– Now we are a real party – VG

On Monday, Rødt presented his proposal for a new work program for the next legislature. The party has been above the threshold in various polls in the last year and can gain a lot of power if they end up at the tipping point of Norwegian politics after the elections.

In VG measurements, they have been above the threshold for four out of eight measurements so far this year.

Now the slogans will be replaced by a more realistic program, according to Rødt’s vice president and program committee chair Marie Sneve Martinussen.

– When we entered the Storting and saw that some of the very light slogans, principles and visions may have been difficult to translate into very concrete policy when implemented in a national assembly in Norway, Martinussen says and adds:

– I’ve been the leader of the nerdy center here at the Storting. Day by day, for three years, we have been dismantling our political platform, we have found out what the important principles are and we have discovered how they can be broken down into more concrete, feasible and realistic demands.

She hopes the new program will be read well by the other red-green parties.

– We hope the new program will inspire the other red-green parties. We presented it a month before, among others, from the Labor Party and SV. It’s a bit on purpose. We want people to cut and paste our show, because it means our politics can have a bigger impact, he says.

Indian twist

– The good news is that politics does not have to disappear, but sometimes you have to create various degrees of strength from your politics. In the same way that you can get Indian dishes in strong, medium, and light, we’ve thought about how, for example, the free nursery requirement can be done step by step, he says.

– The idea here is also that if you implement parts of this policy, people will try such a policy, see that it works, like it, and then have more power behind the requirements when it comes up in the middle in the next round.

Red new proposals it’s perhaps more akin to a mild Norwegian curry than a strong Vindaloo – Rødt wants a free kindergarten, but one that is gradually being rolled out year after year with five-year-olds first.

Before, according to her, it was “free kindergarten.” Point.”

In the 2017 show, the word free was mentioned 25 times. It’s mentioned 22 times on today’s show, but now with more reservations.

– Does that mean you used to have an unrealistic show based on slogans?

– Probably the most significant thing is that when Rødt has been in politics, we have thought about what our objectives are. I think it is completely logical and correct for a party. That is what we have chosen when we enter the Storting. But then you have a responsibility when you have those voters behind you to implement the goals. You should have a more detailed, longer plan with more pages.

– So it must be said that a very good reason why we can move from the old program to the new, feasible and realistic one, is that we have had the resources to work with politics in a completely different way. When you enter the Storting, you get both political advisers and you get access to the Ministry of Finance calculator, she says and adds:

– I would like to introduce myself as the head of the nerd center here in Rødt, I have a degree in economics and we have been finding answers to all the questions for three years to which it is difficult to find answers if you cannot ask the Ministry of Finance many questions that you do not have. allowed as a party outside the Storting.

– A “real party”

In 2007, the Communist Workers Party (AKP) and the Red Electoral Alliance (RV) joined forces to start the Red Party. More recently, in 2019, leader Bjørnar Moxnes lost the battle for the word “communism”, which he wants out of the party’s early program.

– Is this program proposal part of a slightly longer project that started some time ago to create a “party proper”?

– Yes it is. Bjørnar Moxnes and I have been elected President and Vice President since 2012, which is why we have been in office for eight years. During that time, Red has grown from 1,700 to 10,000 members. We have gone from about 60 elected representatives to 200 elected representatives. We have entered the Storting, he says and adds:

– It has all been the same project that we now hope to face the opportunity to make a record election and influence Norwegian politics in a whole new way, perhaps contribute to a new majority if we cross the threshold, many things indicate that it is necessary. But also show that it is possible with another course, it does not have to be the direction of the conservatives or the firm course. It is possible with a new, radical, realistic and feasible course.

She says that they have gained a lot of experience of cooperation with the other red-green parties in municipal politics, but emphasizes that they will be outside a government in order to mark their primary policy. This is how she believes they can build a broader movement, together with the labor movement and the environmental movement.

Looking towards Denmark

Small Norwegian parties have often struggled with support after being in or supporting a government.

Red is trying to learn from its sister parties in Europe.

– We are in the process of mapping how parties like us have collaborated with social democratic parties in Europe. We spoke with the Left Party in Sweden, the Unity List in Denmark and the Bloco de Esquerda in Portugal and many others to gather experience on how different forms of cooperation have worked, says Martinussen.

– We must discuss and conclude at the party. While a cooperation agreement that KrF and the Liberal Party had may appear to have some weaknesses, our sister party, the List of Unity in Denmark, has a cooperation agreement with the Social Democratic minority government, which at least looks promising.

About work: – Need to find oneself

– Are you afraid that this is completely “Labor Party” and that it looks a bit like the traditional parties?

– No, I’m not afraid of him. Red has managed with a no-right makeover that has been our goal from the start. We have had extensive discussions in the match. Although we have replaced the slogans with concrete policies, the principles and objectives have not changed. I mean, to be radical, you have to be realistic. Because if what you propose cannot be implemented, it is not very radical either. It is perhaps a lesson that is stronger in red now than before and that is one of the reasons that we have a more important place in Norwegian politics than before.

Martinussen believes that the distance from the Labor Party has narrowed, at least rhetorically.

– I notice that Støre and others in the Labor Party use concepts and arguments that Rødt has used for a long time, especially about non-profit welfare and a fair environmental policy. That is good. They probably have a need to find themselves.

– To the extent that the Labor Party gets closer to Rødt, such as on issues of non-profit welfare and fair environmental policy, it will really only be good. So we can say that we have had an influence and then we have a hundred new pages with demands to move forward. We don’t end if Jonas Gahr Støre uses any of our policy terms.

– So a little charity for a Labor Party in crisis?

– Yes please. We want a new majority in Norway, but we also believe that it is important that a new majority means a new policy.

The price tag

– Now that you have a realistic program, how much will it cost?

– This is a program that we believe can be implemented in Norway, with a fiscal policy that is sustainable, as conservatives would say. This is the program we use to create our alternative budgets. How much things cost, how much income you get from various tax changes, will constantly change depending on how your financial situation is. So when it comes to specific calculations, it is the alternative budgets that one should consider.

– Are you now a real party?

– Now we are a real party. We have even printed the program proposal with color on the front. There is nothing more appropriate than that.

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