Popular Socialism

Popular Socialism (Danish: Folkesocialisme) is a distinct Scandinavian socialist current. Around the world there are many parties called Popular Socialist Party or likewise, which does not really imply any specific ideological direction. For example, the Popular Socialist Party of Mexico is a rather hardline communist party, whereas the Spanish PSP was a left-social democrat formation. But in the Scandinavian context the term can be said to represent a distinct ideological, originating from Aksel Larsen 's split from the Communist Party of Denmark in 1956. Larsen founded Socialistisk Folkeparti (Socialist People's Party) which placed itself between communism and social democracy. In Norway a similar party, SF , was formed through an anti-NATO/anti-EEC-split from the social democrats. SF later became the back-bone of Sosialistisk Venstreparti (Socialist Left Party). Today, both the Danish SF and the Norwegian SV identify their ideological base as 'Popular Socialism'. In Sweden the term has sometimes been used in the Left, and there were at one point discussions within the rightist section of the Communist Party on forming a political project with the Danish SF as model. But that split was avoided, although the Nordic contacts and Eurocommunism became important influences in the Swedish party.

In an entirely unrelated development, the term "Popular Socialism" has also been used by a section of the extreme right-wing in Sweden. In the last years of the Second World War, the use of the term "National Socialism" (itself a misnomer) became all more stigmatized. In a desperate attempt to regain public sympathy, the Nationalsocialistiska Arbetarpartiet (National Socialist Workers Party) changed its name to SvenskSocialistisk Samling (Swedish Socialist Unity). The name of their publication was changed from Den Svenske Nationalsocialisten to Den Svenske Folksocialisten. This usage of the term has no relation with the above mentioned use of it.