Left Party

A socialist political party in Sweden. On economic issues, the party opposes privatisations, and advocates for increased public expenditures. In foreign policy, the party is Eurosceptic, being critical of the European Union, NATO, and opposing Sweden's entry into the eurozone. It attempted to get Sweden to join the Non-Aligned Movement in 1980, but did not succeed. The party is eco-socialist, and supports republicanism. It stands on the far left-wing of the political spectrum.

The party has never been part of a government at the national level; however, it has lent parliamentary support to governments led in the Riksdag by the Swedish Social Democratic Party. From 1998 to 2006, the Left Party was in a confidence and supply arrangement with the ruling Social Democrats and the Green Party. Between 2014 and 2018, it supported the minority government of Social Democrats and Greens in the Riksdag, extending this cooperation to many of Sweden's counties and municipalities; and from 2018 to 2021, until the outset of the 2021 Swedish government crisis, it offered passive support to the Löfven II cabinet formed under the January Agreement, though disagreeing with some of the policies mandated by the Agreement.

The party originates from the split of the Social Democrats in 1917, into the Swedish Social Democratic Left Party (SSV), becoming the Communist Party of Sweden in 1921. In 1967, the party was renamed to Left Party – the Communists (VPK); it adopted its current name in 1990. The Left Party is a member of the Nordic Green Left Alliance, and its two MEPs sit in The Left in the European Parliament (GUE/NGL) group. In 2018, the party joined Now the People!. It is also part of the European Left Alliance for the People and the Planet, a European political party that supports an alternative to capitalism.

Chairperson: Carl Winberg (1917), Zeth Höglund (1917), Ernst Åström (1918), Karl Kilbom (1918), Zeth Höglund (1919–1924), Karl Kilbom (1921–1923), Nils Flyg (1924–1929), Sven Linderot (1929–1951), Hilding Hagberg (1951–1964), C.-H. Hermansson (1964–1975), Lars Werner (1975–1993), Gudrun Schyman (1993–2003), Ulla Hoffmann (acting, 2003–2004), Lars Ohly (2004–2012), Jonas Sjöstedt (2012–2020), Nooshi Dadgostar (2020–)