Communist Party of Denmark

The Communist Party of Denmark (Danish: Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti, DKP) is a communist political party in Denmark. DKP was founded on 9 November 1919 as the Left-Socialist Party of Denmark (Danish: Danmarks Venstresocialistiske Parti, VSP) through a merger of the Socialist Youth League and Socialist Labour Party of Denmark, both of which had broken away from the Social Democrats in March 1918.[1][2] The party assumed its present name in November 1920, when it joined the Comintern.[1]

Not to be confused with Communist Party in Denmark or Communist Party (Denmark).

Communist Party of Denmark

Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti
LeaderHenrik Stamer Hedin
Founded9 November 1919[1][2]
HeadquartersFrederikssundsvej 64, 2400 Copenhagen NV
NewspaperArbejderbladet (The Worker's Paper), 1922-1941.
Land og Folk (Land and People), 1941-1990.
Skub (Push), 2001 to present.
Youth wingCommunist Youth of Denmark (1919-1990)
Young Communist League (2009-)
Membership1919: approx. 2,000
1945: approx. 60,000
1960: approx. 5,000[3]
2009: approx. 300
IdeologyCommunism
Marxism-Leninism
Political positionFar-left
National affiliationRed–Green Alliance
International affiliationComintern (1920-1943),
International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties
International Communist Seminar
ColoursRed
Website
http://www.dkp.dk/

DKP was last independently represented in the Danish Parliament (Folketing) in 1979. In 1989, on the initiative of the Left Socialists party (VS), DKP and the Danish Socialist Workers Party (SAP) jointly launched what would become the new socialist party of Red-Green Alliance (Enhedslisten).[4]

History

Background and establishment

Marie-Sophie Nielsen led the breakaway faction from the Social Democrats in 1918 that founded the Socialist Labour Party of Denmark, due to an accumulation of conflicts with the reformist leadership of the Social Democrats.[5] In particular, they opposed cooperation with the Radical Liberal Party, with whom the Social Democrats allied themselves in general elections.[5] The Socialist Labour Party of Denmark began laying the foundations for a new party in March 1918, soon after its establishment.[5]

In 1919, the party cooperated with the syndicalist movement, primarily organized in the Trade Union Opposition Coalition (Danish: Fagoppositionens Sammenslutning, FS) and the Socialist Youth League, a left-wing Social Democratic breakaway group from the Social Democratic Youth (the youth wing of the Social Democrats), to found the Left-Socialist Party of Denmark on 9 November 1919.[1][5]

The party participated in the 2nd Comintern Congress in 1920.[1][5] The party approved the admission requirements, and changed its name to the Communist Party of Denmark and joined the Comintern the same year.[1][5] This, however, led to a split within the party, with the syndicalist faction, led by FS, withdrawing the party.[5]

Following a rapprochement between the two groups, and with the approval of the USSR, the DKP and FS formed a joint federation in 1921, known as the Communist Federation (Danish: Kommunistisk Føderation).[5] However, the cooperation would be short lived. The federation split in 1922 following an attempted coup of the party's leadership, and for the next 18 months Denmark would have two parties calling themselves the Communist Party of Denmark (although only one was recognized by the Comintern.)[5] The two parties were successfully merged once more in 1923, but inter-factional conflicts would continue for another 20 years.[1][5]

DKP election poster

For the initial period following the party's reunification, DKP's leadership consisted of the left-wing social democrats which had formerly belonged to the Socialist Labour Party of Denmark and the Socialist Youth League.[5] During this period, the party made little electoral or popular advancement, declining from 0.5% of the vote in 1924, to 0.4% in 1926, and 0.3% in 1929.

In 1929, the Comintern intervened, by means of an open letter to the party, forcing the removal of DKP's leadership.[5] For the next 18 months, the party was placed under the direct administration of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[5] The new leadership that was appointed consisted of pro-Soviet hardliners, with Aksel Larsen becoming the new Chairman of the Central Committee.[5][6]

This intervention resulted in DKP making an 'ultra-left turn.'[5] This was characterized strategically by a designation of Social Democrats as the primary enemy of communism, with the party adopting anti-Social Democratic rhetoric, including accusing the Social Democrats of being social fascist. Concurrently, the Great Depression was reaching its peak in Denmark, allowing DKP to channel rising economic dissatisfaction.[5] Particularly, the party grew in popularity amongst the unemployed.[5] The party also grew in popularity amongst students and intellectuals for its anti-fascist activities.[5]

In the 1932 elections, DKP achieved parliamentary representation for the first time, obtaining 1.1% of the vote and 2 seats. This increased to 1.9% of the vote in 1935, and 2.4% in 1939. The 1930s was a period of constant advancement for the party.[5]

Banning by German occupation authorities
Land og Folk from 1945

On 9 April 1940 Germany invaded Denmark. For the first 14 months of German occupation, DKP was allowed to continue operating legally, but more than 300 communists, including members of parliament, were interned by the Danish police on 22 June 1941, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union.[5] The party was subsequently outlawed when the Communist Law was signed into law two months later on 22 August 1941.[1][5] A national unity government was formed by the other major parties, which cooperated with the Germans, including the outlawing of DKP.[5]

Resistance against German occupation

DKP continued to operate underground, and was a leading force of the Danish resistance.[1][5] Members of DKP sat on the Danish Freedom Council, the largest underground resistance force against the German occupation.[1] Following the collapse of the national unity government on 29 August 1943, the DKP, along with other non-socialist resistance forces, became the informal government of the country.[5][7]

The Social Democrats experienced a rapid decline in influence during this period, remaining outside of the resistance movement for the entirety of the occupation.[5] The party was weakened to the point that several failed attempts were made to merge it into DKP.[5][8]

Post-war legalization
1945 DKP election programme 'Will of the People - the Law of the Country'

After the liberation of Denmark, on 5 May 1945, the first Communist Minister was inducted into the new liberation government, when Alfred Jensen was made Minister for Traffic. Aksel Larsen was also made a Minister without portfolio. The government was roughly evenly split between members of the old national unity government, and members of the Danish Freedom Council and other resistance groups.

In the first post-liberation Folketing election DKP massively increased its votes to obtain 12.5% of the vote (255,236 votes) and 18 seats, although it was not inducted into the new post-election Venstre-led government. The party was the primary force against Denmark's participation in NATO in the late 1940s.[1] While the party was unsuccessful in that effort, the movement successfully forced the Danish government to refuse permission to place NATO air fields in Denmark.[1]

Cold War era

Officially, the DKP's political line did not conflict with that of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, but pre-war factional tensions continued in the party in the post-war period.[1] Factional tensions peaked with the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian revolution of 1956, which caused a massive backlash against the party in Denmark,[9] and sparked a split in the party.[9][10]

Party Chairman Aksel Larsen had been the leader of the revisionist camp in the party from 1956 onwards,[1] but suffered a rout at the Twentieth Congress of the DKP in 1958.[1] Larsen was expelled for his statements against Soviet involvement in the Hungarian revolution, and formed a new party, the Socialist People's Party (SF), which advocated socialism independent of the Soviet Union.[10] Larsen was replaced by Knud Jespersen, a hardline pro-Soviet communist, positioning DKP as a staunch supporter of the Soviet Union.[11]

In the first post-split Folketing election, the Communist Party lost parliamentary representation for the first time since the liberation of Denmark, collapsing to 1.1% of the vote. The Socialist People's Party achieved 6.1% of the vote and 11 seats.

The party achieved a resurgence following the Twenty-fourth Congress of the DKP in 1973, which focused on demanding Denmark's withdrawal from NATO and the EC.[1] On the back of rising disaffection with the EC and increased popularity amongst student movements, DKP regained parliamentary representation in 1973 election, achieving 3.6% of the vote and 6 seats.

DKP fell out of parliament once again in the 1979 Folketing election, and suffered several high-profile defections in the waning years of the Soviet Union, including party Chairman Ole Sohn, who was expelled in 1991 and later joined the Socialist People's Party.

After the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc

In 1989, DKP joined with two other left-wing parties, the Left Socialists, and the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party to form the broad-based Unity List – The Red-Green Alliance (Danish: Enhedslisten – De Rød-Grønne). Gert Petersen, then-Chairman of the Socialist People's Party (SF), claimed at the time that cooperation between such diffuse ideological currents would fail.[12][13] Not all members of DKP anticipated the launching of the Unity List either, and some chose to split with the party in 1990 to found a new Communist party, Communist Party in Denmark (KPiD).[14] The Unity List has been a cause of political strife in relation to Danish Communists ever since. There are several issues, the two main ones being dual membership and Communist unity.[15][16][17]

In 1992, DKP reorganized heavily, severing the party's links with the international Communist movement and officially changing its purpose from a political organ to a network-oriented organization. At the same time, the Unity List changed from a political cooperation to a regular independent membership-based political party.[18] The Unity List achieved parliamentary representation in the 1994 Folketing election, winning 6 seats, 2 of which were held by members who were also DKP-members. The Unity List has been represented continually in parliament since.

In 2002, DKP revived its former contact with the international Communist movement by joining the annual International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties.[18] Since 2009, DKP has been represented in local municipal and regional elections, often in a merge with KPiD and KP, two other Danish Communist parties.[19][20]

Organization

Press

DKP issued the newspaper "Land og Folk" (Land and People) from 1919 till 1982.

In the early 1920s, the party's newspaper was named Arbejderbladet (The Worker's Paper) and had a circulation of approximately 6,000, but this dropped to around 4,000 by the late 1920s.[5] Circulation began to climb again starting in the 1930s, rising to 7,000 in 1935 and 12,000 by 1940.[5] Beginning in 1933, the party published a theoretical periodical called Kommunistisk Tidsskrift (Communist Periodical), which was renamed Tiden (Time) from 1936 onwards.[5]

During the German occupation of Denmark, the party began publishing a clandestine newspaper called Politiske Maanedsbreve (Political Monthly Letters), which was soon renamed Land og Folk (Land and People).[5] It was one of the most widely circulated underground papers in the country,[5] and continued as the main press organ of the DKP until 1982. In addition, the DKP published a large number of local papers.[5]

Since 2001, DKP has published the quarterly magazine "Skub" (Push) with news related to the party and Communism in general.[21]

Party Chairpersons
Name Period Notes
Ernst Christiansen 1919-1926
Sigvald Hellberg 1926-1927
Thøger Thøgersen 1927-1931
Aksel Larsen 1932-1958
Ib Nørlund 1941-1945 When the party was outlawed during the German occupation of Denmark, Aksel Larsen was arrested. Party secretariat Ib Nørlund temporarily became leader during this period.
Knud Jespersen 1958-1977
Jørgen Jensen 1977-1987
Ole Sohn 1987-1991
Collective Leadership 1991-2003
Henrik Stamer Hedin 2003-

Famous members

Folketing (parliament)
Folketing
Election year # of
overall votes		 % of
overall vote		 # of
overall seats won		 ±
1920 (April) 3,859 0.4[lower-alpha 1]
0 / 139
1920 (July) Did not contest
1920 (September) 5,160 0.4[lower-alpha 1]
0 / 148
 0
1924 6,219 0.5
0 / 148
 0
1926 5,678 0.4
0 / 148
 0
1929 3,656 0.2
0 / 148
 0
1932 17,179 1.1
2 / 148
 2
1935 27,135 1.9
2 / 148
 0
1939 40,893 2.4
3 / 148
 1
1943 Illegal
1945 255,236 12.5
18 / 148
 15
1947 141,094 6.8
9 / 148
 9
1950 94,523 4.6
7 / 149
 2
1953 (April) 98,940 4.8
7 / 149
 0
1953 (September) 93,824 4.3
8 / 175
 New constitution
1957 72,315 3.1
6 / 175
 2
1960 27,298 1.1
0 / 175
 6
1964 32,390 1.2
0 / 175
 0
1966 21,553 0.8
0 / 175
 0
1968 29,706 1.0
0 / 175
 0
1971 39,564 1.4
0 / 175
 0
1973 110,715 3.6
6 / 175
 6
1975 127,837 4.2
7 / 175
 1
1977 114,022 3.7
7 / 175
 0
1979 58,901 1.9
0 / 175
 7
1981 34,625 1.1
0 / 175
 0
1984 23,085 0.7
0 / 175
 0
1987 28,974 0.9
0 / 175
 0
1988 27,439 0.8
0 / 175
 0
1990 onwards Not set up for election
(Participated through Unity List)

Notes:

  1. As the Left-Socialist Party of Denmark.
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See also

References
  1. "The Great Soviet Encyclopedia: Communist Party of Denmark". USSR. 1979. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  2. Aksel Larsen, Taler og artikler gennem 20 år (Copenhagen, 1953).
  3. Benjamin, Roger W.; Kautsky, John H.. Communism and Economic Development, in The American Political Science Review, Vol. 62, No. 1. (March 1968), pp. 122.
  4. http://org.enhedslisten.dk/parti/historie
  5. Thing, Morten (1990). "Communist Party of Denmark and Comintern 1919-1943" (PDF). Roskilde University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  6. Kurt Jacobsen, Moskva som medspiller, DKP's gennembrud og Aksel Larsens vej til Folketinget (Copenhagen, 1987)
  7. Ole Borgå, "DKP's enheds- og folkefrontspolitik 1940-45", Historievidenskab, 12 (1977), pp. 67-127
  8. Mogens Nielsen, Socialdemokratiet og enheden i arbejderbevægelsen 1933-45 (Copenhagen 1978).
  9. Childs, D (2000) The Two Red Flags: European Social Democracy and Soviet Communism since 1945, p53
  10. Lansford, T (2012) Political Handbook of the World 2012, p. 388
  11. Skou, Kaare R. Dansk politik A-Å: leksikon. [Kbh.]: Aschehoug, 2007, pp. 370–371.
  12. DKP fik ikke gjort op med stalinister, Ole Dall, Berlingske Tidende, 19 April 1990, s. 10
  13. Camilla Plum Venstrefløjen passé, Terkel Svensson, Berlingske Tidende, 20. marts 1990, s. 3
  14. "Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti (DKP)" (in Danish). Aarhus University. 25 August 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  15. "DKP til kongres: Vil fortsætte politisk afklaring" [DKP at congress: Will continue political clarification] (in Danish). Arbejderen. 21 September 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  16. "EL-medlemmer vil forbyde medlemskab af flere partier" [EL-members wants to ban membership of several parties] (in Danish). Politiken. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  17. "Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti vil genforenes" [Communist Party of Denmark wants reunion] (in Danish). Modkraft. 28 June 2012. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  18. "Partiets historie" [History of the Party] (in Danish). DKP. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  19. "Kommunister går til valg" [Communists go to the polls] (in Danish). Arbejderen. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  20. "Kommunisterne går frem" [The Communists gains] (in Danish). Arbejderen. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  21. Skub (in Danish)

Literature
  • Ib Nørlund: "Det knager i samfundets fuger og bånd", Rids af dansk arbejderbevægelses udvikling, 1959, 3rd edition 1972 (in Danish)
  • Knud Holt Nielsen: "Giv mig de rene og ranke... Danmarks Kommunistiske Ungdom 1960-1990", udgivet af SFAH 2009 (in Danish)
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