Editing Karl Renner (section)

===First Republic===
In 1918, after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he was in the forefront of the Provisional and the Constitutional National Assemblies of those [[Cisleithania]]n "Lands Represented in the Reichsrat" (the formal description of the Austrian half of the Dual Monarchy) that predominantly spoke [[German language|German]] and had decided to form a [[nation-state]] like the other nationalities had done. Renner became the first head of government ("State Chancellor") of that newly established small German-speaking republic which refused to be considered the heir of the [[House of Habsburg-Lorraine|Habsburg]] monarchy and wished to be known as the [[Republic of German-Austria]] ({{langx|de|Republik Deutsch-Österreich}}). This name, however, was prohibited by [[Allies of World War I|The Entente]]. They also vetoed a resolution of the Constituent National Assembly in Vienna that "German-Austria" was to be part of the German [[Weimar Republic]]. Even before the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Renner had proposed a future union of the German parts of Austria with Germany, even using the word ''"[[Anschluss]]"''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vQqNAAAAIAAJ&q=Karl+Renner+Staat+und+Nation Ernst Panzenböck], ''Ein Deutscher Traum: die Anschlussidee und Anschlusspolitik bei Karl Renner und Otto Bauer. Materialien zur Arbeiterbewegung'', PhD thesis, Vienna: Europaverlag, 1985 p. 93</ref> Like other Austrian socialists, Renner believed that the best course was to seek union with Germany.

[[File:TratadoDeSaintGermainRenner1.png|thumb|left|Renner (centre) leaving the [[Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye|Château de Saint-Germain]], having signed the treaty]]
He was the leader of the delegation that represented this new German-Austria in the negotiations of [[Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919)|St. Germain]] where the "Republic of Austria" was acknowledged but was declared to be the responsible successor to Imperial Austria. There Renner had to accept that this new Austria was prohibited any political association with Germany and he had to accept the loss of German-speaking [[South Tyrol]] and the German-speaking parts of [[Bohemia]] and [[Moravia]] where he himself was born; this forced him to give up his share in the parental farm if he, "the peasant proprietor who turned Marxist",<ref>William M. Johnston, ''Karl Renner'', p.108</ref> wanted to remain an Austrian government officer.

Renner was [[Chancellor of Austria]] of the first three coalition cabinets from 1918 until 1920 and at the same time Minister of Foreign Affairs, backed by a [[grand coalition]] of Social Democrats and [[Christian Social Party (Austria)|Christian Social Party]]. A wide range of social reforms were introduced by Renner's government, including unemployment insurance, paid holidays, the eight-hour workday, and regulations on the working conditions of miners, bakers, women, and children. State aid was also provided for the disabled, together with health insurance for public employees. In addition, a law was passed that provided for collective bargaining and the mediation of disputes.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EvCfTIsTOskC&q=germany+paid+vacations+miners+1919&pg=PA110 | title=Austria-Hungary & the Successor States: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present| isbn=9780816074693| last1=Roman| first1=Eric| year=2003| publisher=Infobase}}</ref>

From 1931 to 1933, Renner was President of Parliament, the [[National Council of Austria]].<ref name="parlamentat">{{cite web |title=Präsidentinnen und Präsidenten seit 1920 {{!}} Parlament Österreich |url=https://www.parlament.gv.at/WWER/NR/PRAES/ |website=www.parlament.gv.at}}</ref> After the dictatorial [[Ständestaat|Corporate State]] period from 1934, when his party was prohibited, he even welcomed the ''[[Anschluss]]'' in 1938. Having originally been a proponent of new German-Austria becoming a part of the democratic [[Weimar Republic|German Republic]], he expected [[Nazism]] to be but a passing phenomenon not worse than the dictatorship of [[Engelbert Dollfuss|Dollfuss's]] and [[Kurt Schuschnigg|Schuschnigg's]] authoritarian one-party system. During [[World War II]], however, he distanced himself from politics completely.