| Young Left Ung Vänster |
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|---|---|
| Chairperson | Stefan Lindborg |
| Secretary General | Hanna Cederin |
| Founded | 1903/1970 |
| Headquarters | Kungsgatan 84, Stockholm |
| Mother party | Left Party |
| International affiliation | None; former member of the YCI, WFDY and ENDYL |
| Website | www.ungvanster.se |
Young Left (Ung Vänster) is the youth organization of the Swedish Left Party.
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It is an organization that organizes the youth of today to fight for socialist and feminist social change. Young Left is a youth organization developed out of the labour movement, with influences from environmentalism, the peace movement and the feminist movement. Young Left work for a communist (i.e. a classless) society, free from oppression, on the basis of marxist and feminist theories. The organization has had various names and political alignments over the years but is continuously characterized by the issues that have been at the centre of its history, such as antifascism, antimilitarism and internationalism.[1]
Young Left work together with and support the Left Party and Vänsterns Studentförbund in their struggle for socialism, but makes on the basis of its own analyses independent decisions regarding organizational and political issues.
Young Left was founded in 1903 as Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbundet (SDUF, Social Democratic Youth League). However, the youth league has clearly attached itself to the left-wing within the Social Democratic Party. At the outbreak of the First World War, the tensions within the party aggravated. In May 1917, the youth league together with the left-wing faction within the party took the initiative to form a new party, Sverges Socialdemokratiska Vänsterparti (Social Democratic Left Party of Sweden). SDUF became the youth wing of the new party. SSV joined the Communist International in 1919 and was renamed to Sveriges Kommunistiska Parti (Communist Party of Sweden). Following that, SDUF was renamed to Sveriges Kommunistiska Ungdomförbund (Young Communist League of Sweden) and became the Swedish section of the Communist Youth International.
In 1952, Democratic Youth was founded on the initiative of the party, in order to be a broader youth movement. Until 1958, SKU and DU existed as parallel organizations. In 1958, the two organizations merged and took the name DU.
In 1967, ultra-left elements took over the organization and broke away to form Marxist-Leninistiska Kampförbundet (Marxist-Leninist Struggle League). Reconstruction work started rapidly. In 1970, the organization was re-baptized as Kommunistisk Ungdom (Communist Youth). By 1973, there was a national organization in function and, by 1975, an ordinary congress was held.
Young Left have published the Youth Magazine Röd Press since 1982, when Young Left lost the rights of its magazine Stormklockan to the maoist MLK in a trial.
In Sweden, Young Left was one of the many forces behind the large February 15, 2003 anti-war protest.
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