Communist Party of Norway

Communist Party of Norway
Norges Kommunistiske Parti
LeaderRuna Evensen
Founded4 November 1923[1]
Split fromNorwegian Labour Party
HeadquartersHelgesens gate 21, Oslo
NewspaperFriheten
Youth wingYoung Communists in Norway
IdeologyCommunism
Marxism–Leninism
Hard Euroscepticism
Political positionFar-left
European affiliationINITIATIVE (until 2023)
International affiliationIMCWP
Colours  Red
SloganFolkemakt mot pengemakt!
(English: People's power over monetary power!)
Storting
0 / 169
County Councils
0 / 728
Municipal / City Councils[2]
0 / 10,781
Sami Parliament
0 / 39
Website
www.nkp.no

The Communist Party of Norway (Norwegian: Norges Kommunistiske Parti, NKP) is a communist party in Norway.

The NKP was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party. It was Stalinist from its establishment and, as such, supported the Soviet government while opposing Trotskyism.

During the Second World War, the NKP initially opposed active resistance to the German occupation, in deference to the non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany. Once Germany terminated the pact and attacked the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of Norway joined the resistance.

As a result of its role in the anti-Nazi struggle, the NKP experienced a brief surge in popularity immediately after the war, but popular sympathy waned with the onset of the Cold War. The ruling Labour Party took a hard line against the communists, culminating in Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen's 1948 condemnatory Kråkerøy speech. Norwegian authorities considered the party an extremist organization, and its activities would be closely monitored by the Police Surveillance Agency throughout the Cold War.[3]

Ideologically, the NKP has evolved since its founding. It followed Khrushchev's lead by formally denouncing Stalin's rule after his death in 1953, but remained pro-Soviet until the end of the Cold War, despite occasional instances of disagreement. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the party has recognized some of the flaws of the Soviet model. It nonetheless supports traditional Soviet historiography and pro-Russian political views, opposing NATO, the European Union and the United States.

The NKP has been a marginal force in Norwegian politics since the late 1940s. It held a single seat in the parliament as late as 1961, but it has not been represented in any elected bodies in recent decades. In the 2017 parliamentary elections, it received only 309 votes (0.01%).[4]

  1. ^ Dokken, Bjørn Erik (2008). "NKPs antikrigsarbeid 1923–1939: fra partistiftelsen til den tysk-sovjetiske ikke-angrepspakten" (in Norwegian). University of Oslo. p. 15. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
  2. ^ "Arbeidarpartiet". Valg 2019 (in Norwegian). Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Myndighetenes trusseloppfatninger," in the Lund Report, Official Document No. 15 (1995–96), pp. 155–189
  4. ^ "Count for Norway, Parliamentary Election, 2017". Valgresultat.no. Norwegian Directorate of Elections. Retrieved 23 April 2021.