The Red Vienna Sourcebook

An encyclopedic selection of original documents from the Austrian capital's pathbreaking, progressive interwar period, translated and with contextualizing introductions and commentaries.



Immediately after World War I, in 1919, the Austrian capital Vienna elected a Social Democratic majority that persisted until 1934. The city's leaders, together with its intellectuals, boldly imagined a new society that would be economically just, scientifically rigorous, and radically democratic. "Red Vienna" undertook experiments in public housing, welfare, and education while maintaining a world-class presence in science, music, literature, theater, andother fields of cultural production. Though Red Vienna eventually fell victim to fascist violence, it left a rich legacy with potential to inform our own tumultuous times.
The Red Vienna Sourcebook provides scholars and students with a selection of some 280 key texts from the period, carefully translated and introduced. These texts connect readers to the era's most fascinating discussions, movements, and personalities and will be of interest to such diverse disciplines as architecture, economics, film studies, history, Jewish studies, literary studies, music, philosophy, political science, psychology, sociology, sports, and women's studies.

Rob McFarland is Professor of German Literature, Film and Culture at Brigham Young University.

Georg Spitaler is a researcher at the Austrian Labor History Society.

Ingo Zechner is Director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Digital History.