Social Democratic Party of Austria

The Social Democratic Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs [soˈtsi̯aːldemoˌkraːtɪʃɛ parˌtaɪ ˈøːstɐraɪçs], SPÖ) is a social democratic political party in Austria. Founded in 1889 as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) and later known as the Socialist Party of Austria (German: Sozialistische Partei Österreichs) from 1945 until 1991, the party is the oldest extant political party in Austria. Along with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), it is one of the country's two traditional major parties. It is positioned on the centre-left on the political spectrum.

Social Democratic Party of Austria Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs
Abbreviation	SPÖ
Chairperson	Andreas Babler
Parliamentary leader	Andreas Babler & Philip Kucher
Managing director	Klaus Seltenheim & Sandra Breiteneder
Notable deputy chairpersons	See list Doris Bures Eva-Maria Holzleitner Peter Kaiser Andreas Schieder Selma Yildirim
Founder	Victor Adler
Founded	1 January 1889 (1889-01-01)
Headquarters	Löwelstraße 18, 1010 Vienna
Student wing	Socialist Students of Austria
Youth wing	Junge Generation, Socialist Youth Austria
Paramilitary wing	Republikanischer Schutzbund (1923–1934)
Membership (2023)	c. 140,000
Ideology	Social democracy Pro-Europeanism
Political position	Centre-left
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists
European Parliament group	Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
International affiliation	Progressive Alliance
Colours	Red
Anthem	"Lied der Arbeit" "Song of Labour"
National Council	41 / 183
Federal Council	18 / 60
Governorships	3 / 9
State cabinets	5 / 9
State diets	132 / 440
European Parliament	5 / 19
Party flag
Website
spoe.at
Politics of Austria Political parties Elections

Since June 2023, the party has been led by Andreas Babler. It is currently the second largest of five parties in the National Council, with 40 of the 183 seats, and won 21.2% of votes cast in the 2019 legislative election. It holds seats in the legislatures of all nine states; of these, it is the largest party in three (Burgenland, Carinthia, and Vienna.) The SPÖ is supportive of Austria's membership in the European Union, and it is a member of the Progressive Alliance and Party of European Socialists. It sits with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament; of Austria's 19 MEPs, five are members of the SPÖ. The party has close ties to the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and the Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK).

The SDAPÖ was the second largest party in the Imperial Council of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the 1890s through 1910s. After the First World War, it briefly governed the First Austrian Republic, but thereafter returned to opposition. The party was banned in 1934 following the Austrian Civil War, and was suppressed throughout Austrofascism and the Nazi period. The party was refounded as the Socialist Party of Austria in 1945 and governed as a junior partner of the ÖVP until 1966. In 1970, the SPÖ became the largest party for the first time in post-war history, and Bruno Kreisky became Chancellor, winning three consecutive majorities (1971, 1975, and 1979). From 1987 to 2000 the SPÖ led a grand coalition with the ÖVP before returning to opposition for the first time in 30 years. The party governed again from 2007 to 2017. Since 2017, the SPÖ have been the primary opposition to the ÖVP governments of Sebastian Kurz, Alexander Schallenberg, and Karl Nehammer.

History

Main article: History of Social Democracy in Austria

Since its foundation in 1889 as the SDAPÖ, the party has been one of the main political forces in Austria. At the start of the World War I, it was the strongest party in parliament. At the ending of that war in 1918, the party leader Karl Renner became Chancellor of the First Republic. The SDAPÖ lost power in 1920, but it retained a strong base of support.

After the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1918), the Social Democratic Party supported for a time the idea of a union with Berlin in order to constitute a great democratic German republic, thus taking up a revolutionary project of 1848. The victors of the war did not see it that way and set the borders of Austria. In the interwar period, Austromarxism, maintaining its particularities in the face of German social democracy – which had bloodily suppressed the Spartacist uprising of 1919 – and Soviet communism, envisaged the creation of a new international aimed at bringing together the different currents of socialism. However, the attempt did not succeed. The more left-wing Social Democrats, such as Max Adler, relied on the Workers' councils that had developed throughout Central Europe in 1918–1919, particularly in Vienna.

The SDAPÖ was the most established of the European social democratic parties. In the 1920s, about 15 percent of Austrians were members of an association linked to the party. In 1929, it had 720,000 members. The SDAPÖ was almost hegemonic among the working class, but could not compete with the conservatives in the countryside and small towns. The economic crisis of the 1930s, which caused factory closures and increased unemployment, weakened the labor movement and with it the SDAPÖ. In 1930, its membership was down to 650,000 militants.

From 1919 to February 1934, the Social Democrats were in continuous control of the Vienna municipality, which acquired the nickname "Red Vienna". The municipality developed an ambitious policy, including a vast program of construction of workers' housing, which included 60,000 communal social housing units. In addition, free medical care was introduced, and income and luxury taxes were introduced. Culture was clearly emphasized: "Arbeiterbildung" (working-class education and culture) reigned supreme, and the city was home to many internationally renowned intellectuals and artists. Numerous cinemas and theaters subsidized by the municipality opened their doors, and sports became more democratic. This socialist experiment, supported by some renowned intellectuals such as Otto Neurath and Sigmund Freud, also inspired a violent disgust in conservative circles. The press readily described red Vienna as a "Jewish creation" in the hands of "Bolshevism".

Party membership of SPÖ over time, since 1945. The peak was reached in 1970s. Since 1986 the party is rapidly declining.

In 1934, the Christian Social Party, the dominant party on the right, overthrew the democratic system and established a regime inspired by fascism. The social democrats and communists put up armed resistance, but it was quickly crushed.

When Anschluss took place in 1938 at the hands of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, he brought Austria into the Second World War. In 1945, the party was reconstituted as the Socialist Party of Austria (German: Sozialistische Partei Österreichs, SPÖ) and was led by Adolf Schärf. The SPÖ entered the government of the Second Republic as part of a grand coalition with the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) until 1966 and with the Communist Party of Austria until 1949. Renner became the first President of Austria.

From 1971 to 1983, the SPÖ under Bruno Kreisky was the sole governing party. For the following three years, it ruled in coalition with the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), then up to 2000 it was again part of a grand coalition with the ÖVP, with Franz Vranitzky as Chancellor until 1997. In 1991, it reverted to including Democratic in its name, becoming the Social Democratic Party of Austria (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs). During this period, the grand coalition combined with the Proporz system, whereby important posts throughout the government were shared out between members of the two main parties, evoked rising discontent. This was a factor in the growing popularity of the FPÖ which came second to the SPÖ in the 1999 Austrian legislative election. The following year, the FPÖ and ÖVP formed a right-wing coalition, displacing the SPÖ from a share in government. While this coalition was still in power, the SPÖ's Heinz Fischer was elected president in the 2004 Austrian presidential election. Following the 2006 Austrian legislative election, another grand coalition was formed between the SPÖ and the ÖVP, lasting until 2017, when the SPÖ went back to the opposition. In the 2019 Austrian legislative election, the SPÖ lost 12 seats and shrunk to 21.2%.

After the lost state elections in Lower Austria and Carinthia at the beginning of 2023, there was a power struggle between the moderate social democratic party wing around party leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner and the right-wing, FPÖ-friendly party wing around Burgenland governor Hans Peter Doskozil. The Social Democratic wing has support from socialists and communists. The right wing has support from the middle wing of the party. Disputes and disagreements have existed for years. In March 2023, the situation came to a head after the SPÖ Burgenland stopped paying money to the federal party. On 15 March 2023, a heated party executive meeting led to the call for a new party leadership election. The candidacy for the new leadership was heated and a surprise candidacy from Andreas Babler, mayor of Traiskirchen, which has led to some other candidates to withdraw their candidacy for the 2023 Social Democratic Party of Austria leadership election.

At the 2024 Austrian legislative election the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) won just 21.1%, marking its worst result ever in the National Council.

Dealing with the past from 1938-1945

Concerning the role of the SDAPÖ during Nazi rule from 1938 to 1945, the party started opening its archives and set in a commission to investigate its past conduct. Despite the fact the SDAPÖ had been outlawed and many party members imprisoned under Austrofascism, many SDAPÖ members initially welcomed the Anschluss of Austria into Germany back then and some became members of the Nazi Party. Alfred Gusenbauer issued a declaration promising and supporting a full and open investigation ("Klarheit in der Vergangenheit – Basis für die Zukunft"). In 2005, the report about the so-called "brown spots" (German: braune Flecken) was completed and published. The report talks about SDAPÖ members and leaders who became members of the Nazi Party during German rule after the Anschluss. One example given in the report is the case of Heinrich Gross, who received many honours from the party and even the government in the post-war period. This was despite the fact that he worked as a Nazi doctor in the euthanasia ward Am Spiegelgrund in Vienna, where human experiments on children were performed. Those children with presumptive mental defects were eventually killed, often by lethal injection. Gross was probably himself involved in the experimentations and killings. The Austrian judicial system protected him for a very long time from any kind of prosecution, something that was very typical in the post-war period. He enjoyed wide support from the SPÖ and party leaders for a very long time.

Reflecting the change in attitude towards the past, President Heinz Fischer in a 10 April 2006 interview with the liberal newspaper Der Standard strongly criticised Austria's view on its historical role during Nazi rule. He called the traditional view that Austria was the first victim of Nazi aggression as false. The Moscow Declaration of 1943 by émigrés which called for the independence of Austria from Nazi Germany was a problem since it stated that the war was neither started nor wanted by any Austrian ("Und das ist nicht richtig"), that Austrian Jewish victims were not mentioned in the declaration ("kein Wort für die jüdischen Opfer"), that it took decades for them to receive any kind of compensation and justice from the government and that it was regrettable and inexcusable. His statements were direct criticism of the right-wing government of the coalition ÖVP–FPÖ which rejected compensation to victims and the admission of the co-guilt Austrians carried for crimes committed by them during the Second World War.

Organisation

Chairpersons since 1945

Main article: List of chairpersons of the SPÖ and SDAPÖ

The chart below shows a timeline of the social-democratic chairpersons and the Chancellors of Austria since 1945. The left bar shows all the chairpersons (Bundesparteivorsitzende, abbreviated as CP) of the SPÖ, and the right bar shows the corresponding make-up of the Austrian government at that time. The red (SPÖ) and black (ÖVP) colours correspond to which party led the federal government (Bundesregierung, abbreviated as Govern.). The last names of the respective chancellors are shown, with the Roman numeral standing for the cabinets.

Select list of other SPÖ politicians

• Josef Broukal, journalist and Member of Parliament
• Johanna Dohnal, the first minister for women's affairs during the government of Bruno Kreisky
• Christoph Matznetter, budget and financial matters spokesman in the National Council
• Barbara Prammer, first female National Council President of Austria

Youth factions

After the founding of the SDAPÖ in 1889, a youth organization was established on 4 November 1894, with the purpose of protecting apprentices and addressing the concerns of young people within the party. Despite initial resistance from some SDAPÖ members, an independent socialist youth movement emerged. Today, this organization is known as the Socialist Youth Austria (SJÖ). The SJÖ notably chose not to change its name to "social-democratic" when the SPÖ rebranded itself in 1991, highlighting its independence both programmatically – as the SJÖ remains democratic socialist rather than social-democratic like the SPÖ – and organizationally. This autonomy has often led to tensions between the SJÖ and the SPÖ, including instances where the party reduced the SJÖ's funding. To address these issues, the SPÖ established a youth organization called the Young Generation (JG) on 22 January 1958.

The creation of the JG was not only a response to the disappointing results in the 1956 national elections, particularly among young voters, but also an effort to manage the increasingly strained relationship with the SJÖ. Over time, the JG has evolved into a parallel structure, closely aligned with the SPÖ and more in line with the party's objectives than the SJÖ.

Many influential politicians have emerged from the ranks of the SJÖ, including figures like Bruno Kreisky and Andreas Babler, who have significantly shaped the party's direction. However, the SJÖ is not the only youth organization that has produced notable leaders; the JG has also been a breeding ground for politicians who have gone on to make their mark on the SPÖ.

The SJÖ also has factions within its organization, such as the Trotskyist "Der Funke" (IMT) faction, which was active in the now-dissolved SJ9 (Alsergrund district) and continues to be present in SJ Vorarlberg. As a result of these events, tensions between all parties involved continue to this day.

Election results by states

Burgenland

Burgenland is a state that is a traditional stronghold of the SPÖ. Since 1964, the governors of this easternmost state have come from the SPÖ. Burgenland is one of the few states that are ruled by a SPÖ majority in the state assembly (Landtag). In 2000, the SPÖ received 46.6%. In 2005, it received 5.2% more votes and ended up with an absolute majority of 51.8%. After losing it in 2010, the SPÖ was able to regain it in the latest election in January 2020. From 2015 to 2020, the SPÖ in Burgenland was in an unusual coalition with the FPÖ. The Governor (Landeshauptmann) of the Burgenland is Hans Peter Doskozil.

Carinthia

The SPÖ used to be strong in Carinthia as it regularly won the most seats in state elections and the governors used to be Social Democrats until 1989. Since the rise of Jörg Haider and his FPÖ, he successfully pushed the SPÖ out of their leading position. In state elections in 1999, the SPÖ received 32.9%. However, this went up to 38.4% in 2004. Until 2005, the SPÖ was in a coalition with the right-wing FPÖ in Carinthia, where Haider was Governor. This constellation is in question after the chairperson of the Carinthian SPÖ Gabi Schauning decided to resign from her post as Vice-Governor of Carinthia after a fall-out with Haider. Carinthia has a mandatory concentration government, where each party with a certain number of seats in the state parliament automatically participates in the state government. The term coalition refers to the co-operation between parties and not to the participation in the state cabinet.

Lower Austria

In Lower Austria, the SPÖ received 29.2% in 1998. It increased its shares by 3.2% in 2003 and ended up with 32.4%. In the 2008 Lower Austrian state election, the SPÖ received 25.5% of the vote.

Salzburg

In 2004, the SPÖ won a surprising victory in Salzburg. It was able to increase its share of votes from 32.2% (1999) to 45.3%. For the first time, the conservative ÖVP lost its traditional dominant position. Gabi Burgstaller became the first SPÖ governess (Landeshauptfrau) in the state's history. In March 2009, the party lost 2 seats (from 17 to 15) with a 39.5% of the popular votes, going to the FPÖ (from 3 to 5) with a 13% of the votes. The ÖVP had 14 seats with a 36.5% of the votes and the Grüne 2 seat with a 7.3% . The BZÖ had no seat with a 3.7% of the votes, showing a growing of the right-wing parties. In the State elections 2013 the SPÖ lost its majority to the ÖVP. Since then, the ÖVP has providing the governor (Landeshauptmann) with Wilfried Haslauer jun. again.

Styria

Styria was traditionally ruled by the ÖVP. In 2000, the Styrian SPÖ ended up with 32.3%. In 2005, the voters shifted towards the left, something that also benefited the KPÖ, the local communist party. The SPÖ won 9.4% more and ended up with 40.7%, defeating the ÖVP which got 38.7% of the votes. Styrian SPÖ Chairman Franz Voves became the state Governor. After the State elections 2015 the SPÖ lost the governorship to the ÖVP. Since then, the ÖVP has providing the governor (Landeshauptmann) with Hermann Schützenhöfer again.

Tyrol

In Tyrol, the SPÖ receive few votes since the state is a traditional conservative stronghold. In 2018, the Tyrolean SPÖ received 17.3% of all votes. The winner of the election was the ÖVP under long-term governor Günther Platter, which received 44,3% of the total vote.

Upper Austria

In 2003, the SPÖ was able to raise its voters share in Upper Austria by 11.3% from 27% (1997) to 38.3%. It was in a grand coalition with the ÖVP in the state government as the junior partner, with four out of nine of the state government ministers coming from the SPÖ.

Vienna

Vienna was always traditionally the stronghold of the SPÖ. The current Governor-Mayor of Vienna is Michael Ludwig. In the 2020 Viennese state election the SPÖ raised its vote-share to 41,6%. The party with the largest gains was the ÖVP which doubled its vote-share and won 20,4% of the votes.

Vorarlberg

Vorarlberg is a traditional stronghold of the conservative ÖVP. Of all the Austrian states, the SPÖ receives the fewest votes in this westernmost state. In the 2019 the SPÖ ended up with 9,5% of the vote, a raise of 0,7%. The winner of the election was the conservative ÖVP under governor Markus Wallner which won around 45%.

Election results

Imperial Council

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
1891	Victor Adler	3,848	1.26 (#12)	0 / 353	New	Extra-parliamentary
1897		245,001	23.13 (#2)	14 / 425	14	Opposition
1900–1901		251,652	23.39 (#2)	12 / 425	2	Opposition
1907		513,219	11.11 (#2)	50 / 516	38	Opposition
1911		542,549	11.96 (#2)	46 / 516	4	Opposition

Constituent National Assembly

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
1919	Karl Seitz	1,211,814	40.76 (#1)	72 / 170	72	SDAPÖ–CS majority

National Council (Nationalrat)

Election	Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Government
1920	Karl Seitz	1,072,709	35.99 (#2)	69 / 183	3	Opposition
1923		1,311,870	39.60 (#2)	68 / 165	1	Opposition
1927		1,539,635	42.28 (#2)	71 / 165	3	Opposition
1930		1,517,146	41.14 (#1)	72 / 165	1	Opposition
1945	Adolf Schärf	1,434,898	44.60 (#2)	76 / 165	4	ÖVP–SPÖ–KPÖ majority
1949		1,623,524	38.71 (#2)	67 / 165	9	ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1953		1,818,517	42.11 (#1)	73 / 165	6	ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1956		1,873,295	43.05 (#2)	74 / 165	1	ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1959	Bruno Pittermann	1,953,935	44.79 (#1)	78 / 165	4	ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1962		1,960,685	44.00 (#2)	76 / 165	2	ÖVP–SPÖ majority
1966		1,928,985	42.56 (#2)	74 / 165	2	Opposition
1970	Bruno Kreisky	2,221,981	48.42 (#1)	81 / 165	7	SPÖ minority supported by FPÖ
1971		2,280,168	50.04 (#1)	93 / 183	12	SPÖ majority
1975		2,326,201	50.42 (#1)	93 / 183	0	SPÖ majority
1979		2,413,226	51.03 (#1)	95 / 183	2	SPÖ majority
1983		2,312,529	47.65 (#1)	90 / 183	5	SPÖ–FPÖ majority
1986	Franz Vranitzky	2,092,024	43.12 (#1)	80 / 183	10	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1990		2,012,787	42.78 (#1)	80 / 183	0	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1994		1,617,804	34.92 (#1)	65 / 183	15	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1995		1,843,474	38.06 (#1)	71 / 183	6	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
1999	Viktor Klima	1,532,448	33.15 (#1)	65 / 183	6	Opposition
2002	Alfred Gusenbauer	1,792,499	36.51 (#2)	69 / 183	4	Opposition
2006		1,663,986	35.34 (#1)	68 / 183	1	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
2008	Werner Faymann	1,430,206	29.26 (#1)	57 / 183	9	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
2013		1,258,605	26.82 (#1)	52 / 183	5	SPÖ–ÖVP majority
2017	Christian Kern	1,351,918	26.86 (#2)	52 / 183		Opposition
2019	Pamela Rendi-Wagner	1,011,868	21.18 (#2)	40 / 183	12	Opposition
2024	Andreas Babler	1,032,234	21.14 (#3)	41 / 183	1	TBA

Presidency

Election	Candidate	First round result			Second round result
		Votes	%	Result	Votes	%	Result
1951	Theodor Körner	1,682,881	39.1	Runner-up	2,178,631	52.1	Won
1957	Adolf Schärf	2,258,255	51.1	Won
1963	Adolf Schärf	2,473,349	55.4	Won
1965	Franz Jonas	2,324,436	50.7	Won
1971	Franz Jonas	2,487,239	52.8	Won
1974	Rudolf Kirchschläger	2,392,367	51.7	Won
1980	Rudolf Kirchschläger	3,538,748	79.9	Won
1986	Kurt Steyrer	2,061,104	43.7	Runner-up	2,107,023	46.1	Lost
1992	Rudolf Streicher	1,888,599	40.7	Runner-up	1,915,380	41.1	Lost
1998	No candidate
2004	Heinz Fischer	2,166,690	52.4	Won
2010	Heinz Fischer	2,508,373	79.3	Won
2016	Rudolf Hundstorfer	482,790	11.3	4th place
2022	No candidate

European Parliament

Election	List leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	EP Group
1996	Hannes Swoboda	1,105,910	29.15 (#2)	6 / 21	New	PES
1999	Hans-Peter Martin	888,338	31.71 (#1)	7 / 21	1
2004	Hannes Swoboda	833,517	33.33 (#1)	7 / 18	0
2009		680,041	23.74 (#2)	4 / 17	3	S&D
2014	Eugen Freund	680,180	24.09 (#2)	5 / 18	1
2019	Andreas Schieder	903,151	23.89 (#2)	5 / 18	0
2024		818,287	23.22 (#3)	5 / 20	0

State Parliaments (Landtage)

State	Year	Votes	%	Seats	±	Government
Burgenland	2020	92,633	49.9 (#1)	19 / 36	4	SPÖ majority
Carinthia	2023	117,962	38.9 (#1)	15 / 36	3	SPÖ–ÖVP
Lower Austria	2023	185,760	20.1 (#3)	12 / 56	1	Opposition
Salzburg	2023	48,099	17.9 (#3)	7 / 36	1	Opposition
Styria	2019	138,572	23.0 (#2)	12 / 48	3	ÖVP–SPÖ
Tyrol	2022	60,009	17.5 (#3)	7 / 36	1	ÖVP–SPÖ
Upper Austria	2021	150,094	18.6 (#3)	11 / 56	0	Opposition
Vienna	2020	301,967	41.6 (#1)	46 / 100	2	SPÖ–NEOS
Vorarlberg	2019	15,635	9.5 (#4)	4 / 36	1	Opposition

Results timeline

Year	AT	EU		Bgld	Ktn	NÖ	Sbg	Stmk	Tyrol	OÖ	Wien	Vbg
1945	44.6	N/A		44.9	48.8	40.4	39.5	41.6	28.0	38.3	57.2	27.2
1946				Proporz		Proporz	Proporz	Proporz	Proporz	Proporz
1947
1948
1949	38.7			40.4	40.8	37.4	33.6	37.4	24.0	30.8	49.9	19.1
1950				Proporz		Proporz	Proporz	Proporz	Proporz	Proporz
1951
1952
1953	42.1			44.7	48.2			41.1	27.4
1954				Proporz		41.0	38.2	Proporz	Proporz		52.7	26.0
1955						Proporz	Proporz			39.4
1956	43.0			46.0	48.1					Proporz
1957				Proporz				43.6	31.0
1958								Proporz	Proporz
1959	44.8					42.3	38.6				54.4	29.3
1960				46.2	48.5	Proporz	Proporz
1961				Proporz				41.7	30.1	39.6
1962	44.0							Proporz	Proporz	Proporz
1963
1964				48.2		42.8	40.9				54.7	29.5
1965					49.2	Proporz	Proporz	42.2	30.5
1966	42.6							Proporz	Proporz
1967										46.0
1968				50.3						Proporz
1969						44.6	40.4				56.9	27.7
1970	48.4				53.1	Proporz	Proporz	44.7	33.5
1971	50.0							Proporz	Proporz
1972				50.5
1973										43.4	60.1
1974						43.9	36.2	41.2		Proporz		27.6
1975	50.4				51.4	Proporz	Proporz	Proporz	32.4
1976									Proporz
1977				52.0
1978								40.3			57.2
1979	51.0				54.0	45.4	39.1	Proporz	29.3	41.4		29.0
1980						Proporz	Proporz		Proporz	Proporz
1981								42.7
1982				53.2				Proporz
1983	47.7					41.4					55.5
1984					51.7	Proporz	35.1		25.2			24.0
1985							Proporz		Proporz	38.0
1986	43.1							37.6		Proporz
1987				47.3				Proporz			54.9
1988						37.3
1989					46.0	Proporz	31.3		22.8			21.3
1990	42.8				Proporz		Proporz		Proporz
1991				48.1				34.9		31.4	47.8
1992								Proporz		Proporz
1993						33.9
1994	34.9				37.4	Proporz	27.1		19.8			16.2
1995	38.1				Proporz		Proporz	35.9	Proporz
1996		29.2		44.5				Proporz			39.2
1997										27.0
1998						30.4				Proporz
1999	33.2	31.7			32.9	Proporz	32.3		21.8			13.0
2000				46.6	Proporz			32.3
2001								Proporz			46.9
2002	36.5
2003						33.6			25.9	38.3
2004		33.3			38.4	Proporz	45.4			Proporz		16.9
2005				52.2	Proporz			41.7			49.1
2006	35.3
2007
2008	29.3					25.5			15.5
2009		23.7	28.7		Proporz	39.4			24.9	10.0
2010			48.3	Proporz				38.3	Proporz		44.3
2011
2012
2013	26.8			37.1	21.6	23.8	13.7
2014		24.1			Proporz					8.8
2015			41.9					29.3	18.4		39.6
2016									Proporz
2017	26.9
2018				47.9	23.9	20.0	17.3
2019	21.2	23.9			Proporz			23.0		9.5
2020			49.9								41.6
2021									18.6
2022							17.5		Proporz
2023				38.9	20.7	17.9
2024	21.1	23.2			Proporz
Year	AT	EU		Bgld	Ktn	NÖ	Sbg	Stmk	Tyrol	OÖ	Wien	Vbg
Bold indicates best result to date.   Present in legislature (in opposition)   Junior coalition partner   Senior coalition partner

See also

• Austro-Marxism
• Proletář
• Socialist Students of Austria

Literature

• Gordon Brook-Shepherd. The Austrians. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. London, 1995. ISBN 3-552-04876-6.
• Caspar Einem, Wolfgang Neugebauer, Andreas Schwarz. Der Wille zum aufrechten Gang. Czernin Verlag, Vienna, 2005. ISBN 3-7076-0196-X (discussion on book is available online on hagalil.com).
• Maria Mesner (Ed.). Entnazifizierung zwischen politischem Anspruch, Parteienkonkurrenz und Kaltem Krieg: Das Beispiel der SPÖ. Oldenbourg Verlag, Vienna, 2005. ISBN 3-486-57815-4.
• Bruno Kreisky, Matthew Paul Berg (Translator), Jill Lewis (Ed.).The Struggle for a Democratic Austria: Bruno Kreisky on Peace and Social Justice. Berghahn Books, New York, 2000. ISBN 1-57181-155-9.
• Barbara Kaindl-Widhalm. Demokraten wider Willen? Autoritäre Tendenzen und Antisemitismus in der 2. Republik. Verlag für Gesellschaftskritik, Vienna, 1990.
• Norbert Leser: Zwischen Reformismus und Bolschewismus. Der Austromarxismus in Theorie und Praxis, 1968.
• Wolfgang Neugebauer. Widerstand und Opposition, in: NS-Herrschaft in Österreich. öbv und hpt, Vienna, 2000. ISBN 3-209-03179-7.
• Peter Pelinka. Eine kurze Geschichte der SPÖ. Ereignisse, Persönlichkeiten, Jahreszahlen. Ueberreuter, Vienna, 2005. ISBN 3-8000-7113-4.

External links

• Official website (in German)
• The Social Democratic Party of Austria
• Linzer Programm (3 November 1926) (in German)
• Otto Bauer – Austromarxism (in German)