Socialist Left Party
The Socialist Left Party is a socialist political party in Norway. Positioned on the left-wing of the political spectrum, it is opposed to European Union and the European Economic Area membership. SV supports a strong public sector, stronger social welfare programs, environmentalism, and republicanism. As of 2024, the party had 16,240 members. The party leader is Kirsti Bergstø, who was elected on 18 March 2023.
The party was founded in 1973 as the Socialist Electoral League, an electoral coalition with the Communist Party of Norway, Socialist People's Party, Democratic Socialists – AIK, and independent socialists. In 1975, the coalition was turned into a unified political party. The party was largely founded as a result of the foreign policies prevalent at the time, with the socialists being opposed to Norwegian membership of the European Communities and of NATO.
In the 2005 Norwegian parliamentary election, SV became a governing party for the first time, participating in the red–green coalition with the Labour Party and the Centre Party; before that, it was frequently turned down by the Labour Party. SV was reduced to the seventh-largest party following the 2013 Norwegian parliamentary election, in its worst election on record, but bounced back in the 2017 and 2021 parliamentary elections, although it remained in the opposition both times.
Ideology
Position
Like its predecessors, the Socialist People's Party and the Information Committee of the Labour Movement against Norwegian membership in the European Community, the Socialist Left is a left-wing party which favours a welfare state and taxation of the wealthy. Finn Gustavsen, former leader of the Socialist People's Party, believed that the 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, saying the organisation showed how "evil and stupid" capitalism really was. According to a 2002 poll, one out of four members in the Socialist Left wanted Norway to join the European Union.The party's election program for the 2001 Norwegian parliamentary election stated that the party was a "socialist party" with a vision of a Norway without social injustice. Since its inception, the party has promoted itself as socialist. Since 2003, the party has been portrayed as social democratic by some in the Norwegian media, as democratic socialist by others inside and outside Norway, and has been categorised as eco-socialist, as well as describing itself as eco-socialist. The former leader Audun Lysbakken self-described as a revolutionary, socialist, and Marxist in 2005. He believes the party to be a democratic socialist one.
The Socialist Left also advocates the replacement of capitalism with socialism, arguing that
"We shape our own future. It is possible to create a fair and environmentally friendly world, a society where wealth and power are fairly distributed, with freedom and equal rights for all and where we live together within nature's tolerance limit.
A lot has to change. Millions live with oppression and war, inequality in power and wealth is growing and the environmental crisis threatens our livelihood.
The capitalist system must be replaced – nationally and globally – by a democratic, sustainable and needs-based economic system. It is socialism."
Education
Education has been one of main campaign issues since Kristin Halvorsen became party leader. Øystein Djupedal was elected Minister of Education and Research, and held that position for two years. He was replaced by fellow Socialist Left politician Bård Vegar Solhjell. Halvorsen took over the ministry in late 2009. Djupedal's first assignment in office was granting to "even out social differences" between ethnic minorities. The party believes that everyone has the right to free access to kindergarten. Anders Folkestad, leader of the Confederation of Unions for Professionals, was not pleased with Djupedal's efforts during his term in office, saying that "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 was heavily criticised by the Norwegian media for his controversial and bizarre statements. In late 2005, it was estimated that students studying general, business, and administrative studies would save up to under the red–green coalition; school books became free when the coalition took power.The party wants to reduce the number of private schools, and Djupedal said they are of no use. Bård Vegar Solhjell stated he believed government-funded schools helped "smoothing social inequality", commenting: "Many of those who remain outside the labor market have received lack of training from school. It prevents them from contributing to the community. Parties on the right often confuse social security and welfare schemes as the problem; however, we tend to look at why they are struggling. There are systematic connections between social background and lack of training – it is a class question where something is needed to be done." Others believe that the party should nationalise non-public schools. Torbjørn Urfjell, former 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." During the 2005 Norwegian parliamentary election, the party promised to increase resources to public schools, believing that more money would lead to fewer pupils per teacher, and more individualised and personal instructions.
Environment
The party has held the office of Minister of the Environment since 2005, first by Helen Bjørnøy, followed by Erik Solheim and since 2012 by Bård Vegar Solhjell. During the 2009 Norwegian parliamentary election, the party promoted itself as the biggest and strongest green party in Norway. The party was highly vocal against oil drilling in Lofoten and Vesterålen during the election campaign. A large minority within the party are opposed to the conservation plan, with the majority of them coming from Nordland, the county where the drilling is taking place. The party struggled, despite the public's strong focus on the green movement and global warming. They failed to gather new voters and experienced one of their worst elections in years. By August 2009, various opinion polls gave the party 10% support but lost most of their voters to the Labour Party during the last days of the election.The party's strong emphasis on green politics, and its failure to capture new voters, has led to debate among electoral researchers. Frank Aarebrot commented: "It is interesting that both the Socialist Left and the Liberals has this bad turnout, when the environmental conference is taking place in Copenhagen." Halvorsen felt the environmental policies of the second Soria Moria declaration showed a clear level of commitment from the party's coalition partners.
Feminism
The party has promoted itself as a feminist party. 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." During the 2005 parliamentary election, one of the four main issues raised by party's youth wing was fighting against sexual harassment. In January 2005, Klassekampen asked 150 of the 169 representatives in parliament if they considered themselves feminist. According to the survey, the Socialist Left and the Liberal Party were the two most feminist, while The Progress Party was the least feminist party in parliament.Audun Lysbakken was Minister of Children and Equality from 2009 to 2012. Arild Stokkan-Grande claimed equality amongst men and women has been a major issue in government mainly because of the activities of the Socialist Left. He claimed that there were more women than men serving in the departments the party controlled.
As of 2013, the SV supported the 2008 Sex Purchase Law that criminalises purchasing sex and said in 2013 that it wanted to ban public strip shows.
In 2013 the party supported the conscription to military services to also include women, which was enacted into legislation in 2015.
Immigration and diversity
In 1992, Carl I. Hagen of the Progress Party accused the party of supporting free immigration to Norway, after Lisbeth Holand proposed that immigrants from non-European countries should have the same immigration opportunities as immigrants who have their origins from countries that are members of the European Economic Area. While Hagen was highly critical, she felt that the policy would offer housing and jobs for non-Europeans who needed them. An opinion poll showed that 82.9% of the Socialist Left members were open to more immigration, making the party the most immigration-friendly party in parliament, but still less than the non-parliamentary Red Electoral Alliance. In a measurement done in late 2009, the Socialist Left became again the party least hostile to immigrants, this time behind the newly established party Red.Another poll showed that almost one-third of Socialist Left voters would not want to live in an area with a high number of immigrants. Social geographer Karl Fredrik Tangen responded that it is easy for the typical intellectual Socialist Left voter, living in upper class areas, to agree to what was for them hypothetical question. Recent surveys show that support for the party by immigrants plummeted from 25% in 2005 to 6% in 2009. Norwegian-Somali writer Amal Aden explained that "we do not earn anything from the policies of the Socialist Left. They say that everyone is okay, and that does not work".
The party is open to more immigration, believing Norway will evolve into a more multicultural society. The party believes the only way to create social equality is to create ethnic equality in Norway. By 2009, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said his government would tighten the then prevailing 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. and the party took a formal dissent in government regarding the asylum policy. The party in particular wants more liberal regulations for asylum cases that involve children.
In 2012, the party leader Audun Lysbakken strongly warned against Islamist extremists like Profetens Ummah, and vowed to fight them. The party is in favour of lifting the ban against religious headwear like hijab and turban for police employees, but has been split over the issue, and a substantial minority, including the youth fraction, voted against allowing religious headwear at the party's convention in 2013.