Austria

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We have just celebrated the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the liberation from fascism. Exactly 60 years ago the leadership of the German Wehrmacht signed the capitulation. Yesterday in the former concentration camp (KZ) of Mauthausen and in Vienna thousands of people showed their opposition to war and to fascism.

Some of our readers will perhaps remember the inauguration of the right-wing coalition government in Austria in February 2000. For the first time since 1970 the Social Democratic Party was not part of the federal government. The new government was formed by Wolfgang Schüssel of the conservative Peoples’ Party and Jörg Haider, the leader of the Freedom Party. This led to a big movement of Austrian “civil society” and a wave of international protests starting with the tops of the EU. Many on the left saw the threat of fascism because of the participation of the Freedom Party in this new bourgeois government.

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.

The celebrations of May Day this year was another show of strength of the working-class in Austria. In Vienna more than 100.000 militants of the Social-Democratic Party and the unions joined the march. In other industrial centres thousands more joined the rallies, often in their work clothes, like the Fire Brigades in Vienna or the steelworkers of the Voest in Linz.