Linz Program

(1882)

   Designed to heighten a sense of national solidarity among the German-speaking peoples of the Austrian half of the Dual Monarchy, the Linz declaration was the product of the German national movement in the Habsburg Empire led by Georg von Schönerer (1842–1921). It called for, among other things, turning the western half of the monarchy into a German state, a customs union with the new German Empire, and scaling back all political connections with Hungary except for a common monarch. Slavicspeaking regions such as Galicia and the Bukovina were to be joined to Hungary or granted some vague autonomy within the eastern half of the Habsburg Empire. The program also called for a broadening of the franchise and social reforms.

   Though the party behind the Linz declaration had little electoral support, the document itself was the product of several young intellectuals who were to have important careers in the waning years of the Dual Monarchy. These included the social reformer Engelbert Pernerstorfer; the eventual leader of the Austrian Social Democratic Party, Victor Adler; and the German nationalist historian Heinrich Friedjung (1851–1920). All three became disenchanted with the anti-Semitism that was a prominent feature of Schönerer’s movement.