Democratic Union (Austria)

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The Democratic Union of Austria , usually just called the Democratic Union (DU), was a small Austrian party in occupied post-war Austria .

Emergence

The DU was founded on December 5, 1945 as an association for the Democratic Union, an independent association for the reconstruction of Austria . This legal form was chosen because initially only the four parties SPÖ , ÖVP , KPÖ and DPÖ were allowed by the Allies . The founding members of the DU came from a group of bourgeois resistance fighters who did not feel recognized by the ÖVP, such as Raoul Bumballa and Karl Rössel-Majdan . Through foreign policy positions that the Soviet Union gave a commitment to put them into the Allied bodies Allied Council and Executive Commitee for the approval of DU as a party one. With the federal law of May 18, 1949, new parties could be formed, which the DU immediately used to declare itself to the Democratic Union of Austria party .

program

The first program turned against anarchy , capitalism and bureaucracy as well as against cartels and protectionism . One campaigned for the establishment of a world economic organization and for the nationalization of key industries . In the social field, old-age , invalidity , widow and war pensions were called for, legal measures against anti-Semitism , depoliticization of public administration, free university access for the underprivileged, modern divorce law and the separation of church and state. In 1948 foreign policy issues were added: strict neutrality and the expansion of trade with the East were demanded.

In 1949 an election manifesto was presented that criticized the government's economic policy with its orientation towards the West and thus also the Marshall Plan , but also criticized militarism and a lack of democracy by the ruling parties. In terms of economic policy, government lending, hard currency policies and budget consolidation were called for .

elections

On August 1, 1949, Josef Dobretsberger was elected party chairman. It was hoped that the well-known university professor with government experience would gain many supporters. In the National Council election in October 1949 , however, only 0.29 percent voted for the party, and in the state elections that year , nowhere more than 0.6 percent of the votes were achieved. The poor performance was partly due to rumors launched by the ÖVP and the Association of Independents (VdU) that the DU was financed by the Soviet Union , while some SPÖ parliamentarians referred to Dobretsberger as “ home guard fascists ”.

In the next elections in 1953 , the DU entered into an electoral alliance with the KPÖ and the Socialist Workers' Party (SAP) known as the “popular opposition” . This alliance was actually supported by the Soviet occupying power, who hoped to establish a national united front with which Austria could be converted into a socialist state. In this fantasy, the DU should replace the ÖVP in the medium term and the SAP the SPÖ. The KPÖ was also informed of these plans. A press campaign for the popular opposition was run in the occupation organs Österreichische Zeitung and Welt-Illustrierte . Ultimately, the alliance was able to win 5.28 percent of the vote and thus four seats in the election, a disappointing result for the Soviet Union, measured in terms of support. None of the four mandates went to Dobretsberger and the party lost more and more importance.

The loss of supporters and accusations of being “crypto-communists” by political opponents due to participation in the electoral alliance accelerated the collapse of the Democratic Union. In the National Council election in 1956 , she no longer took part.

Until June 1948 the party organ was the newspaper "Echo", from June 1949 the successor organ "Union" appeared. His appointment in 1957 marked the de facto end of the Democratic Union.

literature

supporting documents

  1. Federal law of May 18, 1949 on the election of the National Council (National Council election regulations). In: BGBl . No. 129/1949 . Vienna June 27, 1949 ( online on the website of the Federal Chancellery (PDF; 2.7 MB)).
  2. ^ Andreas P. Pittler : Small parties: carp in a pike pond. In: Wiener Zeitung . October 19, 1999, accessed August 8, 2018 .
  3. ^ Election to the National Council on October 9, 1949. Federal Ministry of the Interior , accessed on November 3, 2017 .
  4. ^ A b Wolfgang Mueller: The Soviet occupation in Austria 1945–1955 and their political mission . Böhlau, Vienna 2005, ISBN 978-3-205-77399-3 , p. 222–232 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ^ Election to the National Council on February 22, 1953. Federal Ministry of the Interior , accessed on November 3, 2017 .