After the negotiations to form a new government between conservatives (ÖVP), social democrats (SPÖ) and liberals (NEOS) broke down, mainly over the budget, Austria is entering a new period. It looks likely that either a government coalition of far right FPÖ and ÖVP with the FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl as Chancellor or new elections with the prospect of the FPÖ (Freedom Party) massively gaining ground. Currently the FPÖ is getting in opinion polls between 35% and 37%, a big jump from the election held last September they came first with 28.85%.
There had been big efforts by a part of the Austrian ruling class to keep the FPÖ out of government over worries about the FPÖ’s connection to Russia, but these now seem to have failed. Another part of the ruling class, especially based in industry, is eager for massive cuts to be inflicted on the working class to restore profits. Unfortunately, the SPÖ had already signed off on big parts of the industry’s and ÖVP/NEOS wish list of cuts, including raising the retirement age to 67. In order to sell these cuts better to the public the SPÖ demanded a tax on wealth (although even that in a very lightweight form of a fee on banks), something which both NEOS and the ÖVP were opposed to. This dramatically poses the question of a socialist political alternative to the political parties and the capitalist system.
Below is the text of a leaflet by Sozialistische Offensive, CWI Austria, for a demonstration on January 9 2025 against the FPÖ entering government.
How can we fight against fat cat chancellor Kickl?
Another blue-black government (a coalition between the far right Freedom Party and the conservatives, the editors) is looming, this time with Herbert Kickl as Chancellor. That is frightening. So what can we do to stop the FPÖ?
The new government will implement a more radical programme of cuts against all those who are not rich. These will be hidden behind attacks on all those who are not “normal” or “Austrian” in their eyes, to deflect attention.
“It’s the economy”
The background to this situation is the economic crisis. But while we are being told how badly companies are doing, banks and energy companies, for example, are making high profits. The rich are getting richer. There is no shortage of money. It is not a law of nature that we have to take a cut in living standards. It is a political decision whether corporate profits are secured by cutting social benefits and wages – or whether profits are cut!
All the established parties are prepared to cut living standards in order to secure these profits under the pretext of “competitiveness”. The negotiations between ÖVP, SPÖ and NEOS were behind closed doors – what are they hiding? What has been leaked from those talks shows that the SPÖ led by Andreas Babler was also prepared to make drastic cuts, although perhaps less so than the others. Many had hoped that the three-party coalition could have prevented the FPÖ. But any such government that implements such a programme of cuts would have made the FPÖ even stronger. Lesser evilism does not work!
The next government will cut wages and unemployment, pensions, the climate, healthcare and education. They will deflect from this with divide and rule tactics and the exclusion of people with the “wrong” citizenship or religion. And because someone has to do the work that can no longer be done in hospitals, nursing homes and kindergartens, a conservative gender and family image is propagated. Anyone who doesn’t fit in is treated with hostility and discriminated against. Far right and fascistic forces outside parliament (smaller ones outside the FPÖ – albeit with links to the FPÖ – that are even more to the right, like the “Identitären”) can become more confident, attacks can increase and the FPÖ will put “their people” into positions in the state apparatus. All of this is dangerous!
Learning from the “resistance” movement in 2000
In 2000, when the first FPÖ-ÖVP coalition government came to power, there was a huge “resistance movement” for months with hundreds of thousands of participants. Impressive – but unsuccessful. Even new elections did not change anything. However, when there were major strikes against the pension reform and the attacks on the ÖBB railways in 2003, this put the government under massive pressure, because it wasn’t just the roads that were blocked, but also the companies. The fact that the government was not toppled at that time was only due to the fact that the ÖGB trade union federation did not continue the strikes consistently until they were successful. One reason was the lack of a political alternative, because there was and is no party for workers and young people -and the SPÖ did not reverse the FPÖ-ÖVP measures afterwards. We have to learn from this. It’s a huge problem that now the tops of the ÖGB were obviously prepared to agree to major cuts alongside the SPÖ. We need trade unions that fight instead of making lazy compromises!
What can be done?
What can we do about this? There are plenty of things you can do: Going to demonstrations is good – but getting organised is better! There will be a wide variety of protests in the near future: We have to bring them together and make sure that they really hurt big business. This is only possible if we hurt them in their bank accounts – which is why strikes are the most effective means of struggle. Action committees in workplaces can build up massive pressure on the union leadership to finally take action. Action committees can also organise protests in schools, universities, etc.
Future struggles will help to build a party for workers and young people. In order to stop the rise of the right, it cannot give in to the “cuts logic” of capitalism but needs a programme and a policy that breaks with capitalism. The capitalist economy is in crisis. The existing political parties are parties of big business and create the framework to optimize profits at the expense of working people and the environment. What a sick system that discriminates against, deports and exploits people – for the profits of a few. That is why the best protection against the right-wing danger is the fight against its basis – capitalism!
Join us now in the struggle against the far right and the madness of capitalism!
