Austria

Yearbook

    Basic Income in Austria: A Research Proposal
  • In the last decade the condition of Austria’s population and that of other EU member states has deteriorated, with increasingly unequal income distribution, a greater number of working poor and high levels of unemployment. Thus, it comes as no surprise that several groups (attac, and various...
    Book Review - Persecution: The Austrian §278a as an Example
  • It is not certain if the attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001 were the kick-off for the rollercoaster ride the financial markets have been on ever since. This careening up- and downhill has triggered upheavals in the entire global economy and serves...
    Power in Paradise: The 2010 Vienna Elections
  • The Mercer 2010 Quality of Living Ranking shows that the Austrian capital of Vienna (population: 1.7 million) is the world’s best place to live. Critics remark that the criteria for this survey are chosen for the information of ex-pats and do not focus on the life of the average Viennese working...

Focus

    “Europa anders” Stands Up against the Assumption of Liabilities for Banks
  • For ten days Martin Ehrenhauser, front runner for “Europa anders” (Europe different), the Austrian electoral alliance of the Left, has been camped out in front of the Office of the Federal Chancellor in Vienna. The independent MEP and his fellow campaigners have been protesting against the bailout of the Hypo Alpe-Adria bank, which is set to cost € 18 bn.

Blog

    A Day That Changed Not Only Graz
  • For the first time since 1945 in a large Austrian city, the second largest in the country with about 300,000 inhabitants, the bourgeois candidate was voted out in favour of a Communist. Long-time mayor Siegfried Nagl (ÖVP – conservative) suffered heavy losses, while the KPÖ under city councilwoman Elke Kahr came out in first place.
    On the 140th Birthday of Otto Bauer (1881-1938)
  • On 5 September 1881, Otto Bauer, one of the most prominent Austro-Marxist theorist of the inter-war period, was born. Find here a compilation of texts and lectures on Otto Bauer's work and impact.
    The Relevance of Otto Bauer and Austro-Marxism Today
  • More than a century ago, socialists in Austria were calling themselves 'socialists' because they wanted to create a new social model known as 'socialism'. At their intellectual peak, they set up a school of Marxist theory, which they described as being separate from both social-democratic reformism...
    Finally Some Visibility for Illegal Austrian Pushbacks!
  • In a groundbreaking court ruling earlier this month, exclusively translated on behalf of transform! europe, the Regional Administrative Court of Styria (Southeast Austria) upheld the complaint by a young Moroccan man who was pushed back by the Austrian border police and declared this practice illegal and inhumane.
    The Austrian Revolution
  • The classic work by the most prominent Austro-Marxist theorist of the inter-war period, Otto Bauer, now available in English for the first time in full.
    The Fine Old and the Poor New
  • (Not only) The Left justly criticizes that by signing the government agreement the Greens have facilitated a continuation of the conservative and right-wing extremist strategy regarding refugee and migration policies. This criticism will become louder and possibly also lead to the break-up of the coalition.
    ‘… Going to Ibiza’ – New Elections in Austria
  • On 29 September new elections will be held. The disclosing of the Ibiza video in May marked the end of the coalition of the conservatives and extreme right wing, at least provisionally. Read Michael Graber’s report on the situation in Austria.
    'It's Thursday Again'
  • When on October 4th, 2018 a group of political friends announced a demonstration under the title 'It's Thursday again', nobody would have guessed that this would mark the beginning of an outstanding series of protests against the Austrian right-wing extremist government.
    Building Bridges. Neighbourhood Central Europe?
  • To mark the 100th anniversary of the Austrian Republic, transform! europe and the Jahoda-Bauer Institute held a conference about the prospects for a common strategy for the Danube region and Central Europe. The event was supported financially by the Republic of Austria’s Fund for the Future and the Party of the European Left.
    Marking 70 Years Of The Carinthian Partisan Association
  • On 10 November, 1,200 people came together at the Klagenfurt exhibition space for an impressive event to mark the 70th anniversary of the ‘Association of Carinthian Partisans and Friends of the Anti-Fascist Resistance’/Zveza koroških partizanov in prijateljev antifašističnega odpora.
    The Communist Party of Austria – A European Case Study
  • On 3rd November 1918, the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) was founded in Vienna. To mark this occasion, transform! europe is publishing an illustrated book in Vienna which documents the KPÖ’s development throughout the 20th century.
    Austria’s Annexation to Nazi Germany
  • transform.at organised together with others on 10 March, in Vienna, a symposium entitled “Austria 1938-2018. The victim/perpetrator discourse and the Austrian resistance”.
    The Short Respite Is Over
  • There was a great sense of relief and much jubilation over the electoral victory of Alexander Van der Bellen, the Green candidate who was supported by a voters’ coalition that ranged from the centre to the Communist Party, and who defeated Norbert Hofer, the candidate of the right-wing radical political party.
    Departing Towards a New Left in Austria?
  • On 3 and 4 June, around 1000 people came together in Vienna for the “Aufbruch” (“departure”) conference, hoping to create a movement, that, however defined, could serve as a new umbrella of the Austrian left and as a challenge and alternative to the anti-social and right-leaning state of Austrian politics right now.
    Rejection of a Far-Right President
  • On Sunday 22 May, Austria elected its President in the second round. The results of the two candidates were so close that the election was decided when the voting cards were counted on Monday. The neoliberal, green, bourgeois and democratic candidate, Alexander Van der Bellen, won the second round of the elections with 50.3% against Freedom Party (FPÖ) candidate Norbert Hofer.
    The (Not So) Slow Murder of the Geneva Convention
  • The Reactionary Rebellion (read the essay by Walter Baier) is gaining steam in Austria and Germany and de-facto abolishing the Geneva convention on refugees, which sets a dangerous precedent for others in the region.
    Far-right Party Gains Almost One Third of the Vote
  • The Social Democrat Party was slightly weakened but not defeated. The far-right Freedom Party won almost one third of the vote, making it the city’s second most powerful party. The left-wing alliance saw a slight improvement in its results at ward level.
    Austria Voted Paradoxically
  • The outcome of the Austrian parliamentary elections must seem paradoxical all across Europe. Despite the – by comparison – favorable economic data, the ruling “Great Coalition” of Social Democrats (SPÖ) and Conservatives (ÖVP) was punished. Their share of the votes fell back from 55 percent to less than 51.

Calendar

    Socialism in Central and Eastern Europe and Austro-Marxism
  • Austro-Marxism is a corpus of the Marxist theory developed by the intellectuals closely connected to the multinational Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria. Labeled as the 'little International', in the last decades of the 19th century, it provided cultural and intellectual incubation space...
    Protect the People! Not the System! Weekend of Debate and Exchange in Vienna
  • The Party of the European Left (EL), together with the Communist Party of Austria (CPA/KPÖ) is organizing a weekend of debate and exchange in Vienna, starting with a seminar on Friday, 4 Sept., which is supported by transform! europe. The main focus of the events will be left local politics and international exchange of experiences.