Liberalism
   
     The appeal of autonomy picked up momentum as word of Paris' 1848 revolution spread through countries throughout Europe. Politically, the notion of liberalism goes back to the seventeenth century and John Locke, as an organized argument against monarchical rule. Liberals were in favor of representational political institutions. The classical liberals borrowed the concept of the market place from capitalism, and turned it into a marketplace for ideas. They weren't afraid of freedom of expression because they believed that the market would value the good ideas highly and reject the ideas that weren't worth considering. Liberalism in Vienna had failed by 1900. Groups that challenged liberalism were becoming more powerful. For the Viennese, the end of liberalism was symbolized by the election of the anti-Semitic Catholic Karl Lueger as mayor to the city in 1897. As Carl Schorske writes, "they had been crushed by modern mass movements, Christian, anti-Semitic, socialist, and nationalist." [Schorske, Carl E. Fin-de-Siècle Vienna, Politics and Culture. New York: Random House, 1981. Pages 5-6]
    

Coffeehouse Culture, which thrived in Vienna between 1890 and 1938, was in a sense the liberal revival that never happened. The spirit of liberalism that was carried into the Hapsburg dynasty had been an effort of the burgeoning intelligentsia and middle class, as opposed to the working class. Central to the idea of 19th century liberalism was the notion of free and open discourse. In the setting of Vienna, surrounded by the pervasiveness of movements that appeal to peoples ethnic, racial or national identity (i.e., anti-Semitism, socialism), any atmosphere in which ideas are openly exchanged would be considered a liberal haven.
    

While it is true that classical liberalism, as the preoccupation of fin-de-siècle bourgeoisie culture, stood as a bastion for freedom of thought, freedom of religion (tolerance), and freedom of expression, these ideals in relation to the 19th century are a moving target in the sense that permissible freedom is a relative term. Throughout history the definition of "liberated" has progressed, as it seems one can always become more liberal, for example extending these beliefs to apply to women, minorities, ad infinitum. Liberals, the bourgeoisie, of the turn of the century in Vienna, today would face serious allegations of hypocrisy. For those who preached freedom of thought and expression, they were still impressively attached to Victorian cultural ideals.