A Republic with “the Correct National and Social Sensibilities”

Abstract

Abstract The emergence of a new comprehensive war victim welfare system, represented most prominently by the Invalid Compensation Law (Invalidenentschädigungsgesetz) of 25 April 1919, is examined in detail in this chapter. The smooth transition of the state welfare apparatus during the revolution, and the rapid legislative process of the law (with organized war victims’ participation) made it clear that war victim welfare was a key site where the parliamentary democratic Republic sought to build its legitimacy. Using the elements already under discussion by the parliamentary parties in 1917, and specifically based on the basic principles proposed by the Social Democrats, the new law embodied an egalitarian, citizenship-based welfare entitlement for potentially 5 to 8 percent of the Austrian Republic’s total population. The wave of Communist revolutions in Central Europe in 1918 and 1919 prompted a mainstream political consensus for this comprehensive, participatory, and egalitarian war victim welfare system.