Rodt

Template:TOCnestleft Rodt is a Norwegian political party. The party was founded in March 2007 by a merger of the Workers Communist Party and the Red Electoral Alliance. Bjornar Moxnes is the Red Party's current leader.

Rodt states that a classless society is its ultimate goal in its own official political program. They further specify that "this is what Karl Marx called communism".

The label is a result of many of the party's leading members promoting communist values, either currently or previously; notable examples are Erling Folkvord and former party leader Torstein Dahle. The party's main principles are based on replacing capitalism with a socialist society, including a strong public sector and nationalization of large businesses, while its core ideology espouses the revolutionary socialist aims for "the workers" to "take the power", and the creation of new legislatures. However, the party makes clear that it does not support violent "armed revolution" formerly espoused by its predecessors.

Red has 10 county council representatives nationwide and 80 municipal representatives. In the 2013 parliamentary election, it was the largest party which failed to win a seat. The party entered parliament in the 2017 election, winning 2.4% of the votes and its first seat ever in the Storting. The last time a far-left party had representation in the Storting was when its predecessor party, the Red Electoral Alliance, won a seat in the 1993 election.

The party favors the welfare state and high taxation upon the wealthy as a means of tackling continuing inequality in Norway. Since its formation, notable groups have merged with the party, the most notable example of this being the Trotskyist International Socialists. The party consists of various internal factions, including the Trotskyists, Marxist–Leninists, and democratic socialists.

AKP baggage

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 continued in spite of the killings which were reported during Pol Pot's rule. At that time, AKP considered these reports to be a part of a smear campaign against the new regime, and AKP had delegations visiting the country.

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 violent and extreme since it called for armed revolution before 1990, and kept the possibility of having to "defend the revolution with arms" open since.

State of the party

In September 2017 Jacobin’s Ellen Engelstad — editor of the online journal Manifest Tidsskrift — had a chat with Marie Sneve Martinussen, the deputy leader of Rødt (the Red Party) about their strategy for the election and their analysis of the current state of affairs in Norway.

MSM Our membership has doubled since 2013, and most of the new members are younger: the majority are born in the 1980s, although we have representation from every age group.

EE Your party was founded in 2007, but has roots in the Maoist movement of the 1970s, among other currents. Can you say something about your party’s formation, and also how this past has been used against you?

MSM The party was formed in 2007 when the Workers Communist Party (AKP) and the Red Election Alliance (RV) dissolved to form Rødt together with AKP’s youth party Red Youth (RU) and independents. RV was originally the electoral front of AKP, but since 1991 it has worked as an independent party. I joined Rødt in 2009 and don’t know all that much about its past. However, a party consists of its members, and since a majority of them joined after 2013, that past is not all that relevant to them. When the media asks us questions about Pol Pot and our relationship to democracy, many of our members don’t get it. It’s not that they are upset or feel hurt, they just don’t understand the relevance of that history.

The formation of Rødt happened at the same time as the global financial crisis, at the same time as when the Socialist Left Party (SV) formed a government with Labor and opened the Barents Sea for oil and gas drilling. Later that government joined the NATO-led war in Libya, so there was a new radicalization in my generation and a demand for a real socialist party.

EE You have been talking more about ideology and capitalism in this election, which is unusual in Norway. For instance, in a lecture by party leader Bjørnar Moxnes about your party’s politics that filled four rooms to the brink at the House of Literature in Oslo. Why are you focusing on this subject, and what feedback are you receiving on this approach?

MSM It is a conscious choice to talk about capitalism and how it works during the campaign, and something has happened in the world that makes that easier: namely, climate change, inequality, and changes in labor. It is extremely important how we talk about this, and we couldn’t have done it ten years ago. But the world has changed and we are conscious of how to explain concepts like capitalism and socialism today, of how to reclaim Marx for our time.

EE You are also looking to the Left elsewhere, and often talk about Corbyn, Podemos, and Sanders. You have even gotten some help from the Bernie Sanders campaign this year. In Oslo, lots of young people wear “Bjørnie” t-shirts and “feel the Bjørn” buttons. What have you discussed with the Sanders campaign, and has it changed your strategy?

MSM We are very inspired by the Sanders and Corbyn campaigns, and have been talking to Momentum a lot as well. There are big differences between the countries, but the general direction is the same. We have learned a lot about campaigning, for instance, about diversity as an organizational strategy. The “Bjørnie” thing, for instance, is not part of our official campaign, but a fringe thing that some activists are doing.

We have also learned to aim high. For example, we have been organizing two summer festivals called Popvenstre (Pop Left) in less than a year. It might sound like a strange priority, but it comes from the belief that a political movement needs culture and enthusiasm; everything that Labor lacks. There is a huge will to act now; after all, it’s a question of saving our planet. We want people to feel they are part of a bigger phenomenon and to build a broad movement.

American connections

Larry Cohen

Reidar Strisland February 24, 2018 ·

Larry Cohen, the chair of Our Revolution, rocks The Red Party's strategy conference.

Reidar Strisland January 9, 2018 ·

Fit Happy to have received Larry Cohen confirmed to Vendepunkt-Rødts strategikonferanse. Larry is a former trade union leader in Communication Workers of America and is now leading Our Revolution, Bernie start last year.

FRSO contributors

Contributors to an article on US movements in Norwegian Marxist journal Rodt, No 2, 2012.

• Arnljot Ask: USAs svanesang? side 26
• Meizhu Lui: Rulletrapper og tredemøller: Derfor ender farga i USA sist side32
• Evan Sarmiento: «Occupy» i ein overgangsperiode side 38
• Michael Leonardi: Okkuper Kommisjonen for regulering av kjernekraft (før det er for seint) side 48
• Nicole M. Aschoff: Ei fortelling om to kriser: Bilindustrien i USA side 54

Rodt Oslo comrades

Rodt Oslo August 29, 2015 ·

With Nina Reim, Mikkel Becker Aakervik, Tale Marte Daehlen, Ali Mirahmadi and Reidar Strisland.

References

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