Linz Program of 1882
The Linz Program of 1882 was a political platform that called for the complete
The Framers
The Linz Program was created by five Austrian intellectuals of German descent:
- Victor Adler, a Jewish physician, socialist and founder of the Social Democratic Party in Austria. First associated with the liberal German nationalist movement, he later became an activist for the Austrian working class;
- Georg von Schönerer, a politician who began as a liberal German nationalist only to later in life become a leading anti-Semite and supporter of an extreme Pan-German agenda
- Robert Pattai, a lawyer;
- Heinrich Friedjung, a Jewish historian;
- Socialistactivist.
The Manifesto
The goal of the framers was to create a German-dominated Austrian state. They proposed ceding the regions of
Rather than being a blueprint for a political movement, the proposal was more rhetorical[citation needed]. The emotional inclinations of the framers are well represented in the following excerpt from their manifesto:
"We protest against all attempts to convert Austria into a Slavic state. We shall continue to agitate for the maintenance of German as the official language and to oppose the extension of federalism ... [W]e are steadfast supporters of the alliance with Germany and the foreign policy now being followed by the empire" (Roman, 512).
Ultimately, Adler and the others wanted Austria to exist separate from the
After 1882
Following its creation, the Linz Program never gained much support in any influential political circles. Additionally, the framers eventually distanced themselves from the program. This was due in large part to Schönerer's venomous anti-Semitic inclinations, which became associated with the program over time, especially after 1885 when he had an Aryan paragraph added to it.
Sources
- Roman, Eric (2003). Austria-Hungary and the Successor States: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present. New York: Facts on File, Inc. pp. 385, 512, 551.
- Brook-Sheperd, Gordon (1996). The Austrians: A Thousand-Year Odyssey. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc. pp. 95–96.