!!!Kommunistische Partei Österreichs, KPÖ

Kommunistische Partei Oesterreichs, KPOe (Communist Party, Austrian): 
Founded on November 3, 1918, emerged from the left wing of the Social 
Democratic Labour Party, took the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 
as a model, did not gain a seat in parliament or government during the 
First Republic (1918-1938), number of voters in 1930: 20,921; member 
of the Communist International from 1913-1943. From 1924 onwards 
(formally from 1927) its leader was J.  Koplenig. The KPOe was 
forbidden on May 26, 1933 but continued operating illegally. It 
advocated the continued existence of Austria and was the main force of 
resistance against the Nazi regime from 1938 to 1945, with about 2,000 
communists falling victim to the National Socialists. Leading 
personalities emigrated into the USSR, later some fought as partisans 
in Yugoslavia. In April 1945 the KPOe became one of the 3 recognised 
political parties and participated in the Provisional Government. In 
the elections on November 25, 1945 it was returned as a small party 
with 4 seats and formed part of the government until 1947. Later it 
did not gain more than 5 seats as an opposition party, even when 
cooperating with the socialists, and its number of seats eventually 
fell to 3 (highest number of voters in 1953: 228,159, i.e. 5,3%). 
Since 1959 it has not been represented in the Nationalrat and has also 
lost its seats in the provincial governments of Vienna, Lower Austria, 
Styria, Carinthia and Burgenland as well as in several local 
governments.

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Under the leadership of J. Koplenig (until 1965) and F.  Muhri (until 
1990) the KPOe advocated Marxist-Leninism. For a long time it defended 
the policies of Stalin and championed the introduction of a people's 
democracy in Austria after 1945 (strikes in October and November 
1950). Around 1950 it made an effort to increase its influence with 
the help of party-affiliated organisations like the "Gewerkschaftliche 
Einheit" group in the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions, the Freie 
Oesterreichische Jugend youth organisation, the Kinderland children's 
organisation, the Bund demokratischer Frauen women's organisation, the 
KZ-Verband (society of concentration camp inmates), Friedensrat (Peace 
Council), Demokratische Union (Democratic Union), but without success. 
After the Prague Spring, around 1968-1971, an ideological schism 
occurred within the party. When "perestroika" started in the Soviet 
Union, younger members took over the leadership in 1985. At the party 
convention in 1990 Susanne Sohn and Walter Silbermayr were elected 
leaders. Despite the opposition of some party factions they tried to 
give the party a new profile and consequently lost one third of their 
members. Since the 28%%sup th/%  party convention of 1991 the 
directing body of the party has consisted of 3 spokespersons and one 
federal secretary (Walter Baier).

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During the allied occupation of Austria (1945-1955) the KPOe relied on 
the USIA companies in the Soviet zone and established an economic 
network of about 50 companies, which later dominated trade with 
Eastern Europe until 1989. This enabled the party to maintain a strong 
apparatus and publish newspapers (daily "Volksstimme", published until 
March 3%%sup rd/% /4%%sup th/% , 1991) in spite of the continuing 
decrease in voters and members (1962: 135,520, 1971: 61,762, 1983: 
31,912, 1990: 25,685, 1995: 13,939 voters). At the same time the 
number of members also declined rapidly due to the fact that many 
members were senior citizens. (1945: 25,000, 1949: 150,000, 1990: 
9,000). 40% of the members come from Vienna, women make up 42%.

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The KPOe is a centrally governed organisation; its major forum is the 
Party Convention, which elects the Central Committee; members of the 
latter are elected into the Political Bureau.

!Literature
H. Steiner, Die KPOe 1918-38, 1965; Die KPOe, Beitraege zu 
ihrer Geschichte und Politik, ed. by the history committee of the KPOe 
Central Committee, %%sup 2/%1989; J. Ehmer, Die KPOe, in: H. Dachs et 
al., Handbuch des politischen Systems Oesterreichs, 1991.


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