Socialist Workers' Party (Switzerland)

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The Socialist Workers 'Party (SAP, French Parti Socialiste Ouvrier (PSO), later the Socialist Workers' Party ) was the Swiss section of the Trotskyist Fourth International . It was renamed in 1980 from the Revolutionary Marxist League (RML), French Ligue Marxiste Révolutionnaire (LMR).

Revolutionary Marxist League

The Revolutionary Marxist League emerged in the autumn of 1969 after youth riots as a Trotskyist split from the Swiss Labor Party (PdA) and was mainly recruited from apprentice and student circles. In 1974 she joined the Trotskyist IV International. Together with the Progressive Organizations (POCH) , it was one of the most important groupings of the New Left , which - in contrast to the traditional left-wing parties - also politicized outside parliament with provocations and targeted violations of rules. In terms of numbers, the party was most important around 1975, when it had around 500 members, including around 150 in the canton of Vaud . At that time she took part seriously in elections and won individual mandates at the communal and cantonal level.

Renaming, incorporation and dissolution

In order to demonstrate its solidarity with the world of work and at the same time to counter anti-reflections against terms such as "revolution" and "Marxism", the party gave itself the new name Socialist Workers' Party , abbreviated SAP. It was then that the party gradually moved away from Trotskyism. The federal initiative she launched for secure vocational training and retraining achieved the required number of signatures, but was clearly rejected by the electorate in 1986. In the course of the 1980s there were clear tendencies towards dissolution. The last national congress met in 1987, but the national structures were maintained until 1991. After that, the SAP finally merged into the green alternative feminist movement at both national and cantonal level. Some of the members organized themselves into the organizations SolidaritéS ( Romandie ), Socialist Green Alternative ( Canton Zug ), Socialist Alternative / Solidarity ( Canton Basel-Stadt ) or the Green Alliance (Bern) .

An indirect successor organization, the Movement for Socialism, has existed since 2002. It was founded by former RML / SAP activists and has content-related continuities prior to the dissolution of SAP. She has observer status in the Trotskyist United Secretariat of the Fourth International .

The RML and later the SAP published the newspapers Brèche (French, monthly, later bi-weekly), Bresche (German), Rosso (Italian) and Rojo (Spanish). The breach lasted until 1994 - beyond the end of the party.

literature

  • Peter Gilg: Young people's urge in Swiss politics. Structure, goals and forms of action of political groups of the young generation. Francke, Bern 1974 (= Helvetia politica , Series B, 9). (Pp. 106–115 Revolutionary Marxist League .)
  • Benoît Challand: La Ligue marxiste révolutionnaire en Suisse romande (1969–1980) , Friborg 2000.
  • Jacqueline Heinen: 1968 ... Des années d'espoirs. Regards sur la Ligue marxiste révolutionnaire / Parti socialiste. Lausanne 2018 review

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