The USSR and the Fate of Austrian Communism 1944-1956

Abstract

The essay focuses on post-war Stalinist policies towards Austria as a laboratory for strengthening Communist influence in a country on the Cold War border line. In 1945 Moscow instructed the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) to pursue a cautious national- front policy. Indeed, the strong distrust of a large part of the Austrian population towards Communism combined with Soviet post-war crimes in Austria contributed to the KPÖ’s electoral disaster in November 1945. From 1947 on, the KPÖ switched to a more confrontational line as was later pursued by the Kominformburo. While Soviet support for the KPÖ was strong enough to cement the latter’s image as a «Soviet party», it was never strong enough to bring the KPÖ to power.