Bruno Kreisky was Austria’s longest-serving chancellor. No other postwar Austrian politician elicits the same amount of reminiscing, stories, myths, and anecdotes. Today, over forty years after his days as chancellor, he looms so large that Kreisky, schau oba! (“Kreisky, look down on us!”) is an ever-popular — and only half-ironic refrain — used to shame today’s Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) for violating their party’s historic principles. There’s no lack of opportunities to use this line.
Despite his death in 1990, Kreisky’s name continues to be mentioned today as if he might still drop in a comment. In January, conservative Austrian daily Die Presse reported “Kreisky would beat Kickl,” as it reported a poll finding that in a hypothetical matchup between Kreisky and Herbert Kickl —leader of the current poll-topping party, the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) — Kreisky would win.
Thirty-six years after his death, there is no doubt that Kreisky is the specter haunting Social Democracy, and Austrian politics as a whole. His legacy has left an indelible mark on Austrian politics, yet hardly anyone outside of the German-speaking countries has heard of him.
The left wing of Austrian Social Democracy has failed to make much progress in recent decades; compared to today, the Kreisky era seems like a land of milk and honey. Politics in 1970s Austria centered on full employment, institutions responded more to women’s issues, mass education was made more accessible, and Austrian military neutrality was deliberately used as an instrument of peace policy.
In retrospect, it is easy to romanticize this essentially social democratic agenda, which sought to give workers more say in politics and a larger piece of the economic pie. Its architect, Kreisky, was undoubtedly a talented politician. But a focus on personality and political style, reducing the era to Kreisky alone, misses what made his lasting influence possible: he was a product of…
Auteur: Magdalena Berger
