MANAGER
The opposition to arms support for Ukraine shows an abyss in the understanding of reality between Red and other parties. The abyss exists in several other areas, and it deserves more attention.
INTERNAL DEBATE: Rødt leader Bjørnar Moxnes is currently having an internal debate in the party about arms support to Ukraine. Photo: Hans Arne Vedlog / Dagbladet
sea view
Manager: This is an editorial from Dagbladet, and expresses the newspaper’s view. Dagbladet’s political editor is responsible for the editorial.
City council leader Raymond Johansen (Ap) says in an interview with Klassekampen that the opposition in Rødt to sending weapons to Ukraine makes political cooperation in Oslo more demanding.
Rødt’s group leader Siavash Mobasheri in Oslo responds by accusing Johansen of “making political money on a brutal war”.
The answer is revealing. It shows how the arms support opponents in Rødt do not seem to understand the seriousness of this matter.
The last week has the temperature rose in the Red party, linked to an internal debate about whether the party should support Norwegian arms aid to Ukraine. Three central rebels want the party to turn around, and their argument is easy to relate to: Arms support is necessary to prevent the Ukrainians from having the country bombed to pieces. This has been met with great resistance internally. The party leadership is doing its best not to take a position on the matter before it goes up to the national assembly this spring.
The so-called “peace line” the party stands today, is totally ineffective. It requires Russia to suddenly lay down its weapons, something the Russian war of aggression has shown no signs of. On the contrary, Russia’s warfare has increased in brutality, with terrorist bombings knocking out civilian infrastructure and inflicting enormous suffering. For many in Red, their own pure and simple principle of “peace” is apparently more important than what happens to Ukraine and its 40 million inhabitants. Rødt’s “peace line” will in practice be to serve Putin the victory and wipe Ukraine off the map in its current form.
It is a “abyss in the understanding of reality”, says Raymond Johansen. It is a point that is worth reflecting on. Abyss in politics, one often tries to build bridges over in order to secure a majority for practical, political solutions. But the abysses are there, and they also deserve attention – and should play a role in the political debate.
It’s not just an abyss in the understanding of reality between Rødt and most other parties in Norway when it comes to the war in Ukraine. There is also an abyss in the understanding of economic policy and the organization of society. In principle, Rødt is fundamentally opposed to a market economy, with a gradual abolition of real private property rights – among other things through the state buying out private owners from a number of larger companies in Norway.
The road to doom
This abyss tends to get lost when we debate the party’s proposals for solutions to various political issues. Rising food prices and electricity prices are two examples. Rødt is absolutely right that the market has resulted in an unfortunate concentration of power in the food industry, and thus the risk of higher prices. Their alternative, principled approach with almost full state control of the economy still presents at least as great a danger of concentration of power, just in a different place.
Red fight against the current electricity price system must be seen in the light of the same. Red is not the only party that wants lower electricity prices, everyone wants it. Rødt’s opposition to the organization of the electricity market must be seen in light of the fact that the party is fundamentally opposed to the market economy as we know it.
The middle position – regulation and control of the market economy – is a difficult exercise, even to argue forcefully for. It is equally a line that ensures a greater spread of power and facilitates an efficient economy for the enjoyment of the citizens.
