The Flamman group, an orthodox pro-Soviet section within Left Party – The Communists, emerged as an internal fraction when C.-H. Hermansson took over as party leader and distanced the party from Moscow. The group was centered on the party newspaper Norrskensflamman, the regional party publication in Norrbotten. The fraction worked as a parallel party centre, and relations between it and the party leadership soured. At the party congress in 1975, when Hermansson stepped down as party leader, the Flamman group launched Rolf Hagel as its candidate for the party leadership. Hagel was defeated by Lars Werner with 162 votes against 74. In the same year the Flamman-sympathizers were expelled from Kommunistisk Ungdom, the youth league of the party. The group broke away in 1977, and formed Arbetarpartiet Kommunisterna. A founding congress took place in the Swedish Riksdag. A large number of foreign delegates attended the congress, indicating that APK had strong moral support from CPSU and the orthodox sector of the World Communist Movement. Two MPs, Rolf Hagel and Alf Löwenborg, led the split. Hagel was elected party president. Norrskensflamman became the central party organ. Entire VPK party units joined APK in many places, including Malmö, Gothenburg and Mälardalen. The foremost stronghold of the new party was Norrbotten. In total, up to 25% of the entire VPK party membership joined APK. To a large extent it was the trade union cadres of VPK who joined APK. Shortly thereafter, a large section of the KU district in Gävleborg joined APK. Sveriges Kommunistiska Ungdomsförbund was created as the youth league of the party. A student wing, Marxistiska Studenter, was founded although it never attained any importance. APK failed to make any electoral breakthrough, and gradually the party declined. The fall of the Soviet Union had a very negative impact on the party; many members left, either to leave politics completely or to rejoin the Left Party. SKU broke away in 1990, and had a short-lived period as an independent communist youth organization. In 1995 APK was declared financially bankrupt by state authorities, the first political party in Sweden to suffer that fate. Directly after the bankruptcy of APK, the core around Hagel regrouped and reconstituted their party as Sveriges Kommunistiska Parti. In 2000 SKU was reorganized as the party youth league. The party participates in elections under the moniker Kommunisterna.
Election results
Year
Votes
%
2019
974
0.02
The party was represented in a kommun council until 2013 when their representatives were expelled from the party.
