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Beyond Nation, Confession, and Party: The Politicization of Professional Identity in Late Imperial Austria
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2009
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InDecember 1896 the Industrial Action Committee, a small group of Viennese industrialists, sent a memorandum to all Chambers of Commerce in the Cisleithanian halfof the Habsburg monarchy. Arguing that two decades of internecine ethnic and party strife had allowed agrarians, small artisans, and workers to eat away at the material well-being of the “productive classes” (Stände), the committee asked Austrian industrialists of every ethnic and political persuasion to advocate a proindustry platform at all party nominating conventions. Appended to the appeal, which was printed in German, Czech, Polish, and Italian, was a proposal to found a Bund österreichischer Industrieller (League of Austrian Industrialists, henceforth BöI), an organization that would unite industrialists “without regard to nationality, confession, or party affiliation” in concerted economic-political (wirtschafts-politisch) activity.
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References
1 Die Arbeit, Mar. 10, 1897, 690.
2 Die Arbeit, Feb. 17, 1897, 641–42.
3 At the time this article was researched there were only four scholarly works on industrial and college-educated urban-professional nonpartisan interest groups: two master's theses on Austrian industrial associations and two studies focusing on teachers. See Sieghartsleitner, Walter, “Industrielles Bürgertum und seine Organisationsformen in der 2. Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Verbandsbildung als Indikatur fur Industrielles Gruppenbewuβsein” (Hausarbeit, University of Vienna, 1979)Google Scholar; Sturmayr, Gerald, “Unternehmerverbände in der Habsburgermonarchie. Entstehung, Struktur und Entwicklung der Zenrralverbände und die unternehmerische Interessenvertretung im Reichsrat im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert” (Diplomarbeit, University of Innsbruck, 1987)Google Scholar; Engelbrecht, Helmut, Lehrervereine im Kampf um Status und Einfluss. Zur Geschichte der Standesorganisationen der Sekundarschullehrer in Österreich (Vienna, 1978)Google Scholar; and Hinner, Ernst, “Lehrervereine in Wien von den Anfängen bis 1938” (Ph.D. diss., University of Vienna, 1982)Google Scholar. For a brief, comparative overview of nonpartisan industrial and professional interest groups, see the essays by Hannes Siegrist, “Bürgerliche Berufe. Die Professionen und das Bürgertum,” 11–50; Michael Burrage, “Unternehmer, Beamte, und freie Berufe. Schlüsselgruppen der bürgerlichen Mittelschichten in England, Frankreich und den Vereinigten Staaten,” 51–105; and Lundgreen, Peter, “Wissen und Burgerturn. Skizze eines historischen Vergleichs zwischen Preussen/Deutschland, Frankreich, England und den USA, 18.–20. Jh.,” 106–24, in Bürgerliche Berufe. Zur Sozialgeschichte der freien und akademischen Berufe im internationalen Vergleich, ed. Siegrist, Hannes (Görtingen, 1988)Google Scholar.
4 Industrialists, of course, were not “professionals” in the sense understood by sociologists and historians of the learned professions. The term “professional identity” is used here simply to distinguish between that aspect of individual identity related to one's occupation, as opposed to ethnic, confessional, party, or any other kind of identity.
5 None of the works cited in note 4 include detailed analyses of how industrialists and professionals went about organizing specifically nonpartisan interest groups in the context of late imperial centrifugal politics. Sturmayr's essay has since become a dissertation, and a study on doctors, by Burg, Thomas N., “Sieches Volk macht siechen Staat”. Arzt, Stand und Staat im 19. Jahrhundert (Vienna, 1994)Google Scholar, has just been published. Neither of these works could be reviewed for this article.
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10 See, for example, Ärztliche Standeszeitung 5, no. 1 (Apr. 15, 1906): 1.
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16 Ärztliche Standeszeitung 5, no. 3 (Feb. 1, 1906): 1; Organ des österr. Ingenieur- und Architekten Tages 7, no. 1 (July 1, 1898): 5–8.
17 See, for example, Die Arbeit, Feb. 17, 1897, 641–42.
18 Die Arbeit, 02 24, 1898, 1453Google Scholar.
19 Stenographisches Protokoll der Verhandlungen des österr. Industriellentages in Wien, 1900 (Vienna, 1900), 6–7.
20 Die Industrie, 02 9, 1898, 5Google Scholar.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid., Feb. 16, 1898, 1.
23 Ibid.
24 Mittheilungen des Bundes österreichischer Industrieller (MdBöI), Sept. 22, 1900, 1. Here the BöI echoed a Prague industrial group's call to “replace ethnic discord with economic legislation” (Die Arbeit, Oct. 11, 1900, 4296).
25 MdBöI, 10 6, 1900, 1Google Scholar.
26 Die Industrie, 02 26, 1898, 4Google Scholar.
27 Ibid., Oct. 5, 1898, 4–5.
28 Pilsener Tagblatt, 02 27, 1905, 1Google Scholar.
29 MdBöI, 09 11, 1902, 2Google Scholar.
30 Ibid., emphasis added. The Bund employed this apologia for ethnically neutral industrial politics on several occasions, most notably in President Pastrée's response to Pfersche. “No one whose vision was not completely clouded by party passions,” wrote Pastrée, “could argue that any ethnic interests whatever could be endangered by the accentuation of economic interests” (MdBöI, Oct. 6, 1900, 1–2).
31 Berkht der constituierenden Versammlung am 14. November 1897 und der I. Generalversammlung des Bundes österr. Industrieller vom 28. April 1898 (Vienna, 1898), 4–5.
32 Die Arbeit, 02 24, 1898, 1453Google Scholar.
33 MdBöI, 06 20, 1903, 3Google Scholar.
34 Die Industrie, 02 19, 1898, 5Google Scholar.
35 Bohemia, 04 28, 1899, 8–9Google Scholar.
36 MdBöI, 04 20, 1899, 1Google Scholar.
37 Die Arbeit, 02 13, 1898, 1427Google Scholar.
38 Wochenschrift des österreichischen Ingenieur- und Architektenvereines (WdÖIAV) 4, no. 10 (03 8, 1879): 47Google Scholar.
39 Zeitschrift des österreichischen Ingenieur- und Architektenvereines (ZdÖIAV) 48, no. 3 (01 17, 1896): 3 (supplement)Google Scholar. See also, for example, WdÖIAV 10, no. 9 (02 28, 1885): 94–95Google Scholar; and ZdÖIAV 52, no. 1 (01 5, 1900): 12Google Scholar.
40 Although the ÖIAV and the conference were formally two separate entities, ÖIAV representatives were always placed at the helm of both the conference and the standing committee. There was one occasion where the ÖIAV's position on an issue was rejected by the conference, putting the ÖIAV president of the standing committee in the difficult position of fulfilling his duty to the conference above the wishes of the organization that sent him there. Nevertheless, the ÖIAV's sizable financial, administrative, and institutional contributions to the group more than justify considering the conference an arm of the ÖIAV's professional-interest structure.
41 Bericht über den ersten österr. Ingenieur- und Architekten-Tag (Vienna, 1881), 128; WdÖIAV, 8, no. 41 (10 13, 1883): 263Google Scholar; Bericht über den IV. österreichischen Ingenieur- und Architekten-Tag (Vienna, 1901), 107; Bericht über den V. österreichischen Ingenieur- und Architeken-Tag abgehalten in Wien am 13. u. 14. Dezember 1907 (Vienna, 1908), 177. I have been unable to locate a full report of the third conference (1891).
42 WdÖIAV 6, no. 9 (03 5, 1881): 69Google Scholar.
43 WdÖIAV 10, no. 9 (02 28, 1885): 94–95Google Scholar.
44 WdÖIAV 6, no. 19 (05 14, 1881): 143–46Google Scholar.
45 ZdÖIAV 53, no. 10 (03 8, 1901): 168Google Scholar.
46 ZdÖIAV 45, no. 10 (03 10, 1893): 154Google Scholar.
47 ZdÖIAV 45, no. 7 (02 17, 1893): 101–3Google Scholar.
48 There was, of course, always the threat that any attempt on the part of professional associations to take a stand on particular ethnic and confessional issues could result in the Interior Ministry's reclassifying the organization as a “political organization,” with attendant restrictions (for example, the prohibition on centrally administered monarchy-wide political organizations). In my opinion, however, such concerns were secondary. As noted above, the CVIÖ— the Bund's competitor—aggressively asserted its German-national identity without attracting the attention of government regulators (Vereinspolizei).
49 Die Arbeit, 02 17, 1897, 641Google Scholar.
50 See, for example, Die Arbeit, 10 24, 1897, 1155Google Scholar.
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53 Bericht über den ersten österr. Ingenieur- und Architekten-Tag, 26.
54 Bericht über den IV. österr. Ingenieur- und Architekten-Tag, 107.
55 Bericht über den V. österr. Ingenieur- und Architekten-Tag, 177.
56 Die Arbeit, 02 24, 1898, 1453Google Scholar.
57 Bericht über den ersten österr. Ingenieur- und Architekten-Tag, 26.
58 See, for example, ZdÖIAV 45, no. 10 (03 10, 1893): 154Google Scholar.
59 ZdÖuml;IAV 1, no. 1 (01 1849): 1–3Google Scholar.
60 On the pragmatic, interest-oriented function of an idealized professional ethos in the Anglo-American context, seeLarson, Magali Sarfatti, The Rise of Professionalism: A Sociological Analysis (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1977), 56–63Google Scholar.
61 Zeitschrift für Notariat und freiwillige Gerichtsbarkeit in Österreich (NZ) 23, no. 38 (09 21, 1881): 211Google Scholar.
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65 Pharmaceutische Post 40, no. 27 (07 7, 1907): 497Google Scholar. College-educated but non-pharmacy-owning pharmacists also formed a Viennese-led multiethnic umbrella organization, the Verband pharmaceutischer Vereine in Österreich (Union of Pharmaceutical Associations in Austria) (Pharmaceutischer Reformer 30, no. 20 [09 24, 1898]: 334)Google Scholar. The two largest Viennese pharmacist organizations—although refusing to corporately join the ROAÖ for reasons unrelated to the latter's non- “political” stance—nevertheless worked closely with non-German colleagues, arguing that “the struggle for existence is no longer fought man against man, but mass against mass.… We will inevitably perish if we do not pull together, put all special interests aside, and unite against our oppressors” (Pharm. Post 40, no. 11 [03 17, 1907]: 213)Google Scholar.
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67 Vienna Technical College Professor Karl König, born Jewish, died konfessionslos, member of ÖIAV Board of Directors 1895–96; Dr. Adolph Jolles, expert in hygienic engineering, board member 1902–03; and noted Jewish architect Sigmund Taussig, member of ÖIAV Court of Arbitration in 1903. Taussig and two other ÖIAV members, Wilhelm Stiaβny and Max Fleischer, were members of the board of directors of Vienna's official Jewish communal organization [Israelitische Kultusgemeinde] Stiaβny was also a leading anti-Christian Social politician. Although my research has not confirmed Jewish officers between 1903 and 1907, there is no evidence to suggest that the association had become anti-Semitic. Surely Stiaβny, who remained an ÖIAV member through 1907, would have resigned or at least publically protested an Aryanized association. Biographical information is from admissions records at the Technical University of Vienna; death records at the Vienna City Archive; Grunwald, Max, Geschichte der Wiener Juden (Vienna, 1926), 59Google Scholar; Tietze, Hans, Die Juden Wens. Géschichte, Wirtschaft, Kultur (Vienna, 1987), 188, 214Google Scholar; and Winninger, S., Groβe jüdische National-Biographie (Czernowitz, 1925–1936), 3:477–78, and 7:577–78Google Scholar.
68 MdBöl, 07 3, 1907, 1–2Google Scholar.
69 On doctors, see, for example, ÖäVZ 14, no. 18 (09 10, 1890): 418Google Scholar, and ÖäVZ 30, no. 1206 15, 1906): 265–67Google Scholar. On notaries, see, for example, NZ 42, no. 42 (10 17, 1900): 328–29Google Scholar. On pharmacists, see, for example, Pharm. Post 40, no. 3 (01 20, 1907): 54–57Google Scholar.
70 Höbelt, Kornblume, 210–18.
71 MdBöl, 07 3, 1907, 1–2Google Scholar.
72 Technische Blätter 31 (1899): 142, and 33Google Scholar (1901): 85.
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74 In 1906, for example, doctors organized along anti-Semitic lines and Jewish-led associations worked together to form an Economic Organization of Viennese Doctors. The organization, founded between 1906 and 1908, facilitated common action without effecting the dissolution of extant confessional associations. See, for example, ÖäVZ 30, no. 12 (06 15, 1906): 265–67Google Scholar.
75 It is possible that some sections, like the Prague section, avoided likely internal conflicts by abstaining from supporting any given candidate. Unfortunately, the German-language Bohemian papers covering section meetings do not discuss this issue.
76 MdBöl, 05 18, 1907, 1–2Google Scholar. Toward the end of his own campaign Vetter himself had turned the corner, supporting a number of German-national positions (for example, German judges and more money for German schools) and arguing that it was “absolutely essential” that only “true German” representatives be sent to the new Reichsrat (Vetter, Heinrich, Deutsch und Frei [Vienna, 1907], 1–2Google Scholar).
77 See Albrecht, Catherine, “Pride in Production: The Jubilee Exhibition of 1891 and Economic Competition between Czechs and Germans in Bohemia,” Austrian History Yearbook 24 (1993): 101–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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79 There is considerable doubt as to whether Jews primarily concerned with ending antiSemitism in their professions would have chosen a “politically” neutral, inclusive strategy as their preferred means of accomplishing this goal. By the turn of the century, many Jewish elites were responding to anti-Semitism exclusively and aggressively. Even non-Zionist “integration-ists” organized to fight anti-Semitism through Jewish self-defense organizations. See, for example, Rozenblit, Marsha L., The Jews of Vienna, 1867–1914: Assimilation and Identity (Albany, N.Y., 1983), 153–93Google Scholar.
80 In 1897 Austrian prime minister Count Kasimir Badeni issued two ordinances designed to solve the German-Czech language dispute in Bohemia and Moravia. The new laws, which required German bureaucrats in these mixed-nationality areas to acquire a command of Czech, provoked violent protests—even in German Vienna.
81 I use the term “bourgeois politics” historically, not ideologically: that is, the politics of German-Austrian middle-class elites. For the problems of identifying bourgeois politics with an idealized, nonhierarchical liberalism, see Eley, Geoff, “The British Model and the German Road: Rethinking the Course of German History before 1914,” in Eley, Geoff and Blackbourne, David, The Peculiarities of German History: Bourgeois Society and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Germany (Oxford, 1984), 75–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
82 See Judson, Pieter M., “German Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century Austria: Clubs, Parties, and the Rise of Bourgeois Politics” (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1987), 1–3, 293–98Google Scholar; and Judson, , “‘Whether Race or Conviction Should Be the Standard’: National Identity and Liberal Politics in Nineteenth-Century Austria,” Austrian History Yearbook 22 (1991): 76–95CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
83 Schorske, Fin-de-Siècle Vienna, 8–9. In brief, Schorske argues that the Habsburg bourgeoisie never completely liberated itself from aristocratic values. Less than fully “bourgeois,” middle-class elites turned to the “temple of art” (aristocratic aestheticism) as a “substitute” for the “life of [political] action.” Even those few who turned back outward—who re-engaged the public sphere—did so, according to Schorske, from aestheticized (fantastical, suprarational) and/or antibourgeois, patricidal perspectives.
84 ZdöIAV 54, no. 29 (08 18, 1902): 508Google Scholar.
85 Citing the “decisive role” played by architects and engineers in all branches of productive endeavor, the ÖIAV, for example, welcomed the Ständestaat, resolving “to work [within the new corporative state] to retain the influence technical professionals deserve” (ZdÖIAV 86, no. 9/10 [ 03 9, 1934]: 32Google Scholar). The Economic Association of Viennese Doctors also greeted the new government with enthusiasm, reminding their constituents that the political parties never ac-corded them the status merited by their contributions to society. Interestingly, the organization utilized a non-“political” rhetoric in its appeal for representation in the state, noting that it— like the Ständestaat—was, and had always had been, “unpolitical” (Mitteilungen d. wirtschaftlichen Organization d. Ärzte Wiens 14, no. 4 [04 25, 1934]: 51Google Scholar; 14, no. 5 [May 25, 1934]: 71–72).