The dominant story of the Western left in the last two years has been decline from the high watermark of post-crash electoral radicalism. From Syriza to Podemos, parties have fallen short of either winning power or delivering in office — or, in the recent case of Germany’s Die Linke, slid backward from already weak positions. Left organizations are dealing simultaneously with the rapid escalation of structural crises from public health to the environment to geopolitics, huge changes in their operating environment, and the limits of their current support base.

But there is another story in Europe, of smaller left parties on a quieter rise. In Belgium’s last election, while anti-immigrant Vlaams Belang rose to become the second largest party in wealthy Flanders, the poorer Wallonia region saw a surge for the Belgian Workers’ Party (PTB). Swedish prime minister–designate Magdalena Andersson will require the Left Party’s support to pass a budget, and the Socialist Left Party has a similarly decisive role in Norway, even though neither of these parties are in government. And this month in Denmark, the Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten) — a party comprised of socialists, communists, trade unionists, and environmentalists — celebrated its best ever results in municipal elections.

One major story in Denmark’s November 16 elections was a good night for the mainstream right at the expense of further-right anti-immigrant forces. But on the Left, the Red-Green Alliance continued its trend of outflanking the Social Democrats, who lead the national government. In the Frederiksberg municipality, adjacent to the capital, the party beat the center-left Social Democrats by over 6 percent.