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'Workers' Communist Party' (in Norwegian: ''Arbeidernes Kommunistparti''), was a Norwegian communist party (1973-2007). It was a predecessor of the current party Red founded on 10 March 2007.
AKP was founded in 1973, as ''Arbeidernes Kommunistparti (marxist-leninistene)'', it arguably holds the leftmost ground in mainstream Norwegian politics. It does not participate directly in elections, but members have "activity duty", meaning that they have to work for the party's goals - passive members are not accepted. The precise number of its members is unknown.
On February 22, 2006, the party opened some of its archives to the public, in a move the party argued was to hit out at all the rumours surrounding the party.

Contents

History

Controversy

Membership

References

External links

History

Two trends led to the formation of AKP (m-l):

★ The radical movements of Western academic environments in the late 1960s and early 1970s, particularly within the context of the Vietnam war

★ The split between the Soviet Union and China, which caused an ideological crisis among an older generation of communists
The founders of AKP (m-l) came from what was then known as SUF, or Sosialistisk Ungdomsforbund (Socialist Youth League). SUF had been started as the youth wing of the Sosialistisk Folkeparti, but broke away in 1969 as it developed into a marxist-leninist direction. Following the split SUF was renamed SUF(m-l).
As a result of the activity duty, many party members practiced "self-proletarisation" on the party's orders, working as manual labourers. Later, the party encouraged its well-educated members to take work as teachers, particularly in higher education.
As a part of their policy, AKP members have joined and tried to influence several voluntary organisations socialist direction, particularly those related to "feminism", labor unions and anti-racism.
AKP does not put its name on election ballots, choosing instead to work through Red Electoral Alliance.
Recently it has been discussed whether AKP should remove the activity duty and merge with the Red Electoral Alliance.
Klassekampen used to be the party's daily newspaper in the 1970s, but is today associated to a slightly wider political spectrum. AKP was also associated to Oktober Forlag, a publisher. Currently the party publishes the monthly newspaper akp.no and the quarterly magazine Rødt!.

Controversy

The AKP movement were at times criticised for support of Marxist and communist regimes in other parts of the world, including the regimes of Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong^[1]. AKP openly endorsed the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia, and when that party's forces invaded Phnom Penh, Klassekampen had "Long live the free Cambodia" as their front page headline. Support from AKP endured in spite of the killings which were reported during Pol Pot's rule which AKP considered to be lies, and AKP had delegations visiting the country.^[2]
Much of the party's inner workings have been clandestine in nature, for instance the precise number of members is kept secret. The party program has been considered militant since it calls for armed revolution.
In 2003 two former members of the party's leadership, Finn Sjue and Egil Fossum apologized for the totalitarian culture in the party.

Membership

Some members or close sympathisers of AKP, both present and former, and their current position, as published in Dagbladet.

★ Pål Steigan, freelance consultant.

★ Sigurd Allern, former chief editor of Klassekampen currently professor of journalism at the University of Oslo.

★ Jorun Gulbrandsen, current leader of AKP.

★ Hilde Haugsgjerd, chief editor of the evening edition of Aftenposten.

★ Bjørgulv Braanen, current chief editor of Klassekampen.

★ Olav Martin Mugaas, former chief of Duplotrykk, the publisher of Klassekampen, currently the CEO of Aftenposten.

★ Jon Michelet, former chief editor of Klassekampen, also a well known writer.

★ Tron Øgrim, journalist, author and politician.

★ Jahn-Arne Olsen, general secretary of the association of Norwegian journalists.

★ Egil "Drillo" Olsen, manager of the Norwegian national football team 1990–1998. Also former manager for Vålerenga I.F., Wimbledon F.C. and Fredrikstad F.K..

★ Knut Olsen, host of several shows at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation.

★ Otto Jespersen, famous TV comedian.

★ Geir Mork, CEO of the publisher Gyldendal.

★ Anders Heger, CEO of the publisher Cappelen.
Others who have been or are members of the AKP

★ Torstein Dahle, chairman of Red Electoral Alliance and councillor in Bergen

★ Dag Solstad, novelist

★ Erling Folkvord, councillor for Red Electoral Alliance in Oslo

★ Herman Kristoffersen, mayor of Tromsø

★ Per Petterson, novelist

★ Hans Rotmo, musician

References

★ "They worshipped Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot", article in Aftenposten.

★ Freedom of speech as bread and butter, article in Dagbladet

★ ''Mao, min Mao'', by Hans Petter Sjøli. Book about AKP (m-l), published in 2005.
1. De dyrket Mao, Stalin og Pol Pot (They worshiped Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot), Aftenposten, August 28, 2005
2. Blodbadet i Kambodsja (the bloodbath in Cambodia) forskning.no, Harald Aastorp, January 4, 2005

External links

★ Arbeidernes kommunistparti - Official website

★ Workers' Communist Party - Site in English

★ ml-historie.no - Party archives