Communist Party of Iceland

Communist Party of Iceland
Founded	1930
Dissolved	1938
Merged into	People's Unity Party – Socialist Party
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism
Political position	Far-left
Politics of Iceland Political parties Elections

The Communist Party of Iceland (Icelandic: Kommúnistaflokkur Íslands) was a Marxist–Leninist communist party in Iceland from 1930 to 1938.

History

In the early 1920s, a group of young militants of the Social Democratic Party (Alþýðuflokkur) came into contact with the international communist movement. Their ideology, and that of their party leader, was quickly growing apart. The communists formed a radical section within the party which they called the "Association of Young Communists" (Félag ungra kommúnista) in November 1922. The group evolved into the "Sparta Association of Socialists" (Jafnaðarmannafélagið Sparta) in 1926, but they eventually left the social democrats to form their own party as suggested by Comintern in 1928. The Communist Party of Iceland (KFI) was formed in November 1930 and became a member of Comintern. KFI published Verkalýðsblaðið.

In 1938, another splinter group, which had left the social democrats the year before, unified itself with the communists forming the Popular Unity Party - Socialist Party (Sameiningarflokkur alþýðu - Sósíalistaflokkurinn). The new party did not continue the Comintern membership. However, the communists were dominant in the party and it was mostly the same as its predecessor. In 1956 the Socialist Party formed the People's Alliance as an electoral alliance with yet another splinter group from the Social Democratic Party. The People's Alliance became a political party in 1968.

Election results

Election	Votes	Vote %	Seats	Place
1931	1,165	3.0	0	4th
1933	2,673.5	7.5	0	4th
1934	3,098	6.0	0	5th
1937	4,932.5	8.4	3	4th

Sources

• Arnór Hannibalsson: Moskvulínan. Reykjavík 1999: Nýja bókafélagið.
• Einar Olgeirsson: Kraftaverk einnar kynslóðar. Jón Guðnason skráði. Reykjavík 1983: Mál og menning.
• Hannes Hólmsteinn Gissurarson: Íslenskir kommúnistar 1918–1998. Reykjavík 2011: Almenna bókafélagið.
• Jón Ólafsson: Kæru félagar. Reykjavík 1999: Mál og menning.
• Þór Whitehead: Sovét-Ísland. Óskalandið. Reykjavík 2010: Ugla.
• Hannes H. Gissurarson: Communism in Iceland, 1918–1998 Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik 2021.

External links

• English Extract of H. H. Gissurarson’s book