People's Alliance (Iceland)
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People's Alliance
Alþýðubandalagið |
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| Founded | 4 April 1956 |
| Dissolved | 1998 |
| Merged into | Social Democratic Alliance |
| Ideology | Socialism |
The People's Alliance (Icelandic: Alþýðubandalagið) was an electoral alliance in Iceland from 1956 to 1968 and a socialist political party from 1968 to 1998.
In 1916 the Social Democratic Party (Alþýðuflokkurinn) was formed in Iceland. In 1930 the party split, leading to the formation of the Communist Party of Iceland (Kommúnistaflokkur Íslands), recognised as the Icelandic section of the Communist International. In 1937 the social democrats suffered another split, and the splintergroup unified itself with the communists forming the Socialist Party (Sósíalistaflokkurinn). However, the new party did not become a ComIntern member as its forerunner.
On April 4, 1956 the Socialist Party created an electoral alliance with yet another left-wing split of the Social Democratic Party led by Hannibal Valdimarsson, thus forming the People's Alliance with Hannibal as its chairman.
In 1963 National Preservation Party (Þjóðvarnarflokkurinn) contributed people to the joint electoral alliance, resulting in Gils Guðmundsson, a former member of parliament (1953–1956) for Þjóðvarnarflokkurinn gaining a seat in the parliament, which he held until 1979. In 1968 the People's Alliance officially became a political party. At that time Hannibal left and formed his own Union of Liberals and Leftists.
In the mid 1960s the U.S. States Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 1,000 (1% of the working age population of Iceland).
In 1998 it joined forces with the Social Democrat Party, the Women's Alliance (Samtök um kvennalista) and the National Awakening (Þjóðvaki) in forming the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), a broad centre-left party. However the People's Alliance continues to exist on papers until its debts are paid.
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