Socialist youth Austria

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Socialist youth Austria
Chair Paul Stich
founding November 4, 1894 in Vienna
Alignment Anti-capitalism

Anti-militarism

Anti-fascism

Feminism / Antiseximus

Internationalism

International connections International Union of Socialist Youth

Young European Socialists

The Socialist Youth Austria (SJÖ) is the largest left-wing youth organization in Austria with a close relationship with the Social Democratic Party of Austria , in whose bodies it is involved. It is a member of the international umbrella organizations Young European Socialists and the International Union of Socialist Youth , which has its headquarters in Vienna .

structure

The Socialist Youth is represented in all nine federal states by state organizations, which in turn are divided into local and district groups (previously: also company groups). Your political work consists on the one hand of educational work, in the form of group evenings of the district and local groups, as well as political seminars (educational workshop, anti-fascism seminar, feminism seminar) and on the other hand of political activism . In elections, the Socialist Youth often run their own candidates, for whom they collect preferential votes . Since the 2019 National Council election , the Socialist Youth has been represented in the National Council with its former chairwoman Julia Herr .

Spatial structure

At the lowest level, the Socialist Youth is organized in local groups, i. H. in a basic spatial structure within a city , a municipality or even just a village . The members of these local groups elect a board at regular intervals . If there are several local groups in political districts, which mostly correspond to the administrative districts of the individual Austrian federal states , they can also constitute themselves as a district organization and elect a district chairman and a district board.

At the level above there are nine regional organizations that are organized according to the nine Austrian federal states. The state board is elected by the state conference for a certain period; at the state conference, motions are also discussed and resolved that specify the political guideline for the work of the state board, whereby the local and district organizations are represented at the state conference by delegates according to their number of members .

Vienna is a certain exception in the SJÖ structure , as Austria's largest city ​​is also a separate federal state. This means that the Socialist Youth Vienna is constituted as a regional organization, it is made up of district organizations that correspond to the individual districts of Vienna .

It should also be noted that not all national organizations are constituted under the name “Socialist Youth”. The regional organization of Salzburg is called "Young Socialists", the regional organization of Carinthia is called "SJG - The Young Social Democracy". The term "SJG" arose from the amalgamation of the Socialist Youth and Young Generation (SPÖ) in Carinthia, the regional organizations in Tyrol and Salzburg are also amalgamations of the SJ and JG. It was similar from 1995 to 2002 in Burgenland , where at the instigation of the SPÖ SJ and JG were merged to form “Juso Burgenland” (“Young Social Democrats”). Since 2002 the regional organization has been called SJ Burgenland again, the Burgenland JG no longer exists. In Styria, in the course of the state conference in 2005, "Jusos" was renamed "Socialist Youth Styria", in Tyrol finally at the state conference in 2013.

Nationwide, the national organizations are grouped together by the "Association of Socialist Youth" based in Vienna. The chairman of the Socialist Youth Association has been Paul Stich since 2020. The association chairman and the other members of the association board are elected every two years at the association day. Analogous to the national conferences, the national organizations and the local and district groups are represented on the association day with delegates proportional to the number of members in order to discuss substantive guidelines.

Women * political commission

The "Women * Political Commission" (FPK), in which all women * in the Socialist Youth can organize, still acts as a separate part of the organization. Among other things, the women * political commission organizes women * political campaigns, its own meetings for women *, deals with women * political content and can also submit applications at the state conferences or the association day. Anna-Sophie Prünner has been the current women's spokesperson for the Socialist Youth since 2019.

Further structures

The Socialist Youth also founded a school organization in 1974, the Aktion Kritischer Schüler_innen (AKS). In the meantime, this works independently of the SJÖ, but still in close cooperation. The Socialist Youth has its own publishing house , the "Doch-Verlag", in which the central organ of the SJÖ, the newspaper "still", has been published since 1948. In addition to the publication of the federal organization, the individual regional organizations also publish print media, for example the SJ Niederösterreich the "Direkt", the SJ Burgenland the "Signals", the SJ Upper Austria the "Extra Service", the Salzburg JUSOS the "Rotschrift" or the SJ Vienna the "factor". In addition to the “however publishing house” is the “Europacamp” in Weißenbach am Attersee , where larger leisure events and seminars of the SJÖ are held, but otherwise there is a normal campsite and youth hostel operation, owned by the SJÖ and the SJ Upper Austria .

Political orientation

The SJÖ is explicitly committed to Marxism and therefore advocates overcoming capitalism with the goal of socialism . The SJÖ is not only a clearly anti-capitalist organization, but also essentially anti-fascist , anti-racist , anti-imperialist , anti-militarist and anti- patriarchal .

The SJÖ is not a completely homogeneous, but quite pluralistic organization. The fundamentally Marxist orientation only gained the upper hand in 2000 against those parts of the organization that considered Marxism to be out of date and, in this sense, advocated a “modernization”, that is, a social democratization of the SJÖ. Currently, the clear predominance of the left, which presents itself primarily as an alliance of the large regional organizations of Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Vienna, Styria and Burgenland, has stabilized in the SJÖ. At the Association Day in autumn 2004, the SJÖ gave itself a new basic program based on scientific socialism as defined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels .

Although the Marxist left in the SJÖ currently holds the hegemony , this left is also quite heterogeneous. In addition to the moderate Marxist majority in the SJÖ, which u. a. Oriented towards the concept of Austromarxism , there is another smaller, more radical current: This is a Trotskyist faction that is grouped around the magazine Der Funke . In the past there was also a Marxist-Leninist current that was based on the stamokap theory . The district organization in Linz embodies the strongest non-Marxist part of the SJÖ .

Relationship to the Social Democratic Party of Austria

Many SPÖ politicians have a past in the SJÖ or SAJ and / or RSJ, for example the later Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky . This continues to this day: The former party chairman of the SPÖ, Alfred Gusenbauer , was chairman of the SJÖ from 1984 to 1990, or the former Federal Chancellor and party chairman Werner Faymann was the Viennese chairman of the Socialist Youth from 1981 to 1987.

Nevertheless, the relationship between the SJÖ and the parent party SPÖ was sometimes tense, as the SJÖ not only defended its programmatic - such as the German Jusos in relation to the SPD - but also its organizational independence and continues to exercise this to this day. This led to the fact that today, as a counter-structure to the all too independent SJÖ, the SPÖ has its own party department called “ Young Generation ” (JG), which was founded in 1952 as the “ Young Voters Department”. If this was initially an attempt to create a transition, an age-structural bridge between the SJÖ and the SPÖ, the JG more or less became a party-affiliated parallel structure to the SJÖ, even though the upper age limit for the SJÖ is 35 years, while every member of the SPÖ, who is up to 38 years old is automatically a member of the JG.

The independence of the SJÖ vis-à-vis the SPÖ - both in organizational and political terms - was also expressed in 1991, when the step taken by the SPÖ, which at that time renamed itself from the “Socialist Party” to the “Social Democratic Party”, was deliberately not followed and by overwhelming majority of SJÖ members is consistently rejected even to this day.

history

Beginnings

The history of the socialist youth goes back to the year 1894. On November 4, 1894, the “Association of Young Workers” was founded in Vienna-Margareten . This association emerged from the merger of the two Viennese youth groups "Jugendbund" and "Bücherskorpion", founded in the previous year. It was not until 1901 that a second “Association of Young Workers” was founded in Graz . In the following year, a nationwide association of workers' youth associations was founded for the first time, the "Association of Young Workers Austria". By the First World War it grew to around 16,000 members, and from 1912 girls and young women could also become official members.

After the world war, which the Association of Young Workers fought vehemently in contrast to the Social Democratic Party , and the abolition of the monarchy , the “Association of Young Workers” was renamed the Socialist Workers' Youth (SAJ). In the years of the First Republic the peak membership was around 38,000 (1923). The climax of the SAJ's activities was the International Workers' Youth Meeting in Vienna in 1929 with 50,000 participants.

Prohibited between 1934 and 1945

When the Austro-Fascist dictatorship was established after the February fights in 1934 , the SAJ was banned, as were all other organizations of the labor movement . As "Revolutionary Socialist Youth" (RSJ, founded on February 19, 1934) she continued the anti-fascist struggle underground until 1938. During this time, the RSJ had to mourn a number of victims, as it had before in the February fighting in 1934, for example in July 1934 when a memorial event was attacked by armed gendarmes, and a little later when it came to the execution of the young SAJ member Josef Gerl came, who was the victim of the Austro-fascist judiciary and the new "Explosives Act", which was supposed to be used against the then likewise illegal Austrian Nazis .

New beginning in the post-war period

After the Second World War , the organization was reconstituted under its current name as “Socialist Youth Austria” (SJÖ). From December 7th to 9th, 1946, the first association day (federal conference) took place. At that time , the first chairman of the SJÖ was Peter Strasser , who was to hold this position until 1954.

The foundation stone for the re-establishment of the organization was a rally of around 1000 young people in the Brigittenau district of Vienna . At this point the Allied consent was required. Since the rally had not been prohibited, this was seen as the consent of the occupying powers. Even so, functionaries in other federal states were more often obliged to report to the local military commanders.

On the first youth association day there were takeover attempts by the communist Free Austrian Youth , which were stopped by the SJ within a short time. In the years that followed, up to the signing of the State Treaty, there were several clashes between communists and socialists.

In 1948 the association newspaper was founded anyway. The voice of youth , which appeared for the first time immediately after the end of World War II, was considered to be the predecessor . However, after several warnings, this was banned by the Soviet occupying powers.

The topic of co-determination was in the foreground in the 1950s . In 1952 a social program was decided for the working youth, six years later an agreement was reached on the action Let the youth co-shape . At that time, the recognition of youth in society was demanded. Another key issue was Austria's neutrality and national defense. In this area they agreed with the SPÖ on many points. The demand for a maximum period of service in the armed forces of four months could not be enforced, but the SPÖ negotiated a similar draft law with the Austrian People's Party . This stipulated a maximum period of service of six months.

Depoliticization

The 5th day of the association brought about a generation change. Peter Strasser, founder and last member of the first association board, was replaced by Heinz Nittel as chairman. In the following years the SJ was more and more depoliticized and the number of members fell. The Kader campaign was developed as a countermeasure : the SJ recruited a cadre of officials to fight the internal crisis. Despite these efforts, this could not be mastered. Based on a suggestion from member Fritz Koppe, the training work in the organization began.

In December 1964 the tenth Association Day of the Socialist Youth took place. At that time, both the SPÖ ( Olah affair ) and the SJÖ were in crisis. After 10 years at the head of the organization, Heinz Nittel was voted out of office as chairman of the SJÖ. His successor was Peter Schieder , who should lead the association out of the crisis. In the mid-1960s, the number of members rose again, from having fallen constantly. In March 1965 protests were made against the neo-fascist university professor Taras Borodajkewycz . During a large demonstration by the Austrian resistance movement, which was also supported by the SJ, Ernst Kirchweger was killed as a victim of violent young fascists.

Towards the end of the 1960s, the protest movements in which the Socialist Youth were involved grew bigger and bigger. During this time, the then acting chairman, Peter Schieder, summarized the political situation in the following words:

“It's about political demands. The serious protest is directed against the senile and fossil, against the frozen society, against those who have addressed themselves and don't want to hear anything new, against the establishment. This makes the movement more attractive to thinking young people [...] This will have an impact in many areas and also in our movement. New forms are tried out, new methods of action have to be found. "

Action policy under the SPÖ sole government

In the next few years Schieder tried to unite the socialist youth with the SPÖ youth association, the young generation, founded in 1956 . However, this failed due to internal resistance. In 1968 the SJ approached the Association of Socialist Students in Austria and assumed a mediating role in the conflict with the SPÖ. As a result, there was a dispute with the right wing of the Social Democratic Party, including the then Defense Minister Karl Lütgendorf . During this time, the Socialist Youth tried to shorten military service to 6 months, and as a compromise they accepted an additional weapon training period of 60 days.

Under the sole government of the Social Democrats under Bruno Kreisky between 1970 and 1983 , some demands of the SJ were enforced, such as the introduction of community service or the reduction of young people's working hours to 40 hours a week.

Under Johann Hatzl , who had become chairman of the Socialist Youth in 1973, a torchlight procession took place again in 1974 after a long time . A call for the National Council election campaign in 1975 also contained a critical assessment by the Social Democrats, which was supposed to distance the SJ from its mother party.

Left turn with Ackerl and Cap

Since Hatzl moved into the National Council in 1976 after the third Kreisky cabinet was put together, there was another change at the top of the organization, with Josef Ackerl becoming the new chairman . With the then association secretaries Josef Cap and Reinhard Todt , a radical turn to the left was carried out and a bridge was built to Marxism.

"The SJÖ must work towards the fact that the capitalist system is again more clearly recognizable as a source of conflict for the labor movement, in order to then be able to exhaust all possibilities to advance the process of establishing the socialist society."

- Extract from the declaration of principle 1976

As a self-proclaimed “left-wing socialist force”, the association held another day in 1978 when there was another change at the top: Josef Cap replaced Josef Ackerl as chairman. This directed the party even further into the left political spectrum. Central issues at that time were the reduction of working hours, the peace issue and the positioning towards the construction of the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant . Although the SJÖ spoke out clearly against the nuclear power plant, the chairman of the Lower Austrian SJ, Karl Schlögl , led a clear pro-Zwentendorf course. The result of the referendum on the commissioning was very tight, but the opponents of the nuclear power plant were able to prevail with 50.5%.

In 1982 the Trotskyist group Vorwärts (today the Socialist Left Party (SLP)) was founded within the SJÖ after contact with the British Militant Tendency . After many forward members were excluded from 1991 to 1992, the group decided to end entryism in the SJ and SPÖ. In doing so, it also followed the example of the Militant Tendency, which also stopped entryism. However, some members wanted to continue to operate and split off and founded the magazine Der Funke , which was also created within the SPÖ. Der Funke later joined the International Marxist Tendency (IMT). The larger and much more influential wing in the SJÖ consisted of the people who invoked Austromarxism .

In addition to this fundamental question of orientation, the SJÖ mostly positions itself to the left of the parent party in specific questions. This means that not only are most of the reformist demands of the SPÖ formulated more radically by the SJÖ, but that SPÖ proposals and SPÖ policy are harshly criticized and even rejected outright. This was, for example, in 1978 as the then SPÖ Chancellor Bruno Kreisky , the nuclear power plant Zwentendorf was put into operation, which through a referendum was prevented. When the SPÖ Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky voted in Austria in 1994 on joining the EU , the SJÖ was extremely critical of this accession, and EU accession was rejected by large parts (for example the regional organization of Lower Austria). The SJÖ is also far more radical than the parent party on other issues, for example the SJÖ is demanding the abolition of the Austrian army and the legalization of soft drugs ( cannabis ).

Another shift to the left with Andreas Kollross

Under the leadership of Andreas Kollross, the SJÖ went uphill again after a long time. Dozens of new local and district groups founded in almost all federal states and the stronger politicization of the organization testified to the further strengthening of the socialist youth. On the 2004 Association Day, a new basic program was finally resolved, which for the first time explicitly referred to Scientific Socialism and was clearly anti-capitalist and feminist.

Memberships

At the national level, the Socialist Youth is a member of the Austrian Federal Youth Representation (founded in 1953 as the “Federal Youth Association”), in which 40 democratic child and youth associations are members. In addition, the Socialist Youth is in some alliances, such as the offensive against the right .

At the international level, the SJ is a member of the Socialist Youth International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) and the Young European Socialists ( short: YES; formerly: ECOSY). In both organizations it is represented by one member on the executive committee.

Chairperson

literature

  • Peter Pelinka : 90 Years SJÖ 1894–1984 - The History of Socialist Youth . With a foreword by Alfred Gusenbauer . Socialist Youth Austria, Vienna 1984.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Socialist Youth Austria. Retrieved February 24, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Manfred Bauer, Marko Miloradovic, Philipp Lindner, Julia Herr, Sebastian Pay: 120 years of socialist youth . Ed .: Socialist Youth Austria. S. 3 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Socialist Youth Austria. Retrieved December 27, 2019 .
  4. ↑ "That's why we are feminists!" In: The Standard . November 30, 2008, accessed March 9, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Women's Policy. In: Basic Program . Socialist Youth Austria, October 30, 2004, accessed on March 9, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Member Organizations. In: International Union Of Socialist Youth. Retrieved December 27, 2019 (UK English).
  7. ↑ MEMBERS. In: yes. Retrieved December 27, 2019 (American English).
  8. ^ Presentation of the Presidium on the IUSY website
  9. ^ Association board of the SJÖ
  10. ↑ Theo Anders: Paul Stich, a fan of green and white, is the new boss of the red youth. In: DerStandard.at . February 22, 2020, accessed February 25, 2020 .