Pernerstorfer, Engelbert

(1850–1918)

   Pernerstorfer’s career trajectory—from teacher to politician— exemplifies the fluid quality of political life in late 19th-century Vienna. Born to an impoverished family that had participated in the proletarian insurrections during the Revolutions of 1848, Pernerstorfer was first drawn to socialist ideas. Strong official opposition to these positions led him and other young radicals to support the German national movement of Georg von Schönerer (1842–1921). An advocate of joining the German population of the Habsburg Empire with the newly unified Germany, Schönerer also supported social and economic reforms with decidedly populist overtones. The high point of Pernerstorfer’s commitment to these views was the Linz Program of 1882, which he coauthored with the later Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SDAP) leader Viktor Adler.

   The anti-Semitic side of Schönerer’s platform led Pernerstorfer to withdraw from the circle. In 1896, he joined the now-legal SDAP; he served as one of its parliamentary delegates from 1901 to 1918. In 1907, Pernerstorfer became the first SDAP vice president of the lower chamber of the imperial parliament in Vienna. As a rule, however, he spoke for German national interests within the workers’ movement.