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| President | Norberto Crivelli |
| Founded | 14 October 1944 |
| Preceded by | Communist Party of Switzerland Swiss Socialist Federation |
| Headquarters | Turmweg 24 3013,Bern |
| Youth wing | Communist Youth Switzerland[1] |
| Membership | 1,000+[2] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Left-wing[10] tofar-left[14] |
| European affiliation | Party of the European Left |
| Colours | Red |
| National Council | 0 / 200 |
| Council of States | 0 / 46 |
| Cantonal legislatures | 13 / 2,559 |
| Website | |
| |
TheSwiss 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 acommunist party[3] inSwitzerland.
The party was founded in 1944 by the illegalCommunist Party of Switzerland. On 21 May, the constituent conference of theBasel Federation of the party was held. On 14–15 October the same year, the first Party Congress of the party was held inZürich, withLéon Nicole elected to the role of President and Karl Hofmaier to General Secretary. On 6–7 October 1945, the Second Congress was held inGeneva. By this time the party had 20 000 members. On 30 November to 1 December, the 3rd Congress was held inZürich. On 27 July a Swiss Party Conference was held inBern, 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 theStockholm Appeal, collecting 260 000 signatures from the Swiss population. From 31 May to 2 June 1952, the 5th Congress was held inGeneva. On 7 December, the Central Committee expelledLéon Nicole from the party. On 28–30 May, the 6th Congress was held inGeneva.
The 7th Congress was held inGeneva from 16–18 May 1959. A new party programme approved with the concept of antimonopolistic unity, termed the "Swiss Road to Socialism" (inspired by thesimilar programme of theCommunist Party of Great Britain). The 8th Congress was held inGeneva from 16 to 18 May 1964. As of 2015, the party had no seats in the Swisscantonal councils and was not represented in any of the 26 cantonal governments.[15]
The XXII Congress of the section of the Ticino, held on 10 November 2013, marked the unification of theorgans 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 theCommunist Party, which is not active on a national level.
Holding two seats in theSwiss National Council (the lower chamber of the Swiss parliament) going into the2007 elections, the party stood candidates in the cantons ofZürich,Vaud,Geneva andTicino on their own; inNeuchâtel the candidate appeared on a joint list withSolidarity. While the share of the vote in 2007 was similar to the party's 2003 results (0.7%), the party lost the seat held byJosef Zisyadis while retaining the seat held byMarianne Huguenin.[16] However, on 1 November 2007 Huguenin announced her resignation from the National Council to focus on her position as mayor ofRenens, Vaud, leaving Zisyadis to take the Party's seat in the National Council representing Vaud.[17]
| Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 49,353 | 5.0 | 7 / 194 | New |
| 1951 | 25,659 | 2.7 | 5 / 196 |  2 |
| 1955 | 25,060 | 2.6 | 4 / 196 | 1 |
| 1959 | 26,346 | 2.7 | 1 / 196 | 3 |
| 1963 | 21,088 | 2.2 | 4 / 200 |  3 |
| 1967 | 28,723 | 2.9 | 5 / 200 | 1 |
| 1971 | 51,341 | 2.6 | 5 / 200 |  0 |
| 1975 | 45,799 | 2.4 | 4 / 200 | 1 |
| 1979 | 38,187 | 2.1 | 3 / 200 | 1 |
| 1983 | 17,488 | 0.9 | 1 / 200 | 2 |
| 1987 | 15,528 | 0.8 | 1 / 200 | 0 |
| 1991 | 15,871 | 0.8 | 2 / 200 | 1 |
| 1995 | 22,850 | 1.18 | 3 / 200 | 1 |
| 1999 | 18,569 | 1.0 | 2 / 200 | 1 |
| 2003 | 14,595 | 0.68 | 2 / 200 | 0 |
| 2007 | 17,218 | 0.74 | 1 / 200 | 1 |
| 2011 | 21,482 | 0.54 | 0 / 200 | 1 |
| 2015 | 21,574 | 0.4 | 1 / 200 | 1 |
| 2019 | 25,427 | 0.6 | 1 / 200 | 0 |
| 2023 | 18,435 | 0.7 | 0 / 200 | 1 |
| Canton | 1971 | 1975 | 1979 | 1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1995 | 1999 | 2003 | 2007 | 2011 | 2015 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| Zürich | 1.6 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 0.3 | 0.3 | *a | * | * | * | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Bern | * | 0.6 | 0.3 | * | * | 0.2 | * | * | * | * | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.6 |
| Fribourg | * | * | * | * | * | * | 0.9 | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| Solothurn | * | * | 1.0 | * | 0.3 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| Basel-Stadt | 6.1 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 2.3 | 1.9 | 1.4 | 1.3 | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| Basel-Landschaft | * | 1.8 | 1.0 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| St. Gallen | * | 0.4 | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| Ticino | 2.8 | 3.6 | 2.7 | * | 1.2 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 1.3 | * | 1.3 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.8 |
| Vaud | 12.2 | 10.7 | 9.3 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 8.9 | 7.8 | 6.7 | 4.7 | 2.1 | 2.9b | 1.9 |
| Valais | * | * | * | * | * | * | 0.9 | * | * | * | * | * | * |
| Neuchâtel | 13.7 | 9.8 | 7.7 | 4.2 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 7.1 | 6.9 | 3.0 | 9.2 | 10.4 | 12.2 | 12.1 |
| Genève | 20.8 | 18.0 | 19.9 | 9.5 | 8.7 | 7.8 | 9.4 | 8.7 | 2.7 | 1.9 | 1.3 | 6.1b | 1.2 |
| Jura | c | c | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | 3.8 | * |
| National Council (200 seats) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Council of States (46 seats) |
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| Other parties | |||||
European Parliament group:The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL | |||||||||
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| See also | |||||||||
European political foundation:Transform Europe | |||||||||
