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> I really don't understand the excitement either In the latter interview, Wolf challenged Babler, pointing out that Marxism is associated with both "expropria

> I really don't understand the excitement either In the latter interview, Wolf challenged Babler, pointing out that Marxism is associated with both "expropriation" and "the dictatorship of the proletariat". To many people, those are pretty wild ideas, although apparently much less so for SPÖ members? Guess time will tell what the Austrian voters at large actually think, their national elections aren't due until Autumn 2024...

croisillon 3y ago
Gregor Gysi is a marxist and I don't know that he scared voters
- logifail 3y ago
  According to bundestag.de, here's how Die Linke/PDS did in the last few decades' elections in Germany: Year Die Linke/PDS 2021 4.9% 2017 9.2% 2013 8.6% 2009 11.9% 2005 8.7% 2002 4.0% 1998 5.1% 1994 4.4% 1990 2.4% I'm not sure what to make of that other than that this party has a fairly limited appeal, and has lost a lot of ground since 2009.
  - rurban 3y ago
    Marxists (the KPOe) recently won two major city council elections, first in Graz, then in Salzburg. So it's quite fashionable to call oneself marxist nowadays in Austria, even if he was from the centre-left SPOe, not the true KPOe.
    - logifail 3y ago
      > Marxists (the KPOe) recently won two major city council elections, first in Graz, then in Salzburg In the regional (state) elections in Salzburg in April 2023 the results look quite different: ÖVP (centre right) 30.4% FPÖ (further right) 25.7% SPÖ (centre left) 17.9% KPÖ (further left) 11.7% Greens 8.2% Neos 4.2% and so they got a "centre-right plus further-right" coalition government.
      - rurban 3y ago
        Yes, the KPö only has a chance in city council elections. Nobody would trust them regional or even country.
  - hnbad 3y ago
    The party Die Linke has a complicated history. Its biggest success came on the tail end of the merger with the WASG, which was a left-wing party that split off the SPD following many members' disappointment with the SPD/Green coalition government under Schroeder. A lot of its strongholds are owed more to the candidates themselves than the party, which has provided a certain stability while also giving those candidates a disproportionate level of influence in an otherwise supposedly democratic platform (more democratic than other parties, at least). The party Die Linke also does not explicitly tie itself to a single leftist ideology. You'll find anarchists, Marxists-Leninists and Trotskyists, both radical social progressives campaigning for ongoing civil rights issues and social conservatives worrying about alienating reactionaries. This creates a lot of potential for "democratic discourse" or "in-fighting" (depending on which bias you prefer). It has also allowed the party to receive "protest votes", although those are now more associated with the far-right (and regionally right-wing extremist) AfD.
manmal 3y ago
Babler probably (poorly) tried to communicate that he subscribes to Austro-Marxism, which replaces revolution with congressional democratic majority. That‘s what SPÖ has always been based on, and I‘d say, it worked out well till the 70s.

croisillon 3y ago

Gregor Gysi is a marxist and I don't know that he scared voters

logifail 3y ago
According to bundestag.de, here's how Die Linke/PDS did in the last few decades' elections in Germany: Year Die Linke/PDS 2021 4.9% 2017 9.2% 2013 8.6% 2009 11.9% 2005 8.7% 2002 4.0% 1998 5.1% 1994 4.4% 1990 2.4% I'm not sure what to make of that other than that this party has a fairly limited appeal, and has lost a lot of ground since 2009.
- rurban 3y ago
  Marxists (the KPOe) recently won two major city council elections, first in Graz, then in Salzburg. So it's quite fashionable to call oneself marxist nowadays in Austria, even if he was from the centre-left SPOe, not the true KPOe.
  - logifail 3y ago
    > Marxists (the KPOe) recently won two major city council elections, first in Graz, then in Salzburg In the regional (state) elections in Salzburg in April 2023 the results look quite different: ÖVP (centre right) 30.4% FPÖ (further right) 25.7% SPÖ (centre left) 17.9% KPÖ (further left) 11.7% Greens 8.2% Neos 4.2% and so they got a "centre-right plus further-right" coalition government.
    - rurban 3y ago
      Yes, the KPö only has a chance in city council elections. Nobody would trust them regional or even country.
- hnbad 3y ago
  The party Die Linke has a complicated history. Its biggest success came on the tail end of the merger with the WASG, which was a left-wing party that split off the SPD following many members' disappointment with the SPD/Green coalition government under Schroeder. A lot of its strongholds are owed more to the candidates themselves than the party, which has provided a certain stability while also giving those candidates a disproportionate level of influence in an otherwise supposedly democratic platform (more democratic than other parties, at least). The party Die Linke also does not explicitly tie itself to a single leftist ideology. You'll find anarchists, Marxists-Leninists and Trotskyists, both radical social progressives campaigning for ongoing civil rights issues and social conservatives worrying about alienating reactionaries. This creates a lot of potential for "democratic discourse" or "in-fighting" (depending on which bias you prefer). It has also allowed the party to receive "protest votes", although those are now more associated with the far-right (and regionally right-wing extremist) AfD.

manmal 3y ago

Babler probably (poorly) tried to communicate that he subscribes to Austro-Marxism, which replaces revolution with congressional democratic majority. That‘s what SPÖ has always been based on, and I‘d say, it worked out well till the 70s.