Red Electoral Alliance (, , RV) was an alliance of far-left groups formed into a Norwegian political party to promote

revolutionary socialism Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revo ...

ideals into the Norwegian parliament. The party dissolved itself on 10 March 2007, when it participated in the founding of a new party, Red (Rødt). Raud Ungdom or Rød Ungdom (Red Youth) was their youth organization.

History

While it was formed in 1973 as an election front for the Worker's Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) (), the Red Electoral Alliance became an independent party in 1991, and after that, it scrapped many

Leninist Leninism (, ) is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vangu ...

ideas. It remained a revolutionary party that, promoting an ideology based upon

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

. From 1993 to 1997, Erling Folkvord represented RV in

Storting The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The Unicameralism, unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list propo ...

et, the Norwegian parliament. In 1997, the party got their highest recorded percentage of votes, with 1.7%. In spite of this, Folkvord lost his seat and no new seats were won. Torstein Dahle, an economist at

Bergen University College Western Norway University of Applied Sciences () or HVL is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in January 2017 through the merging of formerly independent colleges across five campuses: Bergen, Førde, Haugesund, Sog ...

, was elected leader in 2003 and re-elected in March 2005. Following the 2005 election it was clear that their work to regain their place in the parliament had failed. They received 1.2% of the national total of votes. It was clear that in order to be represented in parliament, they had to win a large share of votes in

Hordaland Hordaland () was a county in Norway, bordering Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Telemark, and Rogaland counties. Hordaland was the third largest county, after Akershus and Oslo, by population. The county government was the Hordaland County Munici ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. However their best result was 3.4% in

. On 10 March 2007, the party dissolved itself, as it merged with the AKP into a new party, Red, with Dahle as its leader. Due to Norwegian election laws, the name Red Electoral Alliance was kept for the 2007 local elections. The party currently has 57 representatives in town halls nationwide.

Party leaders

* 1973-1975 —

Sigurd Allern Sigurd Allern (born 5 September 1946) is a Norway, Norwegian media influence, media theorist and the first professor of journalism at the University of Oslo.

¹ * 1975-1979 — Pål Steigan¹ * 1979-1981 — Hilde Haugsgjerd * 1981-1983 —

Finn Sjue Finn Sjue (born 1943) is a Norwegian psychologist, politician, journalist and teacher. He was born in Vestfold. He edited the newspaper '' Klassekampen'' from 1973 to 1977. He chaired the Red Electoral Alliance from 1980 to 1982. He has later l ...

* 1983-1987 —

Jahn Arne Olsen Jahn (Jähn) is a German surname. Notable people with this surname include the following: * Jahn Coleman (born 1993), English builder specialising in driveways * Constanze Jahn (born 1963), German chess player * David Jahn (born 1975), Czech bur ...

* 1987-1995 —

Aksel Nærstad Aksel Nærstad (1 January 1952 – 22 October 2022) was a Norwegian political activist and advisor. Political career Nærstad chaired the Red Electoral Alliance from 1987 to 1995. From 1995 to 1997 he chaired the board of the newspaper . He ch ...

* 1995-1997 — Jørn Magdahl * 1997-2003 —

Aslak Sira Myhre Aslak Sira Myhre (born 28 May 1973 in Stavanger) is a Norwegian culture administrator. Since 2014 he is director of the National Library of Norway. Myhre has been a leftwing politician, and was for a period leader of the former party Red Elector ...

* 2003-2007 — Torstein Dahle ¹ Until 1979, the leader of AKP was also the leader of RV.

Parliamentary election results

*: In 1989 RV participated in an electoral alliance with other groups called '' County Lists for Environment and Solidarity''.

References

External links

Rød Valgallianse (Red Electoral Alliance)
- Official web site
Rød Ungdom (Red Youth)
- Official site of the youth party
Election results for RV in the 2007 local elections
{{Red (Norway) 1973 establishments in Norway Communist parties in Norway Defunct political parties in Norway Political parties disestablished in 2007 Political parties established in 1973 Political party alliances in Norway Red Party (Norway) Workers' Communist Party (Norway)