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By Matthias Schnetzer in Vienna
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Friday, 20 June 2008 |
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Since
the collapse of Stalinism in Eastern Europe
the whole region has become a field of investment for western capital. Austria has
invested big time in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Now however all the
contradictions are mounting up and from a source of stability the region could
become a source of instability. Here we provide a brief comment on the economic situation of the CEE region.
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By Der Funke
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Tuesday, 13 November 2007 |
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On Saturday the "Der
Funke" Marxist tendency organised a big event with Trotsky's grandson, Esteban
Volkov, as special guest, to commemorate and celebrate the 90th anniversary of
the 1917 Russian Revolution. Around 200 people came to listen to the speeches in
defence of "Red October" and between 400-500 celebrated all night long at the
party that was organised after the meeting.
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By Der Funke - www.derfunke.at
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Tuesday, 31 July 2007 |
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The Socialist
Youth of Linz plans to dissolve two of its branches by the end of August. The
obvious reason is the political work that the comrades, most of them activists
of the Marxist current Der Funke,
have developed for almost a decade. We urge all our supporters and readers to
sign the solidarity appeal and speak out against bureaucratic manoeuvres
against political opponents.
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By Der Funke - www.derfunke.at
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Friday, 04 May 2007 |
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May Day in Austria was a bit different this
year. Participation was lower than usual, and the mood was distinctly
different. Many came to demonstrate their anger at the behaviour of the Social
Democratic Party in the coalition government, and expressed their solidarity
with the comrades recently expelled from the Socialist Youth.
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By Der Funke - www.derfunke.at
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Wednesday, 25 April 2007 |
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After great successes in the Socialist Youth
organisation of the Social Democratic Party of Austria, supporters of Der
Funke have come under attack inside the youth organisation. The bureaucracy
of the party as well as the youth organisation have employed the worst
bureaucratic methods to attack the Marxists, in an attempt to stop the spread
of Marxist ideas. Please support our campaign against expulsions by sending
letters of protest.
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By Andreas Wolf
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Friday, 19 January 2007 |
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The Austrian labour movement and Social
Democratic Party have been rocked by a scandal. After months of promises, the
SPÖ jettisoned its central election promises in order to join a coalition
government with the bourgeois People's Party. The betrayal
of the leadership of the party has become the focal point in the formation of a
left opposition within the party.
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By Josef Falkinger, Der Funke
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Thursday, 23 November 2006 |
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The Austrian Young Socialists is perhaps the most left-wing youth section of any social democratic party in the world. The shift to left found further expression at the most recent conference, where a series of Marxist ideas and resolutions were adopted.
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By Der Funke - www.derfunke.at
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Friday, 23 June 2006 |
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The visit of George W. Bush to Vienna for the EU-US-summit is over. The Austrian police forces were given a great opportunity to test their "emergency procedures" under the guidance of the CIA while thousands of people demonstrated against Bush and the imperialist policies he stands for.
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By Roberto Sarti
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Tuesday, 16 May 2006 |
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After the historical meeting at the Arena cultural centre in Vienna, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez was once again the main attraction, this time at the closing meeting of the Alternative Forum in Austria. Chavez, who took the opportunity to expand upon some of the ideas he presented at the Arena, was joined on the platform by Carlos Lage, the Vice President of Cuba, and Evo Morales, amongst others. |
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By Der Funke - www.derfunke.at
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Tuesday, 02 May 2006 |
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There is a strong May Day tradition
in Austria. This tradition was continued this year as thousands came
out to demonstrations across Austria amidst a growing scandal in the
trade unions. The movement was determined to show its unity against
the attacks of the right wing and there was a thirst for political
ideas in the face of great events in Latin America and France.
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By Willi Waitz, SJ Flordisdorf
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Wednesday, 05 April 2006 |
We
have received this report of the recent Student Parliament meeting in
Austria, which passed a resolution in solidarity with the massive
mobilisations in France as well as organised a rally outside the
French embassy in Vienna. See also in German.
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By Der Funke
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Friday, 21 October 2005 |
On Wednesday October 19 the “Action Committees for Free Education” organised successful school student strikes in Vienna, Linz, Wels and Vorarlberg. The strikes were a success and clearly show that the youth movement against the education policy of the government is moving forward.
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By Lukas Frey, chairman of the Socialist Youth Vorarlberg (Austria)
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Wednesday, 05 October 2005 |
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The
Conservative Austrian government has been introducing severe cuts in spending on
education, reducing university places, introducing fees and so on. This coming
Friday (October 7) the government will get a taste of the students’ anger.
Action committees have sprung up and called a day of action.
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By Der Funke
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Wednesday, 20 July 2005 |
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On Thursday, July 14, a group of Young Socialists and representatives of the Editorial Board of Der Funke
organised a picket in front of the Brazilian embassy to protest against
the threatened repression of the Cipla and Interfibra workers who have
occupied their factories to defend their jobs. |
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By Der Funke
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Monday, 28 February 2005 |
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Some 800 anti-fascists responded to the appeal of the Marxist-led
Sozialistische Jugend (SJ, Young Socialists) Vorarlberg to demonstrate
in Bludenz, a traditional working-class town in the conservative region
of Vorarlberg, next to the Swiss and German border. With this demo the
anti-fascist movement has again gone onto the offensive. |
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By Michael Pils
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Thursday, 12 February 2004 |
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70 years ago the Austrian workers were the first in Europe to undertake
an armed struggle against a rising fascist regime. The events in Austria 1934
show quite clearly that there is no “peaceful” and “democratic” way to
socialism on the basis of a bourgeois parliament. |
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By Michael Pils
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Monday, 24 November 2003 |
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After the pension reform in spring 2003, the conservative black-blue
government (Peoples Party and Freedom Party) wasted no time in launching a new
attack on the Austrian labour movement. The Austrian Railways (OeBB) were to be
split up similar to the fragmentation of British Rail 10 years ago into
10 different companies. This would make downsizing the workforce much easier and
would also have tremendous effects on one of the most highly organised sectors
of the labour movement. |
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By Gernot Trausmuth
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Tuesday, 04 November 2003 |
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Today the railworkers' union, GdE organised a 12-hour strike against the
plans of the right-wing government to split the Austrian Railways into
different units which has to be seen as a major step towards the privatisation
of the railways. |
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By Gernot Trausmuth
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Monday, 15 September 2003 |
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Earlier this year we witnessed the reawakening of the Austrian working class
in a series of huge mass mobilisations. The bureaucratic leadership of the
unions called off the movement without having gained any major concessions. If
they think that was the end of it then they have surprises coming their way. |
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By Der Funke Editorial Board
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Monday, 16 June 2003 |
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146 comrades attended our "Pfingstseminar", a socialist youth camp
organised by the Marxist tendency of "Der Funke" in co-operation with
several branches of the Young Socialists (Sozialistische Jugend, SJ) and other
left wing youth organisations. |
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By Gernot Trausmuth
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Tuesday, 03 June 2003 |
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Today Austria is going on strike. It is the biggest strike movement the country
has seen for decades. All sections of the Austrian working class will
participate in this mobilisation against the pensions reform planned by the
right wing government. |
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By Gernot Trausmuth
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Tuesday, 13 May 2003 |
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Tuesday afternoon Vienna saw the biggest thunderstorms people can remember.
Despite these catastrophic weather conditions 200,000 workers turned up from all
over the country in response to the call of the ÖGB (Austrian Trade Union
Federation) to protest against the proposed pensions "reform". |
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By Emanuel Tomaselli
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Sunday, 11 May 2003 |
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On April 23 the National Executive of the ÖGB, the umbrella organisation of
13 trade unions (the equivalent of the British TUC), took a historic step in its
unanimous decision to call for strike action. This comes after five decades of
class-collaboration and so-called "consensus" democracy. |
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By Der Funke
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Monday, 14 October 2002 |
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In the last few months the level of activity of nazi organisations in
Vorarlberg has risen dramatically. These developments have reached a new qualitative stage when about 1000 nazis
from Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and the Czech Republic attended a
concert on the October 12 this year in Hohenems. As reaction to the inactivity of the Executive and the policy of the Regional
authorities concerning the Nazi concerts in Vorarlberg, the marxist-led
Vorarlberg Socialist Youth (SJ) started to build antifascist committees in the
schools and called for the formation of a platform called "No Nazi Concerts
in Vorarlberg". |
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By Der Funke
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Tuesday, 17 September 2002 |
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This is a report of the demonstration in Salzburg against the World Economic
Forum from Der Funke. The
international "anti-globalisation movement" has reached an entirely
new stage after the mass protests against the G8 in Genoa and after the second
World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. This attempt to structure the movement into
so-called Social Forums has been accompanied by the increasing political
influence of openly reformist forces. |
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By Der Funke
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Thursday, 23 May 2002 |
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This event was organised by Der Funke and the Young Socialists from May 17-20. The thirst for
ideas amongst the activists was demonstrated in 28 workshops held over the three days. |
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By Der Funke Editorial Board
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Saturday, 11 August 2001 |
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After a wave of protests against the right-wing
government at the beginning of last year and the first signs of mobilisation by
the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Osterreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund,
OGB), the coalition government formed by the conservative People's Party and
the extreme right-wing Freedom Party was finally able to temporarily stabilise its
position, thanks mainly to the policy of the leadership of the OGB which tried to
prolong its old "social partnership". Now however things are getting hot in
Austria and this Autumn we could see a worker backlash. |
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By Emanuel Tomaselli
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Monday, 16 April 2001 |
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After an "interregnum" of five years the Social
Democrats regained an absolute majority on the council of "Red
Vienna".
Vienna has a symbolic value for the Austrian labour
movement. Ever since
the democratic revolution of 1918 this city
has been governed by the Social Democrats,
with just two
interruptions: the period of Austro-Fascism, followed by the Nazi
regime
(1934-1945), and the period from 1996 to 2001, when the
party lost its absolute majority
and collaborated with the weak
Conservative party. Now the Social Democracy is back again.
But
will they be able to live up to the expectations of the workers who
voted for them? |
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By Filip Staes of the editorial board of Vonk
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Thursday, 01 February 2001 |
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One year ago a shock wave went through Western Europe with the
coming to power of the coalition government of the OVP and FPO in
Austria. A lot has happened since then. Herbert Bartik of the
Austrian Marxist journal 'Der Funk' was interviewed by Filip Staes
of the editorial board of Vonk (Belgian Marxist paper). |
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By Gernot Trausmuth
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Thursday, 24 February 2000 |
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"Widerstand! Widerstand!" -
"Resistance! Resistance!" - that is
the main slogan of the protest wave which has been shaking
Austria for more than three
weeks. When it became clear that the conservative Peoples
Party (ÖVP) was to form a
coalition with the extreme right-wing Freedom Party of Jörg
Haider, this sharp political
turn sparked a spontaneous movement never seen before
in Austria. |
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Monday, 07 February 2000 |
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Railworkers took the initiative in launching demonstrations
against the entry of the
extreme right wing Freedom Party of Haider in the new
government on the third of February.
Since that day, students and other young people have not
stopped hitting the streets of
Vienna and other towns in Austria. This country has
definitely broken with its smooth and
consensual past. Today class struggle in its different forms
is again on the order of the
day. We spoke with Herbert Bartik, activist of the Vienna
Socialist Youth and of the
Marxist paper Der Funke
about the
sudden upheaval. |
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By Gernot Trausmuth
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Tuesday, 25 January 2000 |
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Since 1945 Austrian politics were characterised by
coalition governments with the
participation of the Socialist Party. But on Friday January
21st the pressure from the
trade unions forced the break-down of coalition talks
between the SP and the conservative
PP. Gernot Trausmuth, Editorial board of the Austrian
Marxist magazine 'Der
Funke' , looks at the implications
of this for the future of the class struggle in Austria.
January 2000. |
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By Gernot Trausmuth
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Monday, 04 October 1999 |
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On October 3rd Austria was shaken by a political
earthquake. After decades of
"social partnership", after 13 years of a 'Grand
Coalition' between the Social
Democrat Party (SP) and the conservative Peoples Party (VP)
characterised by enormous
stability these parliamentary elections mark a turning point
in Austria's post-war
history. Especially the big success of the extreme right-wing
party of Jörg Haider, the
FP÷, was not only a shock to a lot of people in Austria, but
also internationally. |
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