Swiss Party of Labour

The Swiss Party of Labour (Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx) is a communist party<ref name="CH"/> in Switzerland.

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, with Léon Nicole elected to the role of President and Karl Hofmaier to 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 to 1 December, the 3rd Congress was held in Zürich. On 27 July a Swiss Party Conference was held in Bern, in which Karl Hofmaier was removed from his position as a result of a financial scandal. In the national elections of 1947 the party received 5.1% of the vote.

File:Swiss Labour Party 2006 Bern Election Poster.jpg

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

On 4–6 July 1949, the 4th Congress was held, during which steps to strengthen the organization as a Cadre Party were taken. As a result of this Congress, Edgar Woog was elected General Secretary. In 1950, the party worked intensively for the Stockholm Appeal, collecting 260 000 signatures from the Swiss population. 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 16–18 May 1959. A new party programme approved with the concept of antimonopolistic unity, termed the "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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Logo of Swiss Party of Labour - Italian.jpg

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 Template:Clarify span with those of the Italian Grisons, creating the Communist Party of Southern Switzerland, which has stopped the collaboration with the Swiss Party of Labour after 2014; it became the Communist Party, which is not active on a national level.

2007 national elections

Holding two seats in the Swiss National Council (the lower chamber of the Swiss parliament) going into the 2007 elections, the party stood candidates in the cantons of Zürich, Vaud, Geneva and 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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref> {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Election results

National Council

Election	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
1947	49,353	5.0	Template:Composition bar	New
1951	25,659	2.7	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 2
1955	25,060	2.6	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1
1959	26,346	2.7	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 3
1963	21,088	2.2	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 3
1967	28,723	2.9	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 1
1971	51,341	2.6	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
1975	45,799	2.4	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1
1979	38,187	2.1	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1
1983	17,488	0.9	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 2
1987	15,528	0.8	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
1991	15,871	0.8	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 1
1995	22,850	1.18	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 1
1999	18,569	1.0	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1
2003	14,595	0.68	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
2007	17,218	0.74	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1
2011	21,482	0.54	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1
2015	21,574	0.4	Template:Composition bar	Template:Increase 1
2019	25,427	0.6	Template:Composition bar	Template:Steady 0
2023	18,435	0.7	Template:Composition bar	Template:Decrease 1

Cantonal-level

PdA vote percentage, federal elections 1971–2019<ref>Template:Cite report</ref>

Canton	1971	1975	1979	1983	1987	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	2015	2019
Switzerland	2.6	2.4	2.1	0.9	0.8	0.8	1.2	1.0	0.7	0.7	0.5	0.4	0.6
Zürich	1.6	1.1	1.2	0.3	0.3	*{{#if:a|a|[1]}}	*	*	*	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3
Bern	*	0.6	0.3	*	*	0.2	*	*	*	*	0.3	0.5	0.6
Fribourg	*	*	*	*	*	*	0.9	*	*	*	*	*	*
Solothurn	*	*	1.0	*	0.3	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Basel-Stadt	6.1	4.6	4.7	2.3	1.9	1.4	1.3	*	*	*	*	*	*
Basel-Landschaft	*	1.8	1.0	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
St. Gallen	*	0.4	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Ticino	2.8	3.6	2.7	*	1.2	0.7	1.3	1.3	*	1.3	1.2	0.5	0.8
Vaud	12.2	10.7	9.3	4.1	3.5	4.2	8.9	7.8	6.7	4.7	2.1	2.9{{#if:b|b|[2]}}	1.9
Valais	*	*	*	*	*	*	0.9	*	*	*	*	*	*
Neuchâtel	13.7	9.8	7.7	4.2	3.8	5.2	7.1	6.9	3.0	9.2	10.4	12.2	12.1
Genève	20.8	18.0	19.9	9.5	8.7	7.8	9.4	8.7	2.7	1.9	1.3	6.1{{#if:b|b|[3]}}	1.2
Jura	{{#if:c|c|[4]}}	{{#if:b|b|[5]}}	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	3.8	*

1.^a{{#if:| }} * indicates that the party was not on the ballot in this canton.

2.^b{{#if:| }} Combined result for PdA and Solidarity.

3.^c{{#if:| }} Part of the Canton of Bern until 1979.

External links

• The Swiss Workers Party in History of Social Security in Switzerland