The Communist Party of Austria (, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. however, it denies being a merely more radical version of the Greens or Social Democrats, asserting that they are fundamentally different.
History
Background and establishment
The KPÖ was officially established on 3 November 1918. According to internal sources, the KPÖ had been prepared for this situation since the mid-1920s.
The KPÖ took part in the failed workers rebellion on 12 February 1934, which was sparked by the militia (). It marked a last attempt to save Austrian democracy from fascism, but was ill-fated.
The KPÖ held a line which was often in disagreement with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, such as disagreeing with Stalin's branding of social democracy as a form of "social fascism" in the late 1920s. The Austrian communists dissent was avant-garde, with their refusal to condemn Social Democracy reflecting aspects of the 7th World Congress of the Comintern in 1935. The Austrian communists' tolerant stance opened their party to an influx of more disappointed Social Democrats. After the crushing of the February 1934 uprising by the federal army and the Heimwehr, the KPÖ grew rapidly from 4,000 to 16,000 members.
The KPÖ also took an independent stance from the mainstream in its views about nationhood and an Austrian identity separate from Germany, with leading communist intellectual Alfred Klahr writing that the view that the Austrian people were a part of Germany was theoretically unfounded. Party chairman Johann Koplenig became vice-chancellor, while fellow communists Franz Honner and Ernst Fischer were made ministers responsible for home affairs and education respectively. However, Renner outflanked the Communists by having two powerful undersecretaries in each ministry, to which were appointed anticommunists. During the years of national reconstruction, the KPÖ vehemently criticised the "capitalistic reconstruction at the expense of the working class" and totally rejected the Marshall Plan.
The KPÖ assured the Soviets that they could win as much as 30% of the vote in the first National Council elections in 1945. However, the KPÖ won only 5.4% of the votes (174,257 votes) and was thus represented with only 4 members (out of 165) in the Austrian parliament. Nevertheless, chancellor Leopold Figl (of the right-wing ÖVP) offered the party a ministerial position in the government, and communist Karl Altmann was made Minister for Energy. With the beginning of the Cold War, and the continuing arguments over the Marshall Plan, Altmann resigned from his office in 1947 and the KPÖ became an opposition party.
thumb|1945 Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) membership booklet. Issued in Vienna and used up to 1947.
General strikes of 1950
Post-war, the national economy was in ruins, and the ÖVP-led government instituted a severe austerity programme. The planned measures (, ) included substantial price increases but minor wage increases, and large-scale strike movements formed in protest from 26 September to 6 October 1950. Over 120,000 workers participated in the first day of the strike. The ÖGB rejected the strike. The KPÖ took a prominent role in this strike, leading politicians of the incumbent grand coalition to fear a coup d'état, with the goal of the installation of a people's republic. The KPÖ denied these allegations.
A second series of strikes began the following week, in Vienna and Lower Austria, and involved approximately 19% of industrial workforce. The strikers made the impact worse by disrupting railroad traffic.
On 5 October, the chairman of the Building and Wood workers Trade Union, Franz Olah, succeeded in negotiating the dissolution of the October strikes. Olah organised workers who supported the SPÖ into clashes with the communists, where they were able to outnumber and defeat them. This caused great friction between the KPÖ and many SPÖ members. The fact that the Soviet Red Army did not interfere also brought the strikes to an end.
Weaknesses and crises
During the 10-year allied occupation from 1945 to 1955, the threat of national division similar to that which befell post-war Germany loomed large. The Iron Curtain was dividing the European continent into two halves. During this period, the KPÖ was in constant contact with the Soviet authorities and Moscow. Following the party's poor results in the parliamentary elections on 25 November 1945 (St. Catherine's Day, therefore the elections became known as the ), the KPÖ representative in Moscow, Friedrich Hexmann, had to present a report to the Politburo with proposals on how to improve the situation for the party. This, in turn, provoked the protest of the party's core supporters, who saw little difference to social democracy, and feared a weakening of the communist cause. Following the reforms, more than one third of the party's members left. and to a few thousands in the 1970s. As of 2005, membership stands at about 3,500 members.
The KPÖ was represented in the National Council from 1945 until 1959, in the state assemblies (Landtage) (with some interruptions) of Salzburg until 1949, in Lower Austria until 1954, in the Burgenland until 1956, in Vienna until 1969 and in Carinthia as well as Styria until 1970. In Upper Austria, the Tyrol and Vorarlberg the KPÖ never held state representation.
After the fall of the Socialist Bloc
With the fall of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, the KPÖ saw itself confronted with new challenges regarding its philosophy and future. The experiment with a moderate form of eurocommunism was not well received with its core supporters; however, moderate voters could not be persuaded either. The KPÖ faced difficult times during a period where communist parties throughout the world were receding.
In January 1990 two new leaders, Walter Silbermayr and Susanne Sohn, were appointed to renew the party and uncover errors and mistakes which were made in the past. The attempts by Sohn and Silbermayr to create a leftist alliance (Wahlbündnis) for the 1990 National Council elections failed. The party lost about a third of its members during the process. In March 1991, only three months later, both chairpersons resigned, with their course of renewal being insufficiently supported internally by party-members.
The party has consistently been critical of the NATO and the European Union, comparing Austria's accession to the EU in 1995 to the by Nazi-Germany. The party campaigned against the European Constitution in its planned form; however, it does not regard leaving the European Union as an immediate priority, but as a long-term goal.
Until 2003, there was an official celebration on the in the Vienna Prater park, normally held each year in the first weekend of September. The celebration was named , after the party's former newspaper. Due to financial reasons, the festival was unable to take place in 2004. It has, however, since staged a comeback, being held again in September 2005 and all years since. Today, the KPÖ sees itself as part of the anti-globalisation movement as well as a feminist party. It ran together with LINKE Liste, during the European elections 2004 as part of the Party of the European Left.
Financial situation
After the collapse of the German Democratic Republic in 1989, there were long court-proceedings for many years concerning the considerable net assets of the company Novum. Although the company was an East German one, it was used to siphon money and finance the KPÖ, see also Rudolfine Steindling for further details. The company used to be able to make large amounts of money through GDR foreign trade and the protection of the East German Socialist Unity Party (SED), with the profits used almost exclusively to support the KPÖ. As the successor state, the Federal Republic of Germany laid claim to all the finances of Novum, which was hotly contested by the KPÖ. The German courts decided in 2002, that the former SED-company belonged to the state-assets of the GDR, hence to its successor state the unified Germany. Therefore, these net assets of the KPÖ were confiscated.
Due to the court decision over the Novum holding, the party lost over 250 million euros of its financial assets. The party saw no alternative but to fire all its employees and stop the production of its weekly newspaper ("Voice of the people", later restarted as .) The continuing existence of the party depends largely on volunteer work of dedicated communists and sympathisers.
thumb|450px|right|Transparency of an "" (Ernst-Kirchweger-House-remains action). The banner depicts a bellicose [[Maggie Simpson in a balaclava]]
Because of the financial problems, the party had to sell the so-called Ernst-Kirchweger-Haus (EKH), which was occupied by the so-called (autonomous) activists since 1990. The sale led to substantial criticism from leftists within and outside Austria, being condemned as "capitalistic". Critics accused the KPÖ of not having exhausted all possibilities to avoid the sale. The accusation that the private buyer was a right-wing extremist could, however, not be substantiated.
In January 2005 there were several acts of vandalism against cars and private dwellings of KPÖ functionaries as well as the house of the KPÖ chairman. According to media reports the perpetrators outed themselves through the graffiti as EKH sympathisers. The KPÖ defended itself by arguing it had no possible financial means to keep the house. Previously in 2003 the party tried to convince the city of Vienna to buy the building to save it from privatisation; however, city authorities did not respond.
Internal party conflict
Beginning in 1994 a conflict between the party leadership revolving around chairman Walter Baier and different internal oppositional groups, who had gathered themselves mainly around the newspaper nVs (neue Volksstimme, ) and the internet platform Kominform. Internal party critics accused Walter Baier of revisionism and betrayal of Marxism; he in turn accused them of Stalinist tendencies.
This conflict escalated in 2004, when at a party convention it was decided to enter the Party of the European Left. In the elections to the European Parliament the KPÖ ran in a largely self-financed alliance ("") with Leo Gabriel as the leading candidate. In an interview with the magazine profil, he spoke out against socialism, saying "I want a Europe of solidarity, not a socialist Europe", which sparked furious criticism from the internal party opposition. A further point of contention for the opposition was that the party, in the course of its entry to the European Left Party, had to drop its previous demand of an Austrian withdrawal from the European Union. Many party organisations therefore boycotted the election campaign. The election result of 0.77% (20,497 votes) was disappointing and meant a drop of 1,466 votes compared to the election results of 1999.
The pressure on the party leadership to convene a party congress rose and as a consequence the leadership, which consisted of Walter Baier and two further members, called up the 33rd Party Congress of the KPÖ for the 11 December and 12 December 2004, as a delegation party congress in Linz-Ebelsberg. With this summoning the leadership ignored a resolution of the 32nd Party Congress (which was held as an "all-members" party congress, not by delegates), which stated that the following 33rd Party Congress would again be held as an "all-member" party congress, somewhere outside Vienna. Since the Party Congress is, according to party statute, the highest committee of the KPÖ, the opposition saw a breach of the statute and called upon the arbitration commission of the party, which is the internal authority in such cases. The arbitration commission decided, however, that no formal breach of the statute was recognisable since, according to statute, the Party Congress cannot decide on the form of a future convening party congress. Some members of the KPÖ branch in Ottakring (Ottakring is a traditional low income worker's district in Vienna) tried to convene an all-members party congress of their own, justifying their actions on the statute of the party. This attempt was called off quickly due to threats of legal action from Baier. The delegates Party Congress convened and took place on 4 December and 5 December 2004, with 76 delegates meeting in Ebelsberg. The Party Congress was boycotted by the internal party opposition as well as the KPÖ regional branch in Tyrol, Graz, and Styria. The agenda of the 33rd Party Congress were the rejection of the European constitution and the European Union services guideline, the defence of public property from privatisation, as well as how to celebrate the Austrian jubilee year 2005 (60 years since the end of World War II, 50 years of independence as the Second Republic, 10 years as a member of the European Union).
Walter Baier was re-elected without opposition with 89.4% of the votes. Among other things, the party statute was also changed. Because of the internal conflict, several members of the opposition were expelled from the party. Some critics accused the leadership of undemocratic procedures, and withdrew from the party voluntarily. The relationship to the Communist Youth of Austria - Young Left (KJÖ) was also tense, because of attempts made by the leadership to develop a new youth organisation.
In March 2006 Walter Baier resigned from the presidency of the party for personal and political reasons. He was replaced by Mirko Messner, a Carinthian Slovene and longtime party-activist, and Melina Klaus later that month.
Revival and reentrance to Styrian Landtag
<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|right|A poster for the 2005 municipal elections in [[Vienna. Objecting to "half-baked things", the KPÖ demands "a whole life" for the citizens of Vienna.]] -->
In the 21st century, the party has seen a revival, particularly in the state of Styria. In the election to the Styrian Landtag (state parliament) on 2 October 2005 the KPÖ, with leading candidate Ernest Kaltenegger, were able to win 4 seats (6.34% of the votes.) This was their first return in the Styrian Landtag (or any state parliament) since 1970. The party retained representation in this body since then.
The party secured a seat on the city council in 1988, campaigning against rising rents, and the local party established practical support and advice services to assist tenants in dealing with landlords, inspired by a French Communist Party initiative. During the 1990s the KPÖ successfully campaigned for the passage of bill restricting rents in public housing to no more than a third of the tenant's income. In the 2021 elections the KPÖ emerged as the party with the most seats on the council, with 29 percent of the vote,
In the 2024 European Parliament election, the KPÖ more than tripled its result of 2019, gaining 104,245 votes (3,0%).
Despite some polls showing the KPÖ above the electoral threshold for a short period in 2023, the party ended up winning 2.4% of the vote in the 2024 Austrian legislative election, and failed to win any seats. This was still a notable improvement from the previous election and the party's best result since 1962.
Organization
Press
The party published a newspaper called () between 1945 and 1991 and again since a few years. It also published a theoretical monthly journal called () until 2000.
Another publication which was published by the party was a Czech language newspaper based in Vienna, ('Pioneer of Freedom'). It appeared weekly between 1918 and 1926, and bi-weekly 1926–1929.
Salary cap
Since 1998, elected officials have observed a salary cap set at the wages of a skilled worker. Pay above this amount is donated to people in need. The rationale is to ensure politicians remain attuned to the financial needs of their constituents.
Popular support
thumb|right|Protesters carrying KPÖ flags during the [[International Workers' Day demonstration in Styria, 1 May 2024]]
The party's strongest branch is in Styria, which until the 2023 Salzburg state election was the only state where the party was represented, and their strongest state in national elections. Within Styria, the KPÖ is particularly strong in Graz, the Styrian capital and the second largest city in Austria, where the KPÖ outpolls the SPÖ and Grüne (20.75% in the 2005 local council elections). The party retained this stronghold in 2012. For the first time since 1991 the KPÖ had seats in the districts. On 23 October 2005, one mandate each was won in the districts of Leopoldstadt and Landstraße, although not in the state Landtag. In the remaining 21 districts mandates were narrowly missed.
Election results
National Council (Nationalrat)
{| class=wikitable style="font-size:97%; text-align:center;"
|-
! Election
! Leader
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/–
! Government
|-
! 1920
| rowspan=4 | Unclear
| 27,386
| 0.92 (#6)
|
| New
|
|-
! 1923
| 22,164
| 0.67 (#7)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1927
| 16,119
| 0.44 (#6)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1930
| 20,951
| 0.57 (#7)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1945
| rowspan=6 | Johann Koplenig
| 174,257
| 5.42 (#3)
|
| 4
|
|-
! 1949
| 213,066
| 5.08 (#4)
|
| 1
|
|-
! 1953
| 228,159
| 5.28 (#4)
|
| 1
|
|-
! 1956
| 192,438
| 4.42 (#4)
|
| 1
|
|-
! 1959
| 142,578
| 3.27 (#4)
|
| 3
|
|-
! 1962
| 135,520
| 3.04 (#4)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1966
| rowspan=7 | Franz Muhri
| 18,636
| 0.41 (#5)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1970
| 44,750
| 0.98 (#4)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1971
| 61,762
| 1.36 (#4)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1975
| 55,032
| 1.19 (#4)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1979
| 45,280
| 0.96 (#4)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1983
| 31,912
| 0.66 (#6)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1986
| 35,104
| 0.72 (#5)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1990
| Walter Silbermayr<br/>Susanne Sohn
| 25,682
| 0.55 (#7)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1994
| rowspan=4 | Walter Baier
| 11,919
| 0.26 (#7)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1995
| 13,938
| 0.29 (#7)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 1999
| 22,016
| 0.48 (#7)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 2002
| 27,568
| 0.56 (#6)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 2006
| rowspan=2 | Mirko Messner<br/>Melina Klaus
| 47,578
| 1.01 (#7)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 2008
| 37,362
| 0.76 (#8)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 2013
| rowspan=3 | Mirko Messner
| 48,175
| 1.03 (#8)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 2017
| 39,689
| 0.78 (#8)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 2019
| 32,736
| 0.69 (#7)
|
| 0
|
|-
! 2024
| Günther Hopfgartner
| 116,891
| 2.39 (#6)
|
| 0
|
|}
European Parliament
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:97%; text-align:center;"
|-
! Election
! List leader
! Votes
! %
! Seats
! +/–
! EP Group
|-
! 1996
| Walter Baier
| 1,656
| 0.47 (#8)
|
| New
| rowspan=7 |–
|-
! 1999
| Unclear
| 20,497
| 0.73 (#7)
|
| 0
|-
! 2004
| Unclear
| 19,530
| 0.78 (#6)
|
| 0
|-
! 2009
| Günther Hopfgartner
| 18,926
| 0.66 (#8)
|
| 0
|-
! 2014
| Martin Ehrenhauser
| 60,451
| 2.14 (#7)
|
| 0
|-
! 2019
| Aikaterini Anastasiou
| 30,087
| 0.80 (#7)
|
| 0
|-
! 2024
| Günther Hopfgartner
| 104,245
| 2.96 (#6)
|
| 0
|}
State parliaments (Landtage)
Burgenland
{| class=wikitable
|-
! colspan=6|Burgenland Landtag
|-
! Election year
! % of<br />overall vote
! # of<br />overall seats won
! ±
|-
! 1945
| 3.3
|
|
|-
! 1949
| 2.9
|
| 1
|-
! 1953
| 3.2
|
| 1
|-
! 1956
| 1.9
|
| 1
|-
! 1960
| 1.1
|
| 0
|-
! 1964
| 0.9
|
| 0
|-
! 1968
| 0.5
|
| 0
|-
! 1972
| 0.4
|
| 0
|-
! 1977
| 0.4
|
| 0
|-
! 1982
| 0.5
|
| 0
|-
! 1987
| 0.6
|
| 0
|-
! colspan=6|Source: Parties and Elections in Europe
|-
|}
<small>Note: KPÖ has not contested Landtag elections in Burgenland since 1987.</small>
Carinthia
{| class=wikitable
|-
! colspan=6|Carinthia Landtag
|-
! Election year
! % of<br />overall vote
! # of<br />overall seats won
! ±
|-
! 1945
| 8.1
|
|
|-
! 1949
| 4.0
|
| 2
|-
! 1953
| 4.0
|
| 0
|-
! 1956
| 3.1
|
| 0
|-
! 1960
| 3.0
|
| 0
|-
! 1965
| 2.8
|
| 0
|-
! 1970
| 2.3
|
| 1
|-
! 1975
| 2.0
|
| 0
|-
! 1979
| 1.0
|
| 0
|-
! 1984
| 0.8
|
| 0
|-
! 1989
| 0.6
|
| 0
|-
! 1999
| 0.4
|
| 0
|-
! 2004
| 0.6
|
| 0
|-
! 2009
| 0.5
|
| 0
|-
! 2018
| 0.28
|
| 0
|-
! 2023
| 0.12
|
| 0
|-
! colspan=6|Source: Parties and Elections in Europe
|-
|}
<small>Note: KPÖ did not contest the 1994 or 2013 Landtag elections in Carinthia.</small>
Lower Austria
{| class=wikitable
|-
! colspan=6|Lower Austria Landtag
|-
! Election year
! % of<br />overall vote
! # of<br />overall seats won
! ±
|-
! 1945
| 5.2
|
|
|-
! 1949
| 5.5
|
| 1
|-
! 1954
| 5.8
|
| 0
|-
! 1959
| 2.9
|
| 3
|-
! 1964
| 2.4
|
| 0
|-
! 1969
| 1.0
|
| 0
|-
! 1974
| 1.0
|
| 0
|-
! 1979
| 0.8
|
| 0
|-
! 1983
| 0.8
|
| 0
|-
! 1988
| 0.8
|
| 0
|-
! 1993
| 0.2
|
| 0
|-
! 1998
| 0.6
|
| 0
|-
! 2003
| 0.8
|
| 0
|-
! 2008
| 0.9
|
| 0
|-
! 2013
| 0.8
|
| 0
|-
! 2023
| 0.38
|
| 0
|-
! colspan=6|Source: Parties and Elections in Europe
|}
<small>Note: KPÖ did not contest the 2018 Landtag elections in Lower Austria.</small>
Salzburg
{| class=wikitable
|-
! colspan=6|Salzburg Landtag
|-
! Election year
! % of<br />overall vote
! # of<br />overall seats won
! ±
|-
! 1945
| 3.8
|
|
|-
! 1949
| 3.4
|
| 1
|-
! 1954
| 2.3
|
| 0
|-
! 1959
| 1.8
|
| 0
|-
! 1964
| 1.2
|
| 0
|-
! 1969
| 0.7
|
| 0
|-
! 1974
| 1.2
|
| 0
|-
! 1979
| 0.4
|
| 0
|-
! 1984
| 0.5
|
| 0
|-
! 1989
| 0.5
|
| 0
|-
! 2013
| 0.3
|
| 0
|-
! 2018
| 0.4
|
| 0
|-
! 2023
| 11.7
|
| 4
|-
! colspan=6|Source: Parties and Elections in Europe
|-
|}
<small>Note: KPÖ did not contest Landtag elections in Salzburg between 1989 and 2013.