Swedish Social Democratic Party

(Redirected from Social Democratic Party of Sweden)

Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti




Leader	Göran Persson

Founded	1889
Main Office	Sveavägen 68, Stockholm

Political Ideology	Democratic socialism/Social democracy
International Affiliation	Socialist International, PES
Colours	Red

Website	http://www.sap.se/
See also	Politics of Sweden Political parties in Sweden Elections in Sweden

The Swedish Social Democratic Party (Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti, commonly referred to as Socialdemokraterna), is the largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889, and in 1917 a split occurred when the communists and revolutionaries left to form a separate party.

Ideologically the party is Social Democratic (it is a full member of Socialist International) and has a base of blue-collar workers, intellectuals, and public sector employees. It derives much of its power from strong links with the Swedish Trade Union Confederation or LO, which represents around 90 percent of Sweden's blue-collar workers. The party programme combines a commitment to social welfare and government direction of the economy.

Currently, the party has about 165 000 members. There are roughly 2 540 local party associations around the country, as well as some 500 workplace associations.

There are a number of special, independent organisations within the Swedish social democratic movement: The National Federation of Social Democratic Women in Sweden (S-kvinnor) organise Social Democratic women. The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbund or SSU) organises the youth movement. The Social Democratic Students of Sweden (Socialdemokratiska Studentförbundet) organises Social Democrats at universities. The Christian Brotherhood (Broderskap) organises Christian Social Democrats.