The Left Socialists (,

abbr. An abbreviation () is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method including shortening, contraction, initialism (which includes acronym), or crasis. An abbreviation may be a shortened form of a word, usually ended with a trailing perio ...

VS) were a

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

and

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

political organisation in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. From 1968 to 1998, it was a registered political party also known as the Left Socialist Party. It was formed from a split in the Socialist People's Party (SF). The party saw minor electoral success before joining the

Red–Green Alliance In politics, a red–green alliance or red–green coalition is an alliance of "red" (often social-democratic or democratic socialist) parties with "green" (often green and/or occasionally agrarian) parties. The alliance is often based on commo ...

in 1989 to contest elections jointly with other socialist parties. Individual party activity diminished afterwards, culminating in the Left Socialists dissolving themselves in 2013.

History

The Left Socialists emerged from a split in the Socialist People's Party (SF), which itself was a splinter of the

Communist Party of Denmark The Communist Party of Denmark (, DKP) is a communist party in Denmark. The DKP was founded on 9 November 1919 as the Left-Socialist Party of Denmark (, VSP), through a merger of the Socialist Youth League and Socialist Labour Party of Denma ...

(DKP). The SF was established in 1959 by members of the DKP who had been expelled from the party for criticising the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

's intervention in the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

. The results of the 1966 general election opened up the possibility of a leftist majority government for the first time in Danish history, between an SF minority and a plurality of

Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...

, who were more moderate. The two parties subsequently established a so-called "red cabinet", which lasted until 1968, when six SF

members of the Folketing Members of the Folketing () are Member of parliament, members of the Danish parliament, known as the Folketing. The title is frequently shortened to the initialism MF. The term of office is up to 4 years, but usually shorter as the Prime minist ...

defected and formed the Left Socialists in 1968. In 1989, the Left Socialists, DKP, and Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party agreed to form an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

the

to contest the 1990 general election together. The alliance did not win any seats. In 1998, the Left Socialists deregistered as a political party and became a political organisation. The Left Socialists' activities declined afterwards, with members focusing most of their efforts on the electoral success of the Red–Green Alliance. Seven members of the Left Socialists, including several of its leaders, were arrested by Danish authorities on 20 February 2006. They were charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organisation because the organisation had sent money raised from selling

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s to the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP; ) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist organization founded in 1967 by George Habash. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation ...

. At a general meeting on 8 September 2013, the leadership of the Left Socialists voted 14 to 1 to disband, with its chairman Per Clausen explaining they did not want to be "a party within a party", in reference to the Red–Green Alliance.

Ideology

The Left Socialists described themselves as "Marxist, democratic, and revolutionary socialists".

Publications

The Left Socialists published a newspaper named ''Solidaritet'' ("Solidarity") and maintained a website which posted party press releases and ''Solidaritet'' issues. ''Solidaritet'' became independent from the Left Socialists when it transformed from a party to an organisation.

Election results

References

External links

VS website
{{Authority control 1967 establishments in Denmark Defunct socialist parties in Denmark Political parties established in 1967