Terrors No Longer

Ever since World War II, Austria's conservative People's Party has held a slight plurality over the liberal Socialist Party. For 21 years, the two parties ran the nation (pop. 7,073,000) in "red-black" coalitions, with the conservatives always the dominant partner. In 1966, the People's Party won an outright majority, then governed alone for four years. Last week the Socialists' turn finally came. Because of a shift of only seven seats in the 165-seat Nationalrat (Parliament), Austria is virtually certain to be ruled by its first Socialist Chancellor--and a Jewish one, at that.

He is Bruno Kreisky, 59, chairman of the Socialist Party since 1967 (see box). Kreisky's Socialists won 81 seats to 79 for the People's Party, led by balding, lackluster Josef Klaus. The right-wing Free Democrats won five seats, giving them the balance of power. Since neither the Socialists nor the conservatives want to coalesce with the Free Democrats, however, a new grand coalition is all but assured. Last week President Franz Jonas called on Kreisky to form a government, and negotiations for a return to a red-black partnership began in earnest in Vienna.

Four years ago, the Socialists lost to the People's Party by a disturbing 6%. Since then, Kreisky has remolded them into a party designed to capture the young and the educated middle class. Among other things, the "Sozis" pledged to shorten obligatory military service from nine to six months and clearly profited from a recent lowering of the voting age from 20 to 19. In addition, Willy Brandt's election as the Social Democratic Chancellor of neighboring West Germany helped Kreisky's party to overcome residual Austrian fears of the red Buergerschreck ("Burgher's Terror") stemming from the 1930s, when Socialists and conservatives battled on the streets of Vienna.

Fifth Socialist Government. Those fears were further eased when the Socialists openly rejected support from Austria's quarrelsome Communist Party; some Socialist Party members claim that tacit acceptance of Communist support in 1966 cost the party over 30,000 votes.

Unless the coalition negotiations unexpectedly collapse, in a matter of weeks Austria will become Western Europe's fifth Socialist-led government (following England, West Germany, Sweden and Finland). Kreisky will not alter his country's permanent military neutrality or encourage a further nationalization of Austria's industry, already largely state-owned. He has promised to seek associate membership in the Common Market, introduce scientific analysis and economic planning in government, and modernize Austria's antiquated school system.

Though the renewed coalition will force an almost equal division of Cabinet posts with the People's Party, Kreisky has forsworn any return to the old Proporz (proportional) system of previous coalitions. Under that system, every Minister had to accept a watchdog state secretary from the other party, and government jobs all the way down to janitor were divided along party lines.

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