The People's Alliance ( is, Alþýðubandalagið) was an

electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

from 1956 to 1968 and a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

political party from 1968 to 1998.

History

In 1916, the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(''Alþýðuflokkurinn'') was formed in Iceland. In 1930 the party split, leading to the formation of the Communist Party of Iceland (''Kommúnistaflokkur Íslands''), recognised as the Icelandic section of the

Communist International The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by ...

. In 1937 the social democrats suffered another split, and the splintergroup unified itself with the communists forming the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

(''Sósíalistaflokkurinn''). However, the new party did not become a ComIntern member as its forerunner. On April 4, 1956 the Socialist Party created an electoral alliance with yet another left-wing split of the Social Democratic Party led by

Hannibal Valdimarsson Hannibal Gísli Valdimarsson (13 January 1903 – 1 September 1991) was an Icelandic politician. Parliament He was a member of parliament from 1946 to 1959 for the Social Democratic Party and People's Alliance and then from 1963 to 1974 for t ...

, thus forming the People's Alliance with Hannibal as its chairman. In 1963

National Preservation Party National Preservation Party () was a political party in Iceland. History The party was founded on 15 March 1953 by members of the Progressive Party, Social Democratic Party and Socialist Party.Vincent E McHale (1983) ''Political parties of Eur ...

(''Þjóðvarnarflokkurinn'') contributed people to the joint electoral alliance, resulting in Gils Guðmundsson, a former member of parliament (1953–1956) for ''Þjóðvarnarflokkurinn'' gaining a seat in the parliament, which he held until 1979. In 1968 the People's Alliance officially became a political party. At that time Hannibal left and formed his own

Union of Liberals and Leftists The Union of Liberals and Leftists () was a social-liberal political party in Iceland. History The party was established in 1970 by dissidents from the People's Alliance who had formerly been members of the National Preservation Party.Vincen ...

. In the mid 1960s the U.S. States Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 1,000 (1% of the working age population of Iceland).Benjamin, Roger W.; Kautsky, John H..
Communism and Economic Development
', in The

American Political Science Review The ''American Political Science Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all areas of political science. It is an official journal of the American Political Science Association and is published on their behalf by Cambri ...

, Vol. 62, No. 1. (Mar., 1968), pp. 122. In 1998 it joined forces with the Social Democrat Party, the Women's Alliance (''Samtök um kvennalista'') and the National Awakening (''Þjóðvaki'') in forming the

Social Democratic Alliance The Social Democratic Alliance ( is, Samfylkingin - jafnaðarflokkur Íslands), officially The Alliance – Iceland's Social Democratic Party, is a social democratic, and pro-European political party in Iceland. The Social Democratic Alliance w ...

(''Samfylkingin''), a broad centre-left party. However the People's Alliance continues to exist on papers until its debts are paid. The party was not a communist party, but it used to be the Icelandic referent of the

World Communist Movement The history of communism encompasses a wide variety of ideologies and political movements sharing the core theoretical values of common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property. Most modern forms of communism are grounded at lea ...

. It was opposed to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

and the presence of U.S. military forces in Iceland. It was also opposed to Icelandic membership of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

and the EEA agreement in 1993 between the

EFTA The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The organization operates in parallel with the European U ...

and the EU, Iceland being a member of EFTA. Some members of the People's Alliance did not conciliate the forming of the Alliance, including some MPs of the party, and formed the

Left-Green Movement The Left-Green Movement ( is, Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð), officially the Left Movement – Green Candidature and also known by its short-form name ''Vinstri græn'' (VG), is an eco-socialist political party in Iceland. The Left-Gree ...

(''Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð''), a socialist-green party, in 1999. The first chairman of the People's Alliance was Ragnar Arnalds. The existent president of Iceland,

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (; born 14 May 1943) is an Icelandic politician who was the fifth president of Iceland from 1996 to 2016.Official CV. He was previously a member of the Icelandic Parliament for the People's Alliance and served as Minis ...

, was chairman of the party from 1987 to 1995 after joining it coming from

after he broke away from the

Progressive Party (Iceland) The Progressive Party ( is, Framsóknarflokkurinn, FSF) is an agrarian political party in Iceland. For most of its history, the Progressive Party has governed with the Independence Party. Since 30 November 2017, the party has been a coalitio ...

. It participated in 5 coalition governments from 1956 to 1991, beginning in

Hermann Jónasson Hermann Jónasson (25 December 1896 – 22 January 1976) was an Icelandic politician of the Progressive Party, who was prime minister of Iceland on two occasions. He served his first term from 28 July 1934 to 16 May 1942. This term includ ...

's last government 1956-1958, then in both of

Ólafur Jóhannesson Ólafur Jóhannesson (1 March 1913 – 20 May 1984) was the prime minister of Iceland for the Progressive Party on two occasions. He was a member of the Progressive Party, serving as party chairman during the 1970s. Career Ólafur was educat ...

's governments 1in 1971-1974 and in 1978-1979, then in Gunnar Thoroddsen's only government 1980-1983 and finally in

Steingrímur Hermannsson Steingrímur Hermannsson (pronounced ; 22 June 1928 – 1 February 2010) was an Icelandic politician who served as prime minister of Iceland from 1983 to 1987, and again from 1988 to 1991. Early childhood Steingrímur's father was Hermann Jó ...

's latter government in 1988-1991. The youth league of the People's Alliance was known as ÆFAB.

Election results

Chairpersons

Sources

*Hannes H. Gissurarson
''Communism in Iceland, 1918–1998''
Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik 2021.

References

{{Defunct political parties in Iceland Defunct political parties in Iceland Social democratic parties Socialist parties in Iceland 1956 establishments in Iceland Political parties disestablished in 1998 Political parties established in 1956 Social Democratic Alliance 1998 disestablishments in Iceland