Fink, Jodok

(1853–1929)

   A farmer from the Vorarlberg, Fink was a member of the Christian Social Party and served from 1890 through 1920 in the provincial diet. In 1911, he also was the governor of the province. Fink was in the Imperial Assembly in Vienna after 1911; there he became close to Mayor Karl Lueger, also a parliamentary delegate. Their relationship stemmed from the union in 1907 of the Christian Social movement in Vienna with the German conservatives from the alpine provinces of the monarchy. From this time forward, rural voters would be among the most reliable supporters of the Christian Social Party (CP) in Austria.

   During World War I, Fink headed the office responsible for allocation of food in the Austrian half of the Habsburg Empire. He was one of the three presidents of the provisional government that took the monarchy’s place in 1918. There he played a crucial role in promoting cooperation between left and right in the turbulent days that followed the end of the war. He would also support a broadened franchise. In 1919, now vice-chancellor of the First Austrian Republic, Fink mediated between the government in Vienna and dissidents in the Vorarlberg, who wanted to break away from Austria altogether and attach the province to Switzerland. From 1920 until his death, Fink was a CP delegate in the National Assembly of the First Republic.