The latest issue of Scandinavian Bulletin has a report of the 3rd. Congress of the Socialist Peoples Party of Demmark. The following article is based upon the report, 2d. note,
The anti-militarist socialist party, the Socialist Peoples Party (SH) held its 3rd congress at the beginning of October, The party was founded in 1959 mainly as a result of a split from the Communist Party, Nino of the eleven mombers of parliament this party has are former members of the Commnist Party, which has no members of Parliament. The membership of the SF and ite voters are a mixed bag, covering pacifists, left wing socialists, ont-militarists, Trotskyists, disappointed liberals, atc, The party has . until now been united mainly around a consistent policy of disarmament, with the demand for withdrawal from NATO, and around the chairman of the party, Axel Larsen, who broke from the C.F. in 1958, He had been chairman of the C.P. for 28 years, and took the initiative to form the SF,
Prior to the conress a serious discussion took place on the first programme of tho SF in the party paper SF, In addition organisational and personal questions were thoroughly debated, The internationally well-known socialist Kaj Moltke, who can be considered the only consistent socialist in the party's parliamentary group, has been involved in a sharp discussion with Axel Larsen and others about the question of an eventual collaboration with the Social Democrat Party, The debate was so sharp just prior to the congress that it looked as though Moltke was going to resign the party.
The youth organisation of the party, Socielistisk Ungdoms Forum (SUP, is also far to the left of the party chairman and the majority of the leadership, The political report of the national convention of the SUF, which took place on the 3lst of August and the lst of Septomber, contained severe oriticisms of Axel Larsen and the majority of the leadership. Despite this fact it was adopted unanimously, The SJF's national convention was attended by fraternal dolegates from Yugoslavia, Norway ond Western Ger:iany (STS) and , =
Fy
also adopted unanimously a declaration of solida ity with the policies of the seh SF during the government crisis in Norway. (see previous Dullotin article),
The SF congress of 4/6 October was attended by guests from Yugoslavia, Norway and Sweden. It also had a message of greetings from the Nenni Social— ist Party of Italy. The chairman had to admit that "there is agreement no longer in the party about our main policies," However the ngress did not result in any split in the SF, tut it was evidnt that Axel Larsen is no longer the dominant figure he had been before. Several speakers were very critical of him and his political report received 77 votes outof 9S. He was in a minority on several issues, After the coming elections it is probable that there will be a SF/Social Democratic Party majority in Parliament, and ixel Larsen proposed 4 statement which Argued’ for a close collaboration with the Social Democratic Party. Tho latter stands for NATO, the Common Market = and has long ago, sven in theory, thrown away socialist principles, His proposal was defeated and a more radical one adopted.
The party programme,which had already boon fully diseussed in the local tranches before the congress, was radicalised and even if this progra~ mme does not meet the requirements of consistont socialists it is a good point of departure for a future socialist policy in Denmark, Congress improved the original day-to-day programme somewhat, for instance, it took a stand agtinst any attack on the workors right to strike, The statutes of the SF were also made more democratic, for instance, it was decived that there must be only 5 MPs in tho party leadership, In the election for posts in the party the left vote was higher than at the last congress. After the Congress, the bourgeois preas was unanimous that the SF had moved to the left even if this was not completely reflected in elections, etc,
fe “s