Helene Bauer in Vienna

Political Economy Between Two World Wars

An introduction to the life and thought of the Marxist economist and social scientist Helene Bauer, who shaped intellectual and political debates in Austria’s First Republic.

In 1914, the Polish Jewish socialist Helene Gumplowitz Landau left her husband and children to relocate to Vienna, driven by her unwavering passion for socialism and her love for Otto Bauer, a leading Austrian Marxist a decade her junior. In Vienna, Bauer became one of the first female economists to challenge the founding figures of neoliberalism, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. She criticised Otto Neurath for the flaws in his vision of a moneyless economy, confronted Ottmar Spann – Austria's foremost philosopher and ideologue of the fascist corporatist state – and was among the earliest voices warning that the Great Depression could fuel the rise of fascism. Helene Bauer spent her final years in exile in the United States, her contributions largely forgotten in Austria’s Second Republic. Yet, a century later, her incisive analyses of the crises of her time remain strikingly relevant, offering profound insights into the challenges of today.

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