Social Democratic Party of Austria

The Social Democratic Party of Austria (de:Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs, or SPÖ) is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the major parties in Austria and has particular strong ties to labour unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer).

History

From the beginnings until 1918

Socialist worker movements and associations started building already in the mid 1800's. The first meeting took place in 1874 in Neudörfl in Burgenland. In the following years there was factual infighting and the party split into moderate and anarchistic factions. It was united in 1889 as Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs (SDAPÖ), 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 Socalists 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 realised 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.

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.

Second Republic

Currently, it holds the presidency of Austria under Heinz Fischer, and has 69 seats in the Nationalrat and 23 seats in the Bundesrat, making it the second largest party in Austria. It has 9 seats in the European Parliament, the largest party for Austria in the European Parliament.

It is a member of the Party of European Socialists in the European Parliament.

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 (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, the Roman numeral stands for the cabinets.

External links

*Official Website

*The Social Democratic Party of Austria Country Studies - Austria

Political parties in Austria | Political parties in Austria-Hungary | Social democratic parties | Socialist International