THE VIENN A SETTLEMENTS I T was the writer's good fortune
to spend a few weeks of the spring of 1922 in what was then the decaying city of Vienna. The streets were empty of traffic, but full of beggars. The Kroner fell daily, and with increasing momentum. The Viennese seemed to have quietly made up their minds that all was over with their city. The pulse of life which had once beaten there with so gay a rhythm was almost still. There was no sign, not even a manifestation of popular violence, to point to a latent reserve of national vitality which might one day reawaken the city.
There was no sign at least if one did not happen to wander down a side street into the hospitable offices of the Friends' Relief Mission. But if one did, then a wholly new world, a world of birth, instead of a world of decay, was suddenly revealed. One was taken in a motor-car to the outskirts of the city. There one found, growing up on every side, little colonies of houses. These houses, one discovered, were not being built by professional builders, but were the result of the spare-time work of clerks, factory workers and even Government officials. Each house had with it a small patch of ground which, in many cases, had already become a well-cultivated vegetable garden. At that time few, if any, of the houses were completed and the settlements were still very much in an experimental stage. The whole idea of industrial workerS building their own houses, and growing a proportion of their own food, in their spare time, was a new and untried one. But there was a remarkable air of co-operative activity, of rekindled hope, of orderly effort in these little settlements, which provided the strongest possible contrast to the atmosphere of stricken Vienna elsewhere. That was three and a half 'years ago. Since then the writer had heard nothing of the fate of these settleirients; until with peculiarpleasnie he read a pamphlet which has been issued by the Friends' Council for International Service, called the "Vienna Land Settlements—a Solution of the Housing Problem." This pamphlet tells the remarkable story of the almost' unbroken series of successes which have been achieved by the Land Settlement movement. Photo- graphs show the settlements' as they now are. Dr. Hilda Clark, whose work in Vienna was of such immense importance;bas also sent its a terse buit cornpre= hensiVe account of the work and its object4. We note the interesting fact that she now calls these Land Settlements "Homecroft Holdings.". .'We do not think that the word " homecrofting " had been 'heard of in Vienna. three years ago: The Land Settlement Moveinent grew spon- taneously and quite independently of the American movement, the movement in this country and the develoyiments in India, of which we wrote in the Spectator of November 14th; but Dr. Clark is evidently quite . right in calling these Land Settlements_-" Hop e- _for Ahoy -1206-0.: the essentialt, features. That _is -eta-say= they are- not- -attempts to establish. small holdings in our sense of the word. The inhabitants do' not seek to gain .their livelihood- exclusively from the land. These are- essentially .part-time organiza- tions, by which the city industrial worker, can at once gain some freedom from the over-shadowing menace of unemployment and also find a healthy - ancl congenial form of occupation in the open air. - - Dr. Clark sums up .the Land Settlement Movement in an admirably clear passage :— - "In Vienna the people who wanted houses joined together in gri Society and arranged that every. member should .contribute a definite number of hours of work (usually a thousand) towards the labour necessary for the Settlement. Those few who were in the building trade could take a share of the skilled work, but the majority worked as unskilled labourers at road-making, foundations, levelling, &c. This was organized by the Society, so that all who could contribute their work towards the cost of their house could have it used to its full advantage in the -Settlement, not necessarily confined to the men's own houses. Work in the evenings during the summer, Saturday afternoons and Sundays could be effectively used. Those who were on short time could complete their number of free hours quickly and in many cases gave a further contribution in kind by a second thousand hours of work.
" In this way the cost of labour was reduced by 30-40 per cent., and the total cost of the house by 15 per cent. This scheme was carried out with the lull approval and co-operation of the Trad6 Unions, with whose principles it did not in any way conflict. The Societies employed the skilled labour at Trade Union rates. We have ascertained unofficially that no objection is likely to be raised in England to similar use of the people's own labour. '
She also tells us of the economic value of small hold- ings :--
" There has been some disappointment at the development of small holdings which prejudices some people against the Homecroft scheme. The Vienna experiment shows the 'practical success when the Homecroft holding is combined with' industrial life. Not only do the women help with the unskilled work of the building, but they and the older children can carry on food production in a garden, when it adjoins the house, and are often especially well qualified to care for the small animals which can so much increase the variety and healthfulness of their own diet. In this way, when the man is fully employed, his allotment can be adequately worked, and when he is not he can go in for intensive cultivation and extend its profit. There is obviously great scope for co-operation amongst the members of the Homecroft community, by which some grow more of one food supply and some of another. It is a great advantage to have some additional land for those who can give more time, and are skilled in vegetable garden work.
Finally, it may be noted that there are no special 'advantages in Vienna which make such a scheme more likely to succeed there than here, whether in climate or soil. The fact that the Vienna workman is less industrialized than the average British artisan is certainly in.his favour, but we feel convinced that there are many places in England where men can be found with sufficient adapta- bility for such a scheme. The War showed us a tremendous capacity for adaptability, initiative and courage that is possessed by almost all our industrial population, if only the stimulus can be found to evOke it."
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