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.
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.
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.[15]
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[clarify] 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.[16] 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.[17]
