Karl Lueger (1844–1910): Christlichsoziale Politik als Beruf. Eine Biographie (review)

This book is partly based on John Boyer’s magisterial two-volume history of Christian Socialism in Vienna (Chicago, 1981, 1995). There also is a great deal of new material, both additions to Boyer’s earlier treatment of the Lueger era and an extension of the story to the 1920s, when Ignaz Seipel led Christian Socialism.

Boyer begins with the crisis of Austrian Liberalism and Christian Socialism’s rapid rise in Vienna, which culminated in Karl Lueger’s election as mayor in 1897. A great many elements—religious loyalties, economic deprivation, social antagonisms, political ambitions—contributed to the triumph of Christian Socialism, but as Boyer argues, antisemitism played a vital role in giving the movement shape and cohesion. Heartless and often cruel, this antisemitism, Boyer insists, was not racist and, in contrast to nazism, respected Jews’ civil rights. From its bastion in the imperial capital, Lueger’s party faced a series of opportunities and challenges after the turn of the century, including the introduction of universal suffrage, the aspiration to be a national movement, and—with lasting consequences for Austria’s political future—the deeply-rooted rivalry with Social Democracy.

Despite its title, this book is not really a biography. Despite (or perhaps because of) his celebrity, Lueger remains an elusive, two-dimensional figure. Nevertheless, there is no doubt about his importance for the movement, both during its formative years as the vital alternative to the liberals and during its first decade of success when Lueger’s authority maintained unity and cohesion. As mayor of Vienna, “boss” of an elaborate urban patronage network, chairman of the party’s parliamentary faction, and leader of its national organization, Lueger personified Christian Socialism. After his death in 1910, no one was able to bring these different roles together, not simply because no one had Lueger’s personal charm and political gifts but also because the world in which these qualities worked so well was fading away.

Vienna was always at the center of Lueger’s political realm. This was not, to be sure, the Vienna so brilliantly rendered by Carl Schorske—the Vienna of modernist art, expressionist drama, and psychoanalysis—but rather the Vienna of municipal politics, urban construction projects, and economic vitality; this was the Vienna that Lueger helped to create and on which his power rested. It also is a Vienna that Boyer has come to understand and admire. The health of the Habsburg Empire, Boyer suggests, depended on the health of its capital; when, in the course of the war, the structures of Lueger’s Vienna disintegrated, the monarchy was doomed.

Throughout Karl Lueger are displayed Boyer’s characteristic virtues as a scholar: deep and meticulous research; a mastery of detail; and the ability to weave together political, cultural, and social developments. To a greater degree than in his earlier work, Boyer seems ready to take risks; suggest provocative comparisons; and make sharp, concise judgments about personalities and politics. In other words, here is a historian at the top of his game, reflecting on a lifetime’s engagement with Austria, Vienna, and the fascinating but always troubling problem of Christian Socialism.