Emil Lederer · 1921
This brief discussion contribution from commission proceedings concerns whether municipal enterprise creates a danger of hostile action against private businesses. Lederer’s central move is to distinguish powers municipalities already possess from those conferred by a municipalization law. Even without such legislation, a municipality can establish its own competing enterprise. If animosity prevailed in a town council—something he considers unlikely—it could already find an outlet through that competition.
Ich erblicke darin keine Gefahr.
English translation: I see no danger in this.
The reassurance rests on both existing municipal powers and Lederer’s judgment about political plausibility. He then shifts from possible municipal hostility to the conditions under which municipalization remains practicable:
Die Kommunalisierung wäre überhaupt unmöglich, wenn man die Gemeinden zwingen würde, in jedem Wirtschaftszweige partout alles zu übernehmen und alles zu entschädigen. Damit wäre der Gedanke der Sozialisierung nicht mehr durchführbar.
English translation: Municipalization would be altogether impossible if municipalities were compelled to take over absolutely everything in every branch of the economy and to pay compensation for everything. That would make the idea of socialization no longer practicable.
The target is compulsory comprehensive takeover and compensation, not compensation as such. Lederer thus defends room for selective municipal action: requiring universal acquisition would defeat socialization rather than safeguard its implementation. The contribution offers a compact argument about institutional feasibility, without specifying acquisition procedures or compensation rules.
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