The left-wing opposition in Denmark, Norway and Sweden: Cases of Euro-phobia?

West European Politics

Volumn 19, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 525-546

  Christensen, Dag Arne ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN   (Norway)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EUROPEAN INTEGRATION; EUROPEAN UNION; EUROPEAN UNION MEMBERSHIP; GEOPOLITICAL STUDY; LEFT WING ATTITUDES;

DENMARK; NORWAY; SWEDEN;

EID: 0030424734     PISSN: 01402382     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01402389608425149     Document Type: Article

References (91)

1. See Kevin Featherstone, Socialist Parties and European Integration: A Comparative History (Manchester UP 1988).
2. Emile-François Callot, 'The French Communist Party and Europe: the idea and its implementation (1945-1985)', European Jnl of Political Research 16 (1988)pp.301-316.
3. Jens Henrik Haahr, Looking to Europe: The EC Policies of the British Labour Parties and the Danish Social Democrats (Aarhus UP 1993).
4. In France, 'L'Autre Europe', which was formed to fight the Maastricht Treaty in the referendum, won 12.3 per cent of the vote in the 1994 election. The German anti-Maastricht Freier Bürger got only 1.1 per cent, while the 18 British anti-Maastricht candidates averaged 3.7 per cent in the constituencies where they stood. See John Finder, 'The European Elections of 1994 and the Future of the European Union', Government and Opposition 29/4 (1994), pp.494-514.
5. Palle Svensson, 'The Danish Yes to Maastricht and Edinburgh. The EC Referendum of May 1993', Scandinavian Political Studies 17/1 (1994) pp.69-82.
6. The referendums were held on 13 Nov. in Sweden and 28 Nov. in Norway.
7. Lars Bille, 'Denmark', in Richard Katz and Peter Mair (eds.) Party Organizations: A Data Handbook (London: Sage 1992).
8. See Ragnar Kvam Jr. DNA mot splittelse. Da venstrefløyen ble ekskludert og SF stiftet (Oslo: Cappelen 1973) and Øivind Stenersen, Venstrekreftene i norsk politikk 1945-65, i Trond Bergh and Helge Ø. Pharo (eds.), Vekst og velstand. Norsk politisk historie 1945-1965 (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget 1977).
9. See Ragnar Kvam Jr. DNA mot splittelse. Da venstrefløyen ble ekskludert og SF stiftet (Oslo: Cappelen 1973) and Øivind Stenersen, Venstrekreftene i norsk politikk 1945-65, i Trond Bergh and Helge Ø. Pharo (eds.), Vekst og velstand. Norsk politisk historie 1945-1965 (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget 1977).
10. See Åke Sparring, The Communist Party of Sweden', in Anthony F. Upton (ed.) The Communist Parties of Scandinavia and Finland (London: Weidenfeld 1973) and Enn Kokk, VPK och SKP. De grälande tvillingpartierna (Stockholm: Tidens Förlag 1974).
11. See Åke Sparring, The Communist Party of Sweden', in Anthony F. Upton (ed.) The Communist Parties of Scandinavia and Finland (London: Weidenfeld 1973) and Enn Kokk, VPK och SKP. De grälande tvillingpartierna (Stockholm: Tidens Förlag 1974).
12. See Sven E. Olsson, Frän SKP till VPK - en anatologi (Lund. Bo Cavefors Bokförlag 1976), idem, Utanför systemet. Vänstern i Sverige 1968-78 (Stockholm: Raben & Sjögren 1978) and Kent Lindkvist, 'Vad skulle VPK beta?', ZENIT 4 (1989) pp.73-84.
13. See Sven E. Olsson, Frän SKP till VPK - en anatologi (Lund. Bo Cavefors Bokförlag 1976), idem, Utanför systemet. Vänstern i Sverige 1968-78 (Stockholm: Raben & Sjögren 1978) and Kent Lindkvist, 'Vad skulle VPK beta?', ZENIT 4 (1989) pp.73-84.
14. See Sven E. Olsson, Frän SKP till VPK - en anatologi (Lund. Bo Cavefors Bokförlag 1976), idem, Utanför systemet. Vänstern i Sverige 1968-78 (Stockholm: Raben & Sjögren 1978) and Kent Lindkvist, 'Vad skulle VPK beta?', ZENIT 4 (1989) pp.73-84.
15. Jon Pierre and Anders Widfeldt, Sweden, in Katz and Mair (note 7).
16. See Jan-Erik Lane, Tuomo Martikainen, Falle Svensson, Gunnar Vogt and Henry Valen, 'Scandinavian Exceptionalism Reconsidered', Jnl of Theoretical Politics 5/2 (1993) p.195.
17. Sten Sparre-Nilson, 'Norway and Denmark', in Peter H. Merkl (ed.) Western European Party Systems (NY: Free Press 1980).
18. See Diane Sainsbury, 'The 1988 Swedish Election: The Breakthrough of the Greens', West European Politics 12/2 (April 1989) pp.140-42 and Hans Bergström, 'Sweden's Politics and Party System at the Crossroads', ibid. 14/3 (July 1991) pp.8-30. The Greens was replaced by the right-wing New Democracy in 1991, but regained representation in 1994.
19. See Diane Sainsbury, 'The 1988 Swedish Election: The Breakthrough of the Greens', West European Politics 12/2 (April 1989) pp.140-42 and Hans Bergström, 'Sweden's Politics and Party System at the Crossroads', ibid. 14/3 (July 1991) pp.8-30. The Greens was replaced by the right-wing New Democracy in 1991, but regained representation in 1994.
20. See Mogens Pedersen, 'The Danish "Working Multiparty System: Breakdown or Adaption?"' in Hans Daalder (ed.) Party Systems in Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and Belgium (London: Pinter 1987) and Ole Borre, 'The Danish General Election of 1987', Electoral Studies 7/1 (1988) pp.75-78.
21. See Mogens Pedersen, 'The Danish "Working Multiparty System: Breakdown or Adaption?"' in Hans Daalder (ed.) Party Systems in Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and Belgium (London: Pinter 1987) and Ole Borre, 'The Danish General Election of 1987', Electoral Studies 7/1 (1988) pp.75-78.
22. See Seymour Martin Lipset and Stein Rokkan (eds.) Party Systems and Voter Alignments (NY: Free Press 1967) and Andrei S. Markovits and Philip S. Gorski, The German Left: Red, Green and Beyond (Cambridge: Polity Press 1993).
23. See Seymour Martin Lipset and Stein Rokkan (eds.) Party Systems and Voter Alignments (NY: Free Press 1967) and Andrei S. Markovits and Philip S. Gorski, The German Left: Red, Green and Beyond (Cambridge: Polity Press 1993).
24. For a discussion of Left-Socialist parties in Scandinavia see Daniel Tarschys, 'The Changing Basis of Radical Socialism in Scandinavia', in Karl H. Cerny (ed.) Scandinavia at the Polls, Recent Political Trends in Denmark, Norway and Sweden (Washington DC: American Enterprise Inst. for Public Policy Research 1977) and Eric S. Einhorn and John Logue, 'Continuity and Change in the Scandinavian Party Systems', in Steven B. Wolinetz (ed.) Parties and Party Systems in Liberal Democracies (London: Routledge 1988).
25. For a discussion of Left-Socialist parties in Scandinavia see Daniel Tarschys, 'The Changing Basis of Radical Socialism in Scandinavia', in Karl H. Cerny (ed.) Scandinavia at the Polls, Recent Political Trends in Denmark, Norway and Sweden (Washington DC: American Enterprise Inst. for Public Policy Research 1977) and Eric S. Einhorn and John Logue, 'Continuity and Change in the Scandinavian Party Systems', in Steven B. Wolinetz (ed.) Parties and Party Systems in Liberal Democracies (London: Routledge 1988).
26. Neutrality has not been a categorical principle of Swedish foreign policy: negotiations were conducted in 1948-49 between Denmark, Norway and Sweden about the creation of a Scandinavian defence pact. However, Sweden insisted that the proposed union should be independent of NATO, and the negotiations failed mainly because of Swedish-Norwegian disagreement on this point. See Kjell Goldmann, 'The Swedish Model of Security Policy', West European Politics 14/3 (July 1991) p.140.
27. An impressive correlation of .88 is found between the vote of the 1972 and 1994 referenda when using local government as units of analysis. See Ulf Lindström and Lars Svåsand, 'Scandinavian Political Parties and Europe', in John Gaffney (ed.) Political Parties and the European Community (London: Routledge 1996) p.215.
28. Olof Petersson, The Government and Politics of the Nordic Countries (Stockholm: Publica 1994).
29. Ibid. p.91.
30. Ibid.
31. The first dispute was whether the SF should allow the People's Movement Against the EC to organise the selection of candidates to the 1979 EP elections. The SF feared that the Communist Party would use the movement for its own interests. In 1980 a new anti-EC committee was established outside the SF, a committee critical to the People's Movement's focus on withdrawal from the Community and their orientation towards national Danish interests. The anti-EC committee claimed that it was important for the SF to strengthen its contacts with Socialist forces in other European countries, even if they, as the Italian Communist Party, were pro-EC. The National Committee in the SF, found it unwise to take part in creating such a committee and claimed that it would make co-operation with socialist and other opponents to the EC difficult (Folkesocialisten, nr.3 1980 and nr.5 1980).
32. Meeting of the National Committee 1 Feb. 1981.
33. Folkesocialisten, nr. 10, 1986.
34. Ibid. nr. 9, 1984.
35. Ibid. nr. 11, 1984.
36. In 1982, a majority of two votes supported the National Committee's political statement about the EC, where the development within the EC's foreign policy co-operation (EPC) was seen as a small step towards independence from the USA. John Iversen in the party's EC committee pointed to the possibility that although 'the EC partly was created by the US we must be open to the possibility that the adult child now is turning against the Wizard' (Folkesocialisten, nr. 5 1982) . There was also a minority of seven against 15 in the National Executive that sought to welcome Spain and Portugal as EC member states (ibid. nr. 3 1983 and nr. 9 1984). John Iversen has been one of the most eager spokesmen for a change in the SF's EC policy. He represented the party in the EP from 1984 to 1994. He is currently employed by the Danish Social Democrat Commissionaire for Environment, Ritt Bjerregard as a member of staff. He is still a member of the SF.
37. In 1982, a majority of two votes supported the National Committee's political statement about the EC, where the development within the EC's foreign policy co-operation (EPC) was seen as a small step towards independence from the USA. John Iversen in the party's EC committee pointed to the possibility that although 'the EC partly was created by the US we must be open to the possibility that the adult child now is turning against the Wizard' (Folkesocialisten, nr. 5 1982) . There was also a minority of seven against 15 in the National Executive that sought to welcome Spain and Portugal as EC member states (ibid. nr. 3 1983 and nr. 9 1984). John Iversen has been one of the most eager spokesmen for a change in the SF's EC policy. He represented the party in the EP from 1984 to 1994. He is currently employed by the Danish Social Democrat Commissionaire for Environment, Ritt Bjerregard as a member of staff. He is still a member of the SF.
38. In 1982, a majority of two votes supported the National Committee's political statement about the EC, where the development within the EC's foreign policy co-operation (EPC) was seen as a small step towards independence from the USA. John Iversen in the party's EC committee pointed to the possibility that although 'the EC partly was created by the US we must be open to the possibility that the adult child now is turning against the Wizard' (Folkesocialisten, nr. 5 1982) . There was also a minority of seven against 15 in the National Executive that sought to welcome Spain and Portugal as EC member states (ibid. nr. 3 1983 and nr. 9 1984). John Iversen has been one of the most eager spokesmen for a change in the SF's EC policy. He represented the party in the EP from 1984 to 1994. He is currently employed by the Danish Social Democrat Commissionaire for Environment, Ritt Bjerregard as a member of staff. He is still a member of the SF.
39. National Executive statement, 19 Jan. 1986.
40. Folkesocialisten, nr.2, 1986.
41. Ibid, nr.4, 1986.
42. Ibid, nr.5, 1986.
43. Teddy Petersen pointed to the fact that the SF's programmes is full of statements of solidarity towards other people, especially those living far away, but when it comes to our garlic-eating neighbours in the south, our warm brotherly feelings go cold (Ibid. nr 5, 1987).
44. National Executive statement, Ibid, nr.2, 1988.
45. Ibid, nr.2, 1989.
46. Ibid, nr.3, 1989.
47. Ibid, nr.9, 1990.
48. Ibid, nr.2, 1992.
49. See Svensson (note 5).
50. The post Maastricht development had strengthened the Danish position in the negotiations. Both a tiny majority in favour of the Maastricht Treaty in the French referendum in Sept. as well as the problems in the British Conservative Party pointed to a positive result for Denmark.
51. The Economist, 10-16 Sept. 1994.
52. See Gullan Gidlund, Partiernas Europa (Stockholm: Bokförlaget Natur och Kultur, 1992) p.30-1.
53. The Left-Party rejects the EEC Agreement, Socialistisk Debat (membership paper) nr.2, 1972.
54. Gidlund (note 42) p.67.
55. Cited from ibid. p. 68.
56. Party pamphlet with the slogan: Europe is bigger than the EC and the world is bigger than Europe.
57. Statement from the National Executive, 14 Nov. 1994.
58. Internal party report by the SV's party secretary Terje Erikstad, Nov. 1988.
59. Ibid.
60. Ibid. p.29.
61. The proposal is published in Venstre Om (membership paper) nr.6, 1994.
62. The 1995 programme of principle, p.25.
63. A pro-EU network of 64 individuals was established within the SV in the summer of 1994 (Ny Tid (party newspaper) nr. 35, 1994).
64. E.E. Schattschneider, The Semisovereign People (Hinsdale: Dryden Press 1975).
65. In an article in Folkesocialisten Søren Gytz, from the local party branch of Skive, argues that 'since the SF acquired a member of the European Parliament and established an EC Committee the issue over EC policy has been troublesome'. The background to the discussion was that the party's Euro-MP, Bodil Boserup, had accepted the post as chairman of the Parliament's budget control Committee. The chairman of the party's EC Committee stated that acceptance 'the position was only an opportunity for juicy revelations'.
66. Political statement to the National Congress in 1991.
67. Folkesocialisten, nr.3, 1985.
68. British Labour, the German Social Democrats, the German Greens, the Belgian Greens, the Greek PASOK and the Dutch Social Democrats were the other parties participating in the network (Ibid. nr. 7 1987).
69. The group had 28 members and consisted of, apart from the SF, the Italian Communists, the United Left from Spain and the Greek Left. The programmatic declaration of the group included high minimum standards for the environment, opening of the EC towards new applicants, fighting fascism, human rights and increased democratisation in EC institutions. The SF stressed that 'our party is convinced that the sovereignty of the nation state still is fundamental, and we will not take part in political activities that aims at establishing a political union through further integration' (National Executive, in Folkesocialisten nr.7, 1989).
70. The group was composed of eight French, seven Italians, six Germans, three Belgians, two Dutch and one from Spain.
71. Informationen, 23 Dec. 1994.
72. See Gidlund (note 42) and Magnus Jemeck, 'Internationalisering och svensk partidiplomati', in Göte Hansson and Lars-Göran Stenelo (eds.) Makt och Internationalisering (Stockholm: Carlssons 1990).
73. The party leadership's record to the National Congress in 1993.
74. The parties employed a part-time common secretary from 1991.
75. Kaare Strøm, 'A Behavioral Theory of Competitive Political Parties', American Jnl of Political Science 34/2 (1990) pp.565-8.
76. The policy-seeking model is mainly relevant in coalition studies (Strøm note 65), and of less importance to our study of policy on European integration. Although neither of the Left-Socialist parties has participated in any coalition governments, EC policy can be seen to be ideologically important in the sense that parties seek public office to influence the politics of integration. The model could therefore be interesting in a study of different Danish coalition governments and the participating parties' strategies on European integration.
77. One of the telegrams received by the party leadership read: 'Cure against acute lust for power - read the programme of principles' (Folkesocialisten nr.9, 1986).
78. An extraordinary Social Democratic party congress took place on 11 April 1991 in which Poul Nyrup Rasmussen replaced Svend Auken as party chairman in a contested election with 359 votes out of a total of 557.
79. One commentator states that 'lunch on the left-socialists annual congresses meant time for the factions to meet' (Folkesocialisten nr. 4 1986).
80. Some 3.1 per cent of the voters supported the Unity-list compared to 1.4 in the 1990 elections. SF's support decreased from 8.3 per cent in 1990 to 7.3 in 1993.
81. Ole Borre, 'The Danish General Election of 1990', Electoral Studies 10/2 (1991) pp.133-8.
82. SF Status 1988, p.104.
83. In Sweden the organisation, 'No to EC' was established in Stockholm on 6 April 1991, and had 2,000 members in approximately 50 local branches (Gidlund note 42, p. 149). Its Norwegian counterpart was dissolved after the last battle in 1972, but reappeared with 30,000 members in 300 local branches around the country in the late 1980s. In Denmark, the People's Movement Against the EC continued its activity despite the fact that Denmark became a member in 1973. The Danish movement has grappled with internal conflicts since the outset in the early 1970s. The SF re-evaluated its position towards the movement and finally withdrew from the movement in 1991 on the ground that it had become dominated by the Communist Party. The National Congress of the People's Movement had for the first time in 19 years dropped the official candidate from the SF to the National Executive. The SF gave its support to Europe 92, an organisation founded after the split in the Movement Against the EC. Europe 92 supported continued Danish membership in the EC, but opposed further integration. In the 1994 elections to the EP the two organisations won two representatives each. The June Movement (election alliance from Europe 92) polled 15.2 per cent of the votes while the People's Movement Against EU polled 10.3 per cent. The SF lost one of its two representatives with the support of 9.1 per cent of the electorate.
84. From 1932 to 1976, the Swedish Social Democratic Party had monopolised the office of government. From 1932, the party's share of the national vote never fell below 41 per cent. See Jonas Pontusson, 'Sweden: After the Golden Age', in Perry Anderson and Patrick Camiller (eds.) Mapping the West European Left (London: Verso 1994) p.23.
85. See Jan-Erik Lane, 'Interpretations of the Swedish Model', West European Politics 14/3 (July 1991) p.7. Pontusson (note 74) points out that the Social Democrats had promised three major reforms in its electoral campaign of 1988 (p.37): the introduction of a sixth week of paid holidays, the extension of parental leave insurance from nine to 15 months and the expansion of public day-care so that every pre-school child above the age of 18 months would be ensured a place. All were deterred and organised business had strongly opposed the first two.
86. The Swedish business organisation, SAF, launched a poster in its 1989 campaign featuring a smaller Swedish child next to a larger one from a member nation, asking why the latter grew faster. See Henry Milner, Social Democracy and Rational Choice. The Scandinavian Experience and beyond (London: Routledge 1994) p.208.
87. See Lars Mjøset, Ådne Cappelen, Jan Fagerberg and Bent Sofus Tranøy, 'Norway: Changing the Model', in Anderson and Camiller (note 74) p.75.
88. See Berge Furre, Norsk historie 1905-1990 (Oslo: Det Norske Samlaget, 1993).
89. Formally illegal according to the party statutes. The SME was dissolved immediately after the referendum in November.
90. Bemt Aardahl, 'The 1993 Storting Election: Volatile Voters Opposing the European Union', Scandinavian Political Studies 17/2 (1994) p.178.
91. See Klaus von Beyme, Political Parties in Western Democracies (London: Gower 1985) p.71.