Bruno Kreisky - Life and political career, Political views and programs, Kreisky's legacy

Austrian chancellor (1970–83), born in Vienna, Austria. He studied at Vienna University, joined the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPO) as a young man, and was imprisoned for his political activities from 1935 until he escaped to Sweden in 1938. He returned to Austria, and served in the foreign service (1946–51) and the prime minister's office (1951–3). He was increasingly active in party politics, and in 1970 became prime minister in a minority SPO government. He steadily increased his majority in subsequent elections but in 1983, when that majority disappeared, he refused to serve in a coalition and resigned.

Bruno Kreisky

Bruno Kreisky
Chancellor of Austria
In office 21 April 1970 – 24 May 1983
Deputy	Rudolf Häuser (1970-1979), Hannes Androsch (1979-1983)
Preceded by	Josef Klaus
Succeeded by	Fred Sinowatz
Born	22 January 1911 Vienna, Austria
Died	29 July 1990 Vienna, Austria
Political party	Social Democrats

Bruno Kreisky (January 22, 1911 – July 29, 1990), Austrian politician, served as Chancellor of Austria from 1970 to 1983.

Life and political career

Kreisky was born in Vienna, the son of a Jewish clothing manufacturer. In March 1938 the Austrian state was incorporated in Germany, and in September Kreisky emigrated to Sweden, where he remained until 1945.

Kreisky was elected to the Austrian parliament, the Nationalrat as a Socialist at the 1956 election.

Kreisky left office in 1966, when the ÖVP under Josef Klaus won an absolute majority in the Nationalrat. At the April 1970 elections, the Socialists won a plurality (but not a majority) of seats, and Kreisky became Chancellor.

Kreisky turned 70 in 1981, and by this time the voters were reacting against what they saw as his complacency and preoccupation with international issues.

Political views and programs

In office, Kreisky and his close ally, Justice Minister Christian Broda, pursued a policy of liberal reform, in a country which had a tradition of conservative Catholicism. Following the 1974 oil shock, Kreisky committed Austria to developing nuclear power to reduce dependence on oil, although this policy was eventually abandoned after a referendum held in 1978.

Kreisky played a prominent role in international affairs, promoting North-South dialogue and working with like-minded European leaders like Willy Brandt and Olof Palme to promote peace and development.

Kreisky opposed Zionism as a solution to the problems faced by the Jewish people.

Kreisky also had a tense relationship with another prominent Austrian Jew, the Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal. When Wiesenthal claimed that four members of Kreisky's 1970 cabinet had "Nazi backgrounds," Kreisky said that Wiesenthal was "living from telling the world that Austria is anti-Semitic. Despite Kreisky's ambiguous attitude to Jewish issues, throughout the 1970s Austria was a transit point for Jews leaving the Soviet Union for Israel and the West.

In 1976 the Bruno Kreisky Foundation for Outstanding Achievements in the Area of Human Rights was founded to mark Kreisky's 65th birthday. Every two years, the Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Prize is awarded to an international figure who has advanced the cause of human rights.

Kreisky was a skilled orator and media performer. In the 1970s the Austrian state television introduced TV debates before general elections, and Kreisky, highly intellectual as well as quick at repartee, by general consent easily won against a succession of ÖVP leaders.

Kreisky's legacy

Today, Kreisky's premiership is the subject of controversy. Many of his former supporters see in Kreisky the last socialist of the old school and look back nostalgically at an era when the standard of living was noticeably rising, when the welfare state was in full swing and when, by means of a state-funded programme promoting equality of opportunity, working class children were encouraged to stay on at school and eventually receive higher education, all this resulting in a decade of prosperity and optimism about the future.

Conservatives criticise Kreisky's policy of deficit spending, expressed in his famous comment during the 1979 election campaign that he preferred that the state run up high debts rather than see people become unemployed. They hold Kreisky responsible for Austria's subsequent economic difficulties.