On 19 March, a representative of the Social Movement, Oleksandr Kiselyov, addressed the XXV Congress (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S6lK5Ig7AQ4f9hCdtBquVd4iK2vzWiTwKPMzAbwglDM/edit?usp=sharing) of one of Norway’s largest political forces, the Socialist Left Party (SV - Sosialistisk Venstreparti), which, upon the start of the Russian invasion, immediately supported Ukrainian resistance to aggression.
“The support of my comrades gave me an incredible sense of unity, which the Norwegian socialists emotionally assured me of. In the dining room, one man came up to me, said that he was a Kurd and understood us very much, hugged me and proclaimed:”Long live Ukraine!"
During the congress, our activist had numerous meetings and intense discussions with Norwegian and foreign comrades about ways to achieve peace as soon as possible. Everyone agreed that Ukraine has every right to fight for its independence with the necessary weapons.
The Socialist Left Party was one of the forces behind the adoption of the Norwegian aid plan for Ukraine. The question now is the criteria for granting the money and its distribution, which will be considered by the Storting in the autumn. Together with Ukrainian activists, the Norwegian left is ready to fight for a stronger civic and social component of the plan. In addition, the Norwegian Left Socialists, who once initiated the revision of the debts of developing countries, are willing to help with their experience in writing off Ukraine’s external debt. The party’s youth wing also demonstrates a desire to engage left-wing youth and students from Ukraine in cooperation.
Following the Ukrainian left’s articles in the Klassekampen newspaper and a discussion with Oleksandr Kyselov, the leadership of another party represented in the Norwegian parliament, the Reds (Rødt), stressed their support for allocating money for Ukraine’s armaments. However, they stressed that not everyone is ready to approve exports from Norway for historical reasons. At the party’s next congress, this issue will be one of the main ones. For the time being, the Reds are interested in humanitarian and political cooperation and in organising a visit by one of their MPs directly to Ukraine.
At this event, we also met with representatives of another Scandinavian political force. The members of the Left Party of Sweden (Vänsterpartiet) expressed their agreement with the position of the Social Movement and advocated the development and extension of communication between our organisations. The party’s chairperson, Noushi Dadgostar, personally expressed her interest in cooperating with Ukrainian socialists and stressed the need to include voices from Ukraine in discussions about its future.
The Social Movement sincerely welcomes the fact that influential left-wing political forces in Europe are inclined to provide comprehensive assistance to the left-wing movement in Ukraine and are aware of the need to resist Putinism.