자치사회주의의 실험 -‘붉은 비인(Rotes Wien)’의 주거정책을 중심으로 (1918-1934)

The Experiment of Municipal Socialism: Red Vienna Project 1918-1934

The “Red Vienna” campaign carried out by Austro-Marxists between 1918 and 1924 was an unprecedented experiment of housing program never seen in the world. Austrian socialists chose “the third way” amid the Bolshevik Revolution and revisionism of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. Caught in Vienna when Christian conservatives took over the federal government in national elections, the Austro-Marxists wanted a way out through municipal socialism. In other words, they wanted control constituency using political clout and to create “new people” through long-term cultural and educational movements, and thereby make Austria a socialistic nation through democracy. To this end, communal houses of Red Vienna were the steppingstone. Nevertheless, this legacy of the project also drew much criticism in which it ignored dynamism of the masses, was a political choice as a alternative of reformism, revealed a severe gap between the public and leaders, and showed a paradox between verbal radicalism and practice of reformism in the socialist party. In short, the Red Vienna housing program was only a mere improved provision within capitalism. There is also a view that the Austro-Marxists could not escape the “nest mentality (Lagermentalität)” and were satisfied with its subculture as in the case of German Social Democratic Party. Another criticism is that the communal residents marred public s autonomy by creating a modern way of discipline. Especially from the gender perspective, the program epitomized male-centeredness and patriarchy where socialist culture promises the creation of “new people”. Although Red Vienna offered both possibilities and limits, the most important contribution of this project was the recognition of the importance of reproduction in the creation of political awareness and consequent changes. It also brought about a tremendous improvement in the workers quality of life in the area of housing, significantly contributed in the expansion of political and cultural hegemony of workers, and suggested a model of progressive reform politics. It also contributed in the modernization of workers, which is a factor training them as modern people. Nonetheless, it was not enough as an alternative model in all areas of life. In other words, it did not offer specific details for new hegemony and showed the limit of powerless culture and the limit of cultureless power. However, the ultimate failure of Red Vienna should not be misunderstood as the failure or limit of this program itself. Many analyses showed that Red Vienna was not spared by economic hardship of Vienna and grim political perspective of Fascists taking over the entire Europe amid the fear of Bolshevism. Job creation and economic development in Vienna were not decreasing at the time when the full-scale public housing project was underway. However, Red Vienna faltered early because big businesses that were suppose to provide financial basis in local governments were very critical of its project. This tragic lapsing historic event did not fade away but aided the Austria s Socialist party to regain its power since 1945.