Left Socialist Party of DenmarkVenstresocialisterne (VS)
Last updated Dec. 3rd 1997 |
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Introduction
The Left Socialist Party (VS) is a revolutionary, marxist, democratic, and
socialist party. Our final goal is the communist classless society. VS is a
child of the "new left" in Europe, born during the student uprisings in 1968.
Our programme is a minimumprogramme undergoing a constant development, reflecting
how far the party has advanced in its analysis of capitalism, its understanding of
revolution and socialism.
The party is open for all who can approve of its programme. Membership implies that the member adheres to the party programme, and actively work for the propagation of the partys politics. A freedom of tendencies and platforms exists within the framework of the party minimum programme, as do protection of minority tendencies within the party. This gives us the possibility for harvesting a variety of experiences, that are important for the constant development of the party.
VS builds on the marxist theory and method - the dialectical, historcal materialism, and regards this as the best tool for understanding the realities of society. Such an understanding is an important premises for changing society and its development. Marxism builds on the recognition of class strugle as the primary motive power in history, and in the development of society from one mode of production to another. Marxist theory describes society in this historical development. Theory therefore also has to be developed as society advances. For VS it is one of its central tasks to contribute to this development of theory, and its transformation into practice.
Origins of VS and its development
VS was created in december 1967. Though the party was created in a period where strong
political and social movements internationally were developing - the Vietnam war, the
cultural revolution in China, and the student uprisings - all with considerably impact
also in Denmark, the party was created for very particular danish reasons. We shall
therefore look a bit into the development of the socialist parties in post 2nd World War
Denmark.
Until 1958 the Moscow oriented communist party, DKP, had the role of being the dominant left-opposition to the overwhelming socialdemocratic influence in the danish working class. Neither syndicalists in the 20'ies or trotskyites in the 30'ies and 40'ies were capable of breaking up this situation.
The disclosure on the 20th SUCP party congress in spring 1956 of Stalins crimes led to a profound gap of confidence in the international parties, for whom: "...Stalin stood as the main theorist in the communist movement, and at the same time the constructor and leader of the actualized utopia." Also within the danish CP, DKP, the disclosures led to unrest and some exodus among rank and file members, but apparently party unity could be maintained. But the insurrection in Hungary and the subsequent soviet invasion in one day destroyed what had taken years to construct. DKP was divided and once more stood isolated in the working class.
The final split in DKP took place in 1958, and the reorientation towards both communist and socialdemocratic positions was not an isolated danish phenomena. The same process took place also in other european countries. Revision of marxist theories among other things led to a redefinition and extension of the conception of the working class, laying the ground for the formation of a "popular party". It led to the idea that the welfarestate fundamentally had changed capitalism into a consumers society. And it also led to a more critical position towards the socialist countries. On the organizational level, the leninist organizational principles were dropped. Democratic centralism and the role of the party as a cadre organization was critizised, and a more loose and pluralistic form of organization was chosen.
After a massive wave of resignations from the DKP and the expulsion of the party chairman, Aksel Larsen, it was decided to form a new party. On February 15th, 1959, the Socialist Peoples Party (SF) was formed on a founding congress. Allready during parliamentary elections in 1960 SF gained considerable support, winning 150.000 votes and 11 parliamentary seats. But SF had serious problems organizing its voters and constructing a stable party. One of the consequenzes of the lack of a strong party organization was that parliamentary work came to dominate its activities.
During elections in November 1966 the socialdemocrats lost 7 parliamentary seats, while SF doubled its voter count and got 20 seats. For the first time in danish history, workers parties now had an parliamentary majority. Before elections the socialdemocrats had characterized SF as bogus communist divisive party, but that characterization completely changed during elections. The socialdemocrats spoke in favor of a cooperation with SF, and when workers majority after the elections were a reality, SF was invited to governmenttalks with the socialdemocrats.
Negotiations were secretly started, but with the socialdemocrats wanting to form a coalition government. It was soon evident that such a government was impossible because of disagreements on especially foreign policy and defence policy. Areas in which SF had very sharp positions. Still, the negotiations caused strong reactions from the SF rank and file. There were two main reasons for this. First the manner in which negotiations were carried out. They were led by party chairman Aksel Larsen together with a couple of his close followers without the knowledge of the central committee. Secondly the SF leaderships unlimited enthusiasm over workers majority and its predisposition for dropping some important SF positions. These developemnts caused a natural fear, that the party was adopting socialdemocratic positions, and was in the process of being swallowed by exactly the system it had been founded to fight.
After talks over a coalition government broke down, a looser ad-hoc cooperation was initiated. In June 1967 discontent grew rapidly among the SF rank and file over the results of the cooperation with the socialdemocrats, and an extraordinary party congress was called to clarify the partys positions. It came as a surprise for most delegates, that the left wing within the party clearly defeated party chairman Aksel Larsen and his politics. The left wing got a majority in the central committee, but still the results of the congress didn’t clearly reflect the strength between the tendencies within the party.
In December 1967 these internal contradictions caused a split within the party. The right wing declared that they would be prepared to support a socialdemocratic lawproposition, that would reduce conditions of life for the working class, but 6 parliament members on the partys left wing declared that they would vote against such a proposition. For the second time during 20 years, the socialdemocrats saw a possibility for getting rid of the left wing threat. The socialdemocrats in 1966-67 used the same tactics against SF as it had used in 1945 against DKP. Left wing opposition was so strongly clasped, that it was incapable of mobilizing a major pressure on the socialdemocrats, and when the traditional means of the left were neutralized, it was sent to hell.
For both DKP and SF, cooperation with the socialdemocrats were expressions of strategic alliances: A common goal was shared with the socialdemocrats, and the idea was to introduce socialism together. The short life of workers majority ended the same day SF held its 6th congress, called by the right wing of the party. The left wing thought it once more could command a majority among the delegates, and so would be able to continue its control over the central committee. It therefore came as a chock when the central committees balances were defeated by a close mojority. Though the left wing hadn’t prepared itself for the construction of a new party, the reaction upon the defeat was very clear. If it stayed within SF, it would be kept totally outside an influence, and would function only as hostage for the right wing and its undermning of former SF positions - especially the programme of principles from 1963. If the positions were to be maintained, it was necessary to break with SF and create a new party. So VS (Left Socialist Party) was born.
Since its creation in 1967, VS with few interruptions was represented in parliament until 1987. Always with 4 to 6 parliamentarians. But parliamentary was only secondary. Since its inception, VS has put more priority into the political tasks outside of parliament and city councils. Parliament should be used as a public outlet for the partys politics and as a tool for exposing capitalism and its political parties. In its parliamentarian work, VS worked along the principles approving even the smallest improvement and voting against every deterioration of working class living conditions. Some of the principal political areas of VS parliamentarian work was based on a different conception of the state than existed in DKP and within socialdemocrats; A different politics on energy based on resistance against nuclear power and for nationalization of the danish North Sea oil exploitation installations; Justice; A critical view towards trade union careerism - for democratic and struggling trade unions; Renewal and improvements of housing, but on conditions set by the inhabitants.
In its political activities in both parliament and city councils, VS has used the principles of rotation. This means that none of its members may occupy a position in for instance parliament for more than 7 consecutive years. VS has also employed a principle of quotation in order to obtain an equal representation of men and women in its organizational entities and in parliament. This latter principle however never came to function adequately.
Recess on the left wing during the 1980'ies and the
development of unity activities
The left wing in Denmark since the mid 80'ies has decreased both in rank and file and in
elections. This led to discussions on development of cooperation and unity among the left
wing parties. VS lost its parliamentarian representation in 1987. DKP lost its
representation already back in 1979. The parties left of SF were not represented in
parliament, but if their votes were summed it would have given 6 seats. In Denmark 2% of
the votes are required for representation in parliament.
Sincere negotiations were initiated between VS, DKP and SAP (trotskyites, danish section of the 4th International) on the construction of technical cooperation for the elections. VS initiated this process and it was done based on a VS congress resolution stating that: "The road ahead for the revolutionary left wing in Denmark is a process of regrouping, unitywork, and extended cooperation with the explicit goal of forming a united revolutionary marxist party. The task of VS is to function as a catalyst in this process in which both parties, organizations, groups, movements, and unorganized people on the left wing will have a role to play. The unification of the revolutionary left is a dialectical process that has to depart from the present possibilities given by the class struggle. It is necessary to develop an ample political and programmatical debate between all the tendencies, organizations, and groups that recognize the necessity of a socialist revolution".
After 1½ years of negotiations, "Enhedslisten - de rød grønne" (The Unity List - red greens) was created in 1989. It was intended to be a common electionist platform. At the first annual meeting of the organization, representatives from VS, DKP, SAP, and organized were elected to its central committee. The political platform of the organization initially was very vague, reflecting a strong internal struggle in the DKP between hard-line stalinists and reformers. The internal contradictions in DKP caused the party to split during spring 1990. The stalinists lost the battle, broke away from DKP to create their own organization. The reformers n DKP continued the partys activities within the Unitylist. However the list was known by few and was hit also by the right wing offensive after the collapse in Eastern Europe, so in the parliamentary elections in 1990 it didn’t succeed to break the 2% barrier. It got only 1.7%.
VS continued its tasks as a catalyst in the development of the platforms politics and as its organizational basis. The list had its head office at the VS head office, and for most VS members their main activity was the development of the platform. At the city hall elections in december 1993 the list had members elected into many city councils, where the left wing parties no more ran independently.
Finally at the parliamentary elections in September 1994 the Unitylist succeeded in breaking the 2% barrier. The platform got 3.1% of the votes and won 6 seats in parliament. An important factor in this victory was that SF during the years had drifted strongly to the right and among other things had defied its voters and called for a yes vote in the second EU Maasstricht plebiscite in May 1993.
In parallel to the development of the Unitylist, VS was active in other areas of cooperation with left wing organizations. During 1989-90 an initiative was launched to unite with SAP. An initiative that stumbled on strong internal resistance from both parties. Conferences and debates were carried out involving other parties and groups on the left wing.
In 1990 VS together with KAP (ex-maoists) and several unorganized on the left wing launched a new cultural-political magazine - the Giraffe. In 1991 VS, SAP, and KAP fused their biweekly and monthly newspapers and launched the weekly newspaper "Den røde tråd" (The red String). For economic reasons VS had to abandon both projects in october 1995. VS instead has restarted a quarterly theoretical magazine, "Solidaritet" (Solidarity).
Status of the VS today
The high priority put into the development of the Unitylist since 1987 drained VS of many
organizational ressources. A few disagreed with this high priority and left the party.
Others put all their political activity into the Unitylist, drifted away from VS, and
finally left the party. At the same time the party didn’t sufficiently counter the
right wing offensive in the aftermath of the break down in Eastern Europe in 1989-92. The
consequence has been that VS membership has shrunk from 1000 members in 1987 to some 100
in 1995.
VS looks upon the general development in the Unitylist as positive, but at the same time sees some negative tendenses. The list has developed from being a pure technical elections platform to being an independent political grassroots organization with different political tendenses - some pure reform oriented and some revolutionary. But the parliamentary representation has led to a stronger centrally concentration of power. The Unitylist has a severe problem regarding its internal democracy and with the development of political activities outside of parliament and city halls. At the same time, revolutionary regrouping has stalled. Back in 1987 VS foresaw a regrouping process that would eventually lead to the construction of a unified revolutionary marxist party, but this process has slowed down to a nearly completely standstill. But VS continues its activities in order to participate in this regrouping process on a later stage, when developments in class struggle favors such a development.
VS international activities
For VS the struggle against the emerging Europen superpower state is of uttermost
importance. With the establishment of the socalled inner market in January 1993, nearly
all barriers to european capitalism has fallen, and with the ratification of the
Maasstricht treaty, EU has obtained a constitution setting the path toward a superpower
state with EU citizenship, common currency, foreign policy, defence policy etc. The only
area left out of the EU constitution is religion. In 1992 Denmark succeeded temporarily to
block this development when the danes in a plebiscite with a small majority voted no to
the treaty. But offcourse european big capital could not accept that a small majority in
Denmark could block big capitals project for Europe. A new plebiscite was designed and
held 1 year later in which the danes were terrorized to vote in favor of the treaty.
For VS, EU signifies the Europe of capitalism that is intended to be developed into having a coordinated imperialist policy towards the rest of the world - both militarily, economically, and politically. Together with other EU critics in Denmark, VS will fight this development with all available means, but it is necessary to establish a strong cooperation with the revolutionary left in the rest of Europe in order to strengthen this struggle.
Another area of VS activity is the struggle against capitalisms destruction of the Earth. In Europe, the capitalist development to a large extent has depleted the natural ressources - rivers and lakes are heavily polluted or completely dead and the air is thick with smog. At the same time capitalism provokes a rapid depletion of natural ressources in the third world through destruction of the rain forests, heavy mining, and the use of the third world as a deposit for strongly polluted industrial waste. In many countries, the destruction of nature has avanced so far that even socialdemocratic and bourgeois politicians are in favor of environment protection measures, but they have only patchy solutions. It will not be possible to stop the world wide depletion of the environment until the way of production is fundamentally changed - when production no more takes place in order to produce profits but in order to satisfy human needs. When revolution is made.
A third field of VS international activity is internationalism. Imperialism carries out a violent exploitation of the Third World and a destruction of the environment in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Just between 1960 and 1990 the income gap between the 20% richest and the 20% poorest on our Earth has increased from 30 to 60. Prices for rawmaterials produced in the Third World are decided not by the producers but by multinational companies and by the raw material stock exchanges. IMF and the World Bank through their neoliberal policies causes a breakdown in destruction and state intervention in education, health, and public welfare. VS has a policy of supporting antiimperialist struggles such as the one carried out by the FMLN in El Salvador during the 1980'ies. In general terms VS supports claims for national selfdetermination and therefore supports organizations such as the Herri Batasuna in the Basque country, Sinn Fein in Ireland, PFLP in Palestine, and the liberation struggle of the kurdish people. VS also supports international left wing cooperation and has asked for a status of observer with the Sao Paulo Forum, that especially organizes the Latin American left wing.VS also supports the societies in transition in Vietnam, Laos, Moçambique , Angola, and Cuba in their struggle for the preservation and extension of social rights and for their liberation from capitalism. But at the same time VS maintains a criticism of the lack of democracy in the societies in transition and for their overdeveloped byrocratic statal apparatus. In many areas, big advances have been made in the rights and living conditions for working people, but at the same time they are societies that still have a far way to go to socialism.
A fourth area for VS is anti-militarism. VS sees NATO as a tool for North American and Westeuropean imperialism. After the breakdown in Eastern Europe this alliance has focused on developing its threat against the Third World - especially the Middle East and North Africa. VS advocates a danish break with NATO and of the destruction of this war alliance. At the same time VS wishes to fight the development of the Western European Union to become the armed force of the EU, as foreseen in the Maasstricht treaty.
Objectives of the VS international activities
VS has 3 main objectives with its international activities. First of all the international
contacts among revolutionary groups, movements, and parties is of vital importance for the
analysis of the developments in class struggle internationally. Socialism cannot be
constructed alone in one country, so it is necessary that we analyse classstructures and
classtruggle internationally. The contact among revolutionary groups, movements, and
parties is vital for this analysis. With the diminished importance of anti-imperialist
struggles in the Third World, VS puts more emphasis into estabishing contacts with
revolutionary organisations in the imperialist centers: USA, Japan, and especially Europe.
These contacts are bilateral. This means that VS also is obliged to contribute with its
analysis of class struggles in Denmark. The analysis will influence party politics and
result in articles.
Secondly VS wants to use its international contacts for a discussion and for the development of strategy for the revolutionary left internationally. I.e. the development of analysis into tactics and strategy. VS wants to accomplish this objective through bilateral contacts and through paticipation in international fora such as the Sao Paulo Forum.
Thirdly VS wants to use its international contacts for strengthening international solidarity in Denmark in favor of the struggles in Europe and the rest of the world, and in order to be able to mobilize international support when the development of the class struggles in Denmark makes this necessary.
International publications from VS
VS during the 1980'ies published a "Letter of Information" in english:
nr. 2, February 1986: The danish referendum on the EEC reform package and the right to national self-determination.
nr. 3, March 1986: The situation after the danish EEC package referendum. What are the consequences of the "Yes" vote?
nr. 4, September 1986: VS and the issue of a parliamentary majority of working class parties - part II.
nr. 5, October 1986: VS and the working class majority.
nr. 6, April 1988: VS 15th party congress and developments since September 1987 elections.
nr. 7, July 1988: General elections in may 1988 and the 15th VS party congress.
nr. 8, May 1989: Developments since the May 1988 general elections, the unity process on the left, and the VS extraordinary congress in April 1989.
nr. 9, May 1990: Developments in Denmark and the red-green alliance of the left since the summer of 1989.
Since 1993 the Unitylist has published a newsletter in english:
nr. 1, March 1993: Denmark and the new vote on Maasstricht.
nr. 2, July 1993: Big opposition to the european union will remain central political challenge.
nr. 3, October 1994: Parliamentary breakthrough for the red-green alliance.
These newsletters may be ordered with VS. In the future VS inperiodicaly will produce a "Letter of information" in english on class struggles and the political developments in Denmark.
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Venstresocialisterne Telephone +(45) 3535 0608 Email: |
