Between Pacifism and Militancy: Socialist Women in the First Austrian Republic, 1918–1934

Abstract

The expansion of citizenship rights for women in the largely democratic Successor States followed the collapse of the Habsburg Empire and the end of the First World War in 1918. Many women’s rights activists hoped that the participation of women in the political sphere would now lead to a more peaceful future. However, during the post-war period, revolutionary movements and persistent violent conflicts dominated Central and Eastern Europe. Some socialist women supported – and participated in – the region’s widespread violence. This analysis explores the tension between pacifism and militancy within the First Austrian Republic through an investigation of how this friction shaped socialist and feminist women’s political activism and writings. The question of political violence shaped gendered identities, distinguishing between the configurations of the “peaceful woman” and the “female revolutionary”.