Social Democratic Party of Austria


The Social Democratic Party of Austria, founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria until 1945 and later the Socialist Party of Austria until 1991, is a social-democratic and pro-European political party in Austria. Founded in 1889, it is the oldest extant political party in Austria. Along with the Austrian People's Party, it is one of the country's two traditional major parties.
Since November 2018, the party has been led by Pamela Rendi-Wagner. 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 The SPÖ is a member of the Socialist International, Progressive Alliance, and Party of European Socialists. It sits with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament; of Austria's 21 MEPs, five are members of the SPÖ. The party has close ties to the Austrian Trade Union Federation and the Austrian Chamber of Labour.
The SPADÖ 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. 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.

History

Since its foundation in 1889, the SDAPÖ has been one of the main political forces in Austria. At the start of the First World War, 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 in the capital Vienna. A period of rising political violence culminated in the banning of the SDAPÖ under the Austrofascist dictatorship.
In the aftermath of the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918, the SDAPÖ broadly supported the Anschluss. 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 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 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, 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. 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 shrinked to 21.2%.

Confronting the past of 1938–1945

Concerning the role of the SDAPÖ during Nazi rule from 1938–1945, 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. In 2005, the report about the so-called "brown spots" 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, that Austrian Jewish victims were not mentioned in the declaration, 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

Burgenland

is a state that is a traditional stronghold of the SPÖ. 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 SPÖ majority in the state assembly. 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 of the Burgenland is Hans-Peter Doskozil.

Carinthia

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

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

In 2004. the SPÖ won a surprising victory in Salzburg. It was able to increase its share of votes from 32.2% to 45.3%. For the first time, the conservative ÖVP lost its traditional dominant position. Gabi Burgstaller became the first SPÖ governess in the state's history. In March 2009, the party lost 2 seats with a 39.5% of the popular votes, going to the FPÖ 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.

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.

Tyrol

In Tyrol, the SPÖ receive few votes since the state is a traditional conservative stronghold. In 1999, the Tyrolean SPÖ received 22.8% of all votes. In 2003, it increased its share by 3.1% to 25.9%.

Upper Austria

In 2003, the SPÖ was able to raise its voters share in Upper Austria by 11.3% from 27% 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

was always traditionally the stronghold of the SPÖ. In the 1996 city council elections, 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 Ludwig.

Vorarlberg

is a traditional stronghold of the conservative ÖVP. Of all the Austrian states, the SPÖ receives the fewest votes in this western-most state. In 1999, the SPÖ received 12.9%, but it was able to raise its share of votes in 2004 by 3.9% and ended up with 16.8%.

Chairpersons since 1945

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 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. The last names of the respective chancellors are shown, with the Roman numeral standing for the cabinets.

ImageSize = width:420 height:560
PlotArea = width:350 height:500 left:50 bottom:50
Legend = columns:3 left:50 top:25 columnwidth:50
DateFormat = yyyy
Period = from:1945 till:2021
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1945
  1. there is no automatic collision detection,
  2. so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap
Colors =
id:canvas value:gray
id:SPÖ value:red legend:SPÖ
id:ÖVP value:gray legend:ÖVP
id:independent value:gray legend:independent
BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas
Define $dx = 25 # shift text to right side of bar
Define $dy = -5 # 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:2008 shift: color:SPÖ text:Alfred Gusenbauer
from:2008 till:2016 shift: color:SPÖ text:Werner Faymann
from:2016 till:2018 shift: color:SPÖ text:Christian Kern
from:2018 till:end shift: color:SPÖ text:Pamela Rendi-Wagner
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:2008 shift: color:SPÖ text:Gusenbauer
from:2008 till:2013 shift: color:SPÖ text:Faymann I
from:2013 till:2016 shift: color:SPÖ text:Faymann II
from:2016 till:2017 shift: color:SPÖ text:Kern
from:2017 till:2019 shift: color:ÖVP text:Kurz I
from:2019 till:2020 shift: color:independent text:Bierlein
from:2020 till:end shift: color:ÖVP text:Kurz II

Select list of other SPÖ politicians

Some groups within the SPÖ such as Der Funke are Marxist and proponents of a radical strain of democratic socialism. 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.

Election results

Imperial Council

Constituent National Assembly

National Council

Presidency

European Parliament

State Parliaments

Literature