Yet in the 2011 elections – well after austerity had begun to bite – the Communist-Green alliance made only a minimal gain, going from 15 seats to 16. At the same time, the Left Bloc (a loose alliance of Trotskyists and former Maoists) saw its representation halved from 16 seats to 8.
The winners were the right, who also turfed the ruling Socialist Party out of government.
In short, a mass Marxist party is not necessarily indicative of either a high level of political consciousness or an ability to resist austerity – which has been even more painful in Portugal than here because social services were at a lower level to begin with.
Very often, and Portugal is a good example of this, the relative strength of the political parties in a country tells us more about its history than it does about its present. People join the PCP from family tradition there in much the same way as they (used to?) join Fianna Fáil here.