Rød Ungdom

Rød Ungdom was the youth wing of the Arbeidernes Kommunist Parti (Marxist-Leninistene), the Marxist/Leninist Communist Workers Party. The book brings it into view through Øystein Aarseth’s earlier political affiliation, which complicates any simple account of his outlook as an extension of the nationalist and pseudo-right-wing currents that later became prominent in Black Metal. Its significance here lies less in a detailed institutional history than in the contrast between the organization’s communist setting and the contradictory political identity Aarseth carried into the music scene.

Identity and Political Setting

Rød Ungdom is identified as the youth wing of the Arbeidernes Kommunist Parti (Marxist-Leninistene). The parent party was relatively small, but the account says it attracted intellectuals, including prominent writers and politicians, and maintained a strong hold on Norwegian cultural life for many years. This setting places Rød Ungdom within an organized political milieu rather than presenting it as an isolated youthful affiliation.

The organization is described as aggressively anti-Soviet, looking instead to China and Albania for inspiration. The account also notes that figures such as Pol Pot were regarded as models of resistance to Western imperialism. These commitments joined an anti-imperialist frame to admiration for forceful political leadership, a combination that becomes especially relevant in the book’s discussion of Aarseth.

Aarseth’s Affiliation and Departure

Aarseth, associated with Mayhem and the emerging Norwegian Black Metal scene, had been a member of Rød Ungdom for a period. The duration and practical extent of his involvement are not specified. The account presents the affiliation as part of a broader political outlook: he was far from the nationalist orientation that the author says would later be prominent in Black Metal, and he was attracted to the idea of strong leaders shaping the world.

Aarseth eventually broke with Rød Ungdom. The account reports that he allegedly came to see its members as too humanist, but it does not establish this as a documented explanation or supply a fuller account of the departure. Nor does it settle whether his continuing convictions were sincerely held or partly adopted as an element of his cultivated “evil” image. That uncertainty matters: the affiliation offers evidence of a political formation, but not a transparent key to his motives.

Political Contradictions and Limits of the Record

The book notes that the party no longer glorified the dictatorships associated with its earlier ideological excesses, while also stating that no formal apology or explanation had been made for those excesses. This distinction preserves a tension between political change and unresolved institutional reckoning. The account does not describe Rød Ungdom’s later activities, internal organization, or membership beyond its relation to Aarseth and its status as the party’s youth wing.

Aarseth’s communist outlook did not, the author observes, become influential in the Black Metal scene in the same way as other political currents. The book offers a possible explanation grounded in Norway’s long left-wing tradition: in that setting, communist symbols and historical defenses of figures such as Pol Pot and Stalin may have seemed less shocking than runic imagery associated with Vidkun Quisling and the Second World War. Rød Ungdom therefore serves as a point of contrast, not as an explanation for the scene as a whole: it shows that Aarseth’s politics drew on a different tradition, while leaving unresolved how deeply he believed in it.