Left Socialist Party

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Socialist Left Party
Logo of the SLP
Federal spokeswoman Sonja Grusch
founding June 1981 (Group Forward)
May 3, 1996 (SOV)
February 17, 2000 (SLP)
Place of foundation Vienna
Headquarters Vienna
Party structure Federal board, city committees, local groups
Alignment Socialism , Communism , Trotskyism
International connections International Socialist Alternative (ISA)
colour red
Website slp.at

The Socialist Left Party ( SLP ) is a small Trotskyist party in Austria . It forms the Austrian section of the International Socialist Alternative (until February 1, 2020: Committee for a Workers 'International , German: Committee for a Workers' International ). Your long-term goal is to overcome capitalism through a socialist democracy . The SLP is the successor organization to the Socialist Offensive Forward ( SOV ) party founded in 1996 . The association Forward to Socialist Democracy has existed since 1991 . In the 1980s the organization was known as the Forward Group .

The SLP is assigned to the left-wing extremist spectrum by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counter Terrorism and is therefore monitored. In the 2006 report on the Protection of the Constitution, the SLP is referred to in the chapter “Marxist / Leninist groups” as “one of the main organizers of anti-fascist protests”. The SLP has no mandate in public bodies such as the National Council , the Landtag or the municipal council .

Political profile

The organization was founded in 1981 as Gruppe Vorwärts in Vienna and for a long time was known within the left and the trade union movement as Vorwärts-Strömung . Here she has made a name for herself primarily through her participation in demonstrations and strikes as well as through their organization.

Since the beginning of 2000 the organization has appeared publicly as a party under the name Socialist Left Party ( SLP ). She is best known for her campaigns in the areas of anti-fascism , anti-racism and women's rights . Furthermore, she is active on the platform for militant and democratic trade unions inside and outside the ÖGB . They are of little importance in elections.

tradition

The SLP sees itself in the tradition of Marx , Engels , Lenin and Trotsky . In relation to its political traditions, the SLP's party statute states:

“The SLP ties in with the militant elements in the history of the Austrian and international labor movement . These include above all the socialist traditions of the various international associations, the founding phase of social democracy such as the KPÖ , the Russian October Revolution , the anti-fascist resistance struggle and the 1950 October strike . "

The experiences of the left opposition in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and the founding of the Fourth International in 1938 are just as much a cornerstone of the SLP as the policy of the united front advocated by Leon Trotsky and his supporters in the interwar period and thereafter . The SLP therefore rejects any form of nationalism and popular front in principle.

The SLP invokes the Communist Manifesto of 1848 and the so-called transition program of the Fourth International of 1938 as important programmatic bases. The SLP rejects Stalinism and real socialism or state socialism as well as Austromarxism and modern social democracy , which the SLP accuses of supporting capitalism .

In its publications, the SLP emphasizes the importance of economic analyzes for the political perspectives on which it aligns its work. In this method she sees an essential difference to other left currents, which, according to the SLP, either represent an abstract maximum program or only mention the goal of socialism in their minimum program in “Sunday speeches”.

In contrast to classical social democracy, the SLP does not only advocate a reform of the capitalist system, but also its revolutionary overthrow . Their “goal is a socialist society that is organized democratically and according to the needs of the people. Stalinism and the SPÖ of the past had nothing to do with socialism. "

The SLP stands in the Trotskyist tradition and sees itself as a socialist alternative to the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ), which the SLP accuses, among other things, of having “illusions in a more social capitalism (keyword: 'give instead of take')” .

The SLP acknowledges that the SPÖ achieved “a number of important improvements” in the 1970s, but these have since been reversed or are in danger. Since the 1990s the SPÖ has taken a “ neoliberal course”. According to its own statement, the SLP's program is based on scientific socialism and the “experiences of the workers' movement over the past 150 years”.

Internationalism

A fundamental orientation towards the workforce with the goal of an international socialist revolution is, according to the SLP, in addition to its concrete character, decisive for a socialist program . It sees itself in opposition to all approaches of a fundamental orientation towards an "anti-fascist" or " anti-imperialist " bourgeoisie as well as to the Stalinist conception of socialism in one country .

Therefore, the SLP sees itself - in contrast to the SPÖ and the other member organizations of the Social Democratic Socialist International - as part of a world party and not as a national organization in an international association .

The SLP is united with groups and parties in over 35 countries around the world in the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) founded in 1974 . It is thus part of the largest Trotskyist International after the Fourth International . The sister organization of the SLP in Germany is the Socialist Alternative (SAV) .

Program

The SLP describes itself as a Marxist party and sees itself “as an active part within the union for a democratic and combative ÖGB and against dependence on the SPÖ”. It also stands for the "fight against social and educational cuts , racism and FPÖ , for women's rights and active international solidarity ."

Unlike the established parties, elections are just a platform for them to spread socialist ideas. Because of the “ bourgeoisisation ” of the social democratic mass parties, the SLP believes that the working class today has no independent political organization around the world. It is therefore the task of revolutionaries to campaign for the building of such a force. A central concern of the SLP is therefore the formation of a political alternative to the left of the SPÖ and the Greens .

The SLP sees itself as an instrument for connecting the goal of socialism with the labor movement and its struggle for social improvement. For them the party is in line with Lenin's What to do? On the one hand, collective memory of the workers, in which it represents a generalization of the experiences of past struggles, and on the other hand, it is a collective organizer, in that it contributes to the concentration of the employees to implement common interests. Furthermore, according to Lenin, it should form a safety net in order to be able to withstand the strong ( economic and ideological ) pressure on the part of capital.

Central demands of the SLP include a “minimum wage of 1,100 euros net”, an “automatic adjustment of wages and salaries to inflation ” ( Scala mobile ), the immediate introduction of the 30-hour week with full wage compensation and without dismissals public investments in health, education, housing and transport, the introduction of a wealth tax and a value added tax, the abolition of consumption taxes, full equality for homo- , bisexual and transgender people, the right to vote for all people aged 15 and over living in Austria, “free contraception and free abortion opportunities in all federal states ”and the reversal of privatizations through the“ transfer of all already privatized companies and the key industry into common property under the democratic control and administration of the workers ”.

history

overview

The SLP emerged from the so-called forward current in early 2000 . This designation referred to the party organ Vorwärts, which has appeared since 1983 . As a group forward , the current was mainly active in the Socialist Youth of Austria and the Social Democratic Party of Austria from 1981 to around the mid-1990s . "Since 1991 the Vorwärts was clearly the strongest group of the Trotskyist spectrum", so the working group Marxism in their study Trotskyism in Austria .

This phase was characterized by the so-called tactics of entryism , i.e. work within the social democracy. During this time, appearing as an independent organization was felt to be rather inexpedient, as such an open appearance within the comparatively undemocratic structures of the SPÖ made it more difficult to build up the group and, in our own estimation, would soon have led to isolation. This resulted in a semi-secret form of organization that was retained even after the exclusion of leading activists from the Socialist Youth in 1992/93.

The period of entryism was followed by a slow opening of the organization, which was expressed in particular in the work within the run-up organization Youth Against Racism in Europe and finally culminated in the establishment of the Forward Socialist Offensive in 1996 . Although the SOV had renounced the designation party in the name in favor of broader formations, it was officially registered as a party and also sought to run for elections.

It was officially renamed the Socialist Left Party in February 2000 during the protests against the ÖVP-FPÖ government , in which the party played a central role.

The organization has been part of the international Committee for a Workers' International since it was founded . In Great Britain , the roots of this movement go back to 1937. As Militant Tendency , it broke away from the United Secretariat of the Fourth International as early as 1965, which it considered undemocratic.

In its history of the Committee for a Workers' International it is said:

“They preferred adaptable supporters who followed their line to independent comrades with whom there were more significant political differences. It was our tradition to openly deal with political differences. It was different in VS. [...] An open discussion with the different sections of the VS was alien to this tour. "

Group Forward (1981-1996)

The Vorwärts group , founded in 1981, had no connection with the “classical” traditions of Austrian Trotskyism. The roots of the organization lie in the International Socialist Youth Meeting of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), also known as the IUSY Festival, from June 5th to 9th, 1981 in Vienna. There activists of the so-called militant movement made contact with Austrian Young Socialists and won the first CWI members in Austria.

At the end of June 1982 the first programmatic conference of the Vorwärts group took place in Vienna, and in March 1983 the first issue of Vorwärts appeared as the " company newspaper of the socialist youth favorites ". The association Forward to Socialist Democracy was only founded in 1991.

Work in SPÖ and SJ

The development of the group was irregular in the first half of the 1980s. To create the political foundations, trainings were held on the history of the Austrian and international labor movement as well as standard Marxist works. Within the Socialist Youth, the group campaigned against the Austro-Marxist and Stalinist currents.

From the mid-1980s, there was stable leadership. The newspaper Vorwärts was published more regularly. As a minority within the Socialist Youth, the initially small group wanted to work politically around the newspaper Vorwärts , on the one hand, and to be active within the SJ and the SPÖ, on the other hand, with the aim of “ winning left youth for Marxist ideas and the building of a revolutionary party. ". The activists of the Vorwärts group never appeared as part of an independent organization, but as supporters of the Vorwärts newspaper .

The work in the social democratic structures was justified primarily by the fact that the SPÖ was still a workers' party at that time and the SJ was a strong political organization. The geographical focus was Vienna. Their activity spread to Lower Austria , Upper Austria and Vorarlberg .

Although the Vorwärts group was active within the SJ, it says it has always remained politically and financially independent in order not to have to make any political concessions to the SPÖ. The newspaper was and is financed exclusively through sales and donations.

SJ exclusions

While the Militant current in the United Kingdom already made up the majority within the Labor Party Young Socialists at the beginning of the 1970s , and the editors of the Militant newspaper were excluded from the Labor Party under Neil Kinnock in December 1982 - i.e. during the formation of the group Forward as a political organization in Austria - the forward current only developed into a serious danger for the leadership of the SJ in the second half of the 1980s.

From 1991 the group Vorwärts actively pursued the creation of a left wing within the SPÖ, in which they saw a rightward development, and fought for the "recapture [...] for Marxism". She called for offensive socialist external work, an end to the separation of students and apprentices and a democratization of the SJ. In the time before the vote on Austria's EU accession, she also opposed the party line of the SPÖ and refused to join because, in her opinion, the EU was not a peace project, but would only improve conditions for the capitalists.

In 1992 five leading activists of the group (John Evers, Michael Gehmacher, Sonja Grusch, Andrea Koch, David Mum) were expelled from the SJ Vienna because of “behavior that was harmful to the organization” and the district organizations Landstraße , Margareten , Mariahilf , Liesing and Brigittenau (Vienna 3, 5th , 6, 20, 23) - a total of seven SJ groups - dissolved. Several hundred members were banned from staying at home.

This took place one and a half weeks before the regional conference of the SJ Vienna, to which the “forward districts” made up around a third of the delegates. At this conference Sonja Wehsely , today the leading city councilor of the SPÖ in Vienna (as of February 2008), was elected as the new chairwoman of the SJ-Vienna. The supporters of the Vorwärts group saw in Wehsely a representative of the right wing and had proposed an opposing candidate for election.

In January 1993, the SJ group “Aufbruch” was dissolved in Salzburg (also a “forward group”) and four “forward learners” were excluded. According to the SLP, the reasons for the exclusions were above all the criticism of the SPÖ's policy, which the group saw as anti-social and racist ( privatization of the nationalized industry ; pro- EC attitude; asylum legislation ; social cuts) and the fear of a Marxist leadership of the SJ.

As a further reason for the exclusions, the SLP cites the successful establishment of the Antifascist Committee Austria (AKÖ) in early 1992, which was later renamed Youth against Racism in Europe (JRE). JRE or Youth against Racism in Europe (YRE) mobilized 40,000 young people from all over Europe for the first Europe-wide demonstration against fascism and right-wing extremism in Brussels in October 1992 . Through JRE, the SJ leadership had been shown the potential of young people, which the Vorwärts group was able to address using actionism and socialist ideas.

On the occasion of the defamation campaign of the SJ leadership against the group, the daily newspaper Der Standard published a series about the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, on whose ideas the excluded SJ minority referred.

At that time, Alfred Gusenbauer was still the federal chairman of the SJ and co-initiator of the exclusions . Gusenbauer was elected on the 20th regular association day of the SJÖ in 1984. At that time, the newspaper Vorwärts said about the various wings of the SJ leadership:

“It (the association day) was marked by the change from the old association chairman, member of the National Council , Josef Cap to the new, Alfred Gusenbauer. Friday was dominated by the cap discussion. Numerous delegates expressed their disappointment at the weak behavior of Caps in Parliament (...) In general, the three wings of the SJÖ crystallized again. The Stalinist Upper Austrian wing, the left reformist wing around Gusenbauer, Schneider (...) and Cap, as well as the party-friendly wing of the SJ Lower Austria (...) In the main speech, Heinz Fischer represented the views of the coalition government . "

Break with the SPÖ

In its 1996 analysis of Austrian Trotskyism, the Marxism Working Group wrote of the organization:

"In general, the SJ groups have become less and less in the last few years, the anti-facto committee groups (later renamed JRE groups), four of which existed in Vienna, have increasingly become the actual basic structures of the field work of Vorwärts."

In agreement with its international, the CWI, the forward current analyzed in the early 1990s that struggles among the workers were reflected less and less within the SPÖ. Of course, this assessment also had something to do with our own experiences after there had been no significant formation of a left wing within the SPÖ during the phase of entryism.

The SPÖ's policy at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s also contributed to the fact that the struggling sections of the working class, the so-called “advanced layers”, would not orientate themselves towards the SPÖ in future class struggles . The privatizations supported by the SPÖ were to blame for the rise in unemployment and, as a consequence, for growing racism. The main blame for the rise of the FPÖ was therefore the SPÖ, it said.

The conception of the advanced “bourgeoisisation process” of the social democracy led in 1991, in addition to a different assessment of the international situation after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union, to a split within the British militant and at the international level in 1992 between a majority around Militant General Secretary Peter Taaffe and a minority around Ted Grant . In Austria, the group Funke (today the Funke ) emerged from this minority, which advocated a continuation of entryism within the social democracy .

The tactical turn of the CWI to found independent, open revolutionary organizations took place first in Scotland , then in England and Germany and finally in Austria. This phase was internally referred to as the “turn to openness” .

The accusation raised by the Funke Current and Ted Grant that the CWI and the Forward Current had abandoned their own tradition is, in the opinion of the CWI, unjustified, as the group's own history shows. After all, entry was only a temporary tactic.

In order to be able to better use the anchoring among young people in the fight against the planned " austerity packages ", the group founded the Student Action Platform at the beginning of 1995 within Youth Against Racism in Europe , from which the anti-capitalist youth organization Socialist Resistance International (SWI) emerged in 2000 . The initiative to found the SAP improved the group's initial situation in the student movement of 1995 and 1996. According to the AGM, at that time "thousands of students were able to mobilize against the government's austerity measures and also put the official student representatives under significant pressure."

At the same time, the AGM criticized the fact that the Vorwärts group initially overslept the student movement in the spring of 1996. In the same book, the SOV said that it had managed to "get 15,000 schoolchildren to strike against welfare cuts and take them to the streets."

The group worked for some time in the environment of SJ and SPÖ. But this was seen more and more as an obstacle to “socialist work and the development of a revolutionary organization” .

Forward Socialist Offensive (1996-2000)

After the break with the SPÖ, the Socialist Offensive Forward (SOV) was finally founded in May 1996 . The national spokesman for the SOV was John Evers. Time and again there was increased cooperation with other left organizations. The SOV saw its main tasks on the one hand in “building a revolutionary organization” and on the other hand in engaging in the construction of a new socialist mass party.

An important point for the SOV and SLP since the break with the SPÖ was the building of a new workers' party, which realistically it is not itself, as it always emphasizes. In the party statute of the SLP it says: "The SLP strives for the formation of a new socialist workers party and movement in Austria and internationally."

During the phase as SOV there was a discussion process with the Socialist Alternative (SOAL) , the KPÖ , the Turkish ÖDP , the Werkstatt Frieden & Solidarität Linz and others. This was the main reason why, after the break with the SPÖ, the organization did not immediately have the designation party in its name, but initially called itself the Socialist Offensive Forward .

In 1996 there was a joint candidacy with the KPÖ. However, the SOV subsequently classified the cooperation with the KPÖ as negative. Nevertheless, approaches for further joint candidacies were sounded out and discussed. After these attempts at a new socialist party failed and the strengthening of the FPÖ in the National Council elections in October 1999 could not be prevented by the radical left, the membership of the SOV decided to found the SLP.

After the experience of the SOV with SOAL, KPÖ, ÖDP, the SLP sees itself today as the only force in Austria that pursues the goal of such a political alternative to the left of the SPÖ and the Greens.

Like the Vorwärts group, the SOV financed itself before and after the SLP through membership fees, sales proceeds and donations.

Socialist Left Party (since 2000)

On February 17, 2000, the Socialist Left Party was founded at the SOV Federal Conference . At that time, the SLP was involved in the resistance movement against the newly formed black-blue coalition . The renaming had already been decided in 1999, which is why the party used the new name in the protests against the government even before it was officially founded, parallel to the term Socialist Offensive Forward .

The SLP wanted to extend these protests beyond demonstrations and called for strikes, because only through these "would the rulers really be harmed ". There were no strikes for the time being. Since the protest movement ultimately failed to achieve its goals, the SLP was also weakened. The SLP ran for the first time in the national elections in Austria in 2002 .

At this time, the SLP also had its strongest media presence to date. For example, the large demonstration on Thursday February 3rd, 2000 was led by the SLP. The following day, the SLP photo was not only on the front page of many Austrian daily newspapers, but also in the Münchner Abendzeitung from 5/6 February (weekend edition) and even made it to the US with the New York Times and others . The picture showed four SLP activists with signs that read:

“Socialist Left Party (SLP)
resistance!

Away with FPÖ
and ÖVP
Socialist Offensive Forward (SOV) "

The spontaneous demonstration against the planned introduction of tuition fees on September 20, 2000 was also led by the SLP. The next day, a photo of activists with a banner and megaphone was the cover of the Salzburger Nachrichten , the Kleine Zeitung and the Tiroler Tageszeitung . In the Kurier , in Der Standard and others, it was the cover picture for the respective reports on the protests.

Since then, the SLP has been arousing, among other things, due to its role in the Thursday demonstrations that took place until the beginning of 2002 , its activities against the introduction of tuition fees in Austria in 2001 as well as its campaign against the radical anti- abortion opponents of Human Life International and through mobilizations against right-wing extremist organizations such as the neo-Nazi Association of Free Youth (BFJ) in Upper Austria media attention.

Trade unions and company work

The party's union and company work is geared towards the medium-term goal of changing the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions towards a class-conscious, combative and democratic union.

In order not to isolate oneself from one's own clientele, this work is fundamental, so the SLP. Their website states:

“Labor disputes and consistent works council work bring social improvements and experience to employees. Especially when there is a strike, those involved realize their power. For Marxists it would be fatal to only stand on the side with comments during this process. "

Originally the party worked within the union of the private workers with the independent trade unionists (UG). She later switched to the Union's Left Bloc (GLB) because the UG was increasingly dominated by the Greens and appeared less uniform. It was always emphasized, however, that the party is flexible in its parliamentary group activities, since this is only an instrument for a class-struggle union policy.

The SLP rejects the policy of social partnership , as it leads to “ lazy compromises to the detriment of the employees ”. The SLP is therefore calling for the union leadership to break with the social partnership and vote on strikes. According to the SLP, the large business associations such as the Austrian Chamber of Commerce and the Federation of Industrialists unilaterally terminated the social partnership with the formation of the black and blue government in 2000 and its neoliberal program. Instead of mourning the old social partnership, the ÖGB should fight, the SLP demands.

With the establishment of the platform for militant and democratic trade unions (PKDG) in October 2003, the SLP wanted to create an approach for a class-struggle policy inside and outside the ÖGB, since the GLB did not play this role in the opinion of the SLP. This union platform subsequently formed the basis of most interventions in industrial disputes.

It was the follow-up project to the union regulars' table founded in 1994 . The AGM wrote about this in 1996: "In addition, a structure for cooperation with other left-wing works councils was set up with the forward trade union regulars table."

The SLP assumes a new quality of the struggles between labor and capital in Austria since the general strikes against the " pension reform " in 2003. "Whether (general) strike against the pension robbery , AUSTRIAN , Austrian Federal Railways , Postbus or Veloce - we are dealing with a new quality of class struggle", it says in an article from 2005.

During this time, the SLP directly supported most of the larger strike actions in Austria, including the large demonstration and the two general strikes against the pension reform in 2003, the strikes at Austrian Airlines, Post , Postbus and ÖBB as well as the protest actions against the privatization of voestalpine in Linz , In April 2004 the wildcat strike at the Veloce bicycle messenger service - the first strike of the so-called atypical workers in Austria, in support of which the SLP organized a solidarity demonstration and various events in the summer of 2004 the social sector in Vienna, co-organized by the SLP, and the protests in the social sector in Vienna in the summer of 2005, at the beginning of 2006 the protest actions against the IPO of the Post, in the fall of 2006 the strike of the AUA board workforce and the strike at Siemens PSE , at the beginning of 2007 the labor dispute at KiK .

Here, too, the SLP enjoyed a certain amount of media attention. The standard of April 25, 2003, for example, used a photo of the SLP with the caption as the main picture for the report on the ÖGB rally the day before.

"The SLP, the Left Party, mingled with the large works meeting and called for a fight."

The picture showed activists of the SLP with a banner that read:

"Only STRIKE can
stop
PENSION ROBBERY www.slp.at"

In addition, the SLP counts international solidarity campaigns, for example with striking miners in Kazakhstan , the Trade Union Rights Campaign Pakistan etc. to its operational work.

Education and youth

Furthermore, even before the founding of the SLP, there were approaches of cooperation with the Independent Education Union (UBG) and with the non-partisan teachers' forum Henriettenplatz . SLP members attended their meetings and offered support in schools. An important means was to anchor the SLP in the school area. Here the organization had already done preparatory work in October 1998 with the “Bildungswandertag” in Baden against the meeting of EU education ministers and school strikes against planned savings for teachers. The protests under the motto “Students and teachers against Gehrer ” in autumn 1998 helped to build a bridge between teachers and students, while the official student organizations ( aks , GPA-Jugend and Schülerunion ) welcomed the savings in teaching staff. There was also an orientation towards apprentices and youth unemployment.

The party's potential to mobilize young people was shown in numerous large demonstrations. In February 2000, for example, the student action platform succeeded in mobilizing 15,000 students in Vienna to go on a school strike against the participation of the FPÖ in government.

In 2003 the SLP initiated a major nationwide school strike at the beginning of the Iraq war , to which 10,000 students were mobilized in Vienna alone. After it could not be foreseen in advance whether and when a war would break out, the SLP began mobilizing for a strike on the day of the first bombing , known as day X, as early as winter 2002 . The day of action was launched worldwide by the International Socialist Resistance (ISR) organization, which is closely related to the CWI and whose Austrian section Socialist Resistance is International.

At the same time, recruiting young people should be a support for company and trade union work. On the one hand, the SLP regards the young people as the workers of tomorrow; on the other hand, political activity is intended to create experience for later operational activities.

Campaign against anti-abortionists

As early as 1996, the organization had founded its own women's regulars table just for women. Since 1997 the SLP (partly still as SOV) has been dealing with the issue of abortion because of the increasing strength of the radical anti- abortionists .

In 2004, the women's spokeswoman for the SLP, Claudia Sorger, wrote an article in the Volksstimme entitled Terror in front of the clinic against the activities of Human Life International (HLI) in Vienna. Thereupon she was sued by Dietmar Fischer, the head of HLI Austria, for the charge that his organization was conducting psychological terrorism.

HLI lost the lawsuit against the SLP. In addition, the defendant was able to prove the truth in court. 

elections

The SLP mainly takes part in elections in order to raise awareness of the party. Due to the increased political attention during elections, these offer a platform for discussion with voters and a more intensive dissemination of one's own ideas and goals. However, the SLP does not run for elections to change the capitalist system, as it does not believe that this could be done within "bourgeois democracy".

  • In 1996 the predecessor organization SOV ran for election to the European Parliament together with the KPÖ . They received 17,656 votes (0.47%).
  • In 2000 and 2004, SLP members stood on the list of the trade union left bloc in the elections for the Vienna Chamber for Workers and Salaried Employees .
  • In the 2001 municipal council elections in Vienna, the SLP received 100 votes (0.01%). However, she only appeared in the constituency center ( Innere Stadt , Wieden , Margareten and Mariahilf ). The 100 votes in the municipal council election correspond to 0.18% of the votes in this constituency. In the simultaneous elections for the district representation, only the Margareten district ran for candidates and achieved 0.68% with 139 votes. 
  • In the 2002 National Council election , the SLP received 3,906 votes (0.08%).
  • In the state and municipal council elections in Vienna in 2005 , the SLP again only ran in the Zentrum constituency and received 124 votes there (0.24%, which corresponds to 0.02% throughout Vienna ). During the election campaign, she concentrated on mobilizing against events by the FPÖ - Federal Party Chairman Heinz-Christian Strache . In the simultaneous elections for the district representation in Margareten, their share of the vote was reduced (90 votes, 0.47%). The SLP also clearly missed mandates in Favoriten (0.19%) and Brigittenau (0.28%).
  • In the 2006 National Council election , the Socialist Left Party, List against Capitalism and Racism, received 2,136 votes (0.05%). Again, there was a main focus in actions against the FPÖ. As early as spring, the SLP organized protests against the FPÖ's popular initiative “Austria stay free”.
  • In the National Council elections in 2008 , the SLP ran as part of the Die Linke platform founded in August 2008 . SLP national spokeswoman Sonja Grusch was the alliance's top candidate; followed by Hermann Dworczak, co-initiator of the platform.
  • For the 2013 National Council election , the SLP again ran as an independent party in the state of Vienna. With 844 votes it achieved 0.13% of the votes in Vienna.
  • In the 2017 National Council election , the party ran in Vienna and Upper Austria and achieved a result of 0.01% with 713 votes.

Party structure

The party is divided into state, district and local groups. The party headquarters are located in Vienna. Conditions for membership are recognition of the program and statutes, active participation and payment of a monthly membership fee. The activities of the organization are coordinated by an elected management and a board of directors.

Officials have to give the members an account of their activities at all times and can be voted out of their area of ​​responsibility on the initiative of a qualified majority. Resolutions should be able to be adopted by all members after an internal discussion.

Party organ

The party organ of the SLP is the monthly Vorwärts with a circulation of 1,000. With the discontinuation of the Arbeiter-Zeitung (SPÖ), the Volksstimme (KPÖ), the magazine “die Linke” ( GRM / SOAL ) and the TATblatt ( autonomous ), Vorwärts is the only left-wing newspaper in existence alongside the Neue Volksstimme and Der Funke Austria. There are newspaper sales in Carinthia, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria and Vienna.

In addition to the newspaper, brochures on various topics are published every two to three months. All the editors of the newspaper are members of the organization. A newspaper is essential for spreading socialist ideas - even in the age of the Internet. The newspaper is distributed through weekly street sales, at political events and through subscriptions .

The first issue of the Vorwärts newspaper appeared in March 1983, at that time as the “ SJ Favoriten company newspaper ”. On the basis of the subtitles and the regularity of the publication, the respective orientation and constitution of the organization can be read off. Since 1986 it has appeared as the “ Marxist newspaper for SJ, SPÖ & trade union ”, from 1991 as the “ Marxist newspaper in SJ, SPÖ & trade union ”; In 1992 the aks, the campaign for critical pupils, was added to the newspaper's subtitle. From 1993 it appears ten times a year. Before that, the newspaper appeared in A4 format .

Affiliate organizations

In its history, the Vorwärts group , the SOV and the SLP had a number of apron organizations. The aim was always to bundle forces and to work with other leftists and independents as well as to broaden one's own ideas on a looser, usually broader basis than one's own organization. Membership in a front organization does not automatically mean membership in the party.

  • Youth against Racism in Europe (JRE) - 1990s
  • Student Action Platform (SAP) - 1995–2000
  • Socialist Resistance International (SWI) - since 2000
  • Platform for militant and democratic trade unions - since 2003

Spin-offs

From the organization emerged in 1994 the group Der Funke , which continued entryism in the SPÖ / SJÖ, and in 1999 the anti-fascist left - AL . The Revolutionary Socialist Organization later emerged from the AL. So far there have been no direct splits from the ranks of the forward current .

Also, politically motivated or politically justified resignations seem to be the exception in comparison with other Trotskyist organizations in Austria, so that so-called “downgrading” of membership through inactivity, ie the deletion of “card files”, predominate. Thus, the forward current or the SLP can be viewed as a coherent political organization whose programmatic standpoints and political ideas have remained constant over the years. In the case of grossly different views and positions, the organization provides for the right to form a tendency or group.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Constitutional Protection Report 2006, p. 56 ( online version ; 620 kB, PDF; checked on September 20, 2012)
  2. ↑ a b c d SLP: Statute of the Socialist Left Party ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , January 15, 2005 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / slp.at
  3. ↑ SLP program of June 15, 2003, p. 3
  4. ↑ a b SLP: Who we are ( Memento of the original from October 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  5. ↑ “The SLP fights for a socialist change in society and stands on the basis of Marxism . Capitalism can only be overthrown by an international revolution in which the multinationals and large corporations are transferred to the democratic control and administration of the working population. Our goal is a classless society in which women and men have equal rights and the bulk of the population makes political and economic decisions. Neither the social democratically governed nor the Stalinist states had anything to do with such a social model. ”
    Statute of the Socialist Left Party, § 2.3
  6. ↑ SLP: Another world is necessary. A socialist world is possible. The program of the Socialist Left Party (SLP) Austrian section of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI / KAI / CIO) (PDF; 1.1 MB), decided on June 15, 2003, p. 3, p. 24
  7. ↑ SLP: Why are two left-wing parties running in the National Council elections in Vienna and where are the differences between the SLP and the KPÖ? ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , September 13, 2006 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  8. ^ Posting by Sonja Grusch in: Der Standard , Interview with Karin Antlanger, KPÖ , September 15, 2006
  9. ↑ SLP program of June 15, 2003, p. 23
  10. ↑ SLP: Of the necessity of the program ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 1, 2000 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  11. ↑ “The working class is the central point of reference for the political activity of the SLP. The SLP wants to win over the decisive parts of this class for their goals in order to be able to fundamentally change society. ”Statute of the Socialist Left Party
  12. ↑ self-declaration; As of 2008
  13. ↑ SLP: What we want. The short program of the SLP ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  14. ↑ SLP: Forward - socialist newspaper ( memento of the original from June 23, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  15. ↑ Working Group Marxism: Trotskyism in Austria, Part 1: An Analysis ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , September 1996, cited from the revised 2nd edition (May 1997), p. 223 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.agmarxismus.net
  16. ↑ Peter Taaffe : History of the Committee for a Workers International
  17. ↑ “At the beginning of the 1980s, a Trotskyist movement emerged in Austria that had no connection with the previously existing Trotskyist traditions in this country: the group around the newspaper Vorwärts .” AGM: Trotskyism in Austria, 1997, p. 222
  18. ↑ SLP: No lazy compromises - forward to socialism. A historical outline of our work and methods (PDF; 663 kB) , January 2005, p. 13, p. 67
  19. ^ Historical outline, 2005, p. 17
  20. ↑ a b Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 19 f.
  21. ↑ Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 20 f.
  22. ^ Historical outline, 2005, p. 22
  23. ^ Peter Taaffe : The Rise of Militant . October 1995.
  24. ^ Historical outline, 2005, p. 74
  25. ^ Historical outline, 2005, p. 38
  26. ^ Historical outline, 2005, p. 68
  27. ^ AGM: Trotskyism in Austria, 1997, p. 224 f.
  28. ↑ Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 26 ff.
  29. ↑ a b John Evers: Zur Geschichte des Vorwärts , in: Trotskism in Austria, 1996, p. 249
  30. ↑ a b Trotskyism in Austria, 1996, p. 225
  31. ↑ John Evers: On the history of the forward . In: Trotskyism in Austria, 1997, p. 251
  32. ↑ a b c Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 54
  33. ^ Trotskyism in Austria, 1996, p. 225 f.
  34. ^ Historical outline, 2005, p. 32
  35. ↑ Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 55 f.
  36. ↑ Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 57 ff.
  37. ↑ Der Standard : Page 2, September 21, 2000
    Small newspaper : front page. No. 262, September 21, 2000
    Courier : Page 3, September 21, 2000
    Salzburger Nachrichten : Front page. Vol. 56, No. 219, September 21, 2000
    Tiroler Tageszeitung : front page. Vol. 56, No. 219, September 21, 2000
    Image: Jürg Christiandl ( APA ) or for Der Standard Christian Fischer
  38. ↑ ORF : Demo "Against Racism & Fascism"
  39. ^ Historical outline, 2005, p. 49
  40. ↑ SLP: Platform for militant and democratic trade unions ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Reviewed on February 2, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  41. ↑ SLP: Independent trade unionists - UG ( Memento of the original from November 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 1, 1997 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  42. ↑ SLP: Broad left opposition necessary ( memento of the original from November 15, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 1, 1999 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  43. ↑ Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 48
  44. ↑ Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 50, p. 60
  45. ↑ SLP: Resolution of the founding meeting of the platform for militant and democratic unions  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , October 13, 2003@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.slp.at  
  46. ↑ SLP: social partnership? There is no turning back! ( Memento of the original from November 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , March 1, 2005 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  47. ↑ SLP: 2003: The year when the strikes came ( Memento of the original of November 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , December 1, 2003 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  48. ↑ SLP: First strike of the atypical! ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 1, 2004 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  49. ↑ SLP: Demands of the bicycle messengers after the 1st strike at Veloce  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , April 1, 2004@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.slp.at  
  50. ↑ SLP: Call to the Veloce demo  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , April 26, 2004@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / lists.slp.at  
  51. ↑ SLP: “The fact that there was a strike at Veloce has to do with the fact that there have been a lot of strikes.” ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 2, 2004 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  52. ↑ SLP: The resistance is alive! ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , July 1, 2004 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  53. ↑ SLP: How to continue with the social platform in Vienna ( memento of the original from October 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , May 19, 2005 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  54. ↑ SLP: privatization = mail robbery: strike is justified ( memento of the original of November 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , January 24, 2006 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  55. ↑ SLP: Interview with Markus Rumler, AUA co-pilot and AUA board works council  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , October 6, 2006@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.slp.at  
  56. ↑ SLP: Strike at Siemens PSE  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 20, 2006@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.slp.at  
  57. ↑ SLP: KIK: textile discounters against works council  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , February 20, 2007@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.slp.at  
  58. ^ Der Standard : Page 6, April 25, 2003
    Image: Christian Fischer
  59. ↑ Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 40, p. 81
  60. ↑ Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 41, p. 82
  61. ^ Historical outline, 2005, p. 85
  62. ^ Historical outline, 2005, p. 52
  63. ↑ the daily newspaper : God's nasty sidewalk representative , May 18, 2004
  64. ↑ SLP: Lawsuit against Claudia Sorger (SLP women's spokeswoman): Radical anti-abortion opponents lose trial ( memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , April 21, 2004 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  65. ↑ a b Historischer Abriss, 2005, p. 61
  66. ↑ BMI : European elections 1996
  67. ↑ Municipal council election 2001
  68. ↑ District council election 2001
  69. ↑ ORF : The candidates of the NR election  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / news.orf.at  
  70. ^ ORF : FPÖ referendum , March 10, 2006
  71. ↑ Tiroler Tageszeitung : Sonja Grusch, top candidate of the Left, answered questions from TT readers , September 16, 2008
  72. ^ Election program: Socialism instead of capitalist chaos!
  73. ↑ orf.at: 16 lists enter the NR election . Article dated August 18, 2017, accessed August 18, 2017.
  74. ↑ self-declaration; (As of March 2008)
  75. ↑ SLP: Zeitung Vorwärts ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.slp.at
  76. ^ Trotskyism in Austria, 1996, p. 226 f.
  77. ↑ AL: Trotskyism in Austria ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , MR 12, April / May 2001 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.sozialismus.net