The Tragedy of Success: Jews in Public Life
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By the end of the 19th century Jews were represented in public life in unprecedented numbers, the result of greater civil liberties and educational opportunities. Jews became very visible as makers of public opinion and as serious players in the public sphere. Political journalism was thriving with 1,400 newspapers published in Austria by 1913 and, again, many of the most prominent journalists were Jews. Writers such as Karl Kraus specialized in observing the “decadent” aestheticism of the Young Vienna group of coffeehouse literati, or castigating the hypocrisy of Viennese society. Theodor Herzl was a correspondent for the influential liberal paper Neue Freie Presse, reporting from Paris on the Dreyfuss Affair, a trial that helped transform him from a convinced assimilationist to a proponent of an independent homeland for the Jews.

At the same time, other non-Jewish groups vied for participation in the political process: the peasantry, urban artisans and small business owners, workers, and the Slavs. Many Austrians resented the success Jews enjoyed in fin-de-siècle Vienna, turning anti-Semitic propaganda and nationalist slogans into an integral part of political party platforms, particularly of the Christian Socialists and Pan-Germans under the leadership of Georg von Schönerer.  Karl Lueger, notorious for his anti-Semitism and leader of the Christian Socialists, was elected mayor of Vienna three times. Emperor Franz Joseph, with the support of the Catholic hierarchy, first refused to sanction his election, but could not maintain his opposition after the third victory and ratified Lueger as mayor.