Swiss Party of Labour

The Swiss Party of Labour (German: Partei der Arbeit der Schweiz; French: Parti Suisse du Travail – Parti Ouvrier et Populaire; Italian: Partito Svizzero del Lavoro – Partito Operaio e Popolare; Romansh: Partida svizra da la lavur) is a communist party[3] in Switzerland. It is associated with the European United Left–Nordic Green Left group in the European Parliament, although Switzerland is not in the EU.

Swiss Party of Labour
German namePartei der Arbeit der Schweiz (PdA)
French nameParti Suisse du Travail - Parti Ouvrier et Populaire (PST-POP)
Italian namePartito Svizzero del Lavoro - Partito Operaio e Popolare (PdL-POP)
Romansh namePartida Svizra da la Lavur (PSL)
PresidentNorberto Crivelli
Founded14 October 1944
Preceded byCommunist Party of Switzerland
HeadquartersTurmweg 24
3013 Bern
Youth wingCommunist Youth Switzerland[1]
Membership1,000+ [2]
IdeologyCommunism[3]
Marxism[4]
Socialism[3]
Political positionLeft-wing[5][6] to far-left[7][8][9]
European affiliationParty of the European Left (associate)
Colours  Red
National Council
0 / 200
Council of States
0 / 46
Cantonal legislatures
13 / 2,559
Website
FR: www.pst.ch
DE: www.pda.ch
IT: www.popti.ch
Swiss Federal Council
Federal Chancellor
Federal Assembly
Council of States (members)
National Council (members)
Voting

History

The party was founded in 1944 by the illegal Communist Party of Switzerland. On 21 May the constituent conference of the Basel Federation of the party was held. On 14–15 October the same year the first Party Congress of the party was held in Zürich. Léon Nicole was elected President and Karl Hofmaier General Secretary. On 6–7 October 1945 the Second Congress was held in Geneva. By this time the party had 20 000 members. On 30 November - 1 December the 3rd Congress in Zürich. On 27 July a Swiss Party Conference was held in Bern. Karl Hofmaier was removed from his position due to a financial scandal. In the national elections of 1947 the party received 5.1% of the vote.

Poster for the 2006 elections to the Grand Council of Bern.

On 4–6 July 1949 the 4th Congress was held. Steps to strengthen the organization as a Cadre Party were taken. Edgar Woog elected General Secretary. In 1950, the party worked intensively for the Stockholm Appeal. 260 000 signatures were collected in Switzerland. From 31 May to 2 June 1952 the 5th Congress was held in Geneva. On 7 December the Central Committee expelled Léon Nicole from the party. On 28–30 May the 6th Congress was held in Geneva.

The 7th Congress was held in Geneva from 16 to 18 May 1959. A new party programme approved with the concept of antimonopolistic unity, "Swiss Road to Socialism" (inspired by the similar programme of the Communist Party of Great Britain). The 8th Congress was held in Geneva from 16 to 18 May 1964. As of 2015, the party had no seats in the Swiss cantonal councils and was not represented in any of the 26 cantonal governments.[10]

Logo of the party in Italian.

The XXII Congress of the section of the Ticino, held on 10 November 2013, marked the unification of the organs partisan Ticino with those of the Italian Grisons, creating the Communist Party of Southern Switzerland, which after 2014 has stopped the collaboration with the Swiss Party of Labour, becoming the Communist Party, which is not active on a national level.

2007 national elections

Holding two seats in the Swiss National Council (the lower or first chamber of the Swiss parliament) going into the 2007 elections, the party stood candidates in the cantons of Zürich, Vaud, Geneva and the Ticino on their own; in Neuchâtel the candidate appeared on a joint list with Solidarity. While the share of the vote in 2007 was similar to the party's 2003 results (0.7%), the party lost the seat held by Josef Zisyadis, while retaining the seat held by Marianne Huguenin.[11] However, on 1 November 2007 Huguenin announced her resignation from the National Council to focus on her position as mayor of Renens, Vaud, leaving Zisyadis to take the Party's seat in the National Council representing Vaud.[12]

Electoral performance

National results
National Council (Nationalrat/Conseil National/Consiglio Nazionale/Cussegl Naziunal)
Election year # of
overall votes		  % of
overall vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/–
1947 49,353 5.01
7 / 194
 —
1951 25,659 2.7
5 / 196
 2 Decrease
1955 25,060 2.6
4 / 196
 1 Decrease
1959 26,346 2.7
1 / 196
 3 Decrease
1963 21,088 2.2
4 / 200
 3 Increase
1967 28,723 2.9
5 / 200
 1 Increase
1971 51,341 2.6
5 / 200
 0 Steady
1975 45,799 2.4
4 / 200
 1 Decrease
1979 38,187 2.1
3 / 200
 1 Decrease
1983 17,488 0.9
1 / 200
 2 Decrease
1987 15,528 0.8
1 / 200
 0 Steady
1991 15,871 0.8
2 / 200
 1 Increase
1995 22,850 1.18
3 / 200
 1 Increase
1999 18,569 1.0
2 / 200
 1 Decrease
2003 14,595 0.68
2 / 200
 0 Steady
2007 17,218 0.74
1 / 200
 1 Decrease
2011 21,482 0.54
0 / 200
 1 Decrease
2015 21,574 0.4
1 / 200
 1 Increase
2019 25,427 0.6
1 / 200
 0 Steady

Cantonal-level
Canton1971197519791983198719911995199920032007201120152019
PdA vote percentage, federal elections 1971–2019[13]
Switzerland2.62.42.10.90.80.81.21.00.70.70.50.40.6
Zürich1.61.11.20.30.3*a***0.20.20.20.3
Bern*0.60.3**0.2****0.30.50.6
Fribourg******0.9******
Solothurn**1.0*0.3********
Basel-Stadt6.14.64.72.31.91.41.3******
Basel-Landschaft*1.81.0**********
St. Gallen*0.4***********
Ticino2.83.62.7*1.20.71.31.3*1.31.20.50.8
Vaud12.210.79.34.13.54.28.97.86.74.72.12.9b1.9
Valais******0.9******
Neuchâtel13.79.87.74.23.85.27.16.93.09.210.412.212.1
Genève20.818.019.99.58.77.89.48.72.71.91.36.1b1.2
Juracb*********3.8*
1.^a * indicates that the party was not on the ballot in this canton.
2.^b Combined result for PdA and Solidarity.
3.^c Part of the Canton of Bern until 1979.

References
  1. "Statute of the Communist Youth Switzerland" (in German). KJS. 2021-10-23.
  2. https://pst-pop.ch/
  3. Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Switzerland". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  4. "Statuten der Partei der Arbeit der Schweiz - Partei der Arbeit der Schweiz". pda.ch.
  5. "Switzerland".
  6. Barbet, Denis; Bonhomme, Marc (2006). La politique mise au Net. ISBN 9782847880953.
  7. Church, Clive H. (24 January 2007). Switzerland and the European Union: A Close, Contradictory and Misunderstood Relationship. Routledge. ISBN 9781134194360 – via Google Books.
  8. "Weakened communists still flying the red flag".
  9. Meyer, Alan. "Centenary of communism in China means little to Europe's far left". Swissinfo.ch. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  10. "BADAC - Le comparatif en ligne des cantons et des villes suisses". Badac.ch. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
  11. "Nationalrat 2007". Politik-stat.ch. Retrieved 2016-01-25.
  12. "Site de Marianne Huguenin - Je dois faire un choix. Et j'ai choisi Renens".
  13. Nationalratswahlen: Kantonale Parteistärke (Kanton = 100%) (Report). Swiss Federal Statistical Office. 29 November 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
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