Socialist Party (Sweden, 1929)

Socialist Party Socialistiska partiet
Leader	Nils Flyg (1929–1943) Agaton Blom (1943–1948)
Founded	1929
Dissolved	1948
Newspaper	Folkets Dagblad Politiken
Ideology	Communism
International affiliation	International Communist Opposition (1929–1933), International Revolutionary Marxist Centre (1933–1948)

SP election poster. Text reads 'Strike the Beast Down - Vote with the People - for the Country' (the dragon on the image is labelled 'International Large Capital').

The Socialist Party (Swedish: Socialistiska partiet), initially known as the Communist Party of Sweden (Sveriges kommunistiska parti), was a political party in Sweden active from 1929 to 1948. The party was founded in 1929 by the major faction of the Communist Party of Sweden, led by Karl Kilbom and Nils Flyg, as the party split into two parties with the same name. This faction was generally known as Kilbommare ("Kilbomians") while the other minor party was known as Sillénare ("Sillénians", after their leader Hugo Sillén).

This party won over the entire communist parliamentary faction and a major part of the militancy. They were also able to win over the main publication of the communist party, Folkets Dagblad Politiken.

The Kilbom-led SKP held the congress prior to the Sillén-led party. At the congress there was a debate regarding the character of the party, whether to continue the system of party cells (the structure of the pre-split SKP) or whether to become a more open mass party. In the end the statues adopted by the congress differed little from those of the pre-split SKP. Party cells remained the basic organization of the party, and in places where no cell existed a party member would be organized in the arbetarkommun directly. However the criteria for membership was somewhat laxed, the sole remaining criteria was activism in the base level organization.^[1]

In 1930 Flyg, as an MP, put forward a motion on separation of church and state. The motion was voted down in the Lower House.

The Kilbom party merged in 1934 with a break-away group of the Social Democrats based in Göteborg, led by Albin Ström. At the time of the merger, the party changed its name to the Socialist Party (Socialistiska partiet). The transformation into SP also marked a break with the previous line of the party towards Comintern and the Soviet Union. Initially the party had tried to persuade the Comintern to be allowed to return to the International. Gradually, however the party became more and more antagonistic toward the Comintern and the Soviet Union.

The party gradually disintegrated, and many of the most prominent leaders such as Kilbom, left the party in 1937. During World War II, their staunch anti-Soviet line led the party to actually embrace some pro-German views (partially since the huge financial problems of the party led it to seek financial aid from Germany). As a result of this, in 1940, a group of members that included Albin Ström and Evald Höglund broke away and formed the Left Socialist Party. In the elections the same year, the party lost its parliamentary representation.

When Flyg died in 1943 he was succeeded as party leader by Agaton Blom. During the final years of the war, the party continued to lose members and support, and changed its name to the Swedish Socialist Party (Svenska socialistiska partiet). It was finally dissolved in 1948.

The local units of the party were known as "Socialist Labour Communes" (Socialistiska Arbetarkommuner).

In terms of international contacts, the party was initially associated with the International Communist Opposition and later with the International Revolutionary Marxist Centre (also known as the "London Bureau").

The youth league of the party was called the Socialist Youth League (Socialistiska ungdomsförbundet), affiliated to the International Bureau of Revolutionary Youth Organizations.

Electoral results

1942 poster of the Uppsala party branch. Reads 'Blow up the Foundations of Reaction (the way out of war and isolation)'. Speakers were Nils Flyg and Arvid Olsson.

Electoral results of the party (in elections to the Riksdag):

• 1932: 5.3%
• 1936: 4.4%
• 1940: 0.7%
• 1944: 0.2%

See also

• Left Socialist Party (Sweden), Vänstersocialistiska partiet, 1940–1963)
• Socialist Party (Sweden, 1971)

References

1. ^ Bolin, Jan. Parti av ny typ?: skapandet av ett svenskt kommunistiskt parti 1917-1933. Stockholm: Distribution, Almqvist & Wiksell International, 2004. p. 371

• Blomqvist, Håkan: Gåtan Nils Flyg och nazismen ISBN 91-7203-877-2
• Hübinette, Tobias (2002). Den svenska nationalsocialismen - medlemmar och sympatisörer 1931-45. ISBN 91-7203-472-6

External links

• 1932 election manifesto of the party