ABSTRACT
Austrian Social Democracy dates from the Hainfeld Congress of 1889. The socialists created a veritable state within a state. This tendency reflected and contributed to the division of Austrian society into some rival compartments during the First Republic, compartments referred to as lager or armed camps. Austrian socialism has placed a premium on party unity. Austrian socialism in the Empire was predominantly the party of German Austrians. The tragedy of Austrian socialism was that the party fell short of a parliamentary majority. Austria was run by a series of coalition governments which until 1966. Austrian socialism has placed a premium on party unity. Bruno Kreisky prophetically called on the government to restore political freedom as the only way of making a defense of Austrian independence possible. During the 1983 electoral campaign, Kreisky threatened that he would step down as Prime Minister if his party lost its absolute majority.
