Profile Major Works Resources

Karl Renner, 1870-1950

 

Austro-Marxist primarily concerned with the problem of nationality and the sociology of law.  

Originating from Moravian village (now Czech Republic), after a brief period of military service, Karl Renner enrolled at Vienna in 1891, to study law.  At Vienna, he came under the influence of professor Eugen von Philippovich and fellow student Max Adler.  After receiving his degree in 1896, Renner became a librarian in the Austrian parliament and enrolled in the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SPO).  Given his position as a civil servant, Karl Renner would write under multiple pseudonyms (Synopticus, Rudolf Springer, Josef Hammer, etc.)

Karl Renner's principal contribution is his 1904 article for the Marx-Studien (later revised into a book in 1929), which remains perhaps the classic Marxian work on the role of law in society. 

Renner was elected to the Austrian parliament in 1907.  During World War I, Renner broke with the left wing of the Austrian Social Democrats (Otto Bauer's group), and attempted a re-orientation of Marxian thought to account for the rise of white-collar workers and the growth of the State.  

After the collapse of the Hapsburg monarchy, Karl Renner became the first Chancellor of the Austrian Republic in October 1918, presiding over one of the most difficult periods in its history.  Despite his dissatisfaction with the terms, Renner would sign the Treaty of Saint-Germain in September, 1919.  Renner grew increasingly conservative with age, although he remained with the Social Democrats.  He supported the Anchluss with Germany in 1938.  He would later become President of Austria in 1945.

 

  

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Major Works of Karl Renner

  • Staat und Nation, 1899
  • ["Synopticus"] Staat und Parlament: kritische Studie über die oesterreichische Frage und das Spitzen der Interessen-vertretung, 1901 [bk]
  • Der Kampf der Österreischischen Nationen um der Staat, 1902  [English trans. The Struggles of the Austrian Nation over the State]
  • "Die social Funktion der Reichstinstitute" 1904, Marx-Studien [revised 1929 ed retitled Die Rechtsinstitute des Privatrechts und ihre soziale Funktion. Ein Beitrag zur Kritik des bürgerlichen Rechts] [English trans. The Institutions of Private Law and their Social Functions]
  • [Rudolf Springer] Grundlagen und Entwicklungsziele der österreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie, 1906 [bk]
  • Was haben die Sozialdemokraten geleistet?, 1907 [bk]
  • Der nationale Streit um die Aemter und die Sozialdemokratie, 1908 [bk]
  • "Probleme des Marxismus", 1916, Der Kampf
  • Österreichs Erneuerung, 1916-17, 3 vols
  • Wege der Verwirklichung, 1929
  • Wende zweier Zweite, 1946
  • Mensch und Gesellschaft, 1952
  • Wandlungen der modernen Gesellschaft, 1953.
  • Das Weltbild der Moderne, 1954

 
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Resources on  Karl Renner

 

 
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