Karl, Freiherr von Vogelsang

Karl, Freiherr von Vogelsang (born Sept. 3, 1818, Liegnitz, Ger. [now Legnica, Pol.]—died Nov. 8, 1890, Vienna) was a Roman Catholic social reformer whose writings helped shape the ideas and actions of the Austrian Christian Social Party. Vogelsang studied law, then entered the Prussian government service, but he retired after the Revolution of 1848. In 1850 he became a Catholic and later moved to Vienna, where he contributed to German and Austrian periodicals and newspapers.

His basic views were a mixture of scholasticism and romanticism. He advocated the replacement of capitalism by what he saw as a more Christian order of society, based upon a corporative system, with self-government of its various socioeconomic groups. His views on such ideas as interest rates, industrial organization, and profit-sharing were somewhat similar to those of the guild socialists. Many of Vogelsang’s ideas, however, were more romantic than realistic. Nevertheless, they helped shape the ideas and actions of the Austrian Christian Socialist Party, founded by Karl Lueger, including its anti-Semitic tendencies.

His more significant writings were edited by Wiard Klopp in Die sozialen Lehren des Freiherrn Karl von Vogelsang (1894; “The Social Teachings of Karl, Baron von Vogelsang”) and in Leben und Wirken des Sozialpolitikers Karl Freiherrn von Vogelsang (1930; “The Life and Works of the Social Politician Karl, Baron von Vogelsang”).