Communist Party of Austria

Communist Party of Austria
Kommunistische Partei Österreichs
AbbreviationKPÖ
LeaderGünther Hopfgartner
General SecretaryFlorian Birngruber
Founded3 November 1918
Headquarters
  • Drechslergasse 42
  • A-1140 Vienna
Newspaper
(1945–1991)
Youth wingYoung Left
Membership (2004)3,500
Ideology
Political positionFar-left
National affiliationKPÖ Plus
European affiliationParty of the European Left
International affiliationIMCWP
Colours
  •     Red and black
  •   Maroon (customary)
National Council
0 / 183
Federal Council
0 / 60
European Parliament
0 / 20
Governorships
0 / 9
Landtag seats
6 / 440
Website
kpoe.at

The Communist Party of Austria (German: Kommunistische Partei Österreichs, KPÖ) is a communist party in Austria. Established in 1918 as the Communist Party of German-Austria (KPDÖ), it is one of the world's oldest communist parties. The KPÖ was banned between 1933 and 1945 under both the Austrofascist regime and the Nazi German administration of Austria after the 1938 Anschluss.

The party currently holds two seats in the Styrian and four seats in the Salzburg Landtag (state parliament), but has not had representation in the National Council (Nationalrat, Austria's federal parliament) since 1959. In the legislative election held on 29 September 2019, it won only 0.7% of the votes (32,736 out of a total of 4,835,469), well below the 4% minimum to obtain seats in the National Council. The party's vote share increased markedly to 2.4% in 2024, although still falling below the threshold. At the local level, the KPÖ has held the mayorship of Graz, Austria's second largest city, since 2021, and holds over 130 seats on district and municipal councils across the country.

It is part of the New European Left Forum (NELF) and the Party of the European Left.