Austrian politician, born on the 5th of September 1881, the son of a Viennese manufacturer. He entered the faculty of jurisprudence at the university of Vienna, devoting himself especially to the study of economics, principally under Böhm-Bawerk. As a student he took an active part in the work of the Social Democratic party, and was early a zealous contributor to the Arbeiter-Zeitung. He served in the campaign of 1914, and was a prisoner of war in Russia from 1915 to 1917. After his return to Vienna he was elected a member of the committee of the Social Democratic party, and became the leader of the increasingly influential Left group. After the revolution he succeeded, in November 1918, his master Viktor Adler as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs. In this capacity he energetically supported the idea of the union of German Austria with Germany. During the peace negotiations at St. Germain in July 1919 he retired from his office, but remained until October a member of the Socialization Commission. He subsequently became one of the most conspicuous leaders of the Social Democratic party in the Constituent National Assembly and in the National Parliament (Nationalrat), his speeches dealing mainly with financial questions, such as the tax on capital, and foreign affairs.
His works are the following: Die Nationalitätenfrage und die Sozialdemokratie (1908); Die Teuerung (1911); Balankrieg und Deutsche Weltpolitik (1912); Die russische Revolution und das europäische Proletariat (1917); Bolschewismus oder Sozialdemokratie? (1920).
