‘The End of the Constitutional Party’? New Directions and the New Politics, 1879–85

Abstract

The parliamentary session from 1879 to 1885 was a period of reorientation for all the political parties as the Taaffe government slowly implemented its policies and a new political landscape emerged. The dominance of the Constitutional Party and of the older generation of notable liberals suffered from the events of 1879 and the move into opposition. They lost prestige, their tactics were questioned and their fundamental principles challenged. What were the liberals to do when, in addition to being in opposition, their vision of a homogenous, bürgerlich, ‘Austrian’ citizenry was clearly not developing? Widespread secular education, Cisleithanian-wide economic policies, the construction of a compre- hensive railway system, a centripetal constitution and parliament had not led to an assimilated population inspired by the ideals and values of the Austro- German Bürgertum. German culture — thought to be the medium through which other nationalities in Central and Eastern Europe would participate in modern European culture and civilisation — was viewed by the non-Germans as imperi- alist in nature and over time became even more resented. Such projects as the University of Czernowitz, conceived as an outpost of German (civilised) culture, found only a small demand for places.¹