social democratic workers' party of sweden

The Social Democratic Labour Party of Sweden (Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Arbetareparti or SAP), is a one of the main political parties in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889, and in 1917 a split occurred when the communists and revolutionaries left to form a separate party. Ideologically the party is Social Democratic (it is a full member of Socialist International) and has a base of blue-collar workers, intellectuals, and public sector employees. It derives much of its power from strong links with the Swedish Trade Union Confederation or LO, which represents around 90 percent of Sweden's blue-collar workers. The party programme combines a commitment to social welfare and government direction of the economy. Currently, the party has about 165 000 members. There are roughly 2 540 local party associations around the country, as well as some 500 workplace associations. There are a number of special, independent organisations within the Swedish social democratic movement: The National Federation of Social Democratic Women in Sweden (S-kvinnor) organise Social Democratic women. The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsfrbund or SSU) organises the youth movement. The Social Democratic Students of Sweden (Socialdemokratiska Studentfrbundet) organises Social Democrats at universities. The Christian Brotherhood (Broderskap) organises Christian Social Democrats.