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Social Democratic Party of Austria
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The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the major parties in Austria and has particularly strong ties to labor unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer). The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social democratic parties that have preserved their strongly socialist roots and reject neoliberalism.
History From the beginnings until 1918 Socialist worker movements and associations had already started to form in Austria by the mid-19th century. The party's first meeting took place in 1874 in Neudörfl in Burgenland. In the following years there was factional infighting and the party split into moderate and anarchistic factions.
It was united in 1889 as Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs (SDAPÖ) (German: Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria), especially through the work of Doctor Victor Adler. At the party congress in Hainfeld, the party decided to accept Adler's “Prinzipienerklärung” (Declaration of Principles). December 30, 1888 to January 1, 1889 is therefore considered the founding date. On July 12, 1889 the first issue of the party newspaper the Arbeiter-Zeitung was printed. The party was initially close to Marxism and continued to grow especially in Vienna, the industrial areas of Bohemia, Moravia, Styria, Lower- and Upper Austria.
The party participated in the founding of the Second International in Paris on July 14, 1889. The party campaigned for more rights for workers including their right to vote. In the Brünner Programm of September 1899, the Socialists demanded that the Austro-Hungarian Empire be reformed into a democratic, federal state.
The Socialists were allowed to run in the City Council (Gemeinderat) elections of Vienna on May 30, 1890. However suffrage was only granted after a general strike in 1907. In the elections to the House of Deputies in the Reichsrat, the Socialists were able to win many votes. Out of a total of 516 seats, the party won 87 seats, becoming second strongest fraction in parliament after the Christian Social Party. Eventually by 1911 the Socialists became the strongest party in parliament.
The party initially supported the declaration of war against Serbia after the Assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg in 1914, but soon realized that the disastrous war was untenable. After the death of Emperor Franz Joseph, the first peace-meeting was held in December 1916. By January 1918, strikes were breaking out, calling for an end of the war and the terrible suffering of the people, especially the worker's families, had to endure.
By October, a provisional national assembly (“Provisorische Nationalversammlung”) was convened under the social-democrat Karl Renner, which tried to work out a provisional constitution (Provisorische Verfassung) under the leadership of a new state council led by the new state chancellor Renner. The social-democrats wanted a new form of government and on November 12, 1918, the republic was proclaimed by Renner.
First Republic The party was fairly successful in the 1920s, but its members were persecuted by right-wingers in the early 1930s. Both under the Austro-fascist dictatorship (1934–1938) and during the German occupation of Austria between 1938 and 1945, the SDAPÖ was banned and persecuted heavily, but after liberation, the Social Democrats became a major political force in post-war Austria.
The party clearly wanted to steer Austria towards political union with Germany, calling the new Austrian republic “Deutsch-Österreich” (German-Austria). But the Treaty of St. Germain clearly forbade any unification between Austria and Germany. The SDAPÖ nevertheless still advocated such a union during the existence of the First Republic, as they hoped for a strengthening of their position and the socialist cause within a Greater Germany.
In the first elections for the constitutional national assembly on February 16, 1919, women were allowed to vote for the first time. The SDAPÖ became the strongest party and formed a grand coalition with the Christian Social Party. In May, elections for the city council of Vienna followed: out of 165 mandates the social-democrats won 100 seats. Jakob Reumann became the first social-democratic mayor of Vienna. Vienna was going to continue to be the stronghold of the socialists in a largely conservative governed country. The socialist-led city government build the first Gemeindebau for the working-class, such as the Karl-Marx-Hof, Sandleiten and at the Gürtel causeway, and instituted social, healthcare and educational reforms. These measures indeed ameliorated the living conditions for workers and raised their standard of living, coining the term “Rotes Wien” (“Red Vienna”) of the 1920’s. The measures also deepened the ties of the workers towards the party, creating a large pool of loyalists on which the party could always depend on.
Within the grand coalition, the parties were able to agree on a package of reforms such as the 8-hour-day (8-Stunden-Tag), the worker’s council law (Betriebsrätegesetz) and negotiations for a new republican constitution, which came into force on November 10, 1920. After the parliamentary elections in October 1920, the SDAPÖ left the grand coalition after the CS won the majority of votes. The social-democrats would remain in opposition during the First Republic.
But the SDAPÖ continued to be internally divided in roughly two wings: on the one side were the moderates under the leadership of former chancellor Karl Renner, who advocated a parliamentary, liberal democracy and the welfare state; on the other side were the more radical Austromarxists under the leadership of Otto Bauer. Especially the latter part did not wish any further cooperation with the CS, which led to an increase in political instability over time as political views became grew more extreme and fractious.
Feeling increasingly under threat, most political parties formed their own military wing. In May 1924, the SDAPÖ founded its own paramilitary wing, the Republikanischer Schutzbund (roughly translatable as “Republican Protection Militia”). The communist party KPÖ formed their Red Brigades, the conservative CS also followed suit, founding their own “Heimwehr” (“Homeland Protection Force” or "Homeguard"). The mere existence of armed political militias and vigilante groups, existing next to the regular police and army forces, did not bode well for the further stability of the young republic. The founding of these militias were in response to raised political tension, as well as aggravating it, increasing the chances of an open, violent clash, as political parties within parliament continued their fighting. On November 3, 1926, the so-called “Linzer Programm” was agreed upon on the SDAPÖ party convention, which was heavily influenced by Otto Bauer’s wing and reinforced the differences between the opposition Christian-socialists (CS) and the social-democrats.
On January 30, 1927, members of the conservative "Heimwehr" party shot at members of "Republikanischer Schutzbund" party in Schattendorf (Staat Burgenland), resulting in two deaths. In the “Schattendorfer Urteil” trial that followed, the jury found the accused not guilty, in July of that year. Members of the Republikanischer Schutzbund, the SDAPÖ and workers were outraged by this verdict and formed demonstrations on July 15 to protest. The mob vented their frustration, eventually moved towards the Palace of Justice (Justizpalast), setting it on fire. Clashes with the police left 85 workers and four policemen dead, up to 600 people were injured. The burning of the Justizpalast and the bloodshed surrounding it symbolised a break within the republic, marking the coming end of democracy.
The political atmosphere became increasingly poisoned and untenable. The conservatives shored their position against the socialists, on May 18, 1930, the Heimwehr of the CS declared their Korneuburger Eid (Oath of Korneuburg), in which they openly called for the overthrow of the parliamentary democracy (“Wir verwerfen den westlichen demokratischen Parlamentarismus und den Parteienstaat!”)
During AustrofascismOn March 7, 1933, parliament in effect shut itself down due to a minor technicality in the parliamentary procedures. During a vote impasse, the collective presidency of the lower house stepped down from office and in effect left the house without a speaker or chair. Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß seized the opportunity to circumvent parliament and govern with a number of emergency decrees through an emergency powers act from 1917. Pressure was increased on the SDAPÖ, political activities were increasingly curtailed, press censorship increased. The socialists protested and rallied their forces in the worker’s strongholds in Vienna, Linz, and other industrial areas and towns. Tension openly erupted on February 12, 1934, when the police entered the local party headquarters in Linz for a search. The socialist militia resisted the police force, during the course of the week armed fighting broke out in Vienna and other SDAPÖ strongholds such as industrial areas. The army was called in to crush the uprising in Vienna, shelling the Karl-Marx-Hof where members of the Schutzbund were holed up. The civil war lasted until February 16, in the end the social-democratic movement was completely outlawed, most of the leadership arrested. The end of the civil war marked the definite end of the First Republic and the start of the Austro-fascist state under the leadership of Dollfuß
The crushing of the social-democratic opposition by the conservatives however meant a further weakening of Austria, as infighting within the Heimwehr and the conservatives continued. Chancellor Dollfuß himself was assassinated 10 weeks after the end of the civil war by National socialists. Adolf Hitler was increasingly influencing things in Austria. Nazi Germany was increasing the pressure by scheming and manipulating political events, as well as planning and carrying out terrorist attacks on infrastructure within Austria. The successor of Dollfuß, the conservative chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg tried a new round of talks with the outlawed social-democrats and even the monarchists, in order to stabilise the situation again. The social-democrats favoured democracy, but were lukewarm to the concept of an independent Austria. The majority of conservatives wanted to keep an independent Austria, however in the form of an Austro-fascist regime. The extreme fighting and enmity between the two parties resulted in both the abolition of democracy and the end of Austria as an independent entity. On March 12, 1938, the weakened Austrian government under Chancellor Schuschnigg was forced to step down by Hitler under the threat of war, and Austria was annexed to Nazi Germany.
The Anschluss was initially enthusiastically greeted by many social democrats, such as the ex-chancellor Karl Renner who pledged to vote “yes” in a referendum on the Anschluss (“Ich stimme mit ‘Ja’”) and finally realise the old dream of a union with Germany. Although democracy was not in sight, at least Hitler’s policies promised more work and equality for many workers and labourers, as well as further socialist reforms and political stability. The socialist enthusiasm that greeted Hitler however soon gave way to the sobering reality of war and the Nazi occupation.
During the beginning of the Second RepublicThe battle of Vienna between Soviet and Nazi forces was over on April 13, 1945. Immediately the party was refounded as the "Socialist Party of Austria" (Sozialistische Partei Österreichs, or SPÖ). First party chairman became Adolf Schärf. After tyranny, war and destruction, the country had to be reconstructed while enduring hunger and depravation. The traumatic experience under German rule brought a swing in domestic opinion about Pan-Germanism and the idea of Austria as an independent, sovereign and democratic country. The two former enemies, the conservatives and the socialists, put aside their differences in order to work towards the prosperity and renewed sovereignty of the country. Both sides entered into a grand coalition government that would last for the next 21 years until 1966.
The Soviet Union had the most influence as an occupying allied power in the immediate post-war years. Stalin was interested in integrating the newly liberated Austria into the Soviet bloc. The Austrian Communists were the only who could claim to have consistently fought against the Nazi regime, and they largely lay under the protection and guidance from Moscow. Any new Austrian government would therefore have to integrate them as well. Karl Renner tried to position himself as the man of the hour who could act as a bridge between the conservatives and the communists. The Soviets and the other allied powers had large reservations about Renner, whom they viewed as an opportunist. Renner tried to convince a sceptical Stalin in a letter, where he expressed his mea culpa for his previous support of the Anschluss, at the same presenting himself as the only credible socialist politician left able to reach an agreement with the Communists.
If Renner convinced Stalin, or if it was out of pure necessity, is not entirely clear, but the Soviets tentatively decided to support Renner, maybe in order to win more influence over the government in time. With Soviet support Karl Renner and Leopold Kunschak proclaimed a provisional Austrian state government on April 27, 1945 in the parliament building in Vienna. The proclamation aimed to re-establish an independent Austria. Historic photographs show Renner reading out the proclamation in the old imperial Chamber of the House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus), with Soviet officers sitting in the back benches. This alarmed the western allies, who feared a plot by the Soviets to establish a people’s republic, a tactic that worked in Hungary and East Germany, where the socialists there were forcibly integrated with the communist party. However for the moment, the Austrian socialists were allowed to re-established their party and operate relatively freely. The new party also established their own newspaper, the “Arbeiter-Zeitung” on August 4 of the same year.
Ex-chancellor Karl Renner was elected as the new Federal President of Austria by the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung) on October 20, 1945. He would hold this office until his death on December 31, 1950. The party held its first congress since 1933 in December 1945. The SPÖ decided to make its peace with the conservatives, since their fighting was partly responsible for the failure of the First Republic. The party entered an all encompassing grand coalition with the ÖVP, the successor party of the old CS. This form of a grand coalition would last for the next 21 years until 1966.
After the death of Karl Renner in 1950, Theodor Körner was elected as Federal President on May 26, 1951. In Frankfurt in Germany, the Socialist International was founded, of which the SPÖ was one of the charter members.
In May 1957 Bruno Pittermann became party chairman. Former chairman Adolf Schärf was elected as Federal President in April 1957 and re-elected for a second term in 1963. He was succeeded in May 1965 by Franz Jonas, who also hailed from the socialist party.
The grand coalition governments of SPÖ and ÖVP were marked by a desire to stabilise the political and social situation and concentrate on economic growth and social equality. One of the first acts of the grand coalition was able to agree on a new law about worker’s vacation regulations on July 25, 1946. The party followed a rather moderate line and tried to cooperate with its coalition partner. Many state enterprises were nationalised and the situation of the worker ameliorated with work incentives and social benefits. The neutrality that was required by Austria meant that the country had little to worry about military spending and obligations to any military block. Instead it tried to act as a mediator between two sides in any international conflict, concentrating on tasks within the United Nations framework. Nevertheless on January 1 1960, foreign minister Bruno Kreisky was able to sign the accession treaty of Austria into the EFTA.
The Bruno Kreisky eraIn the parliamentary elections of April 1966, the ÖVP won the majority of seats and was thus able to rule alone. The socialists left the grand coalition government, going into opposition. On January 30, 1967 Bruno Kreisky was elected as party chairman. In the National Council elections of March 1970, the SPÖ won with a relative majority, but was only able to build a minority government that counted on support from the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). This government was short-lived, new snap-elections had to be held in October 1971. This time the SPÖ was able to win the absolute majority in parliament. This ushered in a period of socialist-led governments for the next 13 years, led by the charismatic Bruno Kreisky who would become one of the most important statesmen of the Second Republic.
In June 1974, the socialist candidate Rudolf Kirchschläger won the presidential elections. On the economic side, the 40-hour working week, a project by the SPÖ, was passed in parliament and became law.
The success of the economy and the international high profile Austria was enjoying due to its neutrality ushered in another victory for Kreisky and the SPÖ in the election of May 1979, where the party won 51% of all votes. Nevertheless the party failed to win in the following elections in April 1983, Kreisky stepped down and Fred Sinowatz became the new chancellor and formed a coalition government with the liberal FPÖ. Sinowatz later took over as party chairman from Kreisky in October of the same year.
Sinowatz tried to rely on the liberal wing of the FPÖ, however political infighting and the rise of the nationalist Jörg Haider made a further coalition with its junior partner for the SPÖ impossible. Franz Vranitzky, who replaced Sinowatz in June 1986, ended the so-called “small coalition” and called for fresh elections. In the November elections of 1986, the SPÖ became strongest party again and entered into a grand coalition with the ÖVP. Vranitzky himself was elected as party chairman in May 1988.
Second Grand Coalition phase with ÖVPThe government grand coalition with the conservative ÖVP as the junior partner would last from 1988 until 2000.
In July 1990, Bruno Kreisky, who was the grand doyen of the party, died. The end of the Cold War and the fall of the Iron Curtain confronted Austria and the SPÖ with changing realities. In October of the same year, the party won and remained strongest party in parliament. In June 1995, the party congress decided to change its name from “Socialist Party of Austria” (Sozialistische Partei Österreichs) into “Social Democratic Party of Austria” (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs), thus shifting the emphasis from socialism to a reaffirmation to its commitment to democracy.
On issues of gender equality, the party congress decided in June 1993 to introduce a quota for women. The new regulation required that at least 40% of SPÖ candidates are female.
Chancellor Vranitzky tried to repair the damage to Austria’s international image caused by the presidential election of the controversial Kurt Waldheim. He was the first chancellor who, in a speech in front of parliament, clearly spoke of the guilt Austrians carried during the Second World War, something that was until then a topic that was taboo at home. He undertook a number of steps towards reconciliation with victims, his state visit to Israel in 1983 was highly regarded. The SPÖ also endorsed an entry of the country into the European Union during negotiations with Brussels. In the national referendum of June 12, 1994, over 66% percent of all voters voted “yes”, Austria duly became a member on January 1, 1995.
Although the SPÖ supported Austria’s entry to the EU, the party fared badly in the elections of October 1994, but remained the strongest party in parliament. It was able to retain that position in the December elections of 1995 where it gained votes back. In 1997, Chancellor Vranitzky stepped back from office after more than 10 years in office to make way for the new generation, being replaced by his former finance minister Viktor Klima, who was sworn in in January. In April 1997 he also took over the position as party chairman.
The party congress decided on a reformed party programme in October 1998. The basic values of social democracy, freedom, equality, justice and solidarity were reaffirmed. But the party also committed itself to modernisation and a willingness to take risks and welcome change. A new, more open party statute was passed. In order to reflect the new reforms, a new party logo was also introduced.
Problems with ProporzThe problem of the grand coalition in Austria was the continuation of the old Proporz system, where basically any political position as well as the civil service, trade unions and even positions in the economy and state businesses were occupied by either members of the two big parties. This system worked well in the post-war period, however with the end of the Cold War and Austria’s entry to the EU, people’s perceptions and opinions changed strongly. The old Proporz system, where basically the SPÖ and the ÖVP would divide everything up between them, was increasingly seen as outdated and even undemocratic. Because both parties always had an absolute majority in parliament, no effective opposition could ever exist. The long period of grand coalitions lasted for over a decade, a period that was very unusual for any western, parliamentary democracy.
As voters’ frustration with the old system grew, the FPÖ under the young and dynamic party chairman Jörg Haider was able to ride the wave of discontent and win votes in every parliamentary election. The FPÖ had its core support with the right wing, but was increasingly able to attract voters from the conservative ÖVP and even made inroads with traditional SPÖ voters who grew fed up with the grand coalitions and the old Proporz system.
The parliamentary elections of 1999 were a great shock to the country’s system. Although the SPÖ lost votes, it was still able to retain its position as the strongest party, but the FPÖ became the second strongest party by a very small edge before the ÖVP. Although federal president Thomas Klestil gave the social democrats the order to form a new government, no coalition partner could be found. The ÖVP under their leader Wolfgang Schüssel, who was vice-chancellor and foreign minister, entered into negotiations with the FPÖ instead. In February 2000, the new centre-right government between the ÖVP and the FPÖ was formed with Schüssel as the new chancellor. This prompted a huge outcry at home as well as abroad, leading even to sanctions by the EU and Israel pulling out its ambassador in protest to the right-wing FPÖ. For the first time in 30 years, the SPÖ had to sit in opposition.
New role as opposition party and return to powerThe end of the grand coalition left many within the party embittered with the ÖVP and what was perceived as a sell-out. Alfred Gusenbauer became new party chairman and started restructuring the party politically, organisationally and financially. In the snap elections of November 2002 the party’s lost its position as strongest party to the conservative ÖVP, which was able to win a resounding victory at the expense of the social democrats and the FPÖ. The SPÖ got 36.5% of all votes, ending up with 69 seats in the National Council. It had 23 seats in the Federal Council. Nevertheless in a number of state elections, the SPÖ was able to win votes back and even made inroads in traditionally conservatively-ruled states. Outside its traditional strongholds of Vienna and Burgenland, the party surprisingly won state elections in Styria and Salzburg, forming the new state governments there.
The SPÖ candidate Heinz Fischer won the presidential elections in April 2004 against his conservative contender Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Thus a conservative-led government stood opposite a social democratic president. President Fischer repeatedly made statements that stood in contrast to the official stance of the government, such as the speaking out for the equality of homosexuals as well as calling for better treatment of immigrants.
The party is a member of the Party of European Socialists in the European Parliament.
In June 2004 the SPÖ fared well in the elections to the European Parliament, winning 33.5% of the Austrian votes cast, thus receiving nine seats (out of a total of 18 Austrian seats) and becoming strongest Austrian party. This was seen as a welcome sign for upcoming national elections in 2006.
Due to the banking scandal of the BAWAG, which was close to the unions, confidence has been greatly shaken how the party will in future separate financial dealings from politics.
In the 2006 National Elections the SPÖ to the surprise of many became Austria's largest party with 68 seats (67 if you count the chairman of the Liberal Forum ran on the SPÖ list) to the ÖVP's 66. In the long protracted coalition negotiations that followed a grand coalition was formed with Gusenbauer as Chancellor in a Grand Coalition with the ÖVP which was finally sworn in January 2007, 3 months after the elections.
Confronting the past of 1938–1945Concerning the role of Austrian socialists during Nazi rule from 1938–1945, the party started opening its archives and set in a commission to investigate its past conduct. The fact that many socialists actually welcomed the Anschluss of Austria into Germany back then could not be denied, as well as the fact that many socialists 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” (braune Flecken) was completed and published. The report talks about SPÖ 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 Dr. Heinrich Gross, who received many honours from the SPÖ 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. Dr. 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 party and party leaders for a very long time.
Reflecting the change in attitude towards the past, Federal President Fischer in an 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.”) Also the fact that Austrian Jewish victims were not mentioned in the declaration (“.. kein Wort für die jüdischen Opfer”) as well as that it took decades for them to receive any kind of compensation and justice from the government was very regrettable and inexcusable. His statements were direct criticism of the centre-right wing government of the coalition ÖVP/FPÖ, which usually dragged its feet concerning compensation to victims, and the admission of the (co-)guilt Austrians carried for crimes committed by them during the Second World War. (Interview given on April 10, 2006, full text available online at )
Election results by statesBurgenlandBurgenland is a state that is a traditional stronghold of the social democrats. Since 1964 the governors of this eastern-most state have come from the SPÖ. Burgenland is one of the few states that are ruled by a social democratic majority in the state assembly (‘’Landtag’’). In the state assembly elections of 2000, the SPÖ received 46.6%, in 2005 it received 5.2% more votes and ended up with an absolute majority of 51.8%. Governor (Landeshauptmann) of the Burgenland is Hans Niessl.
CarinthiaThe Carinthian SPÖ used to be very strong in this most southern Austrian state. 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%, it was however able to raise its share in the 2004 elections to 38.4%. In a strange twist, the social democrats were in a coalition with the right-wing FPÖ in Carinthia, where Jörg Haider was governor, until 2005. This constellation is in question after the chairlady of the Carinthian SPÖ, Gabi Schauning, decided to resign from her post as vice-governess of Carinthia after a fall-out with Haider. Carinthia has a mandatory concentration government, where each party with a certain amount of seats in the state parliament automatically participates in the state government. The term coalition therefore refers to the cooperation between parties and not to the participation in the state cabinet.
Lower AustriaIn Lower Austria, the SPÖ received 29.2% in the 1998 state assembly elections. It increased its shares by 3.2% in the elections of 2003 and ended up with 32.4%.
SalzburgThe SPÖ won a surprising victory in the state elections in Salzburg in 2004. It was able to increase its share of votes from 32.2% (1999) to 45.3%. For the first time the conservative ÖVP lost their traditional dominant position. Gabi Burgstaller became the first social democratic governess (Landeshauptfrau) in the state’s history.
StyriaStyria was traditionally ruled by the ÖVP. In the state assembly elections of 2000, the Styrian SPÖ ended up with 32.3%. In the elections of 2005, the voters shifted towards the left, something that also benefited the local communist party, the KPÖ. The SPÖ won 9.4% more and ended up with 40.7%, defeating the ÖVP, which got only 38.7% of the votes. Franz Voves, Styrian SPÖ chairman, became state governor.
TyrolIn the Tyrol the social democrats receive few votes since the state is a traditional conservative stronghold. In the 1999 elections, the Tyrolean SPÖ received 22.8% of all votes, in the next elections of 2003 it increased its share by 3.1% to 25.9%.
Upper AustriaIn the 2003 state elections to the Upper Austrian Landtag, the SPÖ was able to raise its voters share from 27% (1997) by 11.3% 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.
ViennaVienna was always traditionally the stronghold of the social democrats. In the city council (Gemeinderat) elections of 1996, the SPÖ lost many votes to the FPÖ. It received around 39% of all votes, the FPÖ around 27.9% and the ÖVP 15.2%. This changed in 2001, when the SPÖ jumped to 46.9% and the FPÖ shrank to 20.1% and again in 2005 when the SPÖ gained to 49% and the FPÖ shrank further to 14.8%. The 2005 results meant that the SPÖ was able to hold the majority of seats in the Vienna city council and rule by itself without coalition partners. The current governor-mayor of Vienna is Michael Häupl.
VorarlbergVorarlberg is a traditional stronghold of the conservatives. Of all the Austrian states, the SPÖ receives the least votes in this western-most state. In state assembly elections of 1999, the SPÖ received 12.9%, but was able to raise its share of votes in the elections of 2004 by 3.9% and ended up with 16.8%.
Party chairpersons since 1945 The chart below shows a timeline of the social democratic chairpersons and the Chancellors of Austria. 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 and black colours correspond to which party led the federal government (Bundesregierung, abbreviated as "Govern."). The last names of the respective chancellors are shown, the Roman numeral stands for the cabinets.
ImageSize = width:400 height:500
PlotArea = width:350 height:450 left:50 bottom:50
Legend = columns:3 left:50 top:25 columnwidth:50
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1945 till:2008
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:4 start:1945
- there is no automatic collision detection,
- so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap
Colors=
id:SPÖ value:red legend:SPÖ
id:ÖVP value:gray(0.25) legend:ÖVP
Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar
Define $dy = -4 # adjust height
PlotData=
bar:CP color:red width:25 mark align:left fontsize:S
from:1945 till:1957 shift color:SPÖ text:Adolf Schärf
from:1957 till:1967 shift color:SPÖ text:Bruno Pittermann
from:1967 till:1983 shift color:SPÖ text:Bruno Kreisky
from:1983 till:1988 shift color:SPÖ text:Fred Sinowatz
from:1988 till:1997 shift color:SPÖ text:Franz Vranitzky
from:1997 till:2000 shift color:SPÖ text:Viktor Klima
from:2000 till:end shift color:SPÖ text:Alfred Gusenbauer
bar:Govern. color:red width:25 mark align:left fontsize:7
from:1945 till:1946 shift color:SPÖ text:Renner
from:1946 till:1949 shift color:ÖVP text:Figl I
from:1949 till:1952 shift color:ÖVP text:Figl II
from:1952 till:1953 shift color:ÖVP text:Figl III
from:1953 till:1956 shift color:ÖVP text:Raab I
from:1956 till:1959 shift color:ÖVP text:Raab II
from:1959 till:1960 shift color:ÖVP text:Raab III
from:1960 till:1961 shift color:ÖVP text:Raab IV
from:1961 till:1963 shift color:ÖVP text:Gorbach I
from:1963 till:1964 shift color:ÖVP text:Gorbach II
from:1964 till:1966 shift color:ÖVP text:Klaus I
from:1966 till:1970 shift color:ÖVP text:Klaus II
from:1970 till:1971 shift color:SPÖ text:Kreisky I
from:1971 till:1975 shift color:SPÖ text:Kreisky II
from:1975 till:1979 shift color:SPÖ text:Kreisky III
from:1979 till:1983 shift color:SPÖ text:Kreisky IV
from:1983 till:1986 shift color:SPÖ text:Sinowatz
from:1986 till:1987 shift color:SPÖ text:Vranitzky I
from:1987 till:1990 shift color:SPÖ text:Vranitzky II
from:1990 till:1994 shift color:SPÖ text:Vranitzky III
from:1994 till:1996 shift color:SPÖ text:Vranitzky IV
from:1996 till:1997 shift color:SPÖ text:Vranitzky V
from:1997 till:2000 shift color:SPÖ text:Klima
from:2000 till:2003 shift color:ÖVP text:Schüssel I
from:2003 till:2007 shift color:ÖVP text:Schüssel II
from:2007 till:end shift color:SPÖ text:Gusenbauer
Select list of other SPÖ politicians- Josef Cap, Head of the parliamentary club (Klubobmann)
- Barbara Prammer, 1st female National Council President of Austria
- Christoph Matznetter, Budget- and Financial matters spokesman in the National Council
- Josef Broukal, journalist and MP
During the government of Kreisky, Johanna Dohnal became the first minister for women’s affairs
Minority factionsSome groups within the SPÖ like (The Spark), are Marxist and proponents of a more radical strain of democratic socialism. SJ Austria, the party's youth organisation, is generally perceived of as being more radically left-wing than the SPÖ itself.
See also
Literature- 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
- 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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