Social Democratic Party of South Tyrol
| Social Democratic Party of South Tyrol | |
  |
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| Party chairman | Hans Dietl (1973–1975) , Willhelm Schwierbaumer (1975–1981) , Werner Unterhauser (1981–1983) |
| founding | 1973 |
| resolution | 1983 |
| Landtag mandates |
2/34 |
| Chamber of Deputies |
0/630 |
| Senators |
0/315 |
| Alignment | social democratic |
| colour | red |
The Social Democratic Party of South Tyrol (SPS) was a political party founded in 1973 by Hans Dietl , a former top exponent of the South Tyrolean People's Party (SVP). From 1973 to 1981 she was represented in the South Tyrolean parliament and therefore also in the regional council of Trentino-South Tyrol .
history
The Social Democratic Party of South Tyrol (SPS) was founded in 1973 in the run-up to the South Tyrolean state elections as a gathering point for opposition members of different ideological origins, whose primary goal was to build a competitive counter-movement to the South Tyrolean People's Party. The founding members of the party included former SVP parliamentarian Hans Dietl, among others, former members of the South Tyrolean Social Progressive Party (SFP), some functionaries of the South Tyrolean trade union federation ASGB and Silvio Flor, a former representative of the Italian Communist Party (PCI / KPI).
When it first elected in 1973 in South Tyrol, the SPS immediately achieved 5.14% of the vote and thus two state parliament mandates. At that time it was the strongest German-speaking opposition party at the state level, but without a larger organizational structure in the municipalities.
Despite its presence in the South Tyrolean state parliament, the SPS did not succeed in asserting itself in the political landscape of South Tyrol in the long term . As early as 1975, Hans Dietl withdrew from state politics due to illness ( Alfons Rigott took over his mandate ); Dietl could not be replaced at the party leadership by a distinguished personality. In 1976, a smooth merger with the Social Progressive Party of South Tyrol (SFP) failed due to the reservations of the SFP member of the state parliament Egmont Jenny .
In the state elections in 1978 , the SPS defended a mandate for Willi Verschbaumer , but was already torn inside. Verschbaumer was replaced at the top of the party and expelled from the party in 1981. On the occasion of the state elections in 1983 , the SPS made one last attempt to return to the South Tyrolean state parliament, with Egmont Jenny (SFP) and Alfred Frei (formerly PSI ) running at the top of the list. The party only achieved 1.35% of the vote and thus clearly missed the renewed entry into the state parliament. The last municipal mandates of the SPS, who were elected to 20 municipal councils in 1980, left their mandates in 1985 at the latest.
Thematic focus
In the early years, the Social Democratic Party of South Tyrol did not have an independent ideological profile, but relied on the political format of Hans Dietl, who had presented himself in the ranks of the SVP as a straightforward, Christian-social representative of the underprivileged rural population until he was expelled from the party. In the course of the Europe-wide trend in favor of social democratic parties, the SPS tried to position itself as the second political force alongside the SVP in the wake of this development. The party focused on solving social problems (with regard to employment, education, social welfare), but in contrast to the Social Progressive Party of South Tyrol (SFP) it was clearly at home in the German-speaking segment of the political landscape in South Tyrol.
Only after Dietl left the SPS and a move by younger activists did the party acknowledge democratic socialism in its basic program from 1978 and attempt to establish stronger links with the historical social democracy of Tyrol as well as with the SPÖ and SPD .
In the political landscape of South Tyrol, the SPS always remained a party of socially committed oppositionists who had largely drifted away from the SVP's original core electorate. By founding its own workers' wing in 1975, the South Tyrolean People's Party succeeded in curbing this erosion process on its left wing in the long term.
literature
- Joachim Gatterer: "Red mites in the plumage". Social democratic, communist and green alternative party politics in South Tyrol . StudienVerlag, Innsbruck-Vienna-Bozen 2009, ISBN 978-3-7065-4648-5 .