The Left Party ( , V) is a socialist political party in Sweden. On economic issues, the party opposes privatisation and advocates for increased public expenditures. In foreign policy, the party is Eurosceptic, being critical of the European Union, NATO, and opposing Sweden's entry into the eurozone. It attempted to get Sweden to join the Non-Aligned Movement in 1980, but did not succeed. The party is eco-socialist and supports republicanism. It stands on the left wing of the political spectrum. See also
The party originates from the split of the Social Democrats in 1917, into the Swedish Social Democratic Left Party ( ; SSV), becoming the Communist Party of Sweden in 1921. In 1967, the party was renamed to Left Party – the Communists ( ; VPK); it adopted its current name in 1990. The Left Party is a member of the Nordic Green Left Alliance, and its two MEPs sit in The Left in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) group. In 2018, the party joined "Now the People !". It is also part of the European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet, a European political party that supports an alternative to capitalism.
The party has never been part of a government at the national level; however, it has lent parliamentary support to governments led in the Riksdag by the Swedish Social Democratic Party. From 1998 to 2006, the Left Party, together with the Green Party, was in a confidence and supply arrangement with the ruling Social Democratic Persson cabinet. Between 2014 and 2019, it supported the Löfven I cabinet of Social Democrats and Greens in the Riksdag, extending this cooperation to many of Sweden's counties and municipalities, and from 2019 to 2021, until the outset of the 2021 Swedish government crisis, it offered passive support to the Löfven II cabinet formed under the January Agreement, though disagreeing with some of the policies mandated by the Agreement.
History
1910s Revolutionary fervour engulfed Sweden in 1917. Riots took place in many cities. In Västervik, 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 party originated as a split from the Swedish Social Democratic Party in 1917, as the Swedish Social Democratic Left Party (Sveriges socialdemokratiska vänsterparti, SSV). The split occurred when the Social Democratic Party did not support the 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia, whereas the SSV did support the Bolsheviks. Another reason for the split was the opposition to Social Democratic cooperation with the Liberals and increasing militarism. The SSV brought with them 15 of the 87 Social Democratic members of parliament and the party's youth wing. Many of the breakaways were inspired by Lenin's revolutionary Bolsheviks, others by libertarian socialism. Almost all SSV leaders eventually returned to the Social Democrats (SAP), but the foundation was laid for a party on the left wing of the labor movement.
1920s In 1921, in accordance with the 21 theses of the Comintern, the party name was changed to Communist Party of Sweden ( , SKP ). Liberal and non-revolutionary elements were purged, later regrouping under the name SSV. In total, 6,000 out of 17,000 party members were expelled.
Zeth Höglund, the main leader of the party during the split from the Social Democrats, himself left the party in 1924. Höglund was displeased with developments in Moscow after the death of Vladimir Lenin, and thus he founded his own Communist Party, independent from the Comintern. Around 5,000 party members followed Höglund.
On 23 and 24 January 1926, the SKP organized a trade union conference with delegates representing 80,000 organized workers. This was followed in 1927 by a conference of the National Association of the Unemployed, where the party 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 the Comintern were called Sillenare (after their leader Hugo Sillén). Out of 17,300 party members, 4,000 sided with Sillén and the Comintern. Conflicts erupted locally over control of party offices and property. In Stockholm, the office of the central organ, held by the Kilbommare, was besieged by Comintern loyalists. Fist-fights erupted in Gothenburg in a clash over control of the party office. Effectively, the Kilbom-Flyg factions continued to operate their party under the name of Socialist Party, soon renamed Socialistiska partiet. Notably, they took with them the central media organ of the party, Folkets Dagblad Politiken. The SKP started new publications, including 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.
1930s The infamous Ådalen shootings of unarmed demonstrating workers took place in 1931. This development led to increased labour militancy and gave new life to the crisis-ridden SKP.
The Spanish Civil War began in 1936. The SKP and its youth wing sent a sizeable contingent to fight in the International Brigades. 520 Swedes took part in the brigades and 164 of them died there. Simultaneously, extensive solidarity work for the Second 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 Second World War (1939–1945) was a difficult time for the SKP. The party was the sole political force in Sweden supporting the Soviet Union in the Winter War, which was frequently used as a pretext for the repression against the party. The SKP also supported Soviet military expansion along its Western border. Ny Dag, the main party organ, wrote on 26 July: "The border states have been liberated from their dependence on imperialist superpowers through the help of the great socialist worker's state."
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 conditions acceptable to the Soviet Union to effectively crush the plans of the warmongers. They have supported the Poland's refusal to accept Soviet help. The Soviet Union has thus, in clear accordance with its consequent policy 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."Arbetar-Tidningen, nr 36, 8–14 September 1939, cited in 14:e nordiska konferensen för medie- och kommunikationsforskning. Kungälv 14-17 augusti 1999.
When Nazi Germany invaded Norway in April 1940, the SKP took a neutral stance. In an article in Ny Dag, the German takeover in Norway was described as a "setback for British imperialism".Ny Dag, April 1940, cited in Vänsterpartiets fastigheter betalades av Sovjet och DDR
Following orders by the German delegation in Stockholm, the Swedish government took several repressive measures against the party. The main publications were effectively proscribed (they were banned from transportation, meaning it was illegal to carry SKP newspapers in 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 people were interned at ten different camps, the great majority of them communists. Many party activists went underground, including the chairman. A complete ban on the party was discussed in government circles, but never came into effect.Karl Molin. Hemmakriget – Om den svenska krigsmaktens åtgärder mot kommunister under andra världskriget. (1982)
In 1940, the office of the regional party organ in Norrbotten, Norrskensflamman, was bombed. Five people, including two children, were killed. This constitutes the deadliest terrorist act committed in Sweden in the twentieth century. 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. 3,000 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 by 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 anti-fascist refugees.
As the military fortunes of the Third Reich waned, the party regained a strong position in Swedish politics. In the parliamentary elections of 1944, SKP got 10.3% of the vote.
In 1945, there was a nationwide metal workers' strike, led by SKP.
In the 1946 municipal elections, the SKP received 11.2% of the vote. Party membership reached its historical peak, at 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 re-adjustment 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 intra-party debates. The party's trade union policy was changed to adopt a less combative position towards 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 post-war years would not last long. The prime minister Tage Erlander declared his intention to turn "every trade union into a battlefield against the communists". Communists were purged from the trade union movement. However, the party continued its development of the united front strategy.
1950s In the 1952 parliamentary by-elections in Jämtland and Kristianstad, the party decided to withdraw its 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 the initiative to create a broad-based 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 hard-liners saw this as diluting the political character of the movement.
An issue of high symbolic importance was the party's decision to promote joint May Day rallies with the Social Democrats. Yet another issue was the decision to give financial support to the "labour press", which was essentially in the hands of the Social Democrats.
In March 1951, Hilding Hagberg became party chairman.