Thus he had developed a conception of a just, sober, non-chauvinistic nationalism which would seek to work freely within the bounds of Austria-Hungary or, if necessary, outside of it. He foresaw that the greatest danger from without to Austria was Pan-Germanism which was pleased to see her become embroiled further and further in quarrels among the Balkan nations whose peaceful existence and relationship with Austria-Hungary he wished to see safeguarded.
In internal politics, he aspired to be the statesman who would put into practice the scientific results of the social sciences. He was more than a social philosopher. He was a statesman without portfolio. Born a commoner, he never lost his contact with the common man.[1] In his philosophical and sociological writings he ranged himself against Marx's historical materialism or economic determinism.[2] If a socialist at all, he was not a Marxist. His strong religious and moral convictions, his great appreciation of spiritual values, his appraisal of scientific research, led him to seek progress by social reform based on the social sciences. He sought social reform by evolution rather than by revolution.
In a speech in the Austrian Parliament in 1907 he was quoted as saying:
From the beginning of my public life I made it my aim so far as possible to bridge the great gulf between social democracy and the remaining elements of the nation and to work for positive social reforms.[3]
This is perhaps the best statement which can be gotten of his aspirations. He saw in the Marxism of Social Democracy the danger of catastrophe; he saw in the gulf between it and the ideals of the other elements of the nation a great menace. He has tried ever since to bridge that
