KArtu

KArtu (English: Together), known by the full name '''KArtu. Left Alliance''' (KArtu. Kairiųjų aljansas) is a left-wing political party in Lithuania founded on 1 May 2024. It was originally founded as a non-partisan political movement in 2022.

History
The Left Alliance was founded in 2022 with a manifesto by over twenty political figures, including cultural figures, artists, and members of both the Social Democratic Party of Lithuania and the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union. In its manifesto, the Left Alliance claimed that Lithuanian politics lack a "progressive left-wing party" and attacked the Social Democrats for insufficient allegiance to their party program and betrayal of left-wing values.

One of the founders of the movement,, had been involved in activism for an "alternative left" since 2007, in which he was the main ideologue and a founder of the short-lived (English: New Left 95).

In February 2022, it organized a picket in support of the ongoing strike in the chemical plant Achema. In light of ongoing political discussion regarding the promulgation of same-sex partnerships law in Lithuania, it spoke out in favor of immediate legalization of same-sex partnerships.

On 12 January 2024, it became a founding member of the Central-Eastern European Green Left Alliance (CEEGLA) alongside Left Together, Democracy and Solidarity Party, Forthcoming, Social Movement and the Spark Movement.

On 1 May 2024, the party was founded in Vilnius. Jolanta Bielskienė, former member of the Social Democratic Party, was elected as its chairwoman.

Platform
KArtu is a left-wing party and presents itself as "an alternative to the dominant, purely right-wing politics and doctrine of neoliberal capitalism". It supports shortening the work week, first to 32 hours and later to 28 hours, encouraging the expansion of trade unions, progressive taxes on corporations, businesses and high-income landlords, reducing food prices, regulating the housing market by setting rent caps, and expanding women's rights and LGBT rights in Lithuania. It promotes the creation of economic democracy by promoting worker cooperatives instead of private ownership.

It supports Lithuania's membership in NATO and the European Union, and the strengthening of national defense. It supports Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War and, alongside the Trade Union "May 1st", agitates for debt forgiveness to Ukraine, as well as harsher sanctions and support to the labor movement in Ukraine. It condemns Israel's actions against Palestinians and supports a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.