Frank
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| Teddy-John Frank |
A clear tendency of polarization between right and left among Swedish voters is one of the results. The so-called "bourgeois political center," represented by the Liberal party and the Center party (former Peasant party) was severely reduced (less than 10% of the votes together).
Instead, the Christian Democrats established themselves for the first time with a very strong result (from 4% to 11%). This means that they broke through the "sanctified wall" of only being a party of Christian believers. (One should note that church-going in Sweden is very low, around 4% of the population, so religious matters play a very insignificant role in politics.)
The large Conservative party
(led by Carl Bildt, who might be well-known to foreign readers as the "High
Commissioner" in Bosnia for two years) has been transformed into a very
extreme neoliberal party, with a message of lowering taxes for the rich, higher
profits for investors, share holders and corporations, de-regulation of
employment etc. This opened the way for the Christian Democrats to present
themselves as representing a broader spectrum of Conservative ideas and values
(family, law and order, traditions, etc.)
The bourgeois votes are now concentrated mainly in these two parties (Conservatives at 22% with Christian Democrats at 11%).
Social Democracy has adopted most of the demands of the "market" in what is called "crisis awareness". The class differences have increased enormously these years. Sweden today experiences real poverty in growing sectors of the working class, among unemployed and sectors of young people. At the same time the rich have become tremendously richer. The "Tony Blair syndrome" has dominated the Social Democrats, and Blair's electoral experts have been "guiding" the Social Democrats also here in Sweden.
The reaction to this from working class people can be measured in different actions in this election:
* A clear left wing upsurge, in the parliamentary situation, mainly manifested in voting for the Left party (former revisionist party, but since two decades ago cutting all remaining link with its Communist past. The party defines itself today with publicity as "feminist, humanitarian and socialist" and is strictly a parliamentary party. Rather skillfully this party has presented its politics as representing a traditional Social Democratic reformism in the election campaign). The Left party doubled its votes, from 6% to more than 12%.
* An electoral catastrophe for the Social Democrats. They had their lowest percentage of votes since 1928! And their losses compared to previous election was the largest ever. From 45% of the votes in 1994 to 36.5% this year.
* Almost eight percent more of the electorate abstained from voting, compared to the last election. Especially in working class areas this is even more significant. In the major cities the number of voters in working class districts reached almost American figures, i.e. 50% or even less! For Sweden this is completely unique, since voting attendance usually is 85-90%. This must be seen as a protest from frustrated Social-Democrat voters against their own party.
One should have no illusions concerning the Left party. It is a reformist party, petty-bourgeois in its character. But in this election it represented the only left alternative for all those who wanted to protest the present politics, demanding a turn to the left. The Left party, together with the Green Party (with 4.5% of the votes), are now negotiating with the Social-Democrats to see if they can form a parliamentary majority.
Weakened as the Social-Democrats are, they will nevertheless remain in power, but need the support of two or more parties.
The outcome of these talks are yet not clear. But the Left party is heavily tempted by its own success and its desire to play a role. This might make it prepared to "sell out" most of its promises, for the only reason to sit together with the Social-Democrats. Therefore its great success now might change quicker than expected.
The tactics of the Social-Democrats were in the beginning hard attacks on all of the left demands, talking about irresponsible positions, etc. Instead the Social-Democrats gave clear signals of continued co-operation with the "bourgeoisie center" after the election. When the Social-Democrats understood that this line would lead to a huge defeat for them, they tried to shift tactics, and suddenly talked about the left as a possible partner. This was, however, seen through by many as opportunistic maneuvering, and it caused confusion for the Social-Democrats' apparatus and campaigners who had already prepared themselves for the usual anti-social, anti-left phrasing.
This was done partly as an exclusive Social-Democratic spy organization, partly in co-operation with the employers organization and the security police.
The reason given for all this is that "Communists could be a danger to national security" and that they could be suspected of "supporting a foreign nation", i.e. traitors-to-be! This was of course during the Cold War hysteria but it has been going on ever since. Step by step the truth has come out, how permanently all left-wing persons, young people in solidarity movements, etc. have been registered. (In 1969, a law was introduced in Sweden, by the Social-Democratic government at that time, that made it illegal to register any person "because of his or her political opinions". But the Social-Democrats just kept doing it, thereby committing this crime against their own proposed law!)
And most shamefully: it was done on orders from the U.S., as a precondition for Sweden to be able to get U.S. high technology.
A secret protocol from a meeting with the inner circle of the Social-Democrats from 1973 (when Olof Palme was their chairperson and Swedish prime minister), that was published only a month ago, reveals that the spying was aimed at our party's members, since the Social-Democrats had "big problems with the political activities of KPML(r) and our trade unionists sometimes have big troubles to handle their propaganda."
This was one reason for this unlawful registering. How many people were black-listed due to this no one can tell. But that people were blacklisted, or experienced other problems and difficulties in their lives, is clear. One must also ask how and for what purpose these lists with more than 200,000 names were to be used in the event of the cold war turning hot?
And who are really the "traitors-to-be" in such a situation, if these lists were turned over to U.S. imperialists and NATO? One can only recall how Pinochet in Chile in the military coup there in 1973 within 24 hours could round up more than 20,000 anti-fascists and radical citizens in the sports stadium in Santiago, where thousands of them were murdered, tortured or disappeared in the following months. Who had prepared the lists with these 20,000 names?
These matters have caused much upheaval in Sweden. Leading Social-Democrats at this time have stated in the media that they "are proud of fighting Communists" this way, but a majority of their own voters feel ashamed of their own party. Much more is to come out in these matters, since facts concerning Sweden's so-called post-war neutrality and non-aligned politics is beginning to appear. Already the secret cooperation with NATO has been exposed in countless sordid details. (Building air strips in the north of Sweden for B-52s, US Marine officers were secretly placed on Swedish marine ships in accordance with secret agreements, Swedish military strategy and defense plans were revealed to US Chiefs of Staff, and they were allowed to visit the most top secret war-time headquarters, drilled into mountain caves etc. etc.).
When all of these things come to the surface, it will also mean that the Social- Democratic icons like Olof Palme and his predecessor Tage Erlander, will be losing their saintly halo; a most traumatic situation.
Together with the general left-wing upsurge this is a very positive situation for the Communist party, which we intend to utilize to the fullest.
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