| Socialist Left Party Sosialistisk Venstreparti |
|
|---|---|
| Leader | Kristin Halvorsen |
| Deputy leader | Audun Lysbakken Bí¥rd Vegar Solhjell |
| Parliamentary leader | Bí¥rd Vegar Solhjell |
| Founded | 1975 |
| Headquarters | Akersgata 35, Oslo |
| Youth wing | Socialist Youth |
| Membership | 9,500 (2008)[1] |
| Ideology | Democratic socialism, Eco-socialism, Euroscepticism, Social democracy[2] |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| National affiliation | Red-Green Coalition |
| International affiliation | None |
| European affiliation | Nordic Green Left Alliance |
| Official colours | Red, Green |
| Parliament: | ![]() |
| Counties: | ![]() |
| Municipalities: | ![]() |
| Website | |
| http://www.sv.no/ | |
| Politics of Norway Political parties Elections |
|
Socialist Left Party (Norwegian: Sosialistisk Venstreparti (SV), Northern Sami: Sosialistalas Gurutbellodat) is a Norwegian left-wing democratic socialist politicial party and the leading party to the left of the Norwegian Labour Party. Since 2005 the party has been a member of the Red-Green Coalition with the Labour and the Centre Party. The party currently has 11 Members of Parliament, a decrease by four from the earlier election. The party was founded in 1975 by a merger of the Socialist People's Party, Democratic Socialists - AIK, long-standing members of the Norwegian Communist Party and independent socialists. Kristin Halvorsen is currently the party leader; she took office in 1997 succeeding Erik Solheim as leader.
The party is officially committed to left-wing socialist ideals. Socialist Left, along with its predecessors, has met with varying support. The reasoning behind this is that it has to compete with the much larger Norwegian Labour Party, which is the largest party in Norway. The party's main principles are mixed economic management, feminism, education and social welfare, which allows for a strong public sector and according to them, economic equality.
The party has experienced a decrease in popular support after becoming a member of the Red-Green Coalition. By 2009, the party's involvement in the coalition was reduced after losing more voters after the 2009 parliamentary election.
Contents |
The Socialist Left are a left-wing party like both of its predecessors, the Socialist People's Party and the Democratic socialists - AIK, which favours the welfare state and taxation upon the wealthy. Former leader of the Socialist People's Party, Finn Gustavsen, he believed that the Norwegian Labour Party were not "socialists", and the only socialist force in parliament were members from the Socialist Electoral League. He was one of the main opponents of Norwegian membership in the European Community (EC), saying the organization showed how "evil and stupid" capitalism really was.[3] According to their official webpage, this is a belief the party still holds.[4] According to a measurement poll done in 2002, One out of four members in the Socialist Left wanted Norway to join the European Union.[5]
During the 2001 parliamentary election the party's election program said the party was a "socialist party" with a vision of a Norway without social injustice.[6] Since its inception, the party has continued promoting itself as socialists.[7] In later years, the party has been portrayed as "social democrats" by the Norwegian left and right-wing media,[8][9][10][11][12] and as democratic socialists.[13] The party has also been listed as an eco-socialist party by media abroad.[14]
The present Deputy Leader of the Socialist Left, Audun Lysbakken, is a self-proclaimed revolutionary, socialist and marxist. He wants to abolish the current capitalist system in Norway, and therefore believes that removing capitalism would lead to less poverty in Norway and the world. When asked how this would work, Lysbakken replied "Is there one thing that history has taught us left-wingers, is sitting with complete social models and maps to help the few with power to build a new society, is terribly dangerous. And not very realistic either".[15] While still a self-proclaimed marxist and revolutionary, he believed the party to be a democratic socialist one.[16]
Education, has been one of their main campaign issues since Kristin Halvorsen became party leader.[17] í˜ystein Djupedal, was elected Minister of Education and Research, and held that position for two years.[18] and was replaced by fellow Socialist Left politician, Bí¥rd Vegar Solhjell.[19] He was however replaced by Kristin Halvorsen in the aftermath of the 2009 election.[20] The first assignment Djupedal while still in office, was giving 10 million NOK to "even out social differences" between ethnic minorities. The party believes that everyone has the right to free access to kindergarten.[21] Anders Folkestad, leader of the Confederation of Unions for Professionals, was not pleased with Djupedals efforts during his term in office, saying; "Djupedal has created much uncertainty and a mess after he became Minister of Education and Research. Many had great expectations, but he is sure lagging behind from the time when he was a sideliner". Djupedal, since taking office, was heavily criticised by the Norwegian media for his controversial and bizarre statements.[22] In late 2005, it was estimated that students studying General, Economic and Administrative Science would save up to 11,978 NOK under the Red-Green Coalition, seeing as school books became free when the coalition took power.[23]
The party wants to reduce the number of private schools, believing they are of no use.[24] However, others believe that the party should nationalize none-public schools. Torbjí¸rn Urfjell, previously the leader of the Socialist Youth chapter in Vest-Agder, said; "School and adolescence is too important to be left to the market. Therefore, they should be taken back".[25] During the 2005 election, the party promised to increase resources to public schools, believing that more money would provide fewer pupils per teacher, and thus more individualized and personal instructions.[26]
Erik Solheim is the current Minister of the Environment, taking over the office from fellow Socialist Left member, Helen Bjí¸rní¸y in 2007.[27] During the 2009 parliamentary election, the party promoted itself as the "biggest" and "strongest" green party in Norway, along with the Liberal Party. The party struggled, despite the strong focus on the green movement and global warming, the party did not manage to gain new voters during the 2009 election, and instead looked at the party's worst election of the decade.[28] By August, 2009, the party had managed to gain over 10% on various opinion poll measurements, but lost most of its votes through its last days.[29] During the election, the party was highly vocal against the Oil drilling in Lofoten and Vesterí¥len, which led to short-time revival.[30] However, not everyone within the party who supported the conservation plan of the areas.[31]
The party's strong emphasize on green politics and lack of popular support, has led to much interest among electoral researchers. Frank Aarbot, an electoral researcher, said "It is interesting that both the Socialist Left and the Liberals has this bad turnout, when the environmental conference is taking place in Copenhagen".[28] Kristin Halvorsen, the leader of the Socialist Left, declared that the environmental policy of the second Soria Moria declaration showed a clear level of commitment from the two other parties in government. She told the press that most of her friends had called the environmental platform of the Red-Green Coalition one of the "most radical in Europe".[32]
In later years, the party has promoted itself as a "feminist" party.[33] In one of the Socialist Left's brochures published in 2005, it said "The Socialist Left is a feminist party. We are fighting for a society where women and men have equal opportunities. This means that women should earn as much as men, that there must be more women in the top positions, and that there are welfare schemes that provide equality in the workplace".[34] During the 2005 parliamentary election, one of the four main issues raised by party's youth wing, Socialist Youth, was fighting against sexual harassment.[35] During an opinion survey done by Klassekampen which asked 150 of the 169 representatives in parliament if they considered themselves feminist. The turnout showed that the Socialist Left along with the Liberal Party became according to the poll the two "most feminist parties" in parliament, on the other side, the Progress Party becoming the "least feminist" one.[36]
Currently, the Deputy Leader of the Socialist Left, Audun Lysbakken, is the leader of the Norwegian Ministry of Children and Equality.[37] Arild Stokkan-Grande has claimed equality amongst men and women has been an issue with the Socialist Left during its years in government, being that in all the departments they control there are many more women then men.[38]
In 1992, Carl I. Hagen of the Progress Party, accused the party of supporting free immigration to Norway, after a proposal made by Lisbeth Holand. Holand wanted to give immigrants from non-European countries the same immigration policies as immigrants who have their origins from countries who are members of the European Economic Area. While Hagen was highly critical, she felt that it would offer housing and job for non-Europeans who needed it.[39] In an opinion poll, it showed that 82.9% of the Socialist Left members were open to more immigration, making the party the most immigrant friendly party in parliament, but outside parliament, the Red Electoral Alliance is the party most open to more immigration.[40] In a measurement done before New Years Eve in 2009, the Socialist Left became again the party least hostile to immigrants, this time behind the newly established party Red.[41]
Another poll however showed that almost one third of Socialist Left voters would not want to live in an area with a high share of immigrants. Society geograph Karl Fredrik Tangen responded to the relatively high share of Socialist Left voters agreeing to live in immigrant populated areas (compared to other parties), that it is easy for the typical intellectual Socialist Left voter, living in upper class areas, to agree to a, for them, hypothetical question.[42] Recent surveys also show that the support for the party by immigrants plummeted from 25% in 2005, to 6% in 2009. Somali author Amal Aden explained that "we don't earn anything from the policies of the Socialist Left. They say that everyone is ok, and that doesn't work".[43]
The party is open to more immigration, believing Norway will evolve into a more multicultural society. The party openly believes the only way to create social equality is to create ethnic equality in Norway.[44] By 2009, the Red-Green Coalition headed by the Norwegian Labour Party's leader, Jens Stoltenberg, said his government would tighten the then-present immigration policy, which would make it harder for immigrants to be granted asylum in Norway. The Socialist Left, along with the Liberal Party and the Christian Democrats, felt the new policy was too strict.[45]
The military action in Kosovo was a controversial issue within the party, the party leadership supported the military interventionism saying the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo had to be stopped, this included Kristin Halvorsen, who favored NATO's air strikes, but a large group within the party vehemently opposed such support arguing that violence would only lead to more violence.[46] During the national convention, Halvorsen threatened to resign as party leader unless the faction fighting within the party stopped. This led to a split within the party, with the first supporting her resignation and the second faction, the largest, concluded that the NATO bombing was to be immediately terminated if the Serbs stopped with their ethnic cleansing in Kosovo if Halvorsen continued as party leader.[47]
In most foreign policy issues the party has opposed military action. They were against the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and were very much against the war in Iraq.[48] After joining the Red-Green Coalition in 2005, the party stopped their strong opposition against the two wars,[49] and later in 2008 the party proposed creating a "new strategy" for the Norwegian armed forces located in Afghanistan.[50] In 2007, Erik Solheim from the Ministry of International Development visited Norwegian troops in the Afghanistan.[51] This policy regarding Afghanistan has led to much unrest within the party, most notable with the party's chapter in Bergen.[52] By early 2008, the party chapters of Hordaland and Rogaland criticised Kristin Halvorsen and the government of their policies surrounding Afghanistan, and demanded an immediate withdrawal from from Afghanistan by October, 2009. The Oslo chapter on the other hand asked for drastic changes in the military strategy created by NATO.[53]
Thorbjí¸rn Jagland, the then sitting President of the Storting, requested the government to send more soldiers to Afghanistan, if NATO requested it.[54] The Socialist Left, who despite supporting the war was against sending more soldiers to the region, and denied access for the Norwegian special forces. The main reason, according to themselves, was that Norway along with the Netherlands in relation to population in the respective countries, "clearly had the most soldiers located in Afghanistan [...] and the largest military commitment Norway currently has abroad".[55]
After losing all its parliamentary seats in the 1969 parliamentary election, the Socialist People's Party sought to create an election coalition between various left-wing parties.[56] While previously being sceptical of working with the Communist Party of Norway, the party eventually became a member of the coalition along with the Democratic Socialists - AIK and various non-party aligned independent socialists.[57] Reidar T. Larsen, the then leader of the Communist Party said the members who met up at the party's national convention unanimously elected "yes" to be a member of the coalition, which would later go by the name of the Socialist Electoral League.[58]
It took 16 days to negotiate a settlement between the groups. The members agreed that this coalition would be the only way of getting a "socialist government" in Norway.[58] By 1973, the Norwegian Labour Party had suffered a decrease in popular support, which at that time was estimated around 100 thousand. Many speculations arose that these voters had left the Labour Party for the newly created Socialist Electoral League.[59] Early predictions by the Labour Party believed that the Electoral League would dissolve itself because of internal strife. Reiulf Steen later stated that he had more "respect" for the Maoist party, the Red Electoral Alliance than the Electoral League.[60] The coalition managed to gain 11.2% of the popular vote and 16 seats in parliament.[61]
The party now known as the Socialist Left was founded in 1975. The Communist Party did not want to dissolve itself to become a member of the Socialist Left Party and therefore voted no to becoming a member. This led to an internal struggle within the party, with the party's official newspaper, Friheten, strongly suggesting the party can't dissolve itself because it would mean the death of the revolutionary movement. The official newspaper of the Socialist People's Party, Orientering, attacked what they called the "hard-core" leaders of the communist party.[62] Without the Communist Party, the other parties voted to dissolve the coalition and to replace it with a political party.[63]
The first years were not successful, as the party lost many of its seats in Parliament,[64][65] but during the 1980s, the party's popularity rose again.[64] During this decade, the party became prominent in there fight for peace,[66] disarmament,[67] and the removal of unemployment[68] and economic inequality.[69] In the beginning of the 1990s, its popularity again declined,[70] even though the party won a major victory in 1994, when the party again fought actively against Norwegian membership in the European Union, and when Norwegians again voted against membership in a referendum.[71] With the election of Kristin Halvorsen as new party leader in 1997, the party's popularity rose again. Under her leadership, the main focus for the party became education, and the slogan "Children and Youth First" was coined.[72]
After having what many described as a bad election in 2001, the Norwegian Labour Party sought to create a joint coalition with the Socialist Left and the Centre Party. Kristin Halvorsen, leader of the party, said that the amount of ministers given to each party would be the result of how many votes each party gathered.[73] Many spectators and many on the sidelines believed it would become an unfruitfull experience because of some of the major differences between the party in foreign and domestic policies.[74] While early signs between the Socialist Left and the Labour Party showed that they were able to negotiate settlements, with both parties saying no to higher taxes. This settlement was however met with much criticism from leading trade union figure, Jan Davidsen, from the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, claiming that higher taxes would help the municipalities and counties.[75] The party later official stated that the sitting governments position was severely weakened after discussing Norways national budget with the Progress Party.[76]
Kjell Magne Bondevik from the Christian Democratic Party and the then present Prime Minister believed the three parties were "unclear" and "vague" when talking about the Red-Green Coalition ideologic and political position. However, after discussing the cash budget with the Socialist Left and the Centre Party, Jens Stoltenberg agreed with Halvorsen that they needed to create a free day care service for everyone.[77] By February, 2005, an opinion poll measurement gave the coalition 96 seats in parliament, with the Socialist Left increasing with 3.9%.[78] Later in February, a small faction within the party called the future coalition the Red-Grey Coalition, believing the environmental policies of the Labour and the Centre Party were not "radical enough".[79]
Before the 2005 parliamentary election, Deputy Leader í˜ystein Djupedal said that the Socialist Left would not contribute to any radical changes if they earned a position within the government.[80] Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, accused the party of being "communist", because some of its present and earlier connections to communist organizations around Europe.[81] By early August, the Socialist Left was the party having the most progress in the opinion polls, but around 17% of who voted the Socialist Left previously was unsure what party they would vote for in the 2005 election.[82] However, by late August the party was labeled one of the "big losers" in the election, along with the Conservative Party. Many election researchers believed that the Socialist Left had somehow lost voters interest when entering the coalition and working alongside the Labour Party.[83] The bad election results led to internal struggle within the party, with Djupedal claiming it to be the party's hardest election in their history.[84] In total, the party managed to gather 5 ministers in the government coalition, one more than the Centre Party.[85]
In the 2009 parliamentary election, the party lost four seats and were left with 11, but a three-seat gain by the Labor Party secured the Red-Green coalition an 86-83 majority. The shift of power within the coalition resulted in losing one Socialist Left cabinet minister, leaving them with four, the same as the Center Party. The Socialist Left and Halvorsen conceded the influential Department of Finance to the Labour party in order to keep control of the Department for Education and Research.[86]
| Year | Vote % | MPs |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 11.2% | 16 |
| 1977 | 4.2% | 2 |
| 1981 | 4.9% | 4 |
| 1985 | 5.5% | 6 |
| 1989 | 10.1% | 17 |
| 1993 | 7.9% | 13 |
| 1997 | 6.0% | 9 |
| 2001 | 12.5% | 23 |
| 2005 | 8.8% | 15 |
| 2009 | 6.2% | 11 |
In the Norwegian parliamentary elections, the Socialist Left Party has been able to hold the position as the fourth largest party in Norway, behind the right wing Progress Party, Conservative Party and the centre-left Labour Party.[64] Their popularity initially declined from levels achieved by the Socialist Electoral League,[87] however their seat count rose to its peak after the 2001 parliamentary election, this election marked the party's largest voters count, earning 12.5% of the national vote.[64]
When the Socialist Electoral League was founded in the early 1970s, the party managed to win voters from the Labour Party, which ruled as a majority government. Early speculations said that the Labour Party had lost 100 thousand votes to the Electoral League.[59] Anyhow, the party managed to gain 16 seats in Parliament.[88] After the unification process was finished, the party's voter base collapsed and they earned only 4.2% of the national vote in the 1977 parliamentary election,[64] and earned only two seats in parliament.[65] After the election, the party was able to win new voters, and in the 1989 parliamentary election it gathered 10.1% of the national vote.[64] After the election, the party lost voters again, and after the 1997 election, the party mustered only a meager 9 representatives in parliament.[89]
After having what many described as a bad election in 2001, the Norwegian Labour Party lost many of its voters to the Socialist Left,[90][91][92][93] with the Socialist Left increasing from a meager 6% to a 12.5% of the national vote, again becoming the fourth largest party in the country.[64] However, this growth didn't last long, in the 2005 election the party gathered 8.8% of the vote, this further decreased in the 2009 election when the party gathered 6.2% of the vote.[64]
| Year | Vote % | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 5.5% 5.7% |
Municipal County |
| 1979 | 4.1% 4,4% |
Municipal County |
| 1983 | 5.1% 5.3% |
Municipal County |
| 1987 | 5.5% 5.7% |
Municipal County |
| 1991 | 11.6% 12.2% |
Municipal County |
| 1995 | 5.9% 6.1% |
Municipal County |
| 1999 | 7.8% 8.5% |
Municipal County |
| 2003 | 12.4% 13% |
Municipal County |
| 2007 | 6.2% 6.5% |
Municipal County |
The 1975 county and municipality election was met with a sharp decrease in voters, with the party earning a disappointing voting turnout of 5.5% in the municipal election and 5.7% in the county election.[70] In an opinion poll done before election day in 1975, it was estimated that half of the voters who voted for the Socialist Electoral League would not vote for the party again. The main reason being that the Norwegian Labour Party was able to win many voters back which it lost during the 1973 parliamentary election.[94] The party further decreased in popular support by the 1979 local election, earning 4.1% in the municipal and 4.4% in the county respectively.[70]
However, by the 1983 local election the party increased by 1% in the municipal and 0.9% in the county election.[70] By an opinion poll done in early September, it showed that the Labour Party would lose four of its Oslo representatives in parliament to the Progress Party, Conservative Party and the Socialist Left.[95] If the 1983 local election had been a parliamentary election, Socialist Left would get 8 seats in parliament.[96] The party earned 5.5% and 5.7% in the county and municipal election in 1987 respectively.[70] The party's strongest municipal was Nordland, where the party managed to gain 21.9% of the popular vote.[97]
The 1991 election marked a large increase in voters for the party, earning 11.6 in the municipalities and 12.2% in the counties, making the party the third largest party in Norway.[70] Socialist Left along with the Centre Party were named the elections "big winners" by the Norwegian press.[98] In the following election the party managed to gather 5,9% in the municipalities and 6.1% in counties.[70] Before the election in 1991 various opinion poll showed an increase in popular support for the Socialist Left in Oslo.[99] The reason for an increase in support was that the party was again able to win votes from the Labour Party.[100] The party managed to gain 7.8% of the votes in the municipalities and 8.5% in the counties.[70]
By 2003, the party's voter based had increased dramatically since 1999 local elections.[64] The party had what many described as a "record election", winning most of its voters from the Labour Party.[101] The 2007 elections went badly for the party, and saw their voter base reduced by half from the local elections in 2003.[102]
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||