Rarely in Austria’s history has a general election been so unpredictable as this Sunday’s vote for the country’s federal parliament. While polls in recent months have shown a head-to-head race between the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), there is also some movement on the long-dormant left wing of the spectrum. The Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) has a realistic chance of returning to parliament for the first time since 1959.

Much of the reason owes to an organizational overhaul that the KPÖ began some three years ago. In June 2021, it elected an entirely new leadership, which shifted the party’s strategic focus toward building local and regional-level structures, as well as providing direct aid to working people.

Since then, through a series of electoral advances in Styria (electing a Communist mayor of Graz), Salzburg, and Innsbruck, the KPÖ has laid the groundwork for the jump to the national parliament. In the process, it has developed the concept of the “useful party.” KPÖ politicians and activists hold “social office hours” where they help constituents navigate government bureaucracies and even provide them with direct financial support. This is made possible by the party’s elected officials, who take home from their salaries only what an average Austrian tradesperson earns (about €2,500 per month) while donating the rest to a social aid fund.