The Social Democrats and the Conflict of Nationalities in the Habsburg Monarchy

Abstract

p'T9H E international socialist movement before I9I4 as a rule was I not much concerned, either in its theory or in its practice, with the phenomenon of modern nationalism. Only after the events of I9I4 had demonstrated the strong emotional appeal of modern nationalism did the socialists realize how complacently they had underrated what was perhaps the most powerful force of the age. Yet there were exceptions to this rule. Socialists in multinational states like Austria-Hungary and Russia were, for obvious reasons, compelled to face national problems even before I9I4. It is the purpose of this article to show how the Social Democratic party of Austria was forced to meet all the vital issues of a nationally heterogeneous state. We shall attempt to trace the formulation of a nationalities program by the Austrian Social Democracy in its relation to the history of Habsburg Austria in its last decades and also to the development of socialist thought.' For an understanding of thisparticular development it is necessary to emphasize the interaction of two factors: the profound crisis that gripped the Austrian state at the turn of the nineteenth century, on one hand, and, on the other hand, the simultaneous growth of a young and vigorous socialist movement rebelling against a state which seemed to