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Left Party (Sweden)
Encyclopedia
The Left Party is a socialist and feminist political party
in Sweden
, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists (Vänsterpartiet kommunisterna, VPK).
On welfare issues, the party opposes privatization
s. Moreover, the party opposes Swedish membership of the European Union
and advocates increased public expenditure.
From 1998 to 2006, Vänsterpartiet was in an arrangement with the ruling Social Democrats and the Greens and until 2006 supported the Social Democratic minority government
in the Swedish parliament
, as well as in many of Sweden's counties
and municipalities
.
The Left Party is a member of the Nordic Green Left Alliance
.
in regard to gender. The party thus advocates the creation of a specific Minister of Social Equality, as well as to introduce the teaching of "feminist self-defence" in high school
s.
s, the party want to establish "special employment assistance". Furthermore, it advocates increasing the quality of Swedish for Immigrants education.
, the party supports a two-state solution
based on 1967 border. It calls for freezing EU trade agreements with Israel, ending Swedish military cooperation and arms trade with Israel and advocates a general consumer boycott of Israeli goods
, as means to pressure Israel.
a workers council took control of day-to-day affairs. In Stockholm
soldiers marched together with workers on May Day
. In the upper-class neighbourhood of Stockholm, Östermalm, residents formed paramilitary structures to defend themselves from a possible armed revolution.
The Social Democratic Left Party of Sweden (SSV) was founded following a split in the Social Democratic Party
. The new party was mainly founded by the youth league under the leadership of Zeth Höglund
. SSV was a broad-based socialist party, encompassing many leftist tendencies.
In 1919 SSV became a founding member of the Communist International. A small section of the party left in protest.
, the party name was changed to Sveriges Kommunistiska Parti (Communist Party of Sweden). Liberal and non-revolutionary elements were purged. They regrouped under the name SSV
. In total 6,000 out of 17,000 party members were expelled.
In 1924 Zeth Höglund
, the main leader of the party splits. Höglund was displeased with the development in Moscow
after the death of Lenin, and he founded his own SKP
, independent from the Comintern
. Around 5,000 party members followed Höglund.
On January 23, 1926 – January 24, 1926, SKP organized a trade union conference with delegates representing 80,000 organized workers.
In 1927 SKP organized a conference of De Arbetslösas Landsförening (National Association of the Unemployed), and called for the abolition of the Unemployment Commission (AK).
In 1929 a major split, the largest in the history of the party, took place. Nils Flyg
, Karl Kilbom
, Ture Nerman
, all MPs and the majority of the party membership were expelled by the Comintern. The expelled were called Kilbommare and those loyal to Comintern were called Sillenare (after their leader Hugo Sillén
). Out of 17,300 party members, 4,000 sided with Sillén and ComIntern. Locally conflicts erupted over control of party offices and property. In Stockholm the office of the central organ, held by the Kilbommare, was besieged by ComIntern loyalists. In Gothenburg
fist-fights erupted in a clash over control of the party office. Effectively, the Kilbom-Flyg factions continued to operate their party under the name of SKP
, soon renamed Socialistiska partiet. Notably, they took with them the central organ of the party, Folkets Dagblad Politiken
. SKP started new publications like Ny Dag
and Arbetar-Tidningen
.
Under Sillén's leadership the party adhered to the 'Class against Class'-line, denouncing any co-operation with the Social Democrats. Sven Linderot
, a dynamic young leader, become the party chairman.
The infamous Ådalen shootings
of unarmed demonstrating workers took place in 1931. This development lead to increased labour militancy and new life to the crisis-ridden SKP.
In 1936 the Spanish Civil War
began. SKP and its youth wing sent a sizeable contingent to fight in the International Brigades
. In total around 500 Swedes took part in the brigades, out of them the large majority were communists. A third would never return to Sweden. Simultaneously, an extensive solidarity work for the Spanish Republic and the people of Spain was organized in Sweden.
During the 1930s the party was rebuilt, as the Kilbom-Flyg party crumbled, the party base was enhanced. By 1939 SKP had 19 116 members.
Moreover, the party supported the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
. The Central Committee adopted a declaration in September 1939, which read; "The ruling cliques in England and France have in fear of Bolshevism, in their badly hidden sympathy for Fascism, in fear of workers power in Europe, refused to enter into an agreement with adoptable conditions for the Soviet Union to effectively crush the plans of the warmongers. They have supported the refusal of Poland to accept the Soviet help. The Soviet Union has thus, in clear accordance with its consequent politics of peace, through a non-aggression pact with Germany sought to defend the 170-million people of the first socialist state against Fascist attacks and the bottomless misery of a world war."
When Germany
invaded Norway
in April 1940, SKP took a neutralist stand. In an article in Ny Dag, the German take-over in Norway was described as a "set-back for the British imperialism".
Following orders by the German legation in Stockholm
, several repressive measures were taken by the Swedish government against the party. The main publications were effectively banned (they were banned from transportation, meaning it was illegal to carry the SKP newspapers by any form of vehicle). Key cadres of the party and youth league were detained in camps, officially as a part of their military service. In total 3500 persons were interned at ten different camps, the great majority of them were communists.http://vasterbottensinitiativet.skelleftea.org/document/2005/04/29_1.html Many party activists went underground, including the party chairman. A complete ban on the party was discussed in government circles, but never became effective.
In 1940 the office of the regional party organ in Norrbotten
, Norrskensflamman, was bombed. Five people, including two children, were killed. This constitutes the bloodiest terrorist act in modern Swedish history. One of the financial supporters of the group behind the attack, Paul Wretlind, was a regional leader of the Liberal Party
in Stockholm.
During the war the largest co-ordinated police action in Swedish history took place against the party. 3000 policemen took part in raids on party offices and homes of party members all over the country. However, the raids failed to produce any evidence of any criminal activity of the party.
The party actively supported resistance struggles in Norway
and Denmark
. In northern Sweden, party-affiliated workers stole dynamite from mines and smuggled them to the Norwegian resistance. In other parts, the party gave shelter to antifascist refugees.
As the military fortunes of the Third Reich turned sour, the party regained a strong position in Swedish politics. In the parliamentary elections of 1944 SKP got 10.3% of the votes.
In 1945 there was a nation-wide metalworkers strike, led by SKP.
In the 1946 municipal elections SKP got 11.2% of the votes. Party membership reached its historical peak, 51 000. These developments, along with developments in the international arena and new Soviet policies of peaceful co-existence, led the party to initiate a readjustment of its role in Swedish politics. The electoral gains strengthened the perception that the party would be able to come to power within the parliamentary framework. Likewise the idea of a 'united front' with the Social Democrats gained ground in the innerparty debate. The trade union policy of the party was changed towards a less conflictive position towards the Social Democracy within the trade union movement. These changes met with some resistance in the party ranks.
However, the onset of the Cold War
became a difficult challenge to the party. The electoral gains of the postwar years would not last long. The prime minister Tage Erlander
declared the intention to turn 'every trade union into a battlefield against the communists'.http://www.arbetarmakt.com/mp/nummer1/artikel3.pdf Communists were purged from the trade union movement
. However, the party continued its development of the united front strategy.
and Kristianstad the party had decided to withdraw their lists, in order to ensure that the Social Democrats would not lose the elections. The party leadership argued that communists had to make an effort to "ensure a labour majority in the Riksdag
". Moreover, the two concerned counties were electoral districts where it was highly unlikely that any communist MP would be elected. However, the leftist minority within the party (led by Set Persson
) saw the new line as a capitulation to the Social Democrats.
Another issue concerned the youth league. The party took an initiative to create a broadbased youth movement, looking at similar developments in countries like Finland
. In 1952 Democratic Youth (Demokratisk Ungdom) was founded as a broad youth movement, parallel to the existing Young Communist League of Sweden. The hardliners saw this as dilluting the political character of the youth movement.
An issue of high symbolic importance was the decision of the party to promote joint May Day
rallies with the Social Democrats. Yet another issue was the decision of the party to give financial support to the "labour press", which was essentially in the hands of the Social Democrats.
In 1951 Hilding Hagberg
was elected party chairman.
The intraparty polemic reached its peak at the 1953 party congress. Persson fiercely exposed his criticism, particularly towards the new party chairman Hagberg, whom he branded as an opportunist. Persson was in turn accused of being an egoist, and of wanting to divide and damage the party. Criticism was delivered towards Persson by Knut Senander and Nils Holmberg
, who said that Persson had to be held accountable for lack of political orientation and anti-party actions. Interestingly, both Senander and Holmberg were considered as being part of the leftist section of the party, but on this occasion they appeared as the most firebrand defenders of the party line. Only a handful of delegates defended Persson, and those who did clearly highlighted that they did not fully share Persson's critique of the line of the party leadership. In a highly emotional conclusion of the debate, Persson declared his resignation from the party in a speech to the congress. After his departure a purge was carried out against Persson's followers within the party, out of whom several were expelled.
When Joseph Stalin
died the same year the party organized a memorial function, which was addressed by C.H. Hermansson.
When the Hungarian revolt broke out in 1956, internal party debate surged on what stand the party should take. In the end, the party leadership chose to support the official Soviet line.
In 1964 C.H. Hermansson was elected party chairman. Hermansson came from an academic background, unlike previous party leaders. Hermansson initiated a change in the political direction of the party towards Eurocommunism
and Scandinavia
n Popular Socialism
.
Ahead of the 1967 party congress a heated debate take place. Several distinct tendencies were present. One section wanted to transform the party into a non-communist party, on the lines of the Danish
SF, and thus proposed that the party should change its name to Vänsterpartiet (Left Party). Another section, largely based amongst the trade union cadre of the party, wanted to maintain the communist character of the party and the fraternal bond to the CPSU
. The former party leader Hagberg, who was associated with the pro-Soviet grouping, tried to launch the name Arbetets Parti (Party of Labour), as a compromise. The party leadership came up with another compromise, and the party name was changed to Vänsterpartiet Kommunisterna (VPK, Left Party - the Communists). VPK continued on the Eurocommunist course, but with a loud pro-Soviet minority grouped around Norrskensflamman. In addition there was a small pro-Chinese group led by Bo Gustafsson
and Nils Holmberg, that left the party to form KFML
at the time of the congress. The youth wing broke away, eventually forming MLK.
In 1968 VPK was the first Swedish party to publicly condemn the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia
. The party organized a demonstration outside the Soviet embassy in Stockholm, which was addressed by Hermansson. This disapproval of Soviet aggression was an exception among the Western communist parties. The party line on Czechoslovakia irritated the pro-Soviet minority.
In the municipal elections of 1968, VPK received 3,8% of the votes, the lowest electoral result of the party in the post-war era. Lacking a functioning youth and students wing, the party was unable to capitalize on the international surge of youth radicalism.
At the onset of protests against the U.S. war in Vietnam
, VPK launched the Swedish Vietnam Committee. The Committee raised the demand 'Peace in Vietnam' and appealed for all-party unity on the issue. The Committee was rapidly outmanoeuvered by the United FNL Groups (DFFG), and organization led by KFML
that was actively supporting the armed struggle of the FNL
. Soon, VPK left the Swedish Vietnam Committee and many members became active in DFFG.
In 1970 the youth wing was refounded as Kommunistisk Ungdom (KU).
In 1972 the party shifted towards a more leftist position with the adaptation of a new party programme. The neoleninist tendency emerged as an important section of the party.
In 1975 Lars Werner
was elected party chairman. The runner-up candidate was Rolf Hagel of the pro-Soviet group. Werner was elected with 162 votes at the party congress. Hagel got 74 votes.
In February 1977 the pro-Soviet minority left the party, and founded APK. The founder of APK took with them the newspaper Norrskensflamman and two MPs (Hagel and Alf Löwenborg). Between 1500-2000 VPK members joined APK.
At the party congress in 1978 a section of the party proposed the adoption of a 'Manifest for Democracy'. The proposed text included several passages which criticized on the human rights situation in Eastern Europe. The delegation of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
, attending the congress as a fraternal delegation, lodged a formal complaint and threatened to withdraw from the congress. In the end the Manifest was not adopted by the congress.
In 1990 VPK changed its name to Vänsterpartiet ((v), Left Party) and ceased to be a communist party.
In 1993 Werner resigned. Gudrun Schyman
was elected party chairman.
In the 1994 parliamentary elections the party receives 6.2% of the votes. The prolonged electoral crisis of the party was thus ended. The influence of the party started to grow, especially amongst the youth. In the same year the party was active in the "No"-campaign in the plebiscite on joining the European Union
.
Having passed through a period of severe crisis, the party began to regain public support during the mid-1990s. In retrospect, the main factor behind this shift was not caused by the party itself but by the fact that the Social Democrats had moved considerably towards the right during the preceding years, which had alienated much of its traditional votebank.
At the 1996 party congress, the party declares itself as feminist.
In 1998 the party did its best parliamentary election ever, getting 12% of the votes nationwide. Following the elections the party entered into an arrangement with the Social Democrats and started to support the government from outside.
In 2003 Schyman resigned following tax irregularities. Ulla Hoffmann took over as interim leader.
The 2004 party congress elected Lars Ohly
as the new party chairman. In the end of the year Schyman left the party, becoming a parliamentary independent. Lars Ohly originally called himself a communist, but retracted that statement later.
In the same year, a two-part documentary on the party was broadcasted on the SVT
show Uppdrag Granskning
. The documentary focused mainly on the international relations of party during the post-war era. Following the broadcast, debate surged once again concerning the relations of the party with the ruling parties in the former Socialist Bloc.
On July 19, 2006, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter
revealed that former top spy Stig Bergling
had joined the party, though he left the party later that same year.
In the September 2006 election
, the Left Party got 317,228 votes (5.8%; in 2002: 8.4%) and therefore 22 Riksdag seats (previously 30). In the Elections of 2010
, the party got 5.6% of the votes (334053 votes) 19 seats.
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, from 1967 to 1990 known as the Left Party – The Communists (Vänsterpartiet kommunisterna, VPK).
On welfare issues, the party opposes privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
s. Moreover, the party opposes Swedish membership of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
and advocates increased public expenditure.
From 1998 to 2006, Vänsterpartiet was in an arrangement with the ruling Social Democrats and the Greens and until 2006 supported the Social Democratic minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
in the Swedish parliament
Parliament of Sweden
The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
, as well as in many of Sweden's counties
Counties of Sweden
The Counties of Sweden are the first level administrative and political subdivisions of Sweden. Sweden is divided into 21 counties. The counties were established in 1634 on Count Axel Oxenstierna's initiative, superseding the historical provinces of Sweden to introduce a modern administration...
and municipalities
Municipalities of Sweden
The municipalities of Sweden are the local government entities of Sweden. The current 290 municipalities are organized into 21 counties...
.
The Left Party is a member of the Nordic Green Left Alliance
Nordic Green Left Alliance
The Nordic Green Left Alliance is an alliance of Nordic left-wing parties, founded in Reykjavík, Iceland on February 1, 2004.The member organizations of NGLA are: Left Alliance Left-Green Movement Left Party Socialist Left Party Socialist People's Party Republicans Inuit Ataqatigiit Most of...
.
Feminism
The Left Party claims that Sweden does not have social equalitySocial equality
Social equality is a social state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in a certain respect. At the very least, social equality includes equal rights under the law, such as security, voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, and the...
in regard to gender. The party thus advocates the creation of a specific Minister of Social Equality, as well as to introduce the teaching of "feminist self-defence" in high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
s.
Immigration and integration
For newly arrived refugeeRefugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
s, the party want to establish "special employment assistance". Furthermore, it advocates increasing the quality of Swedish for Immigrants education.
Foreign policy
In regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflictIsraeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
, the party supports a two-state solution
Two-state solution
The two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the consensus solution that is currently under discussion by the key parties to the conflict, most recently at the Annapolis Conference in November 2007...
based on 1967 border. It calls for freezing EU trade agreements with Israel, ending Swedish military cooperation and arms trade with Israel and advocates a general consumer boycott of Israeli goods
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
, as means to pressure Israel.
History
1910s
In 1917 Revolutionary fervour engulfed Sweden. Riots took place in many cities. In VästervikVästervik
Västervik is a city and the seat of Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden with 20,694 inhabitants in 2005.- History :Västervik was first mentioned in 1275. The town was then located at the current location of Gamleby. In 1433 Eric of Pomerania decided to give it a charter and move it to its...
a workers council took control of day-to-day affairs. In Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
soldiers marched together with workers on May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
. In the upper-class neighbourhood of Stockholm, Östermalm, residents formed paramilitary structures to defend themselves from a possible armed revolution.
The Social Democratic Left Party of Sweden (SSV) was founded following a split in the Social Democratic Party
Swedish Social Democratic Party
The Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party, , contesting elections as 'the Workers' Party – the Social Democrats' , or sometimes referred to just as 'the Social Democrats' and most commonly as Sossarna ; is the oldest and largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889...
. The new party was mainly founded by the youth league under the leadership of Zeth Höglund
Zeth Höglund
Carl Zeth "Zäta" Konstantin Höglund was a leading Swedish communist politician, anti-militarist, author, journalist and mayor of Stockholm ....
. SSV was a broad-based socialist party, encompassing many leftist tendencies.
In 1919 SSV became a founding member of the Communist International. A small section of the party left in protest.
1920s
In 1921 in accordance with the 21 theses of the CominternComintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, the party name was changed to Sveriges Kommunistiska Parti (Communist Party of Sweden). Liberal and non-revolutionary elements were purged. They regrouped under the name SSV
Social Democratic Left Party of Sweden (1921)
Social Democratic Left Party of Sweden was a political party formed in 1921, after a split from the main SSV.When the original SSV approved the 21 thesis of the Communist International and thus changing name to SKP in 1921, an anti-ComIntern minority were expelled and founded their own "SSV"....
. In total 6,000 out of 17,000 party members were expelled.
In 1924 Zeth Höglund
Zeth Höglund
Carl Zeth "Zäta" Konstantin Höglund was a leading Swedish communist politician, anti-militarist, author, journalist and mayor of Stockholm ....
, the main leader of the party splits. Höglund was displeased with the development in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
after the death of Lenin, and he founded his own SKP
Communist Party of Sweden (1924)
Communist Party of Sweden was a political party in Sweden led by Zeth Höglund. Höglund broke away from the main SKP in 1924, following disagreements concerning ComIntern policies and functioning. He then set up his own SKP...
, independent from the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
. Around 5,000 party members followed Höglund.
On January 23, 1926 – January 24, 1926, SKP organized a trade union conference with delegates representing 80,000 organized workers.
In 1927 SKP organized a conference of De Arbetslösas Landsförening (National Association of the Unemployed), and called for the abolition of the Unemployment Commission (AK).
Nils Flyg
Nils Svante Flyg was a Swedish Communist politician who turned pro-Nazi during World War II.Nils Flyg was born and raised in Södermalm, a working-class area of Stockholm. Early on he joined the Swedish Social Democratic Party's youth organization, the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League...
, Karl Kilbom
Karl Kilbom
Karl Kilbom was a Swedish Socialist politician.-Youth:As the son of a blacksmith, Karl Kilbom grew up in a working-class family of Walloon origin in the small town of Österby outside Uppsala, where he started working in the steel mills at an early age.In the year 1900, a socialist agitator visited...
, Ture Nerman
Ture Nerman
Ture Nerman was a Swedish socialist. As a journalist and author, he was a well-known political activist in his time. He also wrote poems and songs.Nerman was a vegetarian and a strict teetotaler...
, all MPs and the majority of the party membership were expelled by the Comintern. The expelled were called Kilbommare and those loyal to Comintern were called Sillenare (after their leader Hugo Sillén
Hugo Sillén
Hugo Sillén was a Swedish Communist politician. In the 1929 split of the Communist Party of Sweden, Sillén led the pro-Comintern fraction that expelled Karl Kilbom and the majority of the party members with support of the Comintern that feared Kilbom would support Bukharin's right opposition...
). Out of 17,300 party members, 4,000 sided with Sillén and ComIntern. Locally conflicts erupted over control of party offices and property. In Stockholm the office of the central organ, held by the Kilbommare, was besieged by ComIntern loyalists. In Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
fist-fights erupted in a clash over control of the party office. Effectively, the Kilbom-Flyg factions continued to operate their party under the name of SKP
Socialist Party (Sweden, 1929)
The Socialist Party , initially known as the Communist Party of Sweden , was a political party in Sweden active from 1929 to 1948. The party was founded in 1929 by the major faction of the Communist Party of Sweden, led by Karl Kilbom and Nils Flyg, as the party split into two parties with the same...
, soon renamed Socialistiska partiet. Notably, they took with them the central organ of the party, Folkets Dagblad Politiken
Folkets Dagblad Politiken
Politiken, later named Folkets Dagblad - Politiken was a Swedish Communist newspaper that existed from April 1916 to August 1940....
. SKP started new publications like Ny Dag
Ny Dag
Ny Dag was a Swedish communist newspaper. It became the main organ of the Communist Party of Sweden on January 2, 1930....
and Arbetar-Tidningen
Arbetar-Tidningen
Arbetar-Tidningen was a communist newspaper from Göteborg, Sweden, published 1929-1974. AT was started directly after the 1929 split of the Communist Party of Sweden , when the Kilbom faction took the regional SKP publication Väst-Svenska Kuriren with them. At functioned as the regional...
.
Under Sillén's leadership the party adhered to the 'Class against Class'-line, denouncing any co-operation with the Social Democrats. Sven Linderot
Sven Linderot
Sven Harald Linderot was a Swedish Communist leader. He was born Sven Harald Larsson but changed his surname to Linderot in 1918...
, a dynamic young leader, become the party chairman.
1930s
Ådalen shootings
The Ådalen shootings , was a series of events in and around the sawmill district of Ådalen, Kramfors Municipality, Ångermanland, Sweden, in May 1931...
of unarmed demonstrating workers took place in 1931. This development lead to increased labour militancy and new life to the crisis-ridden SKP.
In 1936 the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
began. SKP and its youth wing sent a sizeable contingent to fight in the International Brigades
International Brigades
The International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
. In total around 500 Swedes took part in the brigades, out of them the large majority were communists. A third would never return to Sweden. Simultaneously, an extensive solidarity work for the Spanish Republic and the people of Spain was organized in Sweden.
During the 1930s the party was rebuilt, as the Kilbom-Flyg party crumbled, the party base was enhanced. By 1939 SKP had 19 116 members.
1940s
The 1939-1945 Second World War was a difficult time for the party. The party was the sole political force in Sweden supporting the Soviet side in the Finnish Winter War, which was frequently used as a pretext for the repression against the party. The party supported Soviet military expansion along its Western border. On July 26, Ny Dag, the main party organ wrote; "The border states have been liberated from their dependence of imperialist superpowers through the help from the great socialist worker's state".Moreover, the party supported the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
. The Central Committee adopted a declaration in September 1939, which read; "The ruling cliques in England and France have in fear of Bolshevism, in their badly hidden sympathy for Fascism, in fear of workers power in Europe, refused to enter into an agreement with adoptable conditions for the Soviet Union to effectively crush the plans of the warmongers. They have supported the refusal of Poland to accept the Soviet help. The Soviet Union has thus, in clear accordance with its consequent politics of peace, through a non-aggression pact with Germany sought to defend the 170-million people of the first socialist state against Fascist attacks and the bottomless misery of a world war."
When Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
invaded Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
in April 1940, SKP took a neutralist stand. In an article in Ny Dag, the German take-over in Norway was described as a "set-back for the British imperialism".
Following orders by the German legation in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, several repressive measures were taken by the Swedish government against the party. The main publications were effectively banned (they were banned from transportation, meaning it was illegal to carry the SKP newspapers by any form of vehicle). Key cadres of the party and youth league were detained in camps, officially as a part of their military service. In total 3500 persons were interned at ten different camps, the great majority of them were communists.http://vasterbottensinitiativet.skelleftea.org/document/2005/04/29_1.html Many party activists went underground, including the party chairman. A complete ban on the party was discussed in government circles, but never became effective.
Norrbotten
Norrbotten is a Swedish province in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland.- Administration :...
, Norrskensflamman, was bombed. Five people, including two children, were killed. This constitutes the bloodiest terrorist act in modern Swedish history. One of the financial supporters of the group behind the attack, Paul Wretlind, was a regional leader of the Liberal Party
Liberal People's Party (Sweden)
The Liberal People's Party is a political party in Sweden. The party advocates social liberalism and is part of the governing centre-right coalition The Alliance, which achieved a majority in the general election of 17 September 2006...
in Stockholm.
During the war the largest co-ordinated police action in Swedish history took place against the party. 3000 policemen took part in raids on party offices and homes of party members all over the country. However, the raids failed to produce any evidence of any criminal activity of the party.
The party actively supported resistance struggles in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. In northern Sweden, party-affiliated workers stole dynamite from mines and smuggled them to the Norwegian resistance. In other parts, the party gave shelter to antifascist refugees.
As the military fortunes of the Third Reich turned sour, the party regained a strong position in Swedish politics. In the parliamentary elections of 1944 SKP got 10.3% of the votes.
In 1945 there was a nation-wide metalworkers strike, led by SKP.
In the 1946 municipal elections SKP got 11.2% of the votes. Party membership reached its historical peak, 51 000. These developments, along with developments in the international arena and new Soviet policies of peaceful co-existence, led the party to initiate a readjustment of its role in Swedish politics. The electoral gains strengthened the perception that the party would be able to come to power within the parliamentary framework. Likewise the idea of a 'united front' with the Social Democrats gained ground in the innerparty debate. The trade union policy of the party was changed towards a less conflictive position towards the Social Democracy within the trade union movement. These changes met with some resistance in the party ranks.
However, the onset of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
became a difficult challenge to the party. The electoral gains of the postwar years would not last long. The prime minister Tage Erlander
Tage Erlander
was a Swedish politician. He was the leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and Prime Minister of Sweden from 1946 to 1969...
declared the intention to turn 'every trade union into a battlefield against the communists'.http://www.arbetarmakt.com/mp/nummer1/artikel3.pdf Communists were purged from the trade union movement
Swedish Trade Union Confederation
The Swedish Trade Union Confederation , commonly referred to as LO, is a national trade union centre, an umbrella organisation for fifteen Swedish trade unions that organise mainly "blue-collar" workers...
. However, the party continued its development of the united front strategy.
1950s
In the 1952 parliamentary by-elections elections in JämtlandJämtland
Jämtland or Jamtland is a historical province or landskap in the center of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders to Härjedalen and Medelpad in the south, Ångermanland in the east, Lapland in the north and Trøndelag and Norway in the west...
and Kristianstad the party had decided to withdraw their lists, in order to ensure that the Social Democrats would not lose the elections. The party leadership argued that communists had to make an effort to "ensure a labour majority in the Riksdag
Parliament of Sweden
The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
". Moreover, the two concerned counties were electoral districts where it was highly unlikely that any communist MP would be elected. However, the leftist minority within the party (led by Set Persson
Set Persson
Set Persson was a Swedish communist leader.Persson was born on March 5, 1897 in Stockholm, but as an orphan he was raised by relatives in Hälsingland. He was a good student in school, but left his studies at the age of 14 to start to work in the railroads. Soon he joined the Social Democratic...
) saw the new line as a capitulation to the Social Democrats.
Another issue concerned the youth league. The party took an initiative to create a broadbased youth movement, looking at similar developments in countries like Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. In 1952 Democratic Youth (Demokratisk Ungdom) was founded as a broad youth movement, parallel to the existing Young Communist League of Sweden. The hardliners saw this as dilluting the political character of the youth movement.
An issue of high symbolic importance was the decision of the party to promote joint May Day
May Day
May Day on May 1 is an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival and usually a public holiday; it is also a traditional spring holiday in many cultures....
rallies with the Social Democrats. Yet another issue was the decision of the party to give financial support to the "labour press", which was essentially in the hands of the Social Democrats.
In 1951 Hilding Hagberg
Hilding Hagberg
Karl Hilding Hagberg was a Swedish communist politician. He was the leader of the Communist Party of Sweden from 1951 to 1964....
was elected party chairman.
The intraparty polemic reached its peak at the 1953 party congress. Persson fiercely exposed his criticism, particularly towards the new party chairman Hagberg, whom he branded as an opportunist. Persson was in turn accused of being an egoist, and of wanting to divide and damage the party. Criticism was delivered towards Persson by Knut Senander and Nils Holmberg
Nils Holmberg
Nils Gösta Holmberg was a communist leader in Sweden. Holmberg was born on December 23, 1902 in Stockholm. Holmberg was a member of the Young Communist League of Sweden . From 1926 to 1929 he was a member of the executive committee of SKU. Later on, the became a leading member of the mother party,...
, who said that Persson had to be held accountable for lack of political orientation and anti-party actions. Interestingly, both Senander and Holmberg were considered as being part of the leftist section of the party, but on this occasion they appeared as the most firebrand defenders of the party line. Only a handful of delegates defended Persson, and those who did clearly highlighted that they did not fully share Persson's critique of the line of the party leadership. In a highly emotional conclusion of the debate, Persson declared his resignation from the party in a speech to the congress. After his departure a purge was carried out against Persson's followers within the party, out of whom several were expelled.
When Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
died the same year the party organized a memorial function, which was addressed by C.H. Hermansson.
When the Hungarian revolt broke out in 1956, internal party debate surged on what stand the party should take. In the end, the party leadership chose to support the official Soviet line.
1960s
Eurocommunism
Eurocommunism was a trend in the 1970s and 1980s within various Western European communist parties to develop a theory and practice of social transformation that was more relevant in a Western European democracy and less aligned to the influence or control of the Communist Party of the Soviet...
and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n Popular Socialism
Popular Socialism
Popular Socialism is a distinct Scandinavian socialist current. Around the world there are many parties called Popular Socialist Party or likewise, which does not really imply any specific ideological direction...
.
Ahead of the 1967 party congress a heated debate take place. Several distinct tendencies were present. One section wanted to transform the party into a non-communist party, on the lines of the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
SF, and thus proposed that the party should change its name to Vänsterpartiet (Left Party). Another section, largely based amongst the trade union cadre of the party, wanted to maintain the communist character of the party and the fraternal bond to the CPSU
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
. The former party leader Hagberg, who was associated with the pro-Soviet grouping, tried to launch the name Arbetets Parti (Party of Labour), as a compromise. The party leadership came up with another compromise, and the party name was changed to Vänsterpartiet Kommunisterna (VPK, Left Party - the Communists). VPK continued on the Eurocommunist course, but with a loud pro-Soviet minority grouped around Norrskensflamman. In addition there was a small pro-Chinese group led by Bo Gustafsson
Bo Gustafsson
Bo Henning Gustafsson was a Swedish athlete who mainly competed in the men's 50 kilometre walk during his career. He competed for Sweden at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, California, where he won the silver medal in the men's 50 kilometre walk event.Gustafsson was a Latter-day Saint...
and Nils Holmberg, that left the party to form KFML
Communist Party of Sweden (1967)
Kommunistiska Förbundet Marxist-Leninisterna was formed at the 1967 party congress of VPK, when a pro-Chinese group left the party.-1967–1980:...
at the time of the congress. The youth wing broke away, eventually forming MLK.
In 1968 VPK was the first Swedish party to publicly condemn the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. The party organized a demonstration outside the Soviet embassy in Stockholm, which was addressed by Hermansson. This disapproval of Soviet aggression was an exception among the Western communist parties. The party line on Czechoslovakia irritated the pro-Soviet minority.
In the municipal elections of 1968, VPK received 3,8% of the votes, the lowest electoral result of the party in the post-war era. Lacking a functioning youth and students wing, the party was unable to capitalize on the international surge of youth radicalism.
At the onset of protests against the U.S. war in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, VPK launched the Swedish Vietnam Committee. The Committee raised the demand 'Peace in Vietnam' and appealed for all-party unity on the issue. The Committee was rapidly outmanoeuvered by the United FNL Groups (DFFG), and organization led by KFML
Communist Party of Sweden (1967)
Kommunistiska Förbundet Marxist-Leninisterna was formed at the 1967 party congress of VPK, when a pro-Chinese group left the party.-1967–1980:...
that was actively supporting the armed struggle of the FNL
National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam
The Vietcong , or National Liberation Front , was a political organization and army in South Vietnam and Cambodia that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War . It had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized...
. Soon, VPK left the Swedish Vietnam Committee and many members became active in DFFG.
1970s
In 1972 the party shifted towards a more leftist position with the adaptation of a new party programme. The neoleninist tendency emerged as an important section of the party.
In 1975 Lars Werner
Lars Werner
Lars Helge Werner is a Swedish politician. A construction worker by profession, he was elected the chairman of the Left Party - Communists in 1975 and was a member of the Swedish parliament from 1965 to 1994. During his time as party leader, in 1990, the party changed its name to the Left Party,...
was elected party chairman. The runner-up candidate was Rolf Hagel of the pro-Soviet group. Werner was elected with 162 votes at the party congress. Hagel got 74 votes.
In February 1977 the pro-Soviet minority left the party, and founded APK. The founder of APK took with them the newspaper Norrskensflamman and two MPs (Hagel and Alf Löwenborg). Between 1500-2000 VPK members joined APK.
At the party congress in 1978 a section of the party proposed the adoption of a 'Manifest for Democracy'. The proposed text included several passages which criticized on the human rights situation in Eastern Europe. The delegation of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
, attending the congress as a fraternal delegation, lodged a formal complaint and threatened to withdraw from the congress. In the end the Manifest was not adopted by the congress.
1990s
In 1993 Werner resigned. Gudrun Schyman
Gudrun Schyman
Gudrun Schyman is a Swedish politician. She served as leader of the Swedish Left Party from 1993 until January 2003. She remained a member of the Left Party until 2004, when she left to focus entirely on her feminist political work...
was elected party chairman.
In the 1994 parliamentary elections the party receives 6.2% of the votes. The prolonged electoral crisis of the party was thus ended. The influence of the party started to grow, especially amongst the youth. In the same year the party was active in the "No"-campaign in the plebiscite on joining the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
Having passed through a period of severe crisis, the party began to regain public support during the mid-1990s. In retrospect, the main factor behind this shift was not caused by the party itself but by the fact that the Social Democrats had moved considerably towards the right during the preceding years, which had alienated much of its traditional votebank.
At the 1996 party congress, the party declares itself as feminist.
In 1998 the party did its best parliamentary election ever, getting 12% of the votes nationwide. Following the elections the party entered into an arrangement with the Social Democrats and started to support the government from outside.
2000s
In the 2002 parliamentary elections the voteshare of the party dropped by 3% to a total of 8.3%. Simultaneously the Social Democrats regained 3%.The 2004 party congress elected Lars Ohly
Lars Ohly
Lars-Magnus Harald Christoffer Ohly is a Swedish politician, currently serving as party chairman of the Swedish Left Party, in August 2011 Ohly announced his resignation. He was elected party chairman on 20 February 2004, succeeding Ulla Hoffmann....
as the new party chairman. In the end of the year Schyman left the party, becoming a parliamentary independent. Lars Ohly originally called himself a communist, but retracted that statement later.
In the same year, a two-part documentary on the party was broadcasted on the SVT
Sveriges Television
Sveriges Television AB , Sweden's Television, is a national television broadcaster based in Sweden, funded by a compulsory fee to be paid by all television owners...
show Uppdrag Granskning
Uppdrag granskning
Uppdrag granskning is a Swedish television program focusing on investigative journalism. The program is produced by and aired on SVT and has become known for the use of concealed cameras and microphones....
. The documentary focused mainly on the international relations of party during the post-war era. Following the broadcast, debate surged once again concerning the relations of the party with the ruling parties in the former Socialist Bloc.
On July 19, 2006, Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter
Dagens Nyheter
is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It has the largest circulation of Swedish morning newspapers, followed by Göteborgs-Posten and Svenska Dagbladet, and is the only morning newspaper that is distributed to subscribers across the whole country. In 2009 DN had a circulation of 316,000, reaching 881...
revealed that former top spy Stig Bergling
Stig Bergling
Stig Svante Eugen Bergling, later Sandberg and Sydholt is a former police officer who spied for the Soviet Union.- Espionage and conviction :...
had joined the party, though he left the party later that same year.
In the September 2006 election
Swedish general election, 2006
A general election was held in Sweden on 17 September 2006, to elect members to the Swedish parliament. All 349 seats were up for election: 310 "fixed seats" in 29 constituencies and 39 members at a national level for what are called "adjustment seats", used to ensure that parties have...
, the Left Party got 317,228 votes (5.8%; in 2002: 8.4%) and therefore 22 Riksdag seats (previously 30). In the Elections of 2010
Swedish general election, 2010
A general election to the Riksdag, parliament of Sweden, was held on . The main contenders of the election were the governing centre-right coalition the Alliance and the oppositional centre-left Red-Greens coalition A general election to the Riksdag, parliament of Sweden, was held on . The main...
, the party got 5.6% of the votes (334053 votes) 19 seats.
Splits
During its history, there has been several splits of various significance:- 1919: a group opposed to joining ComInternCominternThe Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
leaves the party. - 1921: a group refusing to go along with the name-change to SKP is expelled. They form their own party, called SSV.
- 1924: Zeth HöglundZeth HöglundCarl Zeth "Zäta" Konstantin Höglund was a leading Swedish communist politician, anti-militarist, author, journalist and mayor of Stockholm ....
splits, and forms his own SKPCommunist Party of Sweden (1924)Communist Party of Sweden was a political party in Sweden led by Zeth Höglund. Höglund broke away from the main SKP in 1924, following disagreements concerning ComIntern policies and functioning. He then set up his own SKP...
. - 1929: Leader Karl KilbomKarl KilbomKarl Kilbom was a Swedish Socialist politician.-Youth:As the son of a blacksmith, Karl Kilbom grew up in a working-class family of Walloon origin in the small town of Österby outside Uppsala, where he started working in the steel mills at an early age.In the year 1900, a socialist agitator visited...
and the majority of the party are expelled by the Comintern. Kilbom forms a parallel SKPSocialist Party (Sweden, 1929)The Socialist Party , initially known as the Communist Party of Sweden , was a political party in Sweden active from 1929 to 1948. The party was founded in 1929 by the major faction of the Communist Party of Sweden, led by Karl Kilbom and Nils Flyg, as the party split into two parties with the same...
. - 1956: Set PerssonSet PerssonSet Persson was a Swedish communist leader.Persson was born on March 5, 1897 in Stockholm, but as an orphan he was raised by relatives in Hälsingland. He was a good student in school, but left his studies at the age of 14 to start to work in the railroads. Soon he joined the Social Democratic...
forms the Communist Labour League of SwedenCommunist Labour League of SwedenThe Sveriges Kommunistiska Arbetarförbund was formed in 1956 by a group of Stalinist hardliners who left or were expelled from the SKP during the 1950s. This group had earlier formed "Marxist circles", in which some SKP militants participated secretly...
. - 1967: Pro-ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
elements form KFMLCommunist Party of Sweden (1967)Kommunistiska Förbundet Marxist-Leninisterna was formed at the 1967 party congress of VPK, when a pro-Chinese group left the party.-1967–1980:...
. - 1977: Pro-MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
wing breaks away, forms Workers Party - Communists
Party Leaders
- Carl WinbergCarl WinbergCarl Winberg was a Swedish Communist leader.Winberg was the organizer of the Swedish rail workers’ union and a member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party...
, 1917 - Zeth HöglundZeth HöglundCarl Zeth "Zäta" Konstantin Höglund was a leading Swedish communist politician, anti-militarist, author, journalist and mayor of Stockholm ....
, 1917, 1919–1924 - Ernst Åström, 1918
- Karl KilbomKarl KilbomKarl Kilbom was a Swedish Socialist politician.-Youth:As the son of a blacksmith, Karl Kilbom grew up in a working-class family of Walloon origin in the small town of Österby outside Uppsala, where he started working in the steel mills at an early age.In the year 1900, a socialist agitator visited...
, 1918, 1921–1923 - Nils FlygNils FlygNils Svante Flyg was a Swedish Communist politician who turned pro-Nazi during World War II.Nils Flyg was born and raised in Södermalm, a working-class area of Stockholm. Early on he joined the Swedish Social Democratic Party's youth organization, the Swedish Social Democratic Youth League...
, 1924–1929 - Sven LinderotSven LinderotSven Harald Linderot was a Swedish Communist leader. He was born Sven Harald Larsson but changed his surname to Linderot in 1918...
, 1929–1951 - Hilding HagbergHilding HagbergKarl Hilding Hagberg was a Swedish communist politician. He was the leader of the Communist Party of Sweden from 1951 to 1964....
, 1951–1964 - C.-H. Hermansson, 1964–1975
- Lars WernerLars WernerLars Helge Werner is a Swedish politician. A construction worker by profession, he was elected the chairman of the Left Party - Communists in 1975 and was a member of the Swedish parliament from 1965 to 1994. During his time as party leader, in 1990, the party changed its name to the Left Party,...
, 1975–1993 - Gudrun SchymanGudrun SchymanGudrun Schyman is a Swedish politician. She served as leader of the Swedish Left Party from 1993 until January 2003. She remained a member of the Left Party until 2004, when she left to focus entirely on her feminist political work...
, 1993–2003 - Ulla Hoffmann (acting), 2003–2004
- Lars OhlyLars OhlyLars-Magnus Harald Christoffer Ohly is a Swedish politician, currently serving as party chairman of the Swedish Left Party, in August 2011 Ohly announced his resignation. He was elected party chairman on 20 February 2004, succeeding Ulla Hoffmann....
2004-
See also
- Ung Vänster
- Vänstern i Svenska kyrkanVänstern i Svenska kyrkanLeft-wing in the Swedish Church is a nominating group of consisting of members of the Left Party that work within the Church of Sweden. In 2001 the Left Party had decided to participate with their own list for the Church Assembly elections...
- Referendums in SwedenReferendums in SwedenSince the introduction of parliamentarism in Sweden, six referendums have been held. The constitution of 1974 provides for binding referendums. However, none of the referendums held have been binding but rather have been of an advisory and consultative nature and not formally binding on the...
- Democratic Farmers League of SwedenDemocratic Farmers League of SwedenThe Democratic Farmers League of Sweden was an organization of farmers in Sweden.SDJ was founded in February 1918, at a congress with delegates from different parts of the country. The Cultivators' League merged into SDJ...
- ABFArbetarnas BildningsförbundArbetarnas bildningsförbund is the educational section of the Swedish labour movement. ABF conducts seminars, classes and study circles on all kinds of subjects, including workshops, languages and music....
Publications
- Blekinge Folkblad (1943-1957)
- Bohustidningen (1946-1948)
- Borås Folkblad (1943-1957)
- Dalarnes Folkblad (1917-1925)
- Dalarnes Folkblad (1940-1956)
- Folkviljan (1942-1957)
- Folkviljan (1980-1989)
- Gästriklands Folkblad (1921-1922)
- Hälsingekuriren (1919-1923)
- Kalmar Läns-Kuriren (1923-1942)
- Norra Småland (1918-1923)
- Norrlandskuriren (1922)
- Norrskensflamman (1906-1977)
- Piteåbygden (1920)
- Röda Röster (1919-1930)
- Skånes Folkblad (1918-1922)
- Smålandsfolket (1940)
- Örebro Läns Arbetartidning (1940-1956)
- Örebro Läns Folkblad (1919-1920)
- Övre Dalarnes Tidning (1917-1920)