LCC Talk & Discussion: Austromarxism in Red Vienna - When Taxes Paid for Housing

Join us for a talk and discussion by Danny from Radical Walks (https://commodityfetishism.com) about Red Vienna, Austromarxism and the social housing projects that it created.

Danny will give a talk, following by questions and open discussion. We will then go to a pub nearby

The period in Vienna immediately after the First World War until 1934 is known as “Red Vienna”. At that time, the housing situation for Vienna’s working class was characterised by unacceptable conditions: no water in the apartments, many homeless people, sleeping in shifts. In light of these conditions, social housing became the main focus point of the political agenda of the Social Democratic Workers Party, which repeatedly achieved an absolute majority in the elections for the Vienna State Parliament and the Vienna City Council, and also controlled all districts of the city. Between 1919 and 1934 the Social Democratic council of Vienna implemented a far reaching programme of reform.
64,000 housing spaces were created, providing accommodation for over ten percent of the population.
The housing estates were built with communal wash and drying rooms, studios and workshops, libraries, kindergartens, clinics, cinemas and theatres, gardens and paddling pools.
It was paid for by city-wide progressive taxes. The rents were on average three percent of income.
Architecture, design, urban planning and politics came together to provide something extraordinary that provides housing to this day.