Due to a continuing fall in support in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the party flirted briefly with a rightward move towards eurocommunism and democratic socialism. This, in turn, provoked the protest of the party's core supporters, who saw little difference to social democracy, and feared a weakening of the communist cause. Following the reforms, more than one third of the party's members left. The leadership of the KPÖ eventually backtracked from these changes, and the party restored the connections to the CPSU.