Socialist Left Party (Norway)

Socialist Left Party
Sosialistisk Venstreparti
Leader Kristin Halvorsen
1st Deputy Leader Audun Lysbakken
2nd Deputy Leader Bård Vegar Solhjell
Parliamentary leader Bård Vegar Solhjell
Party Secretary Silje Schei Tveitdal
Founded 1975
Headquarters Akersgata 35, Oslo
Youth wing Socialist Youth
Membership 10,500 (peak, 2005)
9,500 (2008)[1]
Ideology Democratic socialism,
Eco-socialism,
Euroscepticism,
Palestinian Nationalism
Social democracy,[2]
Political position Left-wing
National affiliation Red-Green Coalition
International affiliation None
European affiliation Nordic Green Left Alliance
Official colours Red, green
Parliament:
11 / 169
Counties:
47 / 731
Municipalities:
550 / 10,946
Website
www.sv.no
Politics of Norway
Political parties
Elections

The Socialist Left Party (Norwegian: Sosialistisk Venstreparti, Northern Sami: Sosialistalas Gurutbellodat) or SV, is a Norwegian left-wing political party. It became the fourth largest political party in Norway for the first time in the 2001 parliamentary election, and has been so ever since, and at one point being one of the smallest party's in parliament. In 2005, the party managed for the first time to become a governing party, participating in the Red-Green Coalition with the Labour and the Centre Party, before that it was frequently turned down by the Labour Party.

Founded in 1973 as the Socialist Electoral League, an electoral coalition with the Communist Party, Socialist People's Party, Democratic Socialists – AIK and independent socialists; in 1975 the coalition was turned into an electoral party. While currently having the official ideology of democratic socialism, the party has also increasingly profiled itself on support for pro-feminism and environmental policy, a call for stronger public sector, more government involvement in the economy and a strengthening of the social welfare net. Since 1987 the moderate faction of the party has held the leading positions.

Currently the party has over 9500 members and is facing the same problem as other major parties in Norway having difficulties with the steady decrease in membership, with the Labour[3] and the Progress Party being the only parties to experience a steady continuous increase in membership.[4] The current leader of the Socialist Left is Kristin Halvorsen, who has been the party's candidate for Prime Minister of Norway since the 2001 parliamentary election.

Contents

Ideology

Position

The Socialist Left is a left-wing party like both of its predecessors, the Socialist People's Party and the Information Committee of the Labour Movement against Norwegian membership in the European Community, which favours the welfare state and taxation upon the wealthy. Former leader of the Socialist People's Party, Finn Gustavsen, believed that the Labour Party were not socialists, and the only socialist force in parliament were members from the Socialist Electoral League. He was one of the main opponents of Norwegian membership in the European Community (EC), saying the organization showed how "evil and stupid" capitalism really was.[5] According to their official webpage, this is a belief the party still holds.[6] According to a measurement poll done in 2002, one out of four members in the Socialist Left wanted Norway to join the European Union.[7]

During the 2001 parliamentary election, the party's election program stated that the party was a "socialist party" with a vision of a Norway without social injustice.[8] Since its inception, the party has continued promoting itself as socialists.[9] In later years, the party has been portrayed as "social democrats" by the Norwegian left and right-wing media,[10][11][12][13][14] and as democratic socialists.[15] The party has also been categorized as an eco-socialist party by media abroad.[16] The present deputy leader, Audun Lysbakken is a self-proclaimed revolutionary, socialist and marxist.[17] While still a self-proclaimed marxist and revolutionary, he believed the party to be a democratic socialist one.[18]

Education

Solhjell was Minister of Education and Research before Halvorsen took over the office

Education has been one of main campaign issues since Kristin Halvorsen became party leader.[19] Øystein Djupedal was elected Minister of Education and Research, and held that position for two years.[20] He was replaced by fellow Socialist Left politician, Bård Vegar Solhjell.[21] Kristin Halvorsen took over the ministry in late 2009.[22] The first assignment of Djupedal while still in office, was granting NOK 10 million to "even out social differences" between ethnic minorities. The party believes that everyone has the right to free access to kindergarten.[23] Anders Folkestad, leader of the Confederation of Unions for Professionals, was not pleased with Djupedals efforts during his term in office, saying; "Djupedal has created much uncertainty and a mess after he became Minister of Education and Research. Many had great expectations, but he is sure lagging behind from the time when he was a sideliner". Djupedal, since taking office, was heavily criticised by the Norwegian media for his controversial and bizarre statements.[24] In late 2005, it was estimated that students studying general, business and administrative studies would save up to NOK 11,978 under the Red-Green Coalition, seeing as school books became free when the coalition took power.[25]

The party wants to reduce the number of private schools, with Djupedal claiming them to be of no use.[26] In a later more thorough interview, Solhjell believed government funded schools helped "smoothing social inequality". He further stated; "Many of those who remain outside the labor market have received lack of training from school. It prevents them from contributing to the community. Parties on the right often confuse social security and welfare schemes as the problem; however we tend to look at why they are struggling. There are systematic connections between social background and lack of training - it is a class question where something is needed to be done."[27] However, others believe that the party should nationalize non-public schools. Torbjørn Urfjell, former leader of the Socialist Youth chapter in Vest-Agder, said; "School and adolescence is too important to be left to the market. Therefore, they should be taken back".[28] During the 2005 election, the party promised to increase resources to public schools, believing that more money would provide fewer pupils per teacher, and thus more individualized and personal instructions.[29]

The environment

Halvorsen said the environmental policies of the Red-Green Coalition were among the "most radical in Europe"

Erik Solheim has since 2005 held the office of Minister of the Environment, taking over the office from fellow Socialist Left member Helen Bjørnøy in 2007.[30] During the 2009 parliamentary election, the party promoted itself as the "biggest" and "strongest" green party in Norway. The party struggled, despite the strong focus on the green movement and global warming by the public, the party failed to gather new voters and instead looked at one of their worst elections in years.[31] By August 2009, varuous opinion polls gave the party 10%, the party however lost most of its voters to the Labour Party during the last days of the election.[32] The party was highly vocal against oil drilling in Lofoten and Vesterålen during their election campaign, which led to the short-time revival mentioned previously.[33] However, a large minority within the party are opposed by the conservation plan, with the majority of them coming from Nordland; the county where the drilling is taking place.[34]

The party's strong emphasize on green politics and its failure in capturing new voters, has led to debate among electoral researchers. Frank Aarbot when commenting on the situation, said; "it is interesting that both the Socialist Left and the Liberals has this bad turnout, when the environmental conference is taking place in Copenhagen".[31] Halvorsen felt the environmental policies of the second Soria Moria declaration showed a clear level of commitment from the party's coalition partners. She called the environmental policies of the government one of the "most radical in Europe".[35]

Feminism

Lysbakken as seen on February 12, 2009

In later years, the party has promoted itself as a feminist party.[36] In one of the Socialist Left's brochures published in 2005, it said "The Socialist Left is a feminist party. We are fighting for a society where women and men have equal opportunities. This means that women should earn as much as men, that there must be more women in the top positions and that there are welfare schemes that provide equality in the workplace".[37] During the 2005 parliamentary election, one of the four main issues raised by party's youth wing was fighting against sexual harassment.[38] In January 2005 Klassekampen asked 150 of the 169 representatives in parliament if they considered themselves feminist. The opinion survey showed that the Socialist Left and the Liberal Party were according to the survey the two most feminist, while The Progress Party became the least feminist party in parliament.[39]

Audun Lysbakken was elected the new Minister of Children and Equality in 2009 with his term expiring in 2013.[40] Arild Stokkan-Grande claimed equality amongst men and women has been a major issue in government mainly because of the Socialist Left. He claimed that there where more woman then men in the departments the party controlled.[41]

Immigration

In 1992, Carl I. Hagen of the Progress Party, accused the party of supporting free immigration to Norway, after a proposal made by Lisbeth Holand. She wanted to give immigrants from non-European countries the same immigration policies as immigrants who have their origins from countries who are members of the European Economic Area. While Hagen was highly critical, she felt that it would offer housing and job for non-Europeans who needed it.[42] In an opinion poll, it showed that 82.9% of the Socialist Left members were open to more immigration, making the party the most immigrant-friendly party in parliament, but less than the non-parliamentary Red Electoral Alliance.[43] In a measurement done before New Years Eve in 2009, the Socialist Left became again the party least hostile to immigrants, this time behind the newly-established party Red.[44]

Another poll showed that almost one third of Socialist Left voters would not want to live in an area with a high share of immigrants. Social geographer Karl Fredrik Tangen responded that it is easy for the typical intellectual Socialist Left voter, living in upper class areas, to agree to a, for them, hypothetical question.[45] Recent surveys also show that the support for the party by immigrants plummeted from 25% in 2005, to 6% in 2009. Somali author Amal Aden explained that "we do not earn anything from the policies of the Socialist Left. They say that everyone is okay, and that does not work".[46]

The party is open to more immigration, believing Norway will evolve into a more multicultural society. The party openly believes the only way to create social equality is to create ethnic equality in Norway.[47] By 2009, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said his government would tighten the then-present immigration policy, which would make it harder for immigrants to be granted asylum in Norway. The Socialist Left, along with the Liberal Party and the Christian Democrats, felt the new policy was too strict.[48]

International affairs

The military action in Kosovo was a controversial issue within the party; the party leadership supported the military interventionism saying the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo had to be stopped. The support included Kristin Halvorsen, who favored NATO's air strikes, but a large group within the party vehemently opposed such support arguing that violence would only lead to more violence.[49] The party's chapter in Akershus called the attack a "NATO led terrorist bombing" and believed the bombing marked the first time that Norway had declared war on another nation. They also wanted the United Nations to take over NATO's position in finding a peaceful solution to the conflict.[50] Stein Ørnhøi, the last leader of the Socialist People's Party, said the party's representatives in parliament acted preposterous, feeling they made the wrong decision for supporting the NATO actions in Kosovo when the majority of the party was against it.[51] During the national convention, Halvorsen threatened to resign as party leader unless the faction fighting within the party stopped. This led to a split within the party, with the first supporting her resignation and the second faction, the largest, concluded that the NATO bombing was to be immediately terminated if the Serbs stopped with their ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, if Halvorsen continued as party leader.[52]

Norwegian International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) troops in Mazar-e-Sharif on February 4, 2009

In most foreign policy issues the party has opposed military action. They were against the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and were very much against the War in Iraq.[53] After joining the Red-Green Coalition in 2005, the party stopped their strong opposition against the two wars,[54] and later in 2008 the party proposed creating a "new strategy" for the Norwegian armed forces located in Afghanistan.[55] In 2007, Erik Solheim from the Ministry of International Development visited Norwegian troops in the Afghanistan.[56] This policy regarding Afghanistan has led to much unrest within the party, most notable with the party's chapter in Bergen.[57] By early 2008, the party chapters of Hordaland and Rogaland criticised Kristin Halvorsen and the government of their policies surrounding Afghanistan, and demanded an immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan by October 2009. The Oslo chapter, on the other hand, asked for drastic changes in the military strategy created by NATO.[58]

Thorbjørn Jagland, then President of the Storting, requested the government to send more soldiers to Afghanistan, if NATO requested it.[59] The Socialist Left, who despite supporting the war was against sending more soldiers to the region, and denied access for the Norwegian Special Forces. The main reason, according to them, was that Norway along with the Netherlands in relation to population in the respective countries, "clearly had the most soldiers located in Afghanistan [...] and the largest military commitment Norway currently has abroad".[60]

Organization and structure

Organs

The party is split into five different power organs; the first being the national convention held every second year, the Country Board, the Central Committee, Municipal and Local Chapters and the Party Representatives.[61] The national convention works as a democratic body for the party, were members representing their county or municipal can elect new national representatives for the party, one example of this is the party leader who stands for election every second year.[62]

The Country Board is the party's highest decision-making body in the years separating the national conventions. The Board consists of 19 members elected by each county, six members are directly elected during the national convention, and the permanent members of the Country Board. In total there are 36 members. The board meets approximately six times a year to deal with current political and organizational issues. Among the countries the board task is to adopt the party's budget, and to select the party's permanent political representatives.[63] The Central Committee manages the party in the intertime period of the Country Board meetings. Members of the board are elected by the national convention, and consists of the party leader, the two deputy leaders, party secretary, parliamentary leader, leader of the Socialist Youth and five other members. The board holds meetings every Monday, with some exceptions.[64] The Municipal and Local Chapters organ works as "communication" body between the chapters and the national party.[65]

The last body, the Party's Representative organ consists of nine national party offices that serves as an advisory body for the party. The offices work alongside the party's parliamentary group, the government apparatus and the rest of the party organization of its legal fields, and also have contact with organizations and communities in their local area. The offices normally meet four to six times a year, and consists of party members from all over the country with any special expertise. The offices are elected by the national convention.[66]

Offices

In total, there are twelve party offices which all have their office in the party's headquarter in Akersgate 35, Oslo. These offices are the main administrative organs of the party. The headquarter is open from Monday to Friday from 8.30 AM to 16 PM. The most important office is the office held by party secretary Silje Schei Tveitdal.[67]

History

Formation (1973–1975)

Leaders Term
Berit Ås[68] 1975–1976
Berge Furre[68] 1976–1983
Theo Koritzinsky[68] 1983–1987
Erik Solheim[68] 1987–1997
Kristin Halvorsen[68] 1997–present

After losing all its parliamentary seats in the 1969 parliamentary election, the Socialist People's Party sought to create an election coalition between various left-wing parties.[69] While previously being sceptical of working with the Communist Party of Norway, the party eventually became a member of the coalition along with the Information Committee of the Labour Movement against Norwegian membership in the European Community and various non-party aligned independent socialists.[70] Reidar T. Larsen, leader of the Communist Party, said the members who met up at the party's national convention unanimously elected "yes" to be a member of the coalition, which would later go by the name of the Socialist Electoral League.[71]

It took 16 days to negotiate a settlement between the groups. The members agreed that this coalition would be the only way of getting a "socialist government" in Norway.[71] By 1973, the Labour Party had suffered a decrease in popular support, which at that time was estimated to around 100 thousand. Many speculations arose that these voters had left the Labour Party for the newly created Socialist Electoral League.[72] Early predictions by the Labour Party believed that the Electoral League would dissolve itself because of internal strife. Reiulf Steen later stated that he had more "respect" for the Maoist party, the Red Electoral Alliance than the Electoral League.[73] The coalition managed to gain 11.2% of the popular vote and 16 seats in parliament in the 1973 parliamentary election.[74]

The party now known as the Socialist Left was founded in 1975. The Communist Party did not want to dissolve itself to become a member of the Socialist Left Party, and therefore voted against membership. This led to an internal struggle within the party, with the party's official newspaper, Friheten, strongly suggesting the party cannot dissolve itself, because it would mean the death of the revolutionary movement. The official newspaper of the Socialist People's Party, Orientering, attacked what they called the "hard-core" leaders of the Communist Party.[75] Without the Communist Party, the other parties voted to dissolve the coalition and to replace it with a political party.[76]

Early years (1976–1997)

Erik Solheim, party leader from 1987–1997, as seen in June 2009

The first years were not successful, as the party lost many of its seats in Parliament,[77][78] but under the leadership of Berge Furre during the 1980s, the party's popularity rose again.[77] At the same time, internal conflicts within the party escalated, with rumours claiming that then sitting deputy leader Steinar Stjernø was trying to throw out the social democratic wing of the party.[79] A more serious problem for the party was that two of the party's MPs had been convicted of country betrayal in the aftermath of World War II, the most notable being Hanna Kvanmo. Later however, Kvanmo became one of the leading and most-liked politicians in Norway.[80] Later that decade, under the leadership of Theo Koritzinsky, the party became prominent in their fight for peace,[81] disarmament,[82] and the removal of unemployment,[83] green politics and economic equality.[84]

In the beginning of the 1990s, under Erik Solheim, its popularity again declined,[85] and losing most of its no to EU voters to the Centre Party, when the party again fought actively against Norwegian membership in the European Union, and when Norwegians again voted against membership in a referendum.[86] Solheim's tenure as leader—while praised by some—was seen as very controversial. The socialist wing in the party, the "Museum Guardians" as they were called, were worried that Solheim was moving the party to much to the centre. Outside critics of Solheim said his policies had led to a "grey-blue social democratic" party with little or no differences from the Labour Party. Solheim also tried to re-orientate the party's aim, wanting it to form a coalition government with the Labour and the Centre Party.[87] Solheim was forced to resign in 1997, with the party seeing him as the main reason for the new power struggle within the party; now between the left and right-wing faction of the party.[88]

Early leadership of Halvorsen (1997–2005)

With the election of Kristin Halvorsen as new party leader in 1997, the party's popularity rose again. Under her leadership, the main focus for the party became education, and the slogan "children and youth first" was coined.[89] The party steadily built up its voter base during the Labour Stoltenberg's First Cabinet which moved the Labour Party more to centre—involving the privatization of government-held assets. This led to a historic high voter turnout for the Socialist Left, earning 12.5% of the national vote in the 2001 election. On the other side, the Labour Party earned a record-low turnout, earning only 24.3% of the vote.[90] The turnout only worsened the inner struggle within the party, with party leader Thorbjørn Jagland and Jens Stoltenberg using their time accusing each other. At the same time, the right-wing faction of the party wanted the party to continue to move further to the centre, while the left-wing faction wanted to move the party closer to the Socialist Left.[91] By early 2005, various opinion measurement polls showed that over 20% of Norwegian voters would vote for the Socialist Left.[92]

Halvorsen (centre) during the Oslo May Day march with Erling Folkvord (left, from Red) and Jens Stoltenberg (right, from the Labour Party)

Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik from the Christian Democratic Party believed the three parties were "unclear" and "vague" when talking about the Red-Green Coalition idealogical and political position. However, after discussing the national budget with the Socialist Left and the Centre Party, Jens Stoltenberg agreed with Halvorsen that they needed to create a free day care service for everyone.[93] By February 2005, an opinion poll measurement gave the coalition 96 of 169 seats in parliament, with the Socialist Left increasing with 3.9%.[94] Later in February, a small faction within the party called the future coalition the Red-Grey Coalition, believing the environmental policies of the Labour and the Centre Party were not "radical enough".[95]

Before the 2005 parliamentary election, Deputy Leader Øystein Djupedal said that the Socialist Left would not contribute to any radical changes if they earned a position within the government.[96] Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, accused the party of being "communist", because some of its present and earlier connections to communist organizations around Europe.[97] By early August, the Socialist Left was the party having the most progress in the opinion polls, but around 17% of who voted the Socialist Left previously was unsure what party they would vote for in the 2005 election.[98] However, by late August the party was labelled one of the "big losers" in the election, along with the Conservative Party. Many election researchers believed that the Socialist Left had somehow lost voters interest when entering the coalition and working alongside the Labour Party.[99] The bad election results led to internal struggle within the party, with Djupedal claiming it to be the party's hardest election in their history.[100] The party gathered 5 of 19 ministers in the government, one more than the Centre Party.[101]

Red-Green Coalition (2005–present)

In the 2009 parliamentary election, the party lost four seats and was left with 11, but a three-seat gain by the Labour Party secured the Red-Green Coalition an 86–83 majority. The shift of power within the coalition resulted in losing one Socialist Left cabinet minister, leaving them with four, the same as the Centre Party. The Socialist Left and Halvorsen conceded the influential Department of Finance to the Labour Party in order to keep control of the Ministry of Education and Research.[102]

Election history

Parliamentary elections

Year Vote % MPs
1973 11.2% 16
1977 4.2% 2
1981 4.9% 4
1985 5.5% 6
1989 10.1% 17
1993 7.9% 13
1997 6.0% 9
2001 12.5% 23
2005 8.8% 15
2009 6.2% 11

In the Norwegian parliamentary elections, the Socialist Left Party has been able to hold the position as the fourth-largest party in Norway, behind the right wing Progress Party, Conservative Party and the centre-left Labour Party.[77] Their popularity initially declined from levels achieved by the Socialist Electoral League,[103] however their seat count rose to its peak after the 2001 parliamentary election, this election marked the Socialist Left's largest voters count, earning 12.5% of the national vote.[77]

When the Socialist Electoral League was founded in the early 1970s, the party managed to win voters from the Labour Party, which ruled as a majority government. Early speculations said that the Labour Party had lost 100 thousand votes to the Electoral League.[72] The Socialist Left Party managed to gain 16 seats in Parliament.[104] After the unification process was finished, the party's voter base collapsed and they earned only 4.2% of the national vote in the 1977 parliamentary election,[77] and earned only two seats in parliament.[78] After the election, the party was able to win new voters, and in the 1989 parliamentary election, it gathered 10.1% of the national vote.[77] After the election, the party lost voters again, and after the 1997 election, the party mustered 9 representatives in parliament.[105]

After having what many described as a bad election in 2001, the Norwegian Labour Party lost many of its voters to the Socialist Left,[106][107][108][109] with the Socialist Left increasing from a meager 6% to a 12.5% of the national vote, again becoming the fourth largest party in the country.[77] However, this growth didn't last long, in the 2005 election the party gathered 8.8% of the vote, this further decreased in the 2009 election when the party gathered 6.2% of the vote.[77]

Local elections

Year Vote % Type
1975 5.5%
5.7%		 Municipal
County
1979 4.1%
4,4%		 Municipal
County
1983 5.1%
5.3%		 Municipal
County
1987 5.5%
5.7%		 Municipal
County
1991 11.6%
12.2%		 Municipal
County
1995 5.9%
6.1%		 Municipal
County
1999 7.8%
8.5%		 Municipal
County
2003 12.4%
13%		 Municipal
County
2007 6.2%
6.5%		 Municipal
County

The 1975 county and municipality election was met with a sharp decrease in voters, with the party earning a disappointing voting turnout of 5.5% in the municipal election and 5.7% in the county election.[85] In an opinion poll done before election day in 1975, it was estimated that half of the voters who voted for the Socialist Electoral League would not vote for the party again. The decrease in voters was due the Labour Party's election surge during the 1973 parliamentary election.[110] The party further decreased in popular support by the 1979 local election, earning 4.1% in the municipal and 4.4% in the county respectively.[85]

However, by the 1983 local election the party increased by 1% in the municipal and 0.9% in the county election.[85] By an opinion poll done in early September, it showed that the Labour Party would lose four of its Oslo representatives in parliament to the Progress Party, Conservative Party and the Socialist Left.[111] If the 1983 local election had been a parliamentary election, Socialist Left would have received 8 seats in parliament.[112] The party earned 5.5% and 5.7% in the county and municipal election in 1987 respectively.[85] The party's strongest county was Nordland, where the party managed to gain 21.9% of the popular vote.[113]

The 1991 election marked a large increase in voters for the party, earning 11.6 in the municipalities and 12.2% in the counties, making the party the third-largest party in Norway.[85] Socialist Left, along with the Centre Party, was named the elections "big winners" by the Norwegian press.[114] In the following election, the party managed to gather 5,9% in the municipalities and 6.1% in counties.[85] Before the election in 1991 various opinion poll showed an increase in popular support for the Socialist Left in Oslo.[115] The reason for an increase in support was that the party was again able to win votes from the Labour Party.[116] The party managed to gain 7.8% of the votes in the municipalities and 8.5% in the counties.[85]

By 2003, the party's voter based had increased dramatically since 1999 local elections.[77] The party had what many described as a "record election", winning most of its voters from the Labour Party.[117] The 2007 elections went badly for the party, and saw their voter base reduced by half from the local elections in 2003.[118]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Røed, Lars-Ludvig (January 7, 2009). "Lengre mellom partimedlemmene i dag". Aftenposten. http://www.aftenposten.no/fakta/innsikt/article2852464.ece. Retrieved January 4, 2010. 
  2. ↑ "SV skal være et liberalt parti". Klassekampen: p. 5. September 15, 2009. 
  3. ↑ Pedersen, Helga (November 3, 2009). "Lettvint fra Lahlum". Verdens Gang: p. 36. 
  4. ↑ Forr, Gudleiv. "Carl I Hagen". Store Norske Leksikon.no. http://www.snl.no/.nbl_biografi/Carl_I_Hagen/utdypning. Retrieved March 20, 2010. 
  5. ↑ Gustavsen, Finn (November 1, 2009). "Finn Gustavsen" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang: p. 4. 
  6. ↑ Kippe, Robert (September 4, 2009). "Nei-siden trenger SV i regjering". SV.no. http://www.sv.no/Forside/Siste-nytt/Innlegg/Nei-siden-trenger-SV-i-regjering. Retrieved December 19, 2009. 
  7. ↑ Salvesen, Geir (February 18, 2002). "Én av fire i SV sier ja til EU". Aftenposten. p. 4. 
  8. ↑ "Sosialistisk framgang men kva så?" (in Norwegian). Klassekampen. September 11, 2009. 
  9. ↑ "«Sosialistene» Ap-SV-Sp" (in Norwegian). Adresseavisen: p. 23. June 6, 2005. 
  10. ↑ Øslie, January-Erik (August 17, 2009). ""Det blir ikke revolusjon i år heller"" (in Norwegian). Frifagbevegelse.no. http://www.frifagbevegelse.no/dagens_kommentar/article4521257.ece. Retrieved December 18, 2009. 
  11. ↑ Christensen, Per Aage Pleym (September 16, 2003). "Populistene vant, ansvaret tapte." (in Norwegian). Liberaleren.no. http://www.liberaleren.no/2003/09/16/populistene-vant-ansvaret-tapte/. Retrieved December 18, 2009. 
  12. ↑ Aabø, Stein (March 5, 2003). "Røde tall smitter" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2003/03/05/363153.html. Retrieved December 18, 2009. 
  13. ↑ Lode, Veslemøy (June 9, 2004). "Røde Oslo-folk" (in Norwegian). Dagsavisen. http://www.dagsavisen.no/innenriks/article109244.ece?service=articlePrint. Retrieved December 18, 2009. 
  14. ↑ Ulstein, Hege (June 5, 2005). "Håper SV og Ap blir ett parti etter samarbeid" (in Norwegian). Dagsavisen. http://www.dagsavisen.no/innenriks/article264809.ece?service=articlePrint. Retrieved December 18, 2009. 
  15. ↑ Larsen, Christiane Jordheim; Sjøli, Hans Petter (November 14, 2009). "Kamp: SVs venstrefløy går" (in Norwegian). Klassekampen: p. 4. 
  16. ↑ "Norway". Parties and Elections in Europe. http://www.parties-and-elections.de/norway.html. Retrieved December 18, 2009. 
  17. ↑ Johansen, Marianne; Thunæs, Bjørn (November 29, 2005). "SV-nestleder vil fjerne børsen Vil også ta makten fra Røkke og Spetalen". Verdens Gang. http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/norsk-politikk/artikkel.php?artid=110048. Retrieved December 19, 2009. 
  18. ↑ Johansen, Marianne; Thunæs, Bjørn; Mosveen, Eirik (September 30, 2009). "Illsint Siv Jensen". Verdens Gang: p. 17. 
  19. ↑ "SV tror på minst 10 prosent velgeroppslutning" (in Norwegian). Norwegian News Agency. August 4, 2001. 
  20. ↑ "Socialist Left Party (Norway)" (in Norwegian). Stortinget.no. http://www.stortinget.no/no/Representanter-og-komiteer/Representantene/Representantfordeling/Representant/?perid=OKD&tab=Biography.  February 20, 2010.
  21. ↑ "Socialist Left Party (Norway)" (in Norwegian). Stortinget.no. http://www.stortinget.no/no/Representanter-og-komiteer/Representantene/Representantfordeling/Representant/?perid=BVS&tab=Biography.  February 20, 2010.
  22. ↑ "Socialist Left Party (Norway)" (in Norwegian). Stortinget.no. http://www.stortinget.no/no/Representanter-og-komiteer/Representantene/Representantfordeling/Representant/?perid=KHA&tab=Biography.  February 21, 2010.
  23. ↑ Halvorsen, Bjørn Egil (November 15, 2005). "Øystein Djupedal gir 10 millioner i startpakke" (in Norwegian). Dagsavisen. p. 10. 
  24. ↑ Holmelid, Kristin (November 30, 2005). "Mageplask på mageplask av Djupedal; fakta/minister i minefelt" (in Norwegian). Bergens Tidende. p. 7. 
  25. ↑ Veslemøy, Lode; Larsen-Vonstett, Øystein (September 13, 2005). "Din Nye Hverdag" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. p. 8. 
  26. ↑ Natland, Jarle (October 24, 2005). "Ny kunnskapsminister:- Læreren er viktigst i den norske skolen" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad. p. 8. 
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  28. ↑ Lorentsen, Olaf (September 7, 2005). "Het debatt om utdanning" (in Norwegian). Fædrelandsvennen. p. 3. 
  29. ↑ Beck, Christian W. (December 22, 2005). "Friskoler som ideal" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. p. 34. 
  30. ↑ "Vi må først ha kunnskap" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad: p. 26. February 4, 2010. 
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  33. ↑ "Delseier til SV" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet: p. 2. September 27, 2009. 
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  36. ↑ Håland, Asta Beate (December 31, 2005). "Kvinner og andre minoriteter" (in Norwegian). Klassekampen. 
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  38. ↑ Ueland, Margunn; Minge, Anders (August 28, 2005). "Tar opp seksuell trakassering i skolen i debatt" (in Norwegian). Stavanger Aftenblad: p. 5. 
  39. ↑ Thorenfeldt, Gunnar (January 22, 2005). "Feminist? Javisst!" (in Norwegian). Klassekampen. 
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  45. ↑ Slettholm, Andreas (December 30, 2009). "Nei til flerkulturelt nabolag". Aftenposten. http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/oslo/article3443552.ece. Retrieved February 6, 2010. 
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  47. ↑ Haugan, Bjørn (September 9, 1997). "Innvandring". Verdens Gang. 
  48. ↑ Kristoffersen, Svein (March 14, 2009). "Ap og Frp enige om asylinnstramning". Klassekampen: p. 13. 
  49. ↑ Harbo, Hilde; Johansen, Per Anders (March 25, 1999). "Halvorsen og Solheim trosser eget parti" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. http://tux1.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/kosovo/d74732.htm. Retrieved December 21, 2009. 
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  51. ↑ Hurum, Eirin; Vassnes, Hanne Borgen (March 30, 1999). "Krigen i Europa Beredt til å gå Bombe-ja kan felle SV-lederen" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. p. 15. 
  52. ↑ Larsen, Gunnar Tore (April 11, 1999). "Krigen i Jugoslavia SV fortvilte seg til kompromiss" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. p. 5. 
  53. ↑ Hegtun, Halvor (December 31, 2002). "SV og Sp. krever åpen debatt om krig" (in Norwegian). Aftenposten. http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/politikk/article463570.ece. Retrieved December 21, 2009. 
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  55. ↑ "Ikke kurs- endring ennå" (in Norwegian). Adresseavisen. January 22, 2008. p. 4. 
  56. ↑ "Ennå ikke fred etter seks år" (in Norwegian). Adresseavisen. October 8, 2008. p. 20. 
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  63. ↑ "Landsstyret". SV.no. http://www.sv.no/Forside/Partiet/Partiets-organer/Landsstyret. Retrieved March 20, 2010. 
  64. ↑ "Sentralstyret". SV.no. http://www.sv.no/Forside/Partiet/Partiets-organer/Sentralstyret. Retrieved March 20, 2010. 
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  72. ↑ 72.0 72.1 Norvik, Erling (April 16, 1973). "De Borgerlige Krefter Må Samles" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang: p. 3. 
  73. ↑ "Fjerde gang gjelder det" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang: p. 5. August 23, 1973. 
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