Christian Social Party (Austria)

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For the Dutch party of the same name, see Christian Social Party (Netherlands)

The Christian Social Party (CS) was an Austrian political party from 1893 to 1933 and is a predecessor of the contemporary Austrian People's Party.

It was founded in 1893 by Karl Lueger and developed from the Christian Social Movement and the Christian Social Club of Workers. It was oriented towards the bourgeoisie and clerical-catholic; there were many priests in the party, including Chancellor Ignaz Seipel. This attracted many votes from the conservative rural population. Its support of Austro-Hungarian Monarchy also gave it considerable popularity among nobles.

From 1907 to 1911 it was the strongest party in the Lower House of the Reichsrat, but it then lost this position to the Social Democratic Workers' Party. During World War I, it supported the government, but after the end of the monarchy in 1918 it voted for the creation of a republic and Austria's accession to Germany.

From 1918 to 1920 it formed a coalition with the SDAPÖ. In 1920, as the strongest party, it entered into a coalition with the Greater German People's Party and the Landbund. All Chancellors of Austria from 1920 were members of the Christian Social Party, and so was the president from 1928 to 1938. From 1929 onwards, the party tried to ally with the Heimwehr movement. However, this coalition turned not to be stable, which is why the party leadership decide to form a coalition with the Landbund and the Greater German Party again.

In the process of establishing the so-called Austro-fascist dictorship, Christian Social Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß merged the Christian Social Party into the Patriotic Front in 1933. After the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany, the party was banned in March 1938 and ceased to exist. After the Second World War, the party was not founded anew. Most of its supporters and politicians thought the name was too closely knit to Austrofascism, they founded the ÖVP party, which can be regarded as the inheriting party of the CS.

Prominent members of the CS included: