Linz Program of 1882
The Linz Program of 1882 was a political platform that called for the complete Germanization of the Austrian state. It was created in response to the rising social, economic and political position of the Slavic peoples within the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy. The framers of the program were fearful that the Slavs were overrunning the German element of the monarchy.
The Framers
The Linz Program was created by five Austrian intellectuals of German descent:- Victor Adler, a Jewish physician, socialist and founder of the Social Democratic Party in Austria. First associated with the liberal German nationalist movement, he later became an activist for the Austrian working class;
- Georg von Schönerer, a politician who began as a liberal German nationalist only to later in life become a leading anti-Semite and supporter of an extreme Pan-German agenda
- Robert Pattai, a lawyer;
- Heinrich Friedjung, a Jewish historian;
- Engelbert Pernerstorfer, a writer and later Socialist activist.
The Manifesto
Rather than being a blueprint for a political movement, the proposal was more rhetorical. The emotional inclinations of the framers are well represented in the following excerpt from their manifesto:
"We protest against all attempts to convert Austria into a Slavic state. We shall continue to agitate for the maintenance of German as the official language and to oppose the extension of federalism... e are steadfast supporters of the alliance with Germany and the foreign policy now being followed by the empire".
Ultimately, Adler and the others wanted Austria to exist separate from the Habsburg Monarchy, which controlled much of central Europe at the time; instead, they wanted to tie themselves as close as possible to Germany.