Joseph the Second of Austria:
A Forgotten Hero

Joseph Dana Miller

[Reprinted from Land and Freedom, March-April 1938]

Joseph Dana Miller was during this period Editor of Land and Freedom. Many of the editorials published were unsigned. It is therefore possible that Miller was not the author of this article, although the content is thought to be consistent with his own perspectives as Editor.

Most of the material for this article is gathered from The Revolutionary Emperor by S. K. Padover, Ph.D., Research Associate, the University of California, 1933

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Here is the place for a tribute to a forgotten hero. And whom should he be, of all persons, a member of the ruling house of Austria, son of Maria Theresa, one of the most reactionary monarchs of Europe, and brother of the intriguing and traitorous Marie Antoinette of France himself -- Joseph the Second of Austria.

He was not forgotten in the preparation of the Single Tax Year Book in 1917 and is quoted as follows (see page 328):

"Land which nature has destined to man's sustenance is the only source from which everything comes, and to which everything flows back, and the existence of which constantly remains in spite of all changes. From the unmistakable truth it results that land alone can furnish the wants of the state and that in natural fairness no distinction can be made in this."

Joseph was eccentric, even erratic. That he was eitirely sound in his economics cannot be contended. He hated in his secret soul the trappings of royalty. He could hardly be persuaded to treat with common courtesy the members of the royal household, even the members of his own family. The one exception he made was his clever brother Leopold. But to his social inferiors he went out of his way to make himself agreeable. He was particularly gracious to those of "the lower orders."

He developed an early dislike for the church knowing that it supported privilege, for which even in his youth he was gradually cultivating a violent dislike. He read the French physiocrats and the encyclopaedists, and he wrote a sharp letter to his sister Marie Antoinette for antagonizing Turgot, Louis's Finance Minister. He told his sister, in language not over-polite, not to bother with what she did not understand. Here is his language:

"The intrigues and stupidities which appeal to your vanity make you commit one blunder after another. Why, my dear sister, do you interfere in removing ministers, in exiling some to the country, in helping others to win lawsuits?"

In urging the taxation of the nobility he admitted that heir diminished income would reduce the brilliancy of the court, but said, "Who cares for the splendor of the court?"

Of course the nobles resented his sharp criticism, but he told them it was unjust that those who worked should pay the taxes while aristocratic idlers enjoyed all the privileges.

He opened the parks to the public which had hitherto been monopolized by the nobility. The nobles protested against having to rub shoulders with the plebians, and this extraordinary emperor retorted, "If I were to assoate with my equals I would have to descend to the vaults of the Capuchin church (where the Hapsburgs are buried) and there spend my days." He made frequent appearances in the public parks which were now the people's parks, but issued a decree that no one should pay any attention to him. He inscribed at the entrance to one of these parks, "This amusement place is dedicated to the people by their well wisher." It can still be read.

Emperor Joseph accomplished much but he sought to achieve a great deal more. He annulled from the statute books the crime of heresy and with it the imposition of torure; he strove to abolish the death penalty; he abolished serfdom; he sought to keep separate church and state; he urged complete religious liberty; he suppressed the pensions.

When a lady applied to him protesting against his anti-pension decree he treated her with scant courtesy:

"How can I live on a hundred florins? I demand justice Your Majesty." "It is precisely because of justice that you will not get that pension. As to your standards, or those you believe you are entitled to, am I to assist you at the expense of the unfortunate poor? Justice demands that I shall not accord to you what would suport five or six thrifty families."

"What will become of my daughter? She is without resources."

"She can go to work."

My daughter work? But, Your Majesty."

"Work," snapped the Emperor. "Yes, work. I, too, work."

Joseph sought to establish the Single Tax. All industry was to be free and land to be the sole source of revenue, to get at the values a registrar of real properties had to be made. The nobles objected and in Hungary the army had to be called out.

The measure of course would have resulted in the abolition of the nobility. The nobles called the Emperor the "peasant God," and rose in rebellion.

Three months after this attempt to enforce the edict the Emperor died, and his brother Leopold who succeeded him found it necessary to revoke the decree. And thus came to an end the first nation-wide attempt to secure the freedom of industry and man's natural right to the earth.

Brave Joseph! He left as his own epitaph the record of his failure and requested that it be engraved on his tomb. This request was disregarded. The people he sought to benefit did not know their friend and so he passed almost unrecognized by his ungrateful subjects.

The war he had tried to carry on in their behalf had been lost, and another great fight for human liberty had come to naught.

Lonely Joseph! Except for his easy going brother Leopold he went his way alone, cherishing his great dream of human enfranchisement. One thought was a comfort to him the memory of his wife, Isobel, torn from him by death in his early manhood. He never forgot her, and it is as beautiful a love story as was ever told. But there was no other man or woman to share his solitude, with mother, brothers and sister unable to understand him, or openly or secretly hostile.

We have spoken of him as a hero. The designation is richly deserved. For who among the reformers of the world has traveled so desolate a path? Brave Joseph!