Gammal eller ny politik? : den finländska yttervänsterns ideologiska profiler efter realsocialismens sammanbrott

Authors

• Andreas Fagerholm

Abstract

The collapse of the “actually existing socialism” at the end of the 1980s was a trial for the radical left all over Europe. Many parties changed their names and underwent wide-ranging ideological transformations. This article examines the ideological development within the Finnish radical left during the 1990s. Three parties are included in the study: the Left Alliance, the Communist Party of Finland and the Communist Workers’ Party. The following two questions are addressed: first, to what extent have interpretations of socialist ideology been renewed and, secondly, have post-materialist values and the so-called “new politics” had any effect on the party ideologies? The results point to a large amount of ideological reform within the Left Alliance, while the Commu­nist Party and the Communist Workers’ Party are predominantly unreformed. Post-materialist values can be found mainly in the ideologies of the Left Alliance and the Communist Party of Finland.