SPÖ Lower Austria

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Social Democratic Party of Lower Austria
Logo of the SPÖ NÖ
Party leader Franz Schnabl
Franz Schnabl.jpg
vice-chairman Reinhard Hundsmüller
Ulrike Koenigsberger-Ludwig
Karin Renner
Elvira Schmidt
Matthias Stadler
Markus Wieser
Josef Wiesinger
Melanie Zvonik
Club chairman Reinhard Hundsmüller
Federal Managing Director Country manager Wolfgang Kocevar
founding December 30, 1888 - January 1, 1889
Place of foundation Hainfeld (Lower Austria)
Headquarters Niederösterreichring 1a
3100 St. Pölten
Seats in state parliaments
13/56

( LTW 2018 / MPs )
Number of members 60,000
Minimum age 16
Website noe.spoe.at

The Social Democratic Party of Lower Austria ( SPÖ NÖ ) is one of the nine regional organizations of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). The state party chairman has been Franz Schnabl since 2017 .

The history of Austrian social democracy is closely connected with Lower Austria . The Unification Party Congress took place in Hainfeld around the turn of the year 1888/1889 , which is considered to be the actual hour of birth of the party. Furthermore, personalities of the Austrian social democracy, such as Karl Renner , Oskar Helmer , Bruno Kreisky and Alfred Gusenbauer come from Lower Austria.

organization

The SPÖ Lower Austria has its seat in the "Lower Austria House" in St. Pölten . In addition to the SPÖ regional office, there are also the offices of some apron and subsidiary organizations, such as the Kinderfreunde , the socialist youth or the tenants' association . The party also has 23 district offices, which in turn are managed by district managers. They support the political work on site and act as a link between the party officials in the municipalities and cities and the state office.

The work of the regional office takes place in close cooperation with the district managers, the social democratic community representative association, the apron and subsidiary organizations, the social democratic state parliament club and the social democratic government offices. From 2013 to 2017 , the state managing director was Robert Laimer together with Reinhard Hundsmüller ; after Laimer's move to the National Council, Hundsmüller became the sole state managing director.

Content profile

For the SPÖ Lower Austria, the basic program of the federal party, which was decided at the party conference in 1998, applies.

Work and employment

The SPÖ NÖ is committed to a policy that takes into account the interests of employees as well as those of small and medium-sized companies and creates suitable framework conditions for employees as well as for smaller entrepreneurs. Even if they are committed to frugality and stability, their primary goal is economic and employment growth geared towards sustainability. The primary goals of the SPÖ Lower Austria are therefore to maintain the social partnership and to combat unemployment in Lower Austria.

economy

In her last campaign, she called for a tax system that enables a fair distribution of income and wealth and that millionaires should participate more in the financing of the community. The so-called millionaires tax is also one of the measures proposed by the SPÖ to reduce debt.

education

The SPÖ Lower Austria is committed to free and free access to educational institutions. Social changes and new labor market needs require the constant further development of our educational offer. You support the proposal by Education Minister Claudia Schmidt for a comprehensive new middle school. The party chairman Sepp Leitner recently organized a survey according to which 75% of those questioned are in favor of a new middle school and 63% of those questioned prefer an all-day school.

health

Like all regional organizations of the SPÖ, the SPÖ Lower Austria is vehemently against a path to two-tier medicine. Their goal is the best possible care for Lower Austrians with top medical facilities in their own federal state. Specialized hospitals are intended to treat serious interventions and illnesses in specialized hospitals in the region. This requires the expansion of hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and care facilities. The social democrats in Lower Austria stand for the implementation of the 10 Lower Austria health goals and the independent path of the five Lower Austria health care regions.

safety

The federal state of Lower Austria is a comparatively safe country. The SPÖ would like to maintain this situation and is vehemently against downsizing in the executive branch and the related post closings. In 2010 and 2011 they collected 30,000 signatures for 500 additional police officers in Lower Austria and handed them over to the Ministry of the Interior.

Social

It is felt to be very important to continuously review the standards that have been reached in relation to people's changing needs. It is important for the SPÖ NÖ to ensure the best possible integration of all population groups. Discount-free pensions after 45 years of work and the active fight against poverty with the help of the needs-based minimum income are their social cornerstones. In general, a fair distribution of wealth is at the heart of social democracy.

Women

Equal opportunities for women and men is an important concern of social democracy. Leading women politicians like Johanna Dohnal have campaigned in the past to remove social, economic and political disadvantages for women. Fighting these disadvantages is still the goal of the SPÖ Lower Austria today, for example in the area of ​​women's employment or childcare.

history

1918 to 1934: the first republic

With the fall of the Habsburg monarchy in 1918, the "Archduchy of Austria under the Enns" became the state of Lower Austria and also the city of Vienna. On November 5th, the provisional provincial assembly of Lower Austria was formed, in which the social democracy, which at that time was still called the Social Democratic Workers' Party , had three provincial councilors and, in Albert Sever, also had a deputy governor. On May 4, 1919, the first free elections took place, in which the SDAP became the strongest force and was able to win an absolute majority. Albert Sever was then elected governor and held this office from May 20, 1919 to November 1920. After the separation of Vienna from Lower Austria, which was operated primarily under pressure from the Christian Social Party (CSP), the SDAP became the second strongest force in Lower Austria. Between 1921 and 1927, Franz Christoph, one of the two deputy governors, came from their ranks. Oskar Helmer then held this office until 1934. Alongside him, Karl Renner and Anton Ofenböck were among the most influential people in the party.

On March 4, 1933, Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss and the CSP eliminated parliament . The conflict between the Social Democrats and the Christian Socialists, which had been simmering since the 1920s, came to a head. The SDAP remained ready for consensus in Lower Austria and tried to smooth things over and to act together with the Christian Socialists against the growing National Socialists. In February 1934, however, it escalated and a civil war ensued. In Lower Austria, the armed workers' uprising against the Dollfuss regime was not supported by the party leadership. Ultimately, the uprisings were put down.

1934 to 1945: The fascist dictatorships

With the prohibition of the labor movement and the associated dissolution of the SDAP, the mandates of the social democratic representatives in the Lower Austrian state parliament also expired. Likewise, the social democratic community councils were removed from their office and provisionally filled by the state government. In Lower Austria, too, functionaries and members of the SDAP or parts of their apron and subsidiary organizations came together and were active underground. The largest and most important group were the "Revolutionary Socialists" (RS), who also had organizational structures in Lower Austria, including in St. Pölten, Schwechat, Wiener Neustadt, Neunkirchen, Ternitz, Berndorf and Hirtenberg. Even after the annexation of the Republic of Austria to Nazi Germany, the RS remained active in the underground. However, the much higher intensity of terror and surveillance during the Nazi era made work more difficult for the illegal revolutionary socialists.

1945 until today: The second republic

1945 to 1966

On April 14, 1945, former functionaries of the SDAP and representatives of the RS founded the “Socialist Party of Austria (Social Democrats and Revolutionary Socialists)” (SPÖ) in Vienna. The first meeting of the SPÖ Lower Austria took place on May 22, 1945, and Oskar-Helmer was elected to chair it as in the first republic. Helmer remained its chairman until 1956. The state elections in November 1945 resulted in an absolute majority for the ÖVP, which provided the governor with Josef Reither. Oskar Helmer was deputy governor until December 1945, after which he was succeeded by Franz Popp .

In September 1954 there was a return from Vienna to Lower Austria, affecting 80 peripheral communities. Thereupon the districts Mödling and Vienna-Umgebung were newly formed. These shifts were felt in the state elections the following October. The ÖVP lost another mandate after the 1949 election. The distribution of seats in the Lower Austrian state parliament now looked as follows: ÖVP 30, SPÖ 23 and KPÖ 3. In June 1956 Popp also took over the state party chairmanship of the SPÖ NÖ. During his time as state party leader, there was only one state election to be struck, namely that in 1959. In this case, the SPÖ was able to reduce the gap to the ÖVP by one mandate. It should also be mentioned that the KPÖ was no longer part of the state parliament and, as a result, there were only two parties in the state parliament, the SPÖ and ÖVP. A year later, Deputy Governor Popp ended his political career and gave up his state government mandate and the chairmanship of the state party. When the appointment was made, the two offices were separated. Ernst Winkler, a member of the National Council from Mistelbach, became the state party chairman and Otto Tschadek was now deputy governor. Tschadek was responsible for improvements in the school system and in the communities over the next few years. In the state elections in 1964, there was no postponement of the mandate.

1966 to 1980

In 1966 Winkler handed over the office of party chairman to Bruno Kreisky. During his short term of office, which only lasted until 1967, the "First Lower Austrian Spatial Planning Conference" was held in Krems. Based on this, the topic of spatial planning and development became a main topic of social democracy in Lower Austria. Just a few months after Kreisky was elected regional party chairman in Lower Austria, he was also appointed federal party chairman, which meant that he began to concentrate exclusively on this office. This meant that provincial governor Tschadek took over the office of state party chairman from Kreisky for seven months on an interim basis. In 1968 he was followed by another prominent figure from the Lower Austrian social democracy in this function, Hans Coppel . When Tschadek died in office in 1969, Coppel also took over the office of Deputy Governor and was responsible for the municipal department and nature conservation agendas. With the two social democratic state councilors Anna Körner and Leopold Grünzweig, Coppel was able to set considerable accents in state politics. Coppel was considered the father of the community reform, Körner showed innovations in social welfare and Grünzweig was jointly responsible for the development of the state exhibition. Among other things, Hans Coppel succeeded in creating the so-called “community investment fund”, which was used to grant cheap loans for the construction of infrastructure projects. In the 1974 state elections, the ÖVP received 31 seats and the SPÖ 25. The government team Coppel, Körner and Grünzweig remained in office and continued its work. In the mid-1970s, the SPÖ in Lower Austria also increasingly devoted itself to youth. For this purpose the association “Young sein in Niederösterreich” was founded, through which youth cultural and sporting events were organized throughout the country. The work of the Social Democrats was rewarded with an election result in 1979. The SPÖ gained 45.4% and came within 1.5% of the ÖVP. Less than a year later, Hans Czettl died of his second heart attack.

1980 to 2008

Czettel's successor in the office of deputy governor and as state party chairman was state councilor Leopold Grünzweig , who was responsible for numerous innovations in education and culture during his time as state councilor. Between 1969 and 1980, Grünzweig achieved that around 700 schools in Lower Austria were built or redesigned. During Grünwzweig's term of office, the debate about the appointment of a separate state capital for Lower Austria also took place. In a referendum, St. Pölten was chosen for this.

The survey was decided by the SPÖ NÖ and the ÖVP NÖ in 1986. This year saw the next change of chairman at the top of the Lower Austrian social democracy. Ernst Höger from Berndorf, who was able to make a name for himself in the discussion about the state capital, took over the leadership of the party and the office of deputy governor. The decision to raise St. Pölten to the state capital was already taken during his term of office. In general, it can be said that under Höger, social democracy took a compromise-ready and consensual path. Ernst Höger's policy was mainly characterized by the intensive examination of the regionalization of development. Höger also campaigned for the maintenance of businesses and better training for young people. The state elections under Höger in 1988, 1993 and 1998 brought losses to the social democrats. In 1998, Höger was followed by Interior Minister Karl Schlögl as chairman of the SPÖ Lower Austria. In 1999, Höger also handed over the office of Deputy Governor, which Hannes Bauer took over at short notice, until Karl Schlögl combined both functions in one person in 2000. However, in the spring of the following year, Schlögl made both offices available again, which were taken over by St. Pölten's Heidemaria Onodi . She managed to gain more than three percent of the votes in the 2003 state elections. Onodi represented a very consensus-oriented course in state politics and relied on cooperation with the ÖVP Lower Austria in the state government and in the state parliament. In 2008 there was an election defeat, in which the SPÖ lost eight percent.

Since 2008

Onodi's successor was the former state manager of the SPÖ Lower Austria Josef Leitner as state party chairman and also as deputy governor. Under Leitner, the SPÖ is increasingly taking a more critical course in state politics. Among other things, the approval of the state budget for 2008 was refused. As a result, the ÖVP, ruling with an absolute majority, withdrew the social democratic deputy governor Leitner's joint powers in the area of ​​community finances and housing subsidies.

After losing the state elections in Lower Austria in 2013 , Leitner resigned on the evening of March 3, 2013. He was succeeded by Matthias Stadler , under whose leadership a consensus-oriented course was again changed. On June 24, 2017, Franz Schnabl was elected as the new state party chairman and the top candidate for the state elections in Lower Austria 2018 with 98.8 percent of the vote.

State party leaders

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ LPT in Schwechat: LPV Schnabl confirmed! . Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  2. ^ Associated organizations of the SPÖ Lower Austria
  3. ↑ SPÖ / Lower Austria decides the candidate state list for the upcoming state elections . OTS notification dated December 11, 2017, accessed December 11, 2017.
  4. ^ SPÖ party program 1998
  5. ↑ Biographical data of Albert Sever on the pages of the Lower Austrian Parliament
  6. ^ Albert Sever on the website of the Austrian Parliament
  7. ^ Official result of the Lower Austrian state elections in 2008
  8. ↑ Biography of Dr. Sepp Leitner ( Memento from January 14, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  9. ↑ ORF Online ( Memento of the original from March 13, 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. Onodi throws in the towel, March 10, 2008 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / orf.at
  10. ^ SPÖ, Lower Austria: Dr. Josef Leitner designated chairman of the SPÖ Lower Austria, March 10, 2008
  11. ^ ORF contribution to the withdrawal of competences
  12. ^ Responsibilities in the Lower Austrian state government
  13. ↑ SPÖ-Stadler is looking for his management team , article on ORF .at from March 5, 2013
  14. ↑ Labor agreement reached with ÖVP Lower Austria , broadcast by SPÖ Lower Austria 10 April 2013
  15. ↑ a b Franz Schnabl with 98.8 percent new SPÖ boss - noe.ORF.at. Retrieved June 24, 2017 .