A new class of water soluble conducting polyanilines has been developed. This is accomplished by oxidatively polymerizing aniline monomers on a template such as a polymeric acid. The resulting polyanilines readily dissolve in water. These materials can be applied as removable discharge layers for electron-beam lithography and for mask inspection by scanning electron microscopy. They can be spin-applied directly on top of resists without any interfacial problems. Image distortion as a result of charging during resist exposure is not observed with these materials. After exposure the polyaniline is readily and cleanly removed during the resist develop. By incorporating cross-linkable functionality on the polyaniline backbone, water soluble polyanilines that are radiation curable are attained. Upon irradiation these materials cross-link and become insoluble and thus can be utilized as permanent conducting coatings for electrostatic discharge applications. In addition, the cross-linkable polyanilines can be used as water developable conducting resists. 1.0 mum conducting lines have been patterned with electron-beam irradiation.