Association of Socialist Students in Austria
The Association of Socialist Students in Austria (VSStÖ) is a socialist student organization at Austrian universities and a fraction of the Austrian Students' Union ( ÖH ). The VSStÖ is anchored by statute in the party structures of the SPÖ and provides three ordinary delegates at the SPÖ federal party conference. The current federal chairwoman is Marlene Spitzy.
The VSStÖ is represented in the Austrian university cities of Vienna, Graz, Linz, Salzburg, Klagenfurt, Innsbruck and Leoben (as of 2015) and is currently the chairperson of the Austrian Students' Union ( ÖH ).
history
As the first forerunner organization of the VSStÖ, the Free Association of Socialist Students was established in Vienna in 1893 . The founding chairman was Max Adler . In the course of the revolution of 1918/19, socialist student organizations were also founded in Innsbruck and Graz. In 1922 the groups in Vienna, Graz and Innsbruck joined the Association of Socialist Students, which at that time was still oriented towards Greater German (from 1929: Socialist Student Union of Germany and Austria ). During the First Republic, the resistance to German national and anti-Semitic activities at Austria's universities made socialist students the targets of right-wing extremist violence. The association was banned under Austrofascism and later National Socialism .
After 1945 the re-established VSStÖ was involved in the founding of the Austrian Students' Union (ÖH). The VSStÖ fought - relatively unsuccessfully - against the return of (former) Nazis to universities and the dissemination of Nazi ideas in courses. In the mid-sixties, for example, the then VSStÖ member and later finance minister Ferdinand Lacina wrote down the anti-Semitic remarks made by the Viennese economics professor Taras Borodajkewycz in a lecture. After political turbulence and violent protests, which got rolling mainly at the work of the later Federal President Heinz Fischer , the former concentration camp prisoner and resistance fighter Ernst Kirchweger was killed by a fraternity member during a demonstration in 1965 . In the course of the disputes over the events Borodajkewycz had to give up his office.
In the early 1980s, the association achieved high election results in connection with the university reforms under Bruno Kreisky and Science Minister Firnberg . Then began a series of electoral defeats in the biennial ÖH elections, which lasted until the mid-1990s and ran parallel to the defeats of the SPÖ. In 1995 the VSStÖ, together with other left-wing and liberal groups, was able to break the conservative majority at the top of the ÖH for the first time and provide the first chairman in the history of the ÖH. After the 2001 ÖH elections, together with the Greens & Alternative Students (GRAS), a red-green coalition was formed in the ÖH federal representation , which was re-elected by the students in 2003 and 2005, and in 2005 the VSStÖ even became the student representation with the highest number of mandates for the first time. In the 2007 election, the VSStÖ lost 4 mandates and thus lost its mandate leadership, but together with the GRAS and the student council lists of Austria again provided the executive. After further losses, it was possible to win again in 2011. In 2014, there was an extensive amendment to the Student Union Act. After the reintroduction of direct elections, the VSStÖ initially lost, but was able to win 4 additional mandates in the 2017 ÖH elections and again appoint the ÖH chairperson.
Political position
The political commitment takes place mainly in the socio-political area: here the main demands are the abolition of existing tuition fees and better student funding, towards real social security for students. Other focal points are women's policy and equal rights for foreign students. Within the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ), the VSStÖ advocates a "leftist" policy. The VSStÖ is a member of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY) and the Young European Socialists (YES).
Election results
The VSStÖ is running in the ÖH elections. The following table shows the percentages achieved in previous elections.
| 1989 | 20.0% |
| 1991 | 15.5% |
| 1993 | 13.8% |
| 1995 | 10.4% |
| 1997 | 12.4% |
| 1999 | 15.1% |
| 2001 | 21.5% |
| 2003 | 20.4% |
| 2005 | 23% (16 mandates in the federal representation) |
| 2007 | 16.95% (11 mandates in the federal representation) |
| 2009 | 14.28% (8 mandates in the federal representation) |
| 2011 | 17.48% (12 mandates in the federal representation) |
| 2013 | 17.04% (12 mandates in the federal representation) |
| 2015 | 14.95% (8 mandates in the federal representation, which is only 55 mandates) |
| 2017 | 20.54% (12 mandates in the federal representation, which has only 55 mandates) |
| 2019 | 22.44% (13 mandates in the federal representation, which has only 55 mandates) |
Executives of the ÖH federal representation with VSStÖ participation
- 1995–1997 coalition of VSStÖ, GRAS , LSF , FLÖ and KSV
- 2001–2003 coalition of GRAS and VSStÖ (until 2002 including KSV)
- 2003–2005 coalition of GRAS and VSStÖ
- 2005–2007 coalition of VSStÖ and GRAS
- 2007–2008 coalition of GRAS, FLÖ and VSStÖ (ended early in June 2008)
- 2009–2011 coalition of GRAS, FEST and VSStÖ
- 2011–2017 coalition of GRAS, FLÖ, VSStÖ and FEST
- since 2017 coalition of VSStÖ, GRAS and FLÖ
literature
- Marie Tidl: The Red Students. Documents and memories. 1938-1945. 1976.
- Wolfgang Speiser : The socialist students of Vienna. 1927-1938. Foreword by Heinz Fischer . Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the History of the Labor Movement, Europaverlag, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-203-50949-0 .
- Ariane Heilingsetzer, Maria Mesner, Heinz Rögl, Fritz Weber (eds.): On the history of the Association of Socialist Students Austria (VSSTÖ) 1945–1970. 1989.
- Helge Zoitl: “Student comes from studying!” On the history of the social democratic student movement in Vienna. 1992.
- Hans-Peter Weingand, Werner Winkler: This world must be ours - The socialist students in Graz 1919–1991. Graz 1992.
- Paulus Ebner, Karl Vocelka : The tame revolution. '68 and what remained of it. 1998.
- Sigrid Nitsch: The development of the general political claim to representation within the Association of Socialist Students of Austria (VSStÖ) in Vienna in the period from 1965 to 1973 (PDF; 2.46 MB) 2004
- Martin Amschl, Hans-Peter Weingand: Students, hear the signals! 100 years of the Association of Socialist Students Graz. 1918-2018. 2018.
Well-known (former) federal chairmen
- Karl Blecha
- Peter Jankowitsch
- Hannes Androsch
- Michael Häupl
- Karl Ollinger
- Kurt tumbler
- Günter Rehak
- Alexander Wrabetz
- Jürgen Czernohorszky
- Andrea Brunner
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ zvr.bmi.gv.at Central Register of Associations: ZVR Number: 687701153, accessed on September 4, 2015
- ^ SPÖ organizational statute (PDF; 253 kB) SPÖ; Retrieved April 24, 2017.
- ↑ Service & Advice - Association of Socialist Students in Austria. In: vsstoe.at. July 4, 2012, accessed January 15, 2019 .
- ↑ https://rotbewegt.at/epoche/einst-jetzt/artikel/die-geschichte-des-verband-sozialistischer-student_innen-vssto
- ^ A b Association of Austrian Socialist Students (VSStÖ). In: dasrotewien.at - Web dictionary of the Viennese social democracy. SPÖ Vienna (Ed.)
- ↑ rotbewegt.at
- ↑ RIS - Student Union Act 2014 - Federal law consolidated, version dated July 12, 2018. Retrieved July 12, 2018 .
- ↑ Wahlresults2015.oeh.ac.at Election results ÖH elections 2015; Retrieved September 4, 2015
- ↑ Wahlresults2017.oeh.ac.at Election results ÖH elections 2017; accessed on September 4, 2017
- ^ ÖH election 2019 results. Retrieved May 29, 2019 .
Clubs: Action Community (AG) | Association of Austrian Socialist Students (VSStÖ) | Green & Alternative Students (GRAS) | Independent student council lists of Austria (FLÖ) | JUNOS - Young Liberal NEOS (JUNOS)
Fractions without club status: Communist Student Union - Left List (KSV-LiLi) | Ring of Freedom Students (RFS) | No ma'am | Communist Student Association (KSV)