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twentieth century in those terms. Whether we take Austria or any other
country, it seems to me that that this thesis is valid in a very limited way.
Before World War
II,
in the first half of the twentieth century, it was only true
in Vienna for the period from 1918 to 1934 and even then Social Democracy
was highly controversial and fiercely contested. Mter 1945, it seems to be true
only during the Kreisky era, which stands out as something very special, as a
unique ITlOment in Austria's history during this century. I understand that
you made your point about Social Democracy in a broader sense, not just in
terms of political parties. Nevertheless, even if I agree that in Austria the wel–
fare state has played an important role, I still find the term "social democratic"
questionable, and would be interested in your elaboration on that.
Alfred Pfabigan:
First, I think your question neglects the "will to mod–
ernism," which is expressed for instance by Aldolf Loos. He always speaks
about the modern man with his modern nerves, who hates ornamentation.
Loos describes the evolution of culture as the way from ornament to function.
You also neglect the comparison Berlin-Vienna, which was the center of an
intense debate. Berlin: a developed city, a city with aggressive industrialization
was praised by some Viennese modernists. You neglect the self-criticism of
Austria as retarded, as the sick man on the Danube, as declining, inUTlobile
which was articulated in this debate. You are right first in reflecting histori–
cism, the style of the Ringstrasse. But the Ringstrasse was a concept of the
1860s, 1870s, and 1880s, and not directly of the turn of the century.
It
is right
that many modernists were strangely ambivalent. Adolf Loos, for instance, was
a moderni t par excellence, but went back to the craftsman's art of
"Biedermeier"; or Karl Kraus, a modernist, who in his fight against social orna–
ment went back in his linguistic theories to the German Romantics. In Vienna
we probably had no pure modernists, but a battle between modernisms.
To the second question: the concept of the social-democratic century
is broader than the ideas of the social democratic party. That the state, for
instance, is responsible for women's emancipation, that women should have
a role in institutions, and other ideas that are accepted in western societies
are part of what Dahrendorf calls the social democratic century, which
gives the state an important role.
Speaker:
Is there any sentiment in Austria to follow the model of
Switzerland in the future? You point out that Austria is no longer on the
frontier between East and West. Are there any people who say, let's just
give up the benchmarks and be like the Swiss, let's mind our own business.
Is Switzerland an attractive model to anybody in Austria?
Alfred Pfabigan:
Swi tzerland was an attractive model in the fifties
because of its neutrality. But now Austria is a member of the European
