Richard D. Wolff

I was wondering what you think about "Red Vienna", a political phenomenon that happened in Vienna, Austria during the early 20th century (1919-1934). It was a time when the Austrian Social Democratic Party won overwhelmingly the elections in the Vienna state government and began instituting radical reform. Unlike most social democrats, it didn't try to just put a "human face to capitalism", it tried to institute an actual transition to socialism via massive public ownership of housing and industry and giving democratic control to the workers, from housing to health care to industry, etc. They were never defeated in elections, they were destroyed in a civil war where fascists and conservatives violently ousted them. It seems to defy the traditional "Leninist" view that social democracy never goes anywhere beyond capitalism and also seems to defy social democrats who think they can't go anywhere further. Was wondering your thoughts on all this.