Austrian
Fourth Internationalists call for a vote for the SPO mocracy. But there is no reason not to care about the danger of the political right gaining strength.
After the April 24 elections, there are three possibilities. Of course, our votes are not going to change very much in this rotten capitalist system. But they will have an effect on which of these three possibilities comes to pass - that is, an SPO government, a government of the SPO in coalition with one of the bourgeois parties, or all-bourgeois-party cab-
In the recent period, the Austrian Social Democrats have been more firmly entrenched in government than anywhere else in Europe.
ticularly large public sector, which to a considerable extent is the heritage of
Soviet occupation of a part of the national territory.
Austria has also been the last country in West Europe to be hit by the international capitalist crisis. Because of all these factors, the Austrian Social Democrats present their country as a model of the Social Democratic "third way."
The following is the position of the Austrian Fourth Internationalists toward the April 24 elections to the Nationalrat, the main house of parliament, and the
Vienna City Council. It is from the February 9 issue of Die Linke, the paper of the
Gruppe Revolutionaere Marxisten (GRM,
Austrian section of the Fourth International.
Rainer BAUBOCK
Behind the so-called Red-Black polarization in Austria, there are two social camps. Even if they do not necessarily agree with the policy of the SP leadership, class conscious workers vote for the
SPO (Socialist Party of Austria) in order to keep out the OVP (Austrian People's
Party) and the FPO (the Liberal Party of
As long as there is no credible left alternative, this class polarization has to be the starting point for considering what the left should do in elections. What we revolutionary Marxists want to accomplish by our criticism of the SPO's policy is to get a hearing among sections of the party's rank-and-file supporters.
conditions for this are better if we call for a vote for the SPO. They are better also when an SPO government is in power.
What counts for us is certainly not the
SPO government's «record plishments." In fact, the SPO has no idea of how to stop the spread of the international economic crisis to Austria.
The policy of "Austro-Keynesianism,"
that is, the strategy of trying to control cyclical movements by state spending, is reaching its limits. We will soon reach a point where the expansion of the state debt will serve primarily to retire old debts and not to pump money into ailing sectors of the economy.
The only way out in this situation is a massive expansion of state-owned in-
The country has a par-
Revolutionary Marxist Group), the omic planning in this sector rather than capitalist business management. this is a road that the SPO cannot and will not take, because it would mean breaking with social partnership and "peace on the labor front."
In the area of social reforms, the balance sheet of the SPO does not look any better. What remains of the promises Kreisky made in 1970 that the government would democratize all areas of this society and open them all up to pub-
There was the minor Brodas reform of the criminal code. But the rescinding of the old section on abortion had the drawback that the new provision gives doctors the right to deny women the right to abortion if their conscience prevents it, or, we might suppose, if their patients have not paid them enough to overcome such pangs of conscience.
The period of compulsory military service has been reduced, although only by one month instead of the promised
But all of these reforms were years ago. In the recent period, people have come to identify the SPO less with democratization than with the scandals over the building of the AKH hospital complex in Vienna.
Of course, the SPO has often shown a flexibility toward the new social move-
In Austria, peace demonstrators are not beaten up by the police (although this may also be because they are notably respectful of authority here). State sec-
An all-bourgeois-party government is the least likely variant. But if the SPO suffers drastic losses, then there is going to have to be a marriage between Mock [OVP leader] and Steger [leader of the FPO]. And that means more layoffs in the state sector than the SPO alone would risk carrying out; it means sharper social cutbacks.
And what would be the result in the SPO of the party being ousted from government? If it were in opposition, there might be a bit more left rhetoric. But the differences between the right at the top and the left at the bottom that exist in the Social Democracy would be covered
That leaves the second variant - a Black-Red coalition. This is the most likely variant if the SP loses votes, and it is the worst for left politics in Austria. This is Sallinger's dream, and one that Benya shares to a certain extent. would amount to making social partnership not just a check on the government but the government itself. Finally, the representatives of the capitalists could again determine policy in Austria directly, and the SPO would take on the job of stifling any opposition. Every critical and left element in the Social Democracy and the unions would be gagged by the lead-
No, we do not expect an extensive reform policy from a new SPO government, not even a guarantee of jobs. If anything changes in Austria in the direction of socialism, it will not come from a government run by this party, even though it still calls itself "socialist." this party has sole responsibility for government, the conditions are better for a fight back getting underway by workers to layoffs, by youth to the programming imposed on them, by women to oppression, by those who suffer from examples of pollution to the destruction of the environment, and by foreign workers to
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means opposing sending troops to Leban-
geois Green slate, there are two alterna. ity of the general strike of July 19, 1977.
cision of the trade-union and popular or- big success, even though it did not reach ganisations by proclaiming a state of the level of mobilisation and combativ-
An SPO government would have a more difficult time in dealing with such resistance than any other government that could be formed today.
Inside the Social Democratic organizations themselves, the very quandary the SPO leadership is in about what kind of policy it should follow to meet the responsibilities of government for the next four years creates favorable conditions. It increases the chances that in the context of such disunity at the top over budget cuts, reductions in the workweek, etc., that the left will be able to come together and propose a policy of its own.
In this sense, voting for the SPO does not mean confidence in [Chancellor] Kreisky and his team. Nor does it mean choosing the lesser evil. It is part of a policy for mobilizing the oppressed in all areas and for fighting the policy that the SPO leadership is conducting toward
It is also a call to all the left in Austria to come out of its ghetto and to try to make an impact on the organized
What alternatives are there? leave aside the politically murky bour-