Social Democratic Party of Austria
Encyclopedia : S : SO : SOC : Social Democratic Party of Austria
| Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs | |
|---|---|
| |
| Leader | Dr. Alfred Gusenbauer |
| Founded | December 30 1888 |
| Headquarters | Löwelstraße 18 A-1014 Vienna |
| Political Ideology | Social Democracy |
| International Affiliation | Socialist International |
| European Affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
| European Parliament Group | PES |
| Colours | Red |
| Website | [http://www.spoe.at] |
| See also | Politics of Austria Political parties Elections |
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.
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1945 till:2004
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:4 start:1945
PlotData=
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 $dy = -4 # adjust heightbar:CP color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:S
from:1945 till:1957 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Adolf Schärf
from:1957 till:1967 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Bruno Pittermann
from:1967 till:1983 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Bruno Kreisky
from:1983 till:1988 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Fred Sinowatz
from:1988 till:1997 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Franz Vranitzky
from:1997 till:2000 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Viktor Klima
from:2000 till:end shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Alfred Gusenbauer
bar:Govern. color:red width:25 mark:(line,white) align:left fontsize:7
from:1945 till:1946 shift:($dx,-2) color:SPÖ text:Renner
from:1946 till:1949 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Figl I
from:1949 till:1952 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Figl II
from:1952 till:1953 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Figl III
from:1953 till:1956 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Raab I
from:1956 till:1959 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Raab II
from:1959 till:1960 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Raab III
from:1960 till:1961 shift:($dx,-2) color:ÖVP text:Raab IV
from:1961 till:1963 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Gorbach I
from:1963 till:1964 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Gorbach II
from:1964 till:1966 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Klaus I
from:1966 till:1970 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Klaus II
from:1970 till:1971 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Kreisky I
from:1971 till:1975 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Kreisky II
from:1975 till:1979 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Kreisky III
from:1979 till:1983 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Kreisky IV
from:1983 till:1986 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Sinowatz
from:1986 till:1987 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Vranitzky I
from:1987 till:1990 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Vranitzky II
from:1990 till:1994 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Vranitzky III
from:1994 till:1996 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Vranitzky IV
from:1996 till:1997 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Vranitzky V
from:1997 till:2000 shift:($dx,$dy) color:SPÖ text:Klima
from:2000 till:2003 shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Schüssel I
from:2003 till:end shift:($dx,$dy) color:ÖVP text:Schüssel II
See also
External links
() *[Official Website]() *[The Social Democratic Party of Austria] Country Studies - Austria
| Political parties in Austria | |
|---|---|
| National Council of Austria>National Council: | People's Party (79) |
| Federal Council of Austria>Federal Council: | Social Democratic Party (29) |
| European Parliament: | Social Democratic Party (7) |
| Minor parties: | Communist Party |
| 1 On 4 April 2005, the BZÖ split from the FPÖ and took most of their former MPs with them. However, the two parties still form a single parliamentary group together. 2 Karin Resetarits was initially elected as an MEP on the List Hans-Peter Martin, but she later broke ties with him, then joined the ALDE group, and finally joined the Liberal Forum. | |
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