Emil Lederer: Kommunalisierung kultureller Betriebe (1921), p. 146

This recorded commission intervention presents Lederer’s support for Dr. Vogelstein’s motion through a distinction between municipal ownership and censorship. Its scope is narrow: Lederer explains his vote rather than developing a general programme for cultural policy.

Der Sinn der Kommunalisierung soll nicht der einer Zensur sein, sondern es soll sein eine Übernahme durch die Gemeinde.

English translation: The purpose of municipalization should not be censorship, but rather a takeover by the municipality.

Municipalization thus means assuming responsibility for cultural enterprises, not controlling their expression. Lederer’s justification turns on the municipality’s capacity to act when existing management threatens cultural interests:

Ich schließe mich deshalb an, weil die Gemeinde überall dort, wo sie der Meinung ist, daß die Sachen nicht in guten Händen sind, daß es besser gemacht werden könnte, daß kulturelle Interessen in Gefahr sind durch Profitinteressen, in der Lage ist, kommunale Betriebe zu errichten.

English translation: I support it because, wherever the municipality considers that things are not in good hands, that they could be done better, that cultural interests are endangered by profit interests, it is able to establish municipal enterprises.

The decisive consideration is that no law prevents such initiatives. The intervention moves from an endorsement, through a definition of municipalization, to this practical legal rationale. Its significance lies in framing municipal enterprise as a means of protecting cultural interests against profit pressures without equating public provision with censorship. The passage does not supply the motion’s wording or specify how municipal management would operate.