Vänsterpartiet
| Vänsterpartiet Left Party |
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|---|---|
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| Party leader | Jonas Sjöstedt |
| Secretary General | Aron Etzler |
| founding | 1917 |
| Headquarters | Stockholm |
| Youth organization | Ung Vänster |
| Alignment |
Democratic socialism , feminism , EU skepticism left populism |
| Colours) | red |
| Parliament seats |
28/349 |
| Number of members | 12,800 |
| MEPs |
1/21 |
| European party | Nordic Green-Left Alliance (NGLA) |
| EP Group | United European Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE / NGL) |
| Website | www.vansterpartiet.se |
Vänsterpartiet ( V for short , German Left Party ) is a political party represented in the Swedish Reichstag that represents socialist positions. The party chairman has been Jonas Sjöstedt since January 6, 2012 . The party rose in the 2018 Reichstag election by 2.3 percentage points to 8.0%.
history
The Left Party was formed in 1917 by a group of socialists excluded from the Social Democratic Party under the name Sveriges socialdemokratiska vänsterparti (Swedish Social Democratic Left Party). At the 1921 party congress, all anti-Leninist party members were expelled and the party changed its name to Sveriges kommunistiska parti (Communist Party of Sweden). Further internal disputes led to waves of exclusion from the groups around Zeth Höglund in 1924 and Karl Kilbom in 1929 (he then founded the Socialist Party ). From 1924 until after the Second World War , the party's work was more or less determined by Comintern politics .
After Stalin's death and the split between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China , the party experienced fierce wing battles that led to the establishment of further communist parties in Sweden. From the mid-1960s, reform work began within the party, which aimed at a more independent position. In 1967 there was also another name change, this time - under pressure from the Eurocommunist wing - in Vänsterpartiet kommunisterna (Left Party Communists). One now basically professed parliamentary democracy as a form of government and strived for an unification of all socialist forces. In 1977 some orthodox communist members split off, and they then formed the Arbetarpartiet Kommunisterna (German Communist Workers' Party).
The development towards a left alternative became clear in the deletion of the term “communists” in the party name in 1990. The party program defined the party as socialist and feminist . The assumption of party chairmanship by the popular Gudrun Schyman and a clear stance on the EU question in contrast to most other parties led to the Left Party's best election result in its history in 1998. This also initiated close parliamentary cooperation with the social democratic minority government.
After 1998, however, Gudrun Schyman became increasingly controversial in her role as party leader. It was accused more and more of neglecting the principles of the party and getting too close to the Social Democrats. This was also reflected in the opinion polls: if a good 16% had voted for the party in December 2000, in the 2002 Reichstag election it was only a good 8% who gave the party their trust. This initial setback for Schyman was compounded when she was accused of tax fraud in January 2003 for seeking deductions on her tax return that were not recognized by the tax authorities.
After Gudrun Schyman's resignation, Lars Ohly became party chairman after a brief interlude . The choice of Lars Ohly was not without controversy within the party. Shortly before his election as chairman (in which he received 192 of 222 votes) a group had formed within the party called “Vägval Vänster” (German for “course determination left”). It existed until 2009 and campaigned for a reform of the entire left political spectrum. Representatives of Trotskyist groups, the Social Democrats, the Greens down to the left middle class should work out new future prospects. Ohly came into the line of fire for the first time when Swedish TV SVT broadcast a report on the Vänsterpartiet in 2004 in which Ohly openly described himself as a communist and in which the party was accused of being a refuge of communism with Soviet characteristics. Vägval Vänster was given a great deal of space on this television show, and the group's leaders were ready to portray Ohly as a Soviet communist. Lars Ohly defended the term communist on the grounds that he was not striving for a communism of the Soviet nature, but rather a communism in the sense of a "classless society".
However, a more balanced report from 2006 corrected the image of a “communist” Vänsterpartiet. The journalist Dan Josefsson had come to the conclusion that the Vänsterpartiet could by no means be described as communist, but that it basically represents a program that is based on the principles of John Maynard Keynes , i. H. a commitment to the market economy, in which the state should take a more active role in economic policy. The call to fight unemployment with 200,000 new jobs in the public sector must also be seen in this context. Lars Ohly later revoked his commitment to communism.
The Left Party has long rejected Sweden's EU membership and advocated the country's exit. In February 2019, the assembly of delegates approved the deletion of the corresponding point in the party manifesto with 41 to 30 votes. Rather, it is now mentioned that leaving the European Union is currently not part of politics.
Reichstag elections
1921 Introduction of the right to vote for women, data refer to elections to the Second Chamber until 1968. Information from Statistiska Centralbyrån .
Party leader
- between 1917 and 1921 there was no party leader
- 1921–1924 Zeth Höglund
- 1921–1923 Karl Kilbom
- 1924-1929 Nils Flyg
- 1929–1951 Sven Linderot
- 1951–1964 Hilding Hagberg
- 1964–1975 Carl-Henrik Hermansson
- 1975–1993 Lars Werner
- 1993-2003 Gudrun Schyman
- 2003-2004 Ulla Hoffmann
- 2004–2012 Lars Ohly
- 2012– Jonas Sjöstedt
literature
- Armin Pfahl-Traughber: From “Sweden's Communist Party” to “The Left Party” of Sweden. Condition factors of the democratization development in a historical perspective. In: Armin Pfahl-Traughber (Ed.): Yearbook for Research on Extremism and Terrorism 2015/2016 (II). Brühl 2016, pp. 129–157.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Party executive committee vansterpartiet.se, accessed June 24, 2012
- ↑ "Vänsterpartiet under Gudrun Schyman"
- ↑ "Gudrun Schyman avgår"
- ↑ "Lars Ohlys syn på democracy - Uppdrag Granskning"
- ↑ "Lars Ohly - Vänsterns val" ( Memento of the original on 11 January 2005 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ "Vänsterspöket - Document inifrån"
- ↑ Sweden's Left Party drops 'Swexit' policy ahead of EU vote
- ↑ How Brexit prevented Swexit
- ↑ Historical election statistics ( Memento of the original from July 17, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Statistiska Centralbyrån, accessed on July 12, 2012
Web links
- Vänsterpartiet official website
