In 1918 Schumpeter was a member of the Socialization Commission established by the Council of the People's Deputies in Germany. In March 1919, he was invited to take office as Minister of Finance in the Republic of German-Austria. He proposed a capital levy as a way to tackle the war debt and opposed the socialization of the Alpine Montan plant.[5] In 1921 he became president of the private Biedermann Bank. Problems at that bank as well as at the Kaufmann Bank, where he was also a board member, left Schumpeter in debt. His resignation was a condition of the takeover of the Biedermann Bank in September 1924.[6]