Bruno Kreisky and the Soviet Union

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the 110th anniversary of B. Kreisky (1911 – 1990), a prominent statesman of post-war Austria, one of the leaders of international social democracy. From 1959 to 1966 he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria. In 1970 ‒ 1983 he was in charge of the Government of that State. In 1976 – 1989, he was Vice-President of the Socialist International. Soviet issues were not only an integral part of his political interests, but also a topic of constant dialogue within the European establishment, an important subject of meetings with the leaders of the USSR. Being a critic of many aspects of the USSR's foreign and domestic policy, not accepting the communist interpretation of Marxism, he did not consider ideological contradictions an obstacle to contacts with the Soviet leadership on a wide range of international issues. The dialogue with the USSR touched upon the topics of European and international detente, events in the Middle East and various situations in the countries of the "Third World".