Youth leads regroupment
A new generation of activists have consolidated their position in the Red Electoral Alliance. Bertil Videt* reports 25-year old Aslak Sira Myhre was reelected as president of the Red Electoral Alliance (Rød ValgallianseRV) at a conference where one in three delegates were younger than 30. This influx of young blood confirms the slowly declining influence of the Communist Workers Party/Marxist-Leninist (AKP-ML), the country's largest communist organisation.
The RV was created in 1973 as the AKP/ML's electoral front. In the late 1980s the organisation was expanded to welcome a number of smaller revolutionary groups. At its 1991 congress, the RV decided to become an autonomous party, without any formal relationship to the AKP/ML. Since then, the RV has tried to regroup all Norway's revolutionary groups and independent militants.
The first non-Maoist group to enter the RV was the Workers Power Group (AMG), a partially Trotskyist organisation. In 1995 the ex-Maoist Revolutionary League (Revolsjonært Forbund) and another Maoist group joined too.
This transformation of the RV makes it comparable to Italy's Refounded Communists or Denmark's Red-Green Alliance. RV's 1,200 members are well distributed accross the country, and the party has a reasonably strong presence in municipal councils.
The party's electoral results have increased steadily. In 1993 the party elected Erling Folkvord to parliament. In 1997 the national vote ncreased to 1.7% 44.l 000 votes but this 700 votes short of the level that would have allowed the reelection of an RV parliamentarian.
The party benefits enormously from the existence of the independent far left daily Klassekampen (Class Struggle). The ex-AKP/ML newspaper is well known and respected in a media landscape dominated by regional and local publications.
The January 1999 congress strongly criticised "actually existing socialism" of the East European type, and distanced itself from the "Stalin model." True, the main resolutions reflect the equilibrium between Stalinist and non-Stalinist currents. But the RV is clearly hardening its criticism of the "socialist" experience.
The Maoist heritage made itself felt during the debate on the nation state and the European Union. Delegates rejected a proposal to expand the section on resistance to the EU with a reference to the international struggle for socialism. Instead, a majority argued that, where the EU is concerned, the right of national self-determination is more important than the anti-capitalist critique.
The new generation also made itself felt in the debate on international co-operation. The RV suppressed its policy of "not participating in any congress of an International or World Party"-a reference to the Fourth International.
The RV will probably participate in future Fl events as an observer. Though the organisation is still critical: "RV considers that, in the current situation, the Internationals play a divisive role. For this reason, we are opposed to the formation of or participation in an International, and opposed in principle to the establishment of Global Parties."
Delegates agreed to begin the elaboration of a new programme, which will be discussed over the next two years and adopted at the next congress. This will clarify the ideological differences between the various currents in the RV.
The Fourth International current in RV rejects any kind of entrist strategy. It hopes to present the Fls experiences and theoretical work as useful tools for the RV as a whole.
The new programme should be based on common experiences, integrating all RV currents. The AKP/ML in particular has a rich experience in the women's struggle and the labour movement.
RV must also mobilise for municipal and district elections later this year. The goal is to present candidates in at least 100 communes, and all the districts. These elections will be a trampoline towards the 2001 parliamentary elections, in which RV hopes to return another rebel to the Norwegian parliament. * * The author attended the RV congress on behalf of Denmark's Red-Green Alliance. Within that organisation he is also a member of the SAP, Danish section of the Fourth International.
International Viewpoint #311 May 1999 17
* Mexico