March on May 1st

9000 comrades in Linz: a sign of life from the SPÖ

March on the Landstraße in Linz.(Bild: Dostal Harald)

The Urfahr district was blue on this day, but there was a veritable sea of red flags in the center of Linz: At the traditional May Day march of the Social Democrats, there was loud criticism of the government - and of the FPÖ.

In Vienna there were 100,000, in the Upper Austrian capital of Linz as many as 9,000: associations, trade unionists, district sections, the young socialists, the Kinderfreunde, city councillors and members of parliament marched along the Landstraße.

Linz's mayor Klaus Luger and Upper Austria's SPÖ chairman Michael Lindner were at the head of the May Day march. And with their many comrades-in-arms behind them, the comrades also hammered in their thematic stakes.

If black-blue gets too much time
The SPÖ leader warned against a coalition of ÖVP and FPÖ in the federal government and referred to Upper Austria: "Here you can see live and in color what it means when black-blue gets too long to govern. The power game, the wheeling and dealing and the antagonism flourish." The time is ripe for a change.

"We are ready to take on more responsibility for the future of our country," said Lindner. SPÖ Linz and city leader Luger addressed the industrial location: "We're not running out of work, we're running out of jobs. If we want to remain strong, we need to attract additional workers to our companies." Although the SPÖ can only dream of the visitor numbers of earlier times, the party still felt strengthened after May Day.