Interwar Austrian villagers belonged to extraordinarily dense party networks

Evidence

A few years ago, the members of the Social Democratic Party built a workmen’s clubhouse during their spare time. Marienthal has always been politically active; there has long been a great number of organizations and institutions run by the different political parties. On the Social Democratic side are the party organization, a trade union with an affiliated theatre club, the child welfare committee called Children’s Friends, the Society of Free Thinkers, The Flame (a cremation society), a cycling club, the Workers’ Radio Club, the Workers’ Athletic Club, the Wrestling Club, the Young Socialist Workers, the Republican Home Guard, the Workers’ Library, the Rabbit Breeders’ Association, and the Allotment Owners’ Association. — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 108

By way of historical contrast, it is worth recalling just how dense and developed the centers of that collective life once were. In their classic sociology of unemployment in interwar Austria, Marie Jahoda, Paul Lazarsfeld, and Hans Zeisel begin by listing the many associations that existed in their “industrial village,” Marienthal, a Rhenish hamlet hit hard by the Great Depression: … A few years ago, the members of the Social Democratic Party built a workmen’s clubhouse during their spare time. Marienthal has always been politically active; there has long been a great number of organizations and institutions run by the different political parties. On the Social Democratic side are the party organization, a trade union with an affiliated theatre club, the child welfare committee called Children’s Friends, the Society of Free Thinkers, The Flame (a cremation society), a cycling club, the Workers’ Radio Club, the Workers’ Athletic Club, the Wrestling Club, the Young Socialist Workers, the Republican Home Guard, the Workers’ Library, the Rabbit Breeders’ Association, and the Allotment Owners’ Association. — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 107

Categorization

• DEFINE: Cremation society, wrestling club, rabbit breeders — the sheer sweep of the list is the point: mass politics saturated daily life. A vivid contrast to the hyperpolitics present.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization…, 108; Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization…, 107