Carl E. Schorske (1915–2015)

No political parties of present-day Germany are separated by a wider gulf than the two parties of labor, one democratic and reformist, the other totalitarian and socialist-revolutionary. Social Democrats and Communists today face each other as bitter political enemies across the front lines of the Cold War; yet they share a common origin in the Social Democratic Party of Imperial Germany. How did they come to go separate ways? By what process did the old party break apart? How did the prewar party prepare the ground for the dissolution of the labor movement in World War I, and for the subsequent extension of Leninism into Germany? To answer these questions is the purpose of Carl Schorske's study.… (mere)

"Politics and culture" means that the author is relating developments in culture (art, architecture, literature, psychoanalysis and more) with each other as well as to the "liberal" ascendancy and then decline in the politics of Vienna and Austria-Hungary in the second half of the nineteenth century. The description of the interactions between political trends, cultural trends and different cultural manifestations (such as psychoanalysis and art) make for complexities that challenge the reader. Schorske often uses binary comparisons/contrasts to bring out the changes taking place (Schnitzler/von Hoffmanstahl, Sitte/Wagner, Schoenberg/Kokoschka). He also introduces the three political figures who led the movements which undercut liberal politics (Georg von Schoenerer/Pan-Germanism, Karl Lueger/Christian Socialism), and Herzl/Zionism)). It is a fascinating book well worth the investment of reading it, especially the long chapter on Klimt. The reader who wants some more background on Vienna itself could read the short work by Arthur May, Vienna in the Age of Franz Josef.… (mere)