Social Democratic Party of Austria

The Social Democratic Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs [zoˈtsi̯aːldemoˌkraːtɪʃə parˌtaɪ ˈøːstəraɪçs], SPÖ) is a social-democratic[4][5][6] political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria (German: Sozialistische Partei Österreichs) from 1945 until 1991,[7] the party is the oldest extant political party in Austria. Along with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), it is one of the country's two traditional major parties. It is positioned on the centre-left on the political spectrum.[8][9][10]

Social Democratic Party of Austria
Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
AbbreviationSPÖ
ChairpersonAndreas Babler
Parliamentary leaderAndreas Babler & Philip Kucher
Managing directorKlaus Seltenheim & Sandra Breiteneder
Notable deputy chairpersons
FounderVictor Adler
Founded1 January 1889; 135 years ago (1889-01-01)[1]
HeadquartersLöwelstraße 18, 1040 Vienna
Student wingSocialist Students of Austria
Youth wingJunge Generation / Socialist Youth Austria
Paramilitary wingRepublikanischer Schutzbund
(1923–1934)
Membership (2023)c. 140,000[2]
IdeologySocial democracy
Political positionCentre-left
European affiliationParty of European Socialists
International affiliation
European Parliament groupProgressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Colours  Red
Anthem
"Lied der Arbeit"[3]
"Song of Labour"
National Council
40 / 183
Federal Council
18 / 61
Governorships
3 / 9
State cabinets
5 / 9
State diets
133 / 440
European Parliament
5 / 19
Party flag
Flag of the Social Democratic Party of Austria
Website
spoe.at

Since June 2023, the party has been led by Andreas Babler. It is currently the second largest of five parties in the National Council, with 40 of the 183 seats, and won 21.2% of votes cast in the 2019 legislative election. It holds seats in the legislatures of all nine states; of these, it is the largest party in three (Burgenland, Carinthia, and Vienna.) The SPÖ is supportive of Austria's membership in the European Union,[11] and it is a member of the Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists. It sits with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament; of Austria's 19 MEPs, five are members of the SPÖ. The party has close ties to the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and the Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK).

The SDAPÖ was the second largest party in the Imperial Council of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the 1890s through 1910s. After the First World War, it briefly governed the First Austrian Republic, but thereafter returned to opposition. The party was banned in 1934 following the Austrian Civil War, and was suppressed throughout Austrofascism and the Nazi period. The party was refounded as the Socialist Party of Austria in 1945 and governed as a junior partner of the ÖVP until 1966. In 1970, the SPÖ became the largest party for the first time in post-war history, and Bruno Kreisky became Chancellor, winning three consecutive majorities (1971, 1975, and 1979). From 1987 to 2000 the SPÖ led a grand coalition with the ÖVP before returning to opposition for the first time in 30 years. The party governed again from 2007 to 2017. Since 2017, the SPÖ have been the primary opposition to the ÖVP governments of Sebastian Kurz, Alexander Schallenberg, and Karl Nehammer.

History edit

Since its foundation in 1889 as the SDAPÖ, the party has been one of the main political forces in Austria. At the start of the World War I, it was the strongest party in parliament. At the ending of that war in 1918, the party leader Karl Renner became Chancellor of the First Republic. The SDAPÖ lost power in 1920, but it retained a strong base of support.

After the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1918), the Social Democratic Party supported for a time the idea of a union with Berlin in order to constitute a great democratic German republic, thus taking up a revolutionary project of 1848. The victors of the war did not see it that way and set the borders of Austria. In the interwar period, Austromarxism, maintaining its particularities in the face of German social democracy – which had bloodily suppressed the Spartacist uprising of 1919 – and Soviet communism, envisaged the creation of a new international aimed at bringing together the different currents of socialism. However, the attempt did not succeed. The more left-wing Social Democrats, such as Max Adler, relied on the Workers' councils that had developed throughout Central Europe in 1918–1919, particularly in Vienna.[12]

The SDAPÖ was the most established of the European social democratic parties. In the 1920s, about 15 percent of Austrians were members of an association linked to the party. In 1929, it had 720,000 members. The SDAPÖ was almost hegemonic among the working class, but could not compete with the conservatives in the countryside and small towns. The economic crisis of the 1930s, which caused factory closures and increased unemployment, weakened the labor movement and with it the SDAPÖ. In 1930, its membership was down to 650,000 militants.[12]

From 1919 to February 1934, the Social Democrats were in continuous control of the Vienna municipality, which acquired the nickname "Red Vienna". The municipality developed an ambitious policy, including a vast program of construction of workers' housing, which included 60,000 communal social housing units. In addition, free medical care was introduced, and income and luxury taxes were introduced. Culture was clearly emphasized: "Arbeiterbildung" (working-class education and culture) reigned supreme, and the city was home to many internationally renowned intellectuals and artists. Numerous cinemas and theaters subsidized by the municipality opened their doors, and sports became more democratic. This socialist experiment, supported by some renowned intellectuals such as Otto Neurath and Sigmund Freud, also inspired a violent disgust in conservative circles. The press readily described red Vienna as a "Jewish creation" in the hands of "Bolshevism".[12]

Party membership of SPÖ over time, since 1945. The peak was reached in 1970s. Since 1986 the party is rapidly declining.

In 1934, the Christian Social Party, the dominant party on the right, overthrew the democratic system and established a regime inspired by fascism. The social democrats and communists put up armed resistance, but it was quickly crushed.[12]

When Anschluss took place in 1938 at the hands of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, he brought Austria into the Second World War. In 1945, the party was reconstituted as the Socialist Party of Austria (German: Sozialistische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ) and was led by Adolf Schärf. The SPÖ entered the government of the Second Republic as part of a grand coalition with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) until 1966 and with the Communist Party of Austria until 1949. Renner became the first President of Austria.

From 1971 to 1983, the SPÖ under Bruno Kreisky was the sole governing party. For the following three years, it ruled in coalition with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), then up to 2000 it was again part of a grand coalition with the ÖVP, with Franz Vranitzky as Chancellor until 1997. In 1991, it reverted to including Democratic in its name, becoming the Social Democratic Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs). During this period, the grand coalition combined with the Proporz system, whereby important posts throughout the government were shared out between members of the two main parties, evoked rising discontent. This was a factor in the growing popularity of the FPÖ which came second to the SPÖ in the 1999 Austrian legislative election. The following year, the FPÖ and ÖVP formed a right-wing coalition, displacing the SPÖ from a share in government. While this coalition was still in power, the SPÖ's Heinz Fischer was elected president in the 2004 Austrian presidential election. Following the 2006 Austrian legislative election, another grand coalition was formed between the SPÖ and the ÖVP, lasting until 2017, when the SPÖ went back to the opposition. In the 2019 Austrian legislative election, the SPÖ lost 12 seats and shrunk to 21.2%.

After the lost state elections in Lower Austria and Carinthia at the beginning of 2023, there was a power struggle between the moderate social democratic party wing around party leader Pamela Rendie-Wagner and the right-wing, FPÖ-friendly party wing around Burgenland governor Hans Peter Doskozil. The Social Democratic wing has support from socialists and communists. The right wing has support from the middle wing of the party. Disputes and disagreements have existed for years. In March 2023, the situation came to a head after the SPÖ Burgenland stopped paying money to the federal party. On 15 March 2023 a heated party executive meeting led to the call for a new party leadership election. The candidacy for the new leadership was heated and a surprise candidacy from Andreas Babler, mayor of Traiskirchen, which has led to some other candidates to withdraw their candidacy for the 2023 Social Democratic Party of Austria leadership election.[13][14][15]

Dealing with the past from 1938-1945 edit

Concerning the role of the SDAPÖ during Nazi rule from 1938 to 1945, the party started opening its archives and set in a commission to investigate its past conduct. Despite the fact the SDAPÖ had been outlawed and many party members imprisoned under Austrofascism, many SDAPÖ members initially welcomed the Anschluss of Austria into Germany back then and some became members of the Nazi Party. Alfred Gusenbauer issued a declaration promising and supporting a full and open investigation ("Klarheit in der Vergangenheit – Basis für die Zukunft"). In 2005, the report about the so-called "brown spots" (German: braune Flecken) was completed and published. The report talks about SDAPÖ members and leaders who became members of the Nazi Party during German rule after the Anschluss. One example given in the report is the case of Heinrich Gross, who received many honours from the party and even the government in the post-war period. This was despite the fact that he worked as a Nazi doctor in the euthanasia ward Am Spiegelgrund in Vienna, where human experiments on children were performed. Those children with presumptive mental defects were eventually killed, often by lethal injection. Gross was probably himself involved in the experimentations and killings. The Austrian judicial system protected him for a very long time from any kind of prosecution, something that was very typical in the post-war period. He enjoyed wide support from the SPÖ and party leaders for a very long time.

Reflecting the change in attitude towards the past, President Heinz Fischer in a 10 April 2006 interview with the liberal newspaper Der Standard strongly criticised Austria's view on its historical role during Nazi rule. He called the traditional view that Austria was the first victim of Nazi aggression as false. The Moscow Declaration of 1943 by émigrés which called for the independence of Austria from Nazi Germany was a problem since it stated that the war was neither started nor wanted by any Austrian ("Und das ist nicht richtig"), that Austrian Jewish victims were not mentioned in the declaration ("kein Wort für die jüdischen Opfer"), that it took decades for them to receive any kind of compensation and justice from the government and that it was regrettable and inexcusable. His statements were direct criticism of the right-wing government of the coalition ÖVP–FPÖ which rejected compensation to victims and the admission of the co-guilt Austrians carried for crimes committed by them during the Second World War.

Election results by states edit

Burgenland edit

Burgenland is a state that is a traditional stronghold of the SPÖ. Since 1964, the governors of this easternmost state have come from the SPÖ. Burgenland is one of the few states that are ruled by a SPÖ majority in the state assembly (Landtag). In 2000, the SPÖ received 46.6%. In 2005, it received 5.2% more votes and ended up with an absolute majority of 51.8%. After losing it in 2010, the SPÖ was able to regain it in the latest election in January 2020. From 2015 to 2020, the SPÖ in Burgenland was in an unusual coalition with the FPÖ. The Governor (Landeshauptmann) of the Burgenland is Hans Peter Doskozil.

Carinthia edit

The SPÖ used to be strong in Carinthia as it regularly won the most seats in state elections and the governors used to be Social Democrats until 1989. Since the rise of Jörg Haider and his FPÖ, he successfully pushed the SPÖ out of their leading position. In state elections in 1999, the SPÖ received 32.9%. However, this went up to 38.4% in 2004. Until 2005, the SPÖ was in a coalition with the right-wing FPÖ in Carinthia, where Haider was Governor. This constellation is in question after the chairperson of the Carinthian SPÖ Gabi Schauning decided to resign from her post as Vice-Governor of Carinthia after a fall-out with Haider. Carinthia has a mandatory concentration government, where each party with a certain number of seats in the state parliament automatically participates in the state government. The term coalition refers to the co-operation between parties and not to the participation in the state cabinet.

Lower Austria edit

In Lower Austria, the SPÖ received 29.2% in 1998. It increased its shares by 3.2% in 2003 and ended up with 32.4%. In the 2008 Lower Austrian state election, the SPÖ received 25.5% of the vote.

Salzburg edit

In 2004, the SPÖ won a surprising victory in Salzburg. It was able to increase its share of votes from 32.2% (1999) to 45.3%. For the first time, the conservative ÖVP lost its traditional dominant position. Gabi Burgstaller became the first SPÖ governess (Landeshauptfrau) in the state's history. In March 2009, the party lost 2 seats (from 17 to 15) with a 39.5% of the popular votes, going to the FPÖ (from 3 to 5) with a 13% of the votes. The ÖVP had 14 seats with a 36.5% of the votes and the Grüne 2 seat with a 7.3% . The BZÖ had no seat with a 3.7% of the votes, showing a growing of the right-wing parties. In the State elections 2013 the SPÖ lost its majority to the ÖVP. Since then, the ÖVP has providing the governor (Landeshauptmann) with Wilfried Haslauer jun. again.

Styria edit

Styria was traditionally ruled by the ÖVP. In 2000, the Styrian SPÖ ended up with 32.3%. In 2005, the voters shifted towards the left, something that also benefited the KPÖ, the local communist party. The SPÖ won 9.4% more and ended up with 40.7%, defeating the ÖVP which got 38.7% of the votes. Styrian SPÖ Chairman Franz Voves became the state Governor. After the State elections 2015 the SPÖ lost the governorship to the ÖVP. Since then, the ÖVP has providing the governor (Landeshauptmann) with Hermann Schützenhöfer again.

Tyrol edit

In Tyrol, the SPÖ receive few votes since the state is a traditional conservative stronghold. In 2018, the Tyrolean SPÖ received 17.3% of all votes. The winner of the election was the ÖVP under long-term governor Günther Platter, which received 44,3% of the total vote.

Upper Austria edit

In 2003, the SPÖ was able to raise its voters share in Upper Austria by 11.3% from 27% (1997) to 38.3%. It was in a grand coalition with the ÖVP in the state government as the junior partner, with four out of nine of the state government ministers coming from the SPÖ.

Vienna edit

Vienna was always traditionally the stronghold of the SPÖ. The current Governor-Mayor of Vienna is Michael Ludwig. In the 2020 Viennese state election the SPÖ raised its vote-share to 41,6%. The party with the largest gains was the ÖVP which doubled its vote-share and won 20,4% of the votes.

Vorarlberg edit

Vorarlberg is a traditional stronghold of the conservative ÖVP. Of all the Austrian states, the SPÖ receives the fewest votes in this westernmost state.In the 2019 the SPÖ ended up with 9,5% of the vote, a raise of 0,7%. The winner of the election was the conservative ÖVP under governor Markus Wallner which won around 45%.

Chairpersons since 1945 edit

The chart below shows a timeline of the social-democratic chairpersons and the Chancellors of Austria since 1945. The left bar shows all the chairpersons (Bundesparteivorsitzende, abbreviated as CP) of the SPÖ, and the right bar shows the corresponding make-up of the Austrian government at that time. The red (SPÖ) and black (ÖVP) colours correspond to which party led the federal government (Bundesregierung, abbreviated as Govern.). The last names of the respective chancellors are shown, with the Roman numeral standing for the cabinets.

Karl NehammerAlexander SchallenbergSecond Kurz governmentBierlein governmentFirst Kurz governmentKern governmentSecond Faymann governmentFirst Faymann governmentGusenbauer governmentSecond Schüssel governmentWolfgang SchüsselViktor KlimaFranz VranitzkyFred SinowatzBruno KreiskyJosef KlausAlfons GorbachJulius RaabLeopold FiglKarl RennerPamela Rendi-WagnerChristian KernWerner FaymannAlfred GusenbauerViktor KlimaFranz VranitzkyFred SinowatzBruno KreiskyBruno PittermannAdolf Schärf

Select list of other SPÖ politicians edit

Minority factions edit

Some groups within the SPÖ such as Der Funke (lit.'The Spark') are Marxist and proponents of a radical strain of democratic socialism.[citation needed] SJ Austria, a youth organisation maintaining close relations with the party, is generally perceived of as being more towards the left-wing than the SPÖ itself.[citation needed]

Election results edit

Imperial Council edit

ElectionVotes%Seats+/–Government
18913,8481.2 (#12)
0 / 353
Extra-parliamentary
1897245,00123.1 (#2)
14 / 425
14Opposition
1900–1901251,65223.3 (#2)
12 / 425
2Opposition
1907513,21911.1 (#2)
50 / 516
38Opposition
1911542,54911.9 (#2)
46 / 516
4Opposition

Constituent National Assembly edit

ElectionVotes%Seats+/–Government
19191,211,81440.8 (#1)
72 / 170
72SDAPÖ–CS majority

National Council edit

ElectionVotes%Seats+/–Government
19201,072,70936.0 (#2)
69 / 183
3Opposition
19231,311,87039.6 (#2)
68 / 165
1Opposition
19271,539,63543.3 (#2)
71 / 165
3Opposition
19301,517,14641.1 (#1)
72 / 165
1Opposition
19451,434,89844.6 (#2)
76 / 165
4ÖVP–SPÖ–KPÖ majority
19491,623,52438.7 (#2)
67 / 165
9ÖVP–SPÖ majority
19531,818,51742.1 (#1)
73 / 165
6ÖVP–SPÖ majority
19561,873,29543.0 (#2)
74 / 165
1ÖVP–SPÖ majority
19591,953,93544.8 (#1)
78 / 165
4ÖVP–SPÖ majority
19621,960,68544.0 (#2)
76 / 165
2ÖVP–SPÖ majority
19661,928,98542.6 (#2)
74 / 165
2Opposition
19702,221,98148.4 (#1)
81 / 165
7SPÖ minority supported by FPÖ
19712,280,16850.0 (#1)
93 / 183
12SPÖ majority
19752,326,20150.1 (#1)
93 / 183
SPÖ majority
19792,413,22651.0 (#1)
95 / 183
2SPÖ majority
19832,312,52947.6 (#1)
90 / 183
5SPÖ–FPÖ majority
19862,092,02443.1 (#1)
80 / 183
10SPÖ–ÖVP majority
19902,012,78742.8 (#1)
80 / 183
SPÖ–ÖVP majority
19941,617,80434.9 (#1)
65 / 183
15SPÖ–ÖVP majority
19951,843,47438.1 (#1)
71 / 183
6SPÖ–ÖVP majority
19991,532,44833.2 (#1)
65 / 183
6Opposition
20021,792,49936.5 (#2)
69 / 183
4Opposition
20061,663,98635.3 (#1)
68 / 183
1SPÖ–ÖVP majority
20081,430,20629.3 (#1)
57 / 183
9SPÖ–ÖVP majority
20131,258,60526.8 (#1)
52 / 183
5SPÖ–ÖVP majority
20171,351,91826.9 (#2)
52 / 183
Opposition
20191,011,86821.2 (#2)
40 / 183
12Opposition

Presidency edit

ElectionCandidateFirst round resultSecond round result
Votes%ResultVotes%Result
1951Theodor Körner1,682,88139.1Runner-up2,178,63152.1Won
1957Adolf Schärf2,258,25551.1Won
1963Adolf Schärf2,473,34955.4Won
1965Franz Jonas2,324,43650.7Won
1971Franz Jonas2,487,23952.8Won
1974Rudolf Kirchschläger2,392,36751.7Won
1980Rudolf Kirchschläger3,538,74879.9Won
1986Kurt Steyrer2,061,10443.7Runner-up2,107,02346.1Lost
1992Rudolf Streicher1,888,59940.7Runner-up1,915,38041.1Lost
1998No candidate
2004Heinz Fischer2,166,69052.4Won
2010Heinz Fischer2,508,37379.3Won
2016Rudolf Hundstorfer482,79011.34th place
2022No candidate

European Parliament edit

ElectionVotes%Seats+/–
19961,105,91029.2 (#2)
6 / 21
1999888,33831.7 (#1)
7 / 21
1
2004833,51733.3 (#1)
7 / 18
2009680,04123.7 (#2)
4 / 17
3
2014680,18024.1 (#2)
5 / 18
1
2019903,15123.9 (#2)
5 / 18

State Parliaments edit

StateYearVotes%Seats±Government
Burgenland202092,63349.9 (#1)
19 / 36
4SPÖ majority
Carinthia2023117,96238.9 (#1)
15 / 36
3SPÖ–ÖVP
Lower Austria2023185,76020.1 (#3)
12 / 56
1Opposition
Salzburg202348,09917.9 (#3)
7 / 36
1Opposition
Styria2019138,57223.0 (#2)
12 / 48
3ÖVP–SPÖ
Tyrol202260,00917.5 (#3)
7 / 36
1ÖVP–SPÖ
Upper Austria2021150,09418.6 (#3)
11 / 56
0Opposition
Vienna2020301,96741.6 (#1)
46 / 100
2SPÖ–NEOS
Vorarlberg201915,6359.5 (#4)
4 / 36
1Opposition

Results timeline edit

Year
AT

EU

Bgld

Ktn


Sbg

Stmk

Tyrol


Wien

Vbg
194544.6N/A44.948.840.439.541.628.038.357.227.2
1946   ProporzProporzProporzProporzProporzProporz     
1947
1948
1949 38.7 40.4 40.8 37.4 33.6 37.4 24.0 30.8 49.9 19.1
1950  ProporzProporzProporzProporzProporzProporz     
1951
1952
1953 42.1 44.7 48.2 41.1 27.4
1954  Proporz 41.0 38.2ProporzProporz 52.7 26.0
1955ProporzProporz 39.4     
1956 43.0 46.0 48.1Proporz
1957  Proporz 43.6 31.0
1958ProporzProporz
1959 44.8 42.3 38.6 54.4 29.3
1960   46.2 48.5ProporzProporz     
1961Proporz 41.7 30.1 39.6
1962 44.0ProporzProporzProporz
1963  
1964 48.2 42.8 40.9 54.7 29.5
1965 49.2ProporzProporz 42.2 30.5     
1966 42.6ProporzProporz
1967 46.0
1968 50.3Proporz
1969 44.6 40.4 56.9 27.7
1970 48.4
 
53.1ProporzProporz 44.7 33.5     
1971 50.0ProporzProporz
1972  50.5
1973 43.4 60.1
1974 43.9 36.2 41.2Proporz  27.6
1975 50.4 51.4ProporzProporzProporz 32.4
1976 Proporz
1977 52.0
1978 40.3 57.2
1979 51.0 54.0 45.4 39.1Proporz 29.3 41.4  29.0
1980 ProporzProporzProporzProporz
1981 42.7
1982 53.2Proporz
1983 47.7 41.4 55.5
1984   51.7Proporz 35.1 25.2  24.0
1985ProporzProporz 38.0
1986 43.1 37.6Proporz
1987   47.3Proporz 54.9
1988 37.3 
1989 46.0Proporz 31.3 22.8 21.3
1990 42.8ProporzProporzProporz
1991   48.1 34.9 31.4 47.8
1992ProporzProporz 
1993 33.9
1994 34.9
  
37.4Proporz 27.1 19.8 16.2
1995 38.1ProporzProporz 35.9Proporz
1996  29.2 44.5Proporz 39.2
1997 27.0  
1998 30.4Proporz
1999 33.2 31.7 32.9Proporz 32.3 21.8 13.0
2000 46.6Proporz   32.3  
2001Proporz 46.9
2002 36.5 
2003 33.6 25.9 38.3
2004 33.3 38.4Proporz 45.4  Proporz 16.9
2005 52.2Proporz   41.7 49.1
2006 35.3 
2007  
2008 29.3 25.5 15.5
2009   23.7 28.7Proporz 39.4   24.9 10.0
2010 48.3Proporz   38.3Proporz 44.3
2011  
2012
2013 26.8 37.1 21.6 23.8 13.7
2014   24.1Proporz 8.8
2015 41.9 29.3 18.4 39.6
2016    Proporz  
2017 26.9
2018 47.9 23.9 20.0 17.3
2019 21.2 23.9  Proporz 23.0 9.5
2020 49.9   41.6
2021  18.6
Proporz
  
Year
AT

EU

Bgld

Ktn


Sbg

Stmk

Tyrol


Wien

Vbg
Bold indicates best result to date.
  Present in legislature (in opposition)
  Junior coalition partner
  Senior coalition partner

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs". ParlGov Database. Holger Döring and Philip Manow. Archived from the original on 5 November 2016. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
  2. ^ Schiretz, Vilja. "Mitgliederbefragung - Die rote Basis als große Unbekannte". Österreich Politik - Nachrichten - Wiener Zeitung Online.
  3. ^ Hochman, Erin R. (2016). Imagining a Greater Germany: Republican Nationalism and the Idea of Anschluss. Cornell University Press. p. 115. ISBN 9781501706066.
  4. ^ Dimitri Almeida (27 April 2012). The Impact of European Integration on Political Parties: Beyond the Permissive Consensus. CRC Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-136-34039-0. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Parties and Elections in Europe". www.parties-and-elections.eu. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  6. ^ Bale, Tim (2021). Riding the populist wave: Europe's mainstream right in crisis. Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-009-00686-6. OCLC 1256593260.
  7. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Austria: Transport and telecommunications - history - geography". Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  8. ^ Connolly, Kate; Oltermann, Philip; Henley, Jon (23 May 2016). "Austria elects Green candidate as president in narrow defeat for far right". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  9. ^ "The Latest: Election tally shows Austria turning right". The Washington Times. Associated Press. 15 October 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  10. ^ Oliphant, Roland; Csekö, Balazs (5 December 2016). "Austrian far-right defiant as Freedom Party claims 'pole position' for general election: 'Our time comes'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
  11. ^ "SPOE Partei Programm" (PDF) (in German). Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 November 2012. (458 KiB) Party platform, see articles I.(1) and III.7.(1): "strive for a society that overcomes class antagonisms", "only the advancement of political to economic, and therefore social, democracy establishes the precondition for the realization of our basic principles".[dead link]
  12. ^ a b c d Rabinbach, Anson. The Austrian socialist experiment : social democracy and austromarxism, 1918-1934. Boulder: Westview Press
  13. ^ "SPÖ-Mitgliederbefragung: Kein Duell, sondern mehrere Kandidaten" (in German). 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  14. ^ "Fünf Thesen, wie Bablers Antreten und ein Gerücht über Kern den SPÖ-Führungsstreit durcheinanderwirbeln". 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  15. ^ "Nikolaus Kowall will doch nicht als SPÖ-Chef kandidieren". 24 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.

Literature edit

  • Gordon Brook-Shepherd. The Austrians. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. London, 1995. ISBN 3-552-04876-6.
  • Caspar Einem, Wolfgang Neugebauer, Andreas Schwarz. Der Wille zum aufrechten Gang. Czernin Verlag, Vienna, 2005. ISBN 3-7076-0196-X (discussion on book is available online on hagalil.com).
  • Maria Mesner (Ed.). Entnazifizierung zwischen politischem Anspruch, Parteienkonkurrenz und Kaltem Krieg: Das Beispiel der SPÖ. Oldenbourg Verlag, Vienna, 2005. ISBN 3-486-57815-4.
  • Bruno Kreisky, Matthew Paul Berg (Translator), Jill Lewis (Ed.).The Struggle for a Democratic Austria: Bruno Kreisky on Peace and Social Justice. Berghahn Books, New York, 2000. ISBN 1-57181-155-9.
  • Barbara Kaindl-Widhalm. Demokraten wider Willen? Autoritäre Tendenzen und Antisemitismus in der 2. Republik. Verlag für Gesellschaftskritik, Vienna, 1990.
  • Norbert Leser: Zwischen Reformismus und Bolschewismus. Der Austromarxismus in Theorie und Praxis, 1968.
  • Wolfgang Neugebauer. Widerstand und Opposition, in: NS-Herrschaft in Österreich. öbv und hpt, Vienna, 2000. ISBN 3-209-03179-7.
  • Peter Pelinka. Eine kurze Geschichte der SPÖ. Ereignisse, Persönlichkeiten, Jahreszahlen. Ueberreuter, Vienna, 2005. ISBN 3-8000-7113-4.

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