Midsummer 1985
A cold wind swept over the nation of Sweden that faithful day when the countries longest, and tallest, serving Prime Minister passed away. Tage Erlander, together with his wife Aina, led a humble life, living in a usual high rise and driving a typical Swedish manufactured vehicle. As his his predecessor Olof Palme lead a similar life with his wife and children in Vällingby, a suburb of Stockholm.
It can be said that Mr. Erlander was the person whom administrated the Swedish welfare state after the original founders had left the political scene. Olof Palme inherited this position when he became Prime Minister in 1969, and was destined to become the last politician to safeguard, what in Swedish is known as “Folkhemmet”, equivalently meaning “The People’s Home”. Olof Palme was subsequently assassinated in February 1986, just months after Mr. Erlander was laid to rest.
What is rarely mentioned is that mighty individuals within the finance and industrial complex sought, by means of vicious campaigning, to dismantle the Swedish welfare state already during Mr. Erlander’s reign in office. Co-workers to him have mentioned how these hateful campaigns took a significant personal toll on Mr. Erlander. The financial elite owned, and still owns, all influential media outlets and, therefore, could and can pursue their agenda with relentless force. Their representatives in the political elite residing in the right-wing parties contributed to undermining the resistance to the then ongoing neoliberal onslaught.
The November Revolution
Just months after Mr. Erlander’s passing, a coup led by highly ranking Social Democrats initiated the so called “November Revolution”, which was implemented without Olof Palme being informed. The practical effect of this was the deregulation of the financial market, which in turn meant that the banks could start handing out loans, even if they did not have the resources physically. This would in time lead to dire consequences for the inherent equality in the Swedish society, which Mr. Palme had managed to maintain. Furthermore, the move opened up for measures to dismantle the welfare state once and for all.
Olof Palme had erupted during a meeting; “What the hell have you done?”, when he became informed about the shift in policy. In his memoirs, the architect behind this bold move, Kjell-Olof Feldt writes that Mr. Palme performed a symbolic flute gesture as the matter was being discussed. Mr. Feldt wants to lead the readers to believe that Mr.Palme had become out of touch and negligent. But there is a more sinister interpretation which by all means correspond to the actual reality at the time. Mr. Palme had simply realised that there exists higher powers that can persuade even the largest democratic elected party to follow their desired change of course for the nation. The gesture with the flute was simply Mr. Palme’s way of conveying that he was very well aware of this.
Controlled Immigration Versus Open Borders
The financial elite, however, had even more plans than just deregulations within the welfare state. A highly prioritised issue was also to open up the borders for uncontrolled immigration. Also in this regard Olof Palme constituted a big obstacle since he was a staunch supporter of a strict and dignified immigration policy. As Mr. Palme himself expressed in an interview as far back as 1977:
“Firstly we need to maintain a regulated immigration, this is something I have always supported. So, that we, in a reasonable way, relating to the quantity of immigrants, can overcome this problem. Secondly, it is essential we uphold our society’s inherent equality. If one of these basis are undermined, we are at risk of getting in to terrible trouble.”
Apparent unsolvable problems in the Swedish society have arisen since both of these postulates Mr. Palme adhered to subsequently have fallen completely. It may seem eerie, but such is the bitter reality.
In the Autumn of 1983, Europe’s first migration crisis occurred, whereas a large amount of people with no legal basis for asylum tried to enter Europe, thus overloading the system then in place. Mr. Palme became extremely concerned in regards to this issue and personally took stringent action to prevent the influx of migrants to Sweden. One of his co-workers at the time, Jonas Widgren, recalls the situation as follows:
“But in October 1983…Kurds from Iraq started arriving at Arlanda [Sweden’s national airport]…Several hundred per week. And Olof Palme became very obsessed with this issue. Who are they and how can we stop them in some way? What is the solution to this, what is the solution regarding them?”
“But for Sweden it turned out to be easy…to threaten Honecker, because Palme simply threatened to revoke all diplomatic ties …We had nothing to loose. We had some old farms and such that Swedes would have lost. And some factories perhaps. Weighing in there was no money to be lost. Sweden was was one the few countries in the Baltic Sea the DDR had any type of relation with…and this setup proved to be successful…and thus….all the influx ceased immediately.”
Although after the assassination of Olof Palme there were still forces within the Social Democratic party that wished to continue Mr. Palmes sceptical stance on immigration. Thanks to Mr.Palme’s predecessor, Ingvar Carlsson, this was realised. It all culminated in 1989 when a decision, by law, grounds for granting asylum were severely restricted, which practically stopped the influx of asylum seekers to the country.
But this was not to last. Just two years later the new right wing government revoked the law and practically opened the nation’s borders and granted asylum to anybody who simply managed to reach Sweden in one way or another. That fateful day in 1991 crushed one of Mr. Palmes postulates for a functioning welfare state.
The Welfare State Stabbed in the Back
As proven, the Social Democrats after the murder still wished to uphold Mr. Palme’s strict stance on immigration, but their outlook on the welfare state had been completely altered. Privatisations quickly became the norm and dismantling of the welfare state had begun to take shape. An eerie statement from Olof Palme:
“Television financed by advertising will be estsblished over my dead body”
Private television companies begun operating in Sweden in 1987, so it can be said, it was literally introduced over Mr. Palme’s dead body. This is just one example among many others. As his predecessor, Tage Erlander, Mr. Palme was a strong opponent of any welfare companies establishing themselves, as well as being an outspoken opponent of assertion to the EC/EU. The reason being such ventures collided with Mr.Palme’s vision of a neutral, blossoming and strong sovereign nation.
Mr. Palme’s words chillingly echo through todays society, where all his ideals promoting a secure and equal society have been dismembered beyond recognition. Instead a neoliberal agenda has been implemented, forming a society as cold as a coin laying in the snow on a freezing winter day…
Christopher Sjölund
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