We must do a stamp on a Chamber of Commerce convention in Linz that is meeting in a dreary late brutalist building there. This sounds like a formula for a dreary stamp. Why not at least spice up the building with bright colors. Then kick it up a few notches with a building emblem of a technology a generation away. That will get a certain stamp collector scratching his head. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp just must be backdated, in the manner of a Biden mail in ballot from the ghetto. Austria is no slouch in the realm of high technology but they did not have WiFi in 1983, I don’t care what that building says on it’s side.
Todays stamp is issue A645, a 4 Shilling stamp issued by Austria on August 16th, 1983. It was a single stamp issue recognizing the 27th International Chamber of Commerce Professional Competition held in Linz. I can confirm the was a talent section to the competition but I am still awaiting confirmation on the swimsuit portion. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents used.
At first Chambers of Commerce were local clubs for merchants. The first one formed on Marseilles, France in 1599. Soon the local affiliates were merged into national organizations that were regulated by the government and lobbied for pro big business measures. This can be seen in Austria where the first chamber formed in Vienna in 1848 but by 1868 there was a national parent organization regulated by an act of the Reichsrat legislature. In many European countries, including Austria, membership in the chamber of commerce is required by businesses over a certain size. The dues, as with union dues on the other political side are a major source of resources for center right political parties.
This is currently creating some trouble on the political right. The Chamber as advocated for liberal immigration policies in order to push down labor costs for big business. As right politics becomes more populist, this is a big bone of contention and in the USA the Chamber has begun redirecting it’s political support to Democrats.
This involvement in national politics is becoming a deterrent to local professionals and merchants joining the chamber. A late friend of mine was a member recruiter for the local chamber. After he quit he explained that he was a salesman his whole professional life but had very little luck getting people to join the local chamber. A local club for business people would have been welcome but not one where dues are redirected toward political lobbying that the locals opposed.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast my late friend. He always flew better on two wings. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.