Whenever social democracy weakens, the SPÖ opens up space for an alternative left-wing party on the left. Would such a movement have a chance in Austria? A thought experiment.
The rifts between the different camps within the SPÖ are getting bigger and bigger every day. The three-way race for the party presidency has long ceased to be determined by mere substantive debates, but now also by personal animosity. Most recently, the mayor of Traiskirchner and Rendi-Wagner challenger Andreas Babler was not invited to the party executive. Babler’s supporters see this as a serious foul, and Burgenland’s governor, Hans Peter Doskozil, also sharply attacks the federal party headquarters on Löwelstrasse in Vienna. There, in turn, verbal tips are shared once morest the two…