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largely of syndicalists, anarchists, and other contemporary radical labor elements. At its congress in May 1967, the party changed its name from Sveriges Kommunistiska Partiet to Vansterpartiet-Kommunistema (Party of the Left-Communist, VPK). In its effort to win more Socialist support, the party may eventually drop "Communist" from its title altogether. It is the smallest of the Swedish political parties in terms of both popular support and membership. Its performance in national elections since World War II has been spotty and shows a general decline over the prewar period. The 1968 elections were held shortly after the Czechoslovak crisis and resulted in a sharp setback for the Communists, who got only 3.0% of the vote and lost five seats. The VPK recouped some of its losses in 1970, however.

Communist strength is centered primarily in the urban industrial areas of Stockholm, Gavleborg province, and Goteborg and in mining communities in the province of Norrbotten in the north. Supporters are mainly unskilled workers in the lumber, mining, metal, construction, and transportation industries. The party also receives scattered support from white-collar workers, professionals, and intellectuals. Membership dropped sharply from an estimated 65,000 in 1944 to approximately 17,000 in 1970. Support at the polls is considerably greater, however, and the VPK polled over 236,000 votes to the 1970 election. The VPK has been unable to capture control of any of the national trade unions, and its members dominate only about 80 of the approximately 9,000 union locals in Sweden.

b. Organization and leadership

Theoretically, the organization of the VPK is similar to that of the other Swedish parties. Actually, power rests in the hands of a few leaders, who maintain discipline by forcing strict subordination of members to the hierarchy. The supreme organ is the congress, which is supposed to meet every 3 years and in theory, at least, decides all fundamental questions of policy and organization. The congress also elects the 35-member central committee, known since 1964 as the party board, which theoretically supervises national activities. The party board chooses the chairman and the other eight members of the executive committee, which contains the top leaders and controls the day-to-day activities. There also appears to be a secretariat, but little is known about its composition. The control commission, selected by the congress, audits party administration and finances and recommends disciplinary action against members who violate regulations. Below the national level are 28 districts, corresponding to the 28 electoral districts, each with a convention as the policymaking body and an executive board. Next are the workers' communes, the principal local units, mainly in urban areas. Their function is to coordinate fundraising, propaganda, and training activities of the overt units - factory clubs and residential associations - and the operations of the semi-clandestine cells, each consisting of three to 10 members.

The party's chief auxiliary organization, the Leftist Youth League, became virtually defunct in 1971 following its takeover by pro-Chinese elements who seceded from the party the year before to form the Marxist-Leninist Struggle League (MLK). The MLK supports the Communist League of Marxist-Leninsts (KFML), another breakaway group that was formed in 1967. The VPK has no official women's organization, but the women's secretariat in headquarters operates through various front groups.

The VPK has been headed by chairman Carl Henrik Hermansson since January 1964, when he succeeded Hilding Hagberg, a confirmed Stalinist, who as chairman had followed the Moscow line closely for nearly 13 years. Hermansson, born in 1917, is considerably younger than much of the old guard. As leader of the revisionist faction, comprised chiefly of younger Communists, Hermansson's immediate problem was to arrest the decline in the popular appeal of the Communists, which had reached a low point in the 1962 local elections. He addressed himself to "rejuvenating" the party and giving it a "new face." Early in 1964 the Communists adopted a policy designed to convince the electorate that they were a bona fide Swedish party independent of Moscow's control, left-socialist in political orientation, and committed to supporting democratic institutions. The success of the new tactics was evident in the gains made by the Communists in the elections of 1964 and 1966, which appeared to mark the end of the political isolation experienced by them throughout much of the postwar era.

After sustaining great losses in the 1968 election, Hermansson managed to restore momentum and captured 17 seats in the 1970 elections and a pivotal balance between leftist and bourgeois forces in the Riksdag. Hermansson has an attractive personality and gives the impression of being representative of the new breed of Communists who now control the party. His bourgeois background - he is married to the daughter of one of the country's biggest shipyard owners - appeals to many persons who would otherwise decline to support a leftist party.

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