Communist Party of Norway
Communist Party of Norway Norges Kommunistiske Parti | |
|---|---|
| Leader | Runa Evensen |
| Founded | 4 November 1923 |
| Split from | Norwegian Labour Party |
| Headquarters | Helgesens gate 21, Oslo |
| Newspaper | Friheten |
| Youth wing | Young Communists in Norway |
| Ideology | Communism Marxism–Leninism Hard Euroscepticism |
| Political position | Far-left |
| European affiliation | INITIATIVE (until 2023) |
| International affiliation | IMCWP |
| Colours | Red |
| Slogan | Folkemakt mot pengemakt! (English: People's power over monetary power!) |
| Storting | 0 / 169 |
| County Councils | 0 / 728 |
| Municipal / City Councils | 0 / 10,781 |
| Sami Parliament | 0 / 39 |
| Website | |
| www | |
The Communist Party of Norway (Norwegian: Norges Kommunistiske Parti, NKP) is a communist party in Norway. It was formed in 1923, following a split in the Norwegian Labour Party.
From its onset the NKP accepted Bolshevization and the Soviet Union's leading role in the Communist International. As such, it followed the official line of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and was particularly critical of Trotskyism and Titoism during Joseph Stalin's tenure as the leader of the Soviet Union.
During the Second World War, the NKP initially opposed active resistance to the German occupation, in deference to the non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Once Germany terminated the pact and attacked the Soviet Union, the Communist Party of Norway joined the resistance.
As a result of its role in the anti-Nazi struggle, the NKP experienced a brief surge in popularity immediately after the war, but popular sympathy waned with the onset of the Cold War. The ruling Labour Party took a hard line against the communists, culminating in Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen's 1948 condemnatory Kråkerøy speech. Norwegian authorities considered the party an extremist organization, and its activities would be closely monitored by the Police Surveillance Agency throughout the Cold War.
Ideologically, the NKP has evolved since its founding. It followed Khrushchev's lead by formally denouncing Stalin's rule after his death in 1953, but remained pro-Soviet until the end of the Cold War, despite occasional instances of disagreement. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the party has recognized some of the flaws of the Soviet model. It nonetheless supports traditional Soviet historiography and pro-Russian political views, opposing NATO, the European Union and the United States.
The NKP has been a marginal force in Norwegian politics since the late 1940s. It held a single seat in the parliament as late as 1961, but it has not been represented in any elected bodies in recent decades. In the 2025 parliamentary elections, it received only 50 votes (0.00%).