For Equality or Against Foreign Oppression? The Politics of the Left in Iceland Leading up to the Cold War
The Second World War was followed by a period of political renewal in Europe; so too, arguably, in Iceland. Those responsible for laying the grounds for the republic, founded in 1944, were inspired by radical thinking, social democratic as well as socialist. Public ownership, the welfare state and d...
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ftubbochumojs:oai:ojs.ub.rub.de:article/7521 2023-10-29T02:37:18+01:00 For Equality or Against Foreign Oppression? The Politics of the Left in Iceland Leading up to the Cold War Kristjánsdóttir, Ragnheiður 2015-01-31 application/pdf https://moving-the-social.ub.rub.de/index.php/MTS/article/view/7521 eng eng Klartext Verlag https://moving-the-social.ub.rub.de/index.php/MTS/article/view/7521/6693 https://moving-the-social.ub.rub.de/index.php/MTS/article/view/7521 Copyright (c) 2015 Moving the Social - Journal of Social History and the History of Social Movements Moving the Social; Vol. 48 (2012): Social Movements in the Nordic Countries since 1900; 11-28 2197-0394 2197-0386 Left Party Iceland Cold War Contemporary History Party History Comparison National Identity info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2015 ftubbochumojs 2023-09-30T17:59:59Z The Second World War was followed by a period of political renewal in Europe; so too, arguably, in Iceland. Those responsible for laying the grounds for the republic, founded in 1944, were inspired by radical thinking, social democratic as well as socialist. Public ownership, the welfare state and democratic reform were on the agenda. Taking as a point of departure the political discourses of the Left (the Social Democrats and the more radical Socialists) this paper explains how these ideals – the quest for economic, social and political equality – were eclipsed by the primacy of independence politics. This process was already under way in the 1930s, when the Communist Party (1930–1938) somewhat successfully equipped itself with a new version of Icelandic nationalism. It was further intensified during the war and culminated with the onset of the Cold War. The pro-Soviet Socialist Party (founded in 1938) thrived on its anti-imperialist nationalism, leaving the Social Democrats as the smallest of the four political parties. This paper is a contribution towards the ongoing debate on why Iceland’s party system differs from that of the other Nordic countries, debates about the peculiarities of Iceland’s political culture to this date, as well as discussions about how nationalism and national identity affected the politics of the left in Europe. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB): Open Journal Systems |
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Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB): Open Journal Systems |
op_collection_id |
ftubbochumojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Left Party Iceland Cold War Contemporary History Party History Comparison National Identity |
spellingShingle |
Left Party Iceland Cold War Contemporary History Party History Comparison National Identity Kristjánsdóttir, Ragnheiður For Equality or Against Foreign Oppression? The Politics of the Left in Iceland Leading up to the Cold War |
topic_facet |
Left Party Iceland Cold War Contemporary History Party History Comparison National Identity |
description |
The Second World War was followed by a period of political renewal in Europe; so too, arguably, in Iceland. Those responsible for laying the grounds for the republic, founded in 1944, were inspired by radical thinking, social democratic as well as socialist. Public ownership, the welfare state and democratic reform were on the agenda. Taking as a point of departure the political discourses of the Left (the Social Democrats and the more radical Socialists) this paper explains how these ideals – the quest for economic, social and political equality – were eclipsed by the primacy of independence politics. This process was already under way in the 1930s, when the Communist Party (1930–1938) somewhat successfully equipped itself with a new version of Icelandic nationalism. It was further intensified during the war and culminated with the onset of the Cold War. The pro-Soviet Socialist Party (founded in 1938) thrived on its anti-imperialist nationalism, leaving the Social Democrats as the smallest of the four political parties. This paper is a contribution towards the ongoing debate on why Iceland’s party system differs from that of the other Nordic countries, debates about the peculiarities of Iceland’s political culture to this date, as well as discussions about how nationalism and national identity affected the politics of the left in Europe. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kristjánsdóttir, Ragnheiður |
author_facet |
Kristjánsdóttir, Ragnheiður |
author_sort |
Kristjánsdóttir, Ragnheiður |
title |
For Equality or Against Foreign Oppression? The Politics of the Left in Iceland Leading up to the Cold War |
title_short |
For Equality or Against Foreign Oppression? The Politics of the Left in Iceland Leading up to the Cold War |
title_full |
For Equality or Against Foreign Oppression? The Politics of the Left in Iceland Leading up to the Cold War |
title_fullStr |
For Equality or Against Foreign Oppression? The Politics of the Left in Iceland Leading up to the Cold War |
title_full_unstemmed |
For Equality or Against Foreign Oppression? The Politics of the Left in Iceland Leading up to the Cold War |
title_sort |
for equality or against foreign oppression? the politics of the left in iceland leading up to the cold war |
publisher |
Klartext Verlag |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://moving-the-social.ub.rub.de/index.php/MTS/article/view/7521 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Moving the Social; Vol. 48 (2012): Social Movements in the Nordic Countries since 1900; 11-28 2197-0394 2197-0386 |
op_relation |
https://moving-the-social.ub.rub.de/index.php/MTS/article/view/7521/6693 https://moving-the-social.ub.rub.de/index.php/MTS/article/view/7521 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2015 Moving the Social - Journal of Social History and the History of Social Movements |
_version_ |
1781061878821158912 |