underneath the umbrella of Christian values. Lueger was extremely successful and popular in doing that. There is still a statue of him on the Ringstrasse . Absolutely, he was very loyal. In fact, the emperor was reluctant to name Lueger as mayor, because of his anti-Semitism. One of Lueger’s deputies had to become mayor for a year. Then, following a series of elections in which the Christian Social party performed better and better, finally, in 1897 the emperor named Lueger as mayor. I’d just like to add one point about John Boyer’s book and how it represents anti-Semitism as being used instrumentally. Boyer, I believe, sees Lueger’s anti-Semitism as a political tool (one of many) that was used to unite support for the Christian Social movement. But I think, to some extent, this de-emphasizes the corrosive effects of anti-Semitism. The 1890s and 1900s were changing political times with populist rhetoric, the rise of mass politics, and a growing socialist movement. Presenting anti-Semitism as a political tool underestimates the devastating effects it had on political norms in the monarchy."