Der 'Kuckuck' and the problem of workers' photography in Austria

In 1929, a group of editors affiliated with the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SDAP) established Der Kuckuck, a magazine modelled in content and format on mainstream boulevard weeklies, but directed specifically at a working-class public. Der Kuckuck was one of the few SDAP publications that attempted to collaborate with its audience, introducing within its first year a photography contest open to all readers. The photography contest became a signature feature of the magazine and was described by the editors as a means to cultivate 'Arbeiterfotographie' or workers' photography, a term usually associated with the pioneering activities of the German communist magazines Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung and Arbeiterfotograf. This study explores the political and aesthetic contours of 'Arbeiterfotographie' in an Austrian social democratic context.