Thursday, November 1, 2018

Party of Labour (PdA) honours the 100 years of Austria's communist movement

Honoring the 100 years of the existence of the communist movement in Austria, the Party of Labour (Partei der Arbeit PdA) organizes various political and cultural events throughout the country. 

A major event will take place in Vienna on Saturday 3 November, at 4 pm, at Gemeinwesenorientierter Jugendtreff (Polgarstraße 30a, 1220 Wien). 

Below, you can read a short reference to the 100th anniversary of Austria's communist movement, as it appears on PdA website:

"Already at the end of 1917, the war-weariness of the Austrian working class became apparent. The jubilation at the beginning of the war in 1914 had long been replaced by hunger and misery brought by the First World War to the people of Europe. Under the impact of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Austrian workers and soldiers began to turn their rifles and, instead of shooting the soldiers of the other side, they aimed their rifles against their officers and their governments. 

In January 1918, the biggest strike in Austrian history paralyzed the war economy, and the Social Democrats rushed to send the strikers back to work. In February, the Cattaro seamen revolt began and was subsequently defeated by the Habsburgs with the use of military force, but in the further course of 1918 neither the war nor the monarchy could be maintained. The Austrian workers and soldiers could no longer be held down. The most advanced and hard-working workers founded the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) and the Communist Youth Association of Austria (KJVÖ) in November 1918. Both organizations played a leading role in resisting German foreign rule from 1938 to 1945, fighting for a free, democratic and independent Austria. 

Today, the revolutionary tradition of the Austrian workers movement, the KPÖ and the KJVÖ lives on within the Austrian Workers 'Party, the Communist Youth of Austria and the Communist Students' Union. The memories are alive in our actions.

We would like to use these evenings to commemorate those comrades who, in every situation, held up the red flag of communism and could not be stopped. We want to discuss with our friends, comrades and international guests about the experiences and achievements, but also about the mistakes made, so that we can use the knowledge of the past to create a better, a socialist future."