Red Vienna

Red Vienna (German: Rotes Wien) was the nickname of the capital of Austria between 1918 and 1934, when the Social Democrats had the majority and the city was democratically governed for the first time.

After World War I had ended with the collapse and dismemberment of the Habsburg dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, Deutschösterreich (Republic of German-Austria) was proclaimed a republic on November 12, 1918. At the Gemeinderat (city parliament) elections of May 4, 1919, for the first time ever all adult citizens of both sexes had voting rights. The Social Democratic Party gained an absolute majority; Jakob Reumann was elected first social democratic mayor, to be succeeded in 1923 by Karl Seitz.

The city underwent many changes in these times. During the war, refugees from Austrian Galicia (now West Ukraine), which was partly occupied by the Russian army, had settled in the capital city. At the end of the war, many former soldiers of the Imperial and Royal Army came to stay in Vienna, at least temporarily, while many former Imperial-Royal government ministry officials returned to their native lands. The middle classes, many of whom had bought War Bonds that were now worthless, were plunged into poverty by hyperinflation. New borders between Austria and the nearby regions that had fed Vienna for centuries made food supply difficult. Flats were overcrowded, and diseases such as tuberculosis, the Spanish flu and syphilis raged. In the new Austria, Vienna was considered a capital much too big for the small country, and often called Wasserkopf by people living in other parts of the country.

On the other hand, optimists saw wide fields of social and political action opening up. Pragmatic intellectuals like Hans Kelsen, who drafted the republican constitution, and Karl Bühler found a lot to do. For them it was a time of awakening, of new frontiers and of optimism.

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