Edith Tudor-Hart

Unemployed Workers’ Demonstration, Vienna

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About this artwork

Throughout the 1920s Vienna was afflicted by high levels of unemployment, a source of social unrest. Some estimates suggest that by 1933 this affected as many as 750,000 people, or forty percent of the urban labour force. The social-democratic administration worked hard to alleviate unemployment’s worst aspects, paying special attention to working-class housing and cultural provision in the city. However, they did little to resolve inequality and the social-democratic leadership was frequently accused of valuing cultural over political and economic struggle. Tudor-Hart photographed both the effects of unemployment and the Social Democrats’ efforts to improve the lives of the city’s working class. Her images reflect the stark contradictions of interwar Vienna.

Updated before 2020

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Edith Tudor-Hart

Edith Tudor-Hart