# Mirko Messner
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{{Short description|Austrian communist politician}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Mirko Messner
| honorific_suffix =
| image = Mirkomessner (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Messner in 2017
| office = [Chair of the Communist Party of Austria](/source/Communist_Party_of_Austria)
| term_start = March 2006
| term_end = June 2021
| co-leader = [Melina Klaus](/source/Melina_Klaus) (2006–2012)
| deputy =
| predecessor = [Walter Baier](/source/Walter_Baier)
| successor = [Günther Hopfgartner](/source/G%C3%BCnther_Hopfgartner)
| birth_name = Štefan Miroslav Messner
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=y|1948|12|16}}
| birth_place = [Slovenj Gradec](/source/Slovenj_Gradec), [PR Slovenia](/source/Socialist_Republic_of_Slovenia), [Yugoslavia](/source/Socialist_Federal_Republic_of_Yugoslavia)
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| citizenship =
| party = [Communist](/source/Communist_Party_of_Austria) (KPÖ)
| other_party =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| education =
| alma_mater = [University of Vienna](/source/University_of_Vienna)
| occupation =
| website =
}}
'''Štefan Miroslav "Mirko" Messner''' (born 16 December 1948)[{{Cite web|url=https://search.obvsg.at/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=OBV_alma71386426100003331&context=L&vid=OBV&lang=de_DE|access-date=2020-07-06|website=search.obvsg.at}}] is an [Austria](/source/Austria)n, [Carinthian Slovene](/source/Carinthian_Slovenes) [slavicist](/source/Slavic_studies) and [Communist](/source/Communism) politician, leading the [Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ)](/source/Communist_Party_of_Austria) from February 2006 to June 2021.[{{Cite web|title=KPÖ|url=http://www.kpoe.at/home/positionen/themen-archiv/nr-wahl-2008/kpoe-kandidatinnen/2008/mirko-messner|access-date=2020-07-06|website=www.kpoe.at}}][{{Cite book|url=https://austria-forum.org/af/AustriaWiki/Mirko_Messner|title=Nationalratswahlen: Alle Spitzenkandidaten im Portrait}}]
==Life==
After graduating from high school, Messner studied Slavic studies and [German studies](/source/German_studies) at the [University of Vienna](/source/University_of_Vienna), where he received his doctorate in 1977.[{{Cite web|title=Verband Sozialistischer Mittelschüler {{!}} AustriaWiki im Austria-Forum|url=https://austria-forum.org/af/AustriaWiki/Verband_Sozialistischer_Mittelsch%C3%BCler|access-date=2020-07-06|website=austria-forum.org}}] Messner joined the KPÖ-led Communist Student Union within the [Austrian Students' Association](/source/Austrian_Students'_Association). During his studies he became involved in the Slovene Students' Association ({{lang|sl|Koroška dijaška zveza}}) and created the Slovenian student newspaper ''[Kladivo](/source/Kladivo)'', which was published until 1989.[{{Cite web|url=https://search.obvsg.at/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=OBV_alma71332037260003331&context=L&vid=OBV&lang=de_DE|access-date=2020-07-06|website=search.obvsg.at}}] When he could not assert his view of nationality policy on the question of [Slovenian minority](/source/Slovene_minority_in_Carinthia) in the party, Messner resigned from all party offices, including membership of the [central committee](/source/central_committee), and quit his job as an employee of the party in 1987.[{{Cite book|url=https://austria-forum.org/af/AustriaWiki/Mirko_Messner#cite_note-Diss-1|title=Nationalratswahlen: Alle Spitzenkandidaten im Portrait}}]
After the KPÖ held the {{lang|de|Grazer Erneuerungsparteitag}} (Party Congress for Renewal in Graz) in 2005, Messner was initially active in the reconstitution of the KPÖ in [Klagenfurt](/source/Klagenfurt) and was finally elected as the party's minority spokesman and a member of its federal executive board in February 2006. In March of the same year, Messner was also elected Federal Spokesperson for the party together with [Melina Klaus](/source/Melina_Klaus). Messner has been the leading candidate for his party in all four [Austrian National Council](/source/National_Council_(Austria)) elections since 2006.[{{Cite web|title=Nationalratswahlen: Alle Spitzenkandidaten im Portrait|url=https://www.nachrichten.at/politik/innenpolitik/Nationalratswahlen-Alle-Spitzenkandidaten-im-Portrait;art385,2665884|access-date=2020-07-06|website=nachrichten.at|language=de}}]
From 2009 to 2016 he was also editor of the party newspaper ''[Volksstimme](/source/Volksstimme_(Austrian_newspaper))'', which appears as a monthly magazine. Messner was the sole federal spokesman for the KPÖ from 2012 to 2021.