ABSTRACT
As in most European countries, parliamentary party groups (PPGs), which are traditionally called ‘parliamentary clubs’ in Austria, existed before extraparliamentary mass parties. Internally-created parties monopolized the Austrian parliament until 1897 when all male citizens were granted voting rights in a fifth voting body (Kurie). As a consequence of this, mass parties began to establish themselves in parliament. Democratization of the electoral law was eventually completed in 1918. With elections being general, equal, free, direct and secret, it was no longer possible to win and maintain parliamentary representation without an effective extra-parliamentary organization (EPO). Politics became pure party politics. Political parties, in turn, had several ‘faces’, with the PPG being part and parcel of the ‘party in public office’ face (Katz and Mair 1993:594). Parties differed to the extent to which they were able to integrate their various faces and make them speak with one voice (cf. Duverger 1959:182ff). Leaving aside the tiny Communist Party, the Social Democrats undoubtedly rank first in terms of ‘unifying’ their ‘faces’ and they did so under the leadership of the central party executive committee. For the general public, and also for professional observers, politics in the inter-war and post-war periods has been a game (or war) between political parties. They may have been acting in different arenas but they were still the same actors.
