Red Vienna

Karl-Marx-Hof, built between 1927 and 1933
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Red Vienna (German: Rotes Wien) was the colloquial name for the capital of Austria between 1918 and 1934, during which the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (SDAP) maintained almost unilateral political control over Vienna (and for a short time, over Austria as a whole). During this time, the SDAP pursued a rigorous program of construction projects across the city in response to severe housing shortages.[1] This involved implementing policies to improve public education, healthcare, and sanitation, while attempting to create the architectural foundation for a new socialist lifestyle.[1]

The collapse of the First Austrian Republic in 1934 after the suspension of the Nationalrat by Bundeskanzler Engelbert Dollfuß a year earlier, and the subsequent banning of the SDAP in Austria, brought an end to the period of the first socialist project in Vienna.[2] Many of the housing complexes built during this period, (known in German as Gemeindebauten) survive today.

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Rabinbach was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gruber was invoked but never defined (see the help page).