Kreisky Resigns

A defeat without tears

"They admired him, they respected him and they forgave him almost everything, except that he had grown old." Such was the assessment of Vienna's daily Kurier last week when one of the senior statesmen of the Western world announced his retirement after 13 years in office. Added the conservative newspaper, which had been a sharp critic of the Chancellor: "Kreisky has lost the elections. But Austria has lost Kreisky."

So it had, to the stunned disbelief of a nation. Throughout the parliamentary election campaign, Bruno Kreisky, 72, had made himself the central issue. He warned that he would "take his hat" and step aside if he failed to win an absolute majority. The move seemed astute, at least for a leader so unassailably popular that his Socialist Party's campaign slogan in 1975 had been "Kreisky-- Who Else?"

Kreisky only narrowly missed capturing a majority of seats in the 183-member parliament. After the ballots were counted -- the turnout was a record 93% of eligible voters -- Kreisky's Socialists were left without an absolute majority for the first time since the 1971 elections. The Socialists lost five of their 95 seats, falling only two seats short of a majority. The losses were in industrial towns and Vienna working-class strongholds. The conservative People's Party picked up four additional seats for a total of 81. For the first time in twelve years, Austria faced the necessity of a coalition government.

As the results rolled in and Austrians waited to see what face-saving explanation Kreisky might offer to save his job, the Chancellor surprised them by instead keeping his promise. "Yes, this is definitely a defeat," he said. "I take the consequences and resign." He urged the Socialists to turn over both the chancellorship and the leadership of the party to Education Minister Fred Sinowatz, 54. Said Kreisky: "I am much too old for the haggling needed in a coalition." And, some associates concluded, much too proud.

Under Kreisky, the country enjoyed remarkable labor-management peace, relatively mild inflation (5% this year) and Western Europe's lowest unemployment rate (6%) outside of Switzerland. Kreisky was always far more popular than his party, even though he frequently confounded the country with his prominence on the international stage--mediating distant disputes, pleading the cause of the Third World, supporting the Palestine Liberation Organization although he is of Jewish extraction--and his penchant for lecturing Austrians in his gravel voice like an irascible Opa, or grandpapa.

While raising the Austrian standard to unparalleled heights abroad, Kreisky perhaps became a little too careless at home. The Socialists campaigned for the imposition of taxes on vacation and Christmas bonuses and on savings accounts of more than $5,800. Kreisky argued that the proceeds would be used to create jobs. His opponents, however, complained, effectively, that Kreisky was not only bleeding Austrians with such taxes but robbing them with his extravagant spending. Inevitably, the Chancellor's age and health became a major issue. Kreisky is much older than the leaders of other political parties, and for the past three years he has had to undergo twice-weekly dialysis treatments because of a severe kidney ailment. When journalists asked him about his chances of serving out a full four-year term, he would sometimes snap: "Everybody must die some day, but I won't be rushed by you!" This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.