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Christian Social Party (Austria)

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Major conservative political party

Christian Social Party Christlichsoziale Partei
Founder	Karl Lueger
Founded	1891/1893
Dissolved	1934 (1934)
Merged into	Fatherland Front
Headquarters	Vienna,Austria
Ideology	Social conservatism^[1] Political Catholicism^[1] Austrian nationalism^[2] Antisemitism^[3]^[4] Right-wing populism^[3] Christian socialism^[5] Corporatism^[1] Monarchism (until 1918, later factions)^[6]^[7]
Political position	Right-wing^[8]
Religion	Roman Catholicism
International affiliation	White International (since 1931)
Politics of Austria Political parties Elections

TheChristian Social Party (German:Christlichsoziale Partei,CS orCSP) was a major conservative political party in theCisleithanian crown lands ofAustria-Hungary and under theFirst Austrian Republic, from 1891 to 1934. The party was affiliated withAustrian nationalism that sought to keep Catholic Austria out of the State of Germany founded in 1871, which it viewed as Protestant and Prussian-dominated; it identified Austrians on the basis of their predominantly Catholic religious identity as opposed to the predominantly Protestant religious identity of the Prussians.^[2]

History

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Foundation

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Lueger (2nd from right) and CS party fellows, about 1905

The party emerged in the run-up to the 1891Imperial Council (Reichsrat) elections under the populistVienna politicianKarl Lueger (1844–1910). Referring to ideas developed by the Christian Social movement underKarl von Vogelsang (1818–1890) and theChristian Social Club of Workers, it was oriented towards thepetit bourgeoisie^[9] andclerical-Catholic; there were many priests in the party, including the later Austrian chancellorIgnaz Seipel, which attracted many votes from the tradition-bound rural population. As asocial conservative counterweight to the "godless"Social Democrats, the party gained mass support through Lueger'santi-liberal andantisemitic slogans. Its support of the Austro-Hungarian cohesion and the rulingHouse of Habsburg also gave it considerable popularity among thenoble class, making it an early example of abig tent party.

Upon the implementation ofuniversal suffrage (for men) under minister-presidentMax Wladimir von Beck, the CS gainedplurality in the 1907Reichsrat elections, becoming the largest parliamentary group in the Lower House; however already in the 1911 elections, it lost this position to the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP). Though Minister-presidentKarl von Stürgkh had ignored the discretionary competence of the parliament during the 1914July Crisis, the Christian Social Party backed the Austrian government duringWorld War I. Nevertheless, when upon the dissolution of the Monarchy in October 1918 the German-speaking Reichsrat representatives met in a "provisional national assembly", the 65 CS deputies voted for the creation of theRepublic of German-Austria and its accession toWeimar Germany, though shortly after members of the party began to oppose German annexation.^[10]

First Republic

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After the 1918 assembly had elected the Social DemocratKarl Renner state chancellor, the Christian Social Party formed agrand coalition with the SDAP underKarl Seitz. In the1919 Austrian Constitutional Assembly election, the CS gained 35.9% of the votes cast, making it again the second strongest party after the Social Democrats. With its support, the assembly enacted theHabsburg Law concerning the expulsion and the takeover of the assets of the House Habsburg-Lorraine. On 10 September 1919, Chancellor Karl Renner had to sign theTreaty of Saint-Germain, which prohibited any affiliation with Germany. It was ratified by the assembly on 21 October.

Anti-Semitic CS poster of 1920, depicting aJudeo-Bolshevik serpent choking theAustrian eagle; Text: "German Christians – Save Austria!"

However, in the following year the coalition broke up and Renner resigned on 11 July 1920, succeeded by the Christian Social politicianMichael Mayr. Both parties agreed on scheduling new elections and the national assembly dissolved after it had passed theConstitution of Austria on 1 October 1920. Upon the following1920 election, the CS gained 41.8% of the votes cast surpassing the Social Democrats and as the strongest party entered into a right-wing coalition with the newly established nationalistGreater German People's Party (GDVP). TheNational Council parliament, successor of the national assembly, re-elected Mayr chancellor in November 1920. The CS also nominated the non-partisanMichael Hainisch, actually a Greater German sympathizer, forAustrian president, who was elected by theFederal Assembly on 9 December.

AllChancellors of the First Austrian Republic from 1920 onwards were members of the Christian Social Party, as was PresidentWilhelm Miklas, who succeeded Hainisch in 1928. The Social Democrats remained in opposition and concentrated on theirRed Vienna stronghold, while the Austrian political climate polarized over the next years.

Chancellor Mayr had to resign as chancellor in 1922, after the Greater German People's Party left the coalition in disagreement over a treaty signed with theCzechoslovak republic concerning theSudeten German territories. He was succeeded byIgnaz Seipel, CS chairmen since 1921. Seipel, a devout Catholic and fierce opponent of the Social Democrats, was able to re-arrange the coalition with the GDVP and was elected chancellor on 31 May 1922. From 1929 onwards, the party tried to form an alliance with theHeimwehr movement. Because of the instability of this coalition the party leadership decided to reform a coalition with the agrarianLandbund.

Fatherland Front

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In the process of establishing the so-calledAustro-fascist dictatorship, Christian Social ChancellorEngelbert Dollfuß founded theFatherland Front (Vaterländische Front) on 20 May 1933, merging the CS with the Landbund, Heimwehr and other conservative groups. The party was finally dissolved with the entry into force of theMay Constitution of 1934, the foundation of theFederal State of Austria.

Chairmen

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Chairperson	Period
Karl Lueger	1893–1910
Prince Louis of Liechtenstein	1910–1918
Johann Nepomuk Hauser	1918–1920
Leopold Kunschak	1920–1921
Ignaz Seipel	1921–1930
Carl Vaugoin	1930–1934
Emmerich Czermak	1934

Notable members

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Prominent members of the CS included:

Notes and references

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^^a ^b ^cLewis, Jill (1990),Conservatives and fascists in Austria, 1918–34, pp. 102–103
^^a ^bSpohn, Willfried (2005), "Austria: From Habsburg Empire to a Small Nation in Europe",Entangled Identities: Nations and Europe, Ashgate, p. 61
^^a ^bPayne, Stanley G. (1995),A History of Fascism, 1914–1945, Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, p. 58
^Pauley, Bruce F. (1992),From Prejudice to Persecution: A History of Austrian Anti-Semitism, University of North Carolina Press, pp. 156–158
^Boyer, John W. (1995),Culture and Political Crisis in Vienna: Christian Socialism in Power, 1897–1918, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
^Leeb, Stefan (2019),Das katholisch-konservative Milieu und sein Verhältnis zum österreichischen Legitimismus in der Zwischenkriegszeit (1918–1938), pp. 24,35–41
^Horvath, Partick."Der Bundespräsident und sein Einfluß auf die Regierungsbildung 1999 / 2000". Retrieved10 December 2022.
^Romsics, Gergely (2010).The Memory of the Habsburg Empire in German, Austrian, and Hungarian Right-wing Historiography and Political Thinking, 1918–1941. Social Science Monographs. p. 211.
^Loewenberg, Peter (2009), "Austria 1918: Coming to Terms with the National Trauma of Defeat and Fragmentation",Österreich 1918 und die Folgen, Vienna: Böhlau, p. 20
^DIVIDE ON GERMAN AUSTRIA. – Centrists Favor Union, but Strong Influences Oppose It.,The New York Times, 17 January 1919 (PDF)
^Analelebucovinei.rohttps://analelebucovinei.ro/pdf/Analele_Bucovinei_2_2015.pdf, retrieved24 September 2025{{citation}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)
^Atlas.usv.rohttp://atlas.usv.ro/www/codru_net/CC10/Flondor.pdf, retrieved24 September 2025{{citation}}:Missing or empty|title= (help)

Schindler, Franz Martin:Die soziale Frage der Gegenwart, vom Standpunkte des Christentums, Verlag der Buchhandlung der Reichspost Opitz Nachfolger, Wien 1905, 191 S.