Young Left ( ) is a

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 ...

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

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

youth organisation. It is the official youth wing of the Swedish Left Party. The organisation calls themselves a "revolutionary youth organisation with roots in the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

part of the

labour movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considere ...

, anchored in the women's movement and influenced by the environmental- and peace movement."

Ideology

Young Left is a

, and

political youth organisation committed to organising young people to work for social change that evolved out of the

, with influences from

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

, the

peace movement A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world pe ...

, and the

feminist movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and wom ...

. Young Left works for social justice and a society characterised by equality, secularism, generous welfare provisions for all citizens, generous immigration policies, and respect for the environment. As its mother party, the Left Party, as well as the Social Democratic Party, Young Left is a strong supporter of the Swedish labour unions and the Swedish model, with conditions of work such as wages being regulated in branch-level collective agreements between the unions and the employers, rather than on individual basis. Ung Vänster has had various names and political alignments over the years, but is continuously characterised by the issues that have been at the centre of its history, such as

antifascism Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

, social justice, equality, and justice. During the past years, the main focus of the organisation has been the struggle against growing xenophobia in Sweden (as they mean been witnessed by the electoral success of the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a Nationalism, nationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's Right-wing politics, right-wing bloc and the sec ...

during the national elections of 2010) and criticism of the right government, and in particular on its privatisations of welfare services and priorities of tax reductions, rather than increased public spending on welfare and investments in infrastructure and renewable energy. The Young Left, unlike the Left Party, are a

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

socialist organisation, which differentiates them from the more

reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...

Left Party in that they want to implement societal changes by revolution, and not reform.

Organisation

Young Left works together with and supports the Left Party and Vänsterns Studentförbund, but makes, on the basis of its own analyses, independent decisions regarding organisational and political issues.

History

Young Left was founded in 1903 as Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbundet (SDUF, Social Democratic Youth League). However, the youth league has clearly attached itself to the left-wing within the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

. At the outbreak of the First World War, the tensions within the party aggravated. In May 1917, the youth league together with the left-wing faction within the party took the initiative to form a new party, Sveriges socialdemokratiska vänsterparti (Social Democratic Left Party of Sweden). SDUF became the youth wing of the new party. SSV joined the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

in 1919, and was renamed to Sveriges kommunistiska parti (Communist Party of Sweden). Following that, SDUF was renamed to Sveriges Kommunistiska Ungdomförbund (Young Communist League of Sweden), and became the Swedish section of the Communist Youth International. In 1952, Democratic Youth was founded on the initiative of the party, in order to be a broader youth movement. Until 1958, SKU and DU existed as parallel organisations. In 1958, the two organisations merged and took the name DU. In 1967, ultra-left elements took over the organisation, and broke away to form Marxist-leninistiska kampförbundet (Marxist–Leninist Struggle League). Reconstruction work started rapidly. In 1970, the organisation was re-baptised as Kommunistisk Ungdom (Communist Youth). By 1973, there was a national organisation in function, and, by 1975, an ordinary congress was held. Young Left have published the youth magazine '' Röd Press'' since 1982, when Young Left lost the rights of its magazine ''

Stormklockan ''Stormklockan'' () was a political youth magazine published in Stockholm, Sweden, between 1908 and 1985. History and profile ''Stormklockan'' was launched in December 1908 in Stockholm. Zeth Höglund was instrumental in the establishment of th ...

'' to the Maoist MLK in a trial. In Sweden, Young Left was one of the many forces behind the large

15 February 2003 anti-war protest On 15 February 2003, a coordinated day of protests was held across the world in which people in more than 600 cities expressed opposition to the imminent 2003 invasion of Iraq, Iraq War. It was part of a Protests against the Iraq War, series of p ...

. Under the later years of the 2010s, different members of the Young Left have been excluded because of strong couplings to the Revolutionary Front and the AFA. The national executive board have been doing both official exclusions and cut-offs in these cases. This is because these groups are not deemed compatible with the

democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic ideology, economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and wor ...

and

anti-racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

fight that the Young Left are driving. The party board of the Left Party has also been strongly advising for hard consequences in these situations. After having had a stable membership of between 1,500 – 2,800 for a number of years, the membership of the youth organisation had declined to 964 in 2016 according to the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society.

Chairpersons

*2025– *2021– 2025 *2017–2021 *2015–2017 *2011–2015 *2005–2011 Ida Gabrielsson *2004–2005 Tove Fraurud *2001–2004

Ali Esbati Ali Esbati (; born 12 September 1976) is an Iranian-Swedish politician of the Left Party who was a member of the Riksdag from 2014 to 2024. An economist, he was the chairman of Young Left from 2001 to 2004. He was also the economic spokesperson ...

*1996–2001 *1993–1996 *1989–1993 *1980–1989 Stellan Hermansson *1975–1980 *1973–1975 Bengt Karlsson *1970–1973 ''Spokespersons: Bengt Karlsson, Urban Herlitz'' *1967–1970 Anders Carlberg *1964–1967 *1962–1964 *1957–1962 Rolf Utberg (DU) *1951–1958 (SKU) *19??–1951 Axel Jansson *? *1935–1939

Filip Forsberg Carl Filip Anton Forsberg (; born 13 August 1994), nicknamed "Fil", is a Swedish professional ice hockey player and alternate captain for the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League (NHL). Forsberg was selected by the Washington Capit ...

*? *1921–1924 Nils Flyg *1909–1921

Zeth Höglund Carl Zeth "Zäta" Konstantin Höglund (29 April 1884 – 13 August 1956) was a leading Swedish communist politician, anti-militarist, author, journalist and mayor (''finansborgarråd'') of Stockholm (1940–1950). Höglund can be credited as t ...

*1908–1909

Per Albin Hansson Per Albin Hansson (28 October 1885 – 6 October 1946) was a Swedish politician, chairman of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Social Democrats from 1925 and two-time Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister in four Government of Sweden, gov ...

*190?–190?

Fabian Månsson Karl Fabian Månsson (1872–1938) was a Swedish politician. In his youth, Månsson used the pseudonym ''Dacke'', a name he borrowed from the 16th century peasant rebel Nils Dacke. Fabian Månsson was born in a poor family in Hasslö, an isla ...

*1903–

Name changes

*1903 Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbund (SDUF, Social Democratic Youth League) *1921 Sveriges Kommunistiska Ungdomsförbund (SKU, Young Communist League of Sweden) *1958 Demokratisk Ungdom (DU, Democratic Youth) *1967 Vänsterns Ungdomsförbund (VUF, Youth League of the Left) *1970 Kommunistisk Ungdom (KU, Communist Youth) *1991 Ung Vänster (Young Left)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Youth wings of political parties in Sweden 1903 establishments in Sweden Feminism in Sweden Organizations established in 1903 Socialism in Sweden Youth organizations established in the 1900s