Erwin Dekker - The Viennese Students of Civilization: The Meaning and Context of Austrian Economics Reconsidered

In 1931, Carel Willink gentleman on the left in his brown suit somewhat suspiciously looks over his shoulder toward us, while the gentleman in blue on the right is clearly facing away from us. It seems that they have stopped talking to one another quite some time ago.

In the background we see the ruins of Pompeii; they are still illuminated, or is it the other way around? Do the ruins still radiate some light? In any case, that light fails to reach the gentlemen. The formerly prestigious buildings have been in need of repair for a long time, and at certain places the bushes even overgrow the ruins. The forces of nature seem to be on the winning hand. To emphasize this even more, a volcano is emitting smoke in the background. This mountain of doom, the Vesuvius if these are the ruins of Pompeii, is about to erupt. It is clear that whatever these gentlemen had in common, the civilization of which they were once part, is in serious danger. They seemed to have turned away from their common project; no longer are they willing to cooperate. And even though one of the four gentlemen is overlooking the ruins, he looks anything but alarmed.

Looking at the painting we cannot escape thinking of the period in which Willink was working on it. The early 1930s were indeed a time in which the various European countries turned inward and away from one another. It was a period during which international cooperation broke down, a period during which even more serious dangers in the form of fascism and Nazism were becoming clearly visible. The painting thus not only shows the ruins of an old civilization, but also the ruins of our own civilization. Willink presents a dark prophecy for Europe and its culture. The only beam of light is emitted from these ruins, as if Willink is saying there will only be hope if we somehow return to our common project, our shared goals and values. A first step in that direction would be for these gentlemen to turn around, and recommence a conversation which has long ceased.

suggest that we have come to learn this lesson much too late, that all hope at this point is in vain?

You might wonder why a book on a group of scholars from Vienna starts with an analysis of Willinks picture. The reason is simple. This book will argue that the issues we just discussed and the questions raised by Willinks painting are at the heart of the work of the Viennes students of civilization. Of course this is only indirectly true, for this is a book about social scientists, philosophers and intellectuals from Vienna, rather than about Carel Willink or art. But the Viennese students of civilization who will be the main protagonists in this book are facing many of the same problems. During the 1930s, they felt that their civilization was in decline, or even about to be destroyed. When Ludwig von Mises, one of the Viennese students of civilization, walked along the grandiose Ringstrasse of Vienna with one of his students he gloomily predicted that grass would grow where they were walking now. But however depressed Mises and his fellow intellectuals might have felt at the time, they did feel that this civilization was worth preserving. Perhaps more importantly they asked themselves what their own role was in this process. Had they played a role in this decline? Were they to blame? Did they have a responsibility to defend their civilization, and even if they wanted to, was there anything they could still save?

It was not just a circle of scholars around Mises who were deeply worried. The intellectual mood in Vienna had been pessimistic since the period leading up to WWI. There were great concerns about the political developments within Vienna and the broader empire, most notably the populist anti-Semitism of Viennese Mayor Karl Lueger, and the various nationalistic uprisings in the Empire. When the Empire was broken up after WWI, many intellectuals felt that this was a great loss, one that broke up a natural unity. Only a small minority, mostly those on the left, believed that the dissolution of the Empire was the perfect opportunity for a new start. Liberal and conservative intellectuals on the other hand increasingly started worrying about the fate of their beloved Austro-Hungarian Empire and its culture.