The end of the social democratic "miracle"
THE former minister of finance, a leading Social Democrat, joins the board of the the biggest Swedish company, Volvo.
The May 1 demonstrations are reduced to around half the usual size and in at least one town the demonstration Is suspended for political reasons. The biggest trade union in
Northern Europe, the municipal workers' union in Stockholm,
И3. problems facing the society.
In this period, the party will concentrate its attention on four basic functions - the programmatic (the elaboration of socioeconomic, political and other programs
USSR / SWEDEN with 50,000 members, says no to continued affillation to the offered as alternatives within the parlia-
Social Democratic Party and demands the resignation of the mentary system of the country, the politichairman of the main trade union confederation.
cal (the fight to win a majority of the seats in elections for the organs of power at all
The government prepares a new law to protect six of the levels, and, in the event of victory, to form highest ranked police officials in the country who are being the government and carry out its election prosecuted for illegal interception of Kurdish and Palestinian program), the ideological (championing, in conditions of ideological pluralism, its own refugees. The proposed law is withdrawn only after massive ideological positions and views, propaganprotests from legal experts. Members of parliament grant da and agitation for its ideas, bringing citithemselves a salary rise of 20% at the same time as new zens over to the side and into the ranks of the CPSU) and the organizational (the figures show that an average workers' family has lost 16,200 organization of inter-party relations on gencrowns [$2,700] in purchasing power since 1976.
uinely democratic bases). The maximum simplification and decentralization of the party structures, liquidation of excess intermediary links between the Central Committee and the party base organizations will be underway.
A further democratization in internal party life will be carried out in accordance with the principle that decisions taken by the party organization in the framework of the powers invested in it are not subject to being overturned by higher organs.
A mechanism will be created for holding referenda on basic questions in the life of the party and its separate organizations.The parliamentary fraction of the CPSU will get wide autonomy in its activity and be subordinate only to the party congress.
In this stage, definitive organizational differentiation will take place between the radicals and conservatives in the party. The various ideological currents, platforms and factions arising in the previous stage can become a basis for the emergence of sever al political parties proposing different models of socialism and roads to achieving it....
Supporting radical reform of the party, we at the same time do not harbor any illusions that the conservative wing of the party, the party apparatus, will eagerly accept such transformations. A stubborn struggle lies ahead. And we are convinced that if the
CPSU continues to try to maintain its lead.
ing positions, based on popular confidence, hen there is no alternative to democratic reform. In this event, if the healthy forces in the CPSU do not carry through democratic transformations, the crisis will ineviably lead the party either to political bankruptcy (as in Poland) or to the iron fist
(as in China)....*
MARIA SUNDVALL
HESE are some snapshots of Sweden this May, snapshots that reveal a political and social climate in transition, not to say in crisis.
This crisis will no doubt come as a surprise to many people in other countries Who are at this very moment being taught that Sweden is a model of harmonious social development. The "Swedish model" is right now being marketed from Poland to Spain, from the Baltic States to New Zealand.
The Swedish model is most often described as a system which combines a high standard of living, social security and a social pact between the government, big industry and the trade unions - the latter exercise strong influence without resorting to strikes. And it is true. Thus described, the Swedish model has existed and in some aspects continues to exist.
But those who make propaganda for it tend to forget something essential — the "model" was constructed under very specific historical conditions for Swedish capitalism as well as for the Swedish working class movement.
To understand the historical peculiarities of this situation, we have to go back 101 years to the foundation of the social democratic party, the SAP, in 1889. The SAP was founded as a party "based on class struggle" but was from the very start influenced by the development of the revisionist wing in the German SPD. As early as 1886, the future party leader Hjalmar Branting, declared that parliamentary elections could replace revolution as a means of taking power.
The Swedish working class at that time was a young class, recently immigrated from the countryside, growing rapidly from 50,000 industrial workers around 1860 to 265,000 in 1900. This inexperienced working class poured into the trade unions, which at a very early stage became extremely centralized. There they were joined by a layer of intellectuals coming from the liberal circles, among them Branting himself.
Early bureaucratization of
Social Democratic Party
These two factors — the rapid growth and centralization, the inflow of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois intellectuals — facilitated an early bureaucratization of the social democratic party and of the trade unions. It also facilitated the growth of reformist influence.
The consequences of the bureaucratization were successively seen — politically as a strengthening of a line of class collaboration, organizationally as a weakening of the workers' control over their own organization. Here are some memorable dates in that development:
• In 1906 LO, the Swedish trade union 13 confederation, signed the so-called July 2; 1990 • #188 International Viewpoint
SWEDEN "December compromise" with the employers' association. A compromise giving the workers the right to sign collective agreements, in exchange for accepting the notorious article 23, giving the employers the right to freely employ and dismiss workers as well as to organize work. This was less than what some militant unions had already achieved in local agreements (for instance, the closed shop system), and the compromise led to workers' protests, which however failed to change the agreement. Historic general strike ended in defeat
• In August 1909 LO reluctantly called for a general strike, after more than a year of a campaign of wage reductions from the employers and after the employers' association had threatened to lock out 80,000 workers. After one month of the strike the LO decided to break the strike front and only keep half of the 200,000 workers out. Defeat was assured and in the aftermath of the strike 20,0CJ workers lost their jobs. Many radicals were blacklisted and had to leave the country. Several thousand of the most radical trade unionists also left LO to form the anarcho-syndicalist federation. So the result of the strike was that LO kept only half its membership and the left pole within the trade union movement was considerably
• In 1917 there was a big rise in mass activity, expressed in strikes and hunger revolts. As a result, the social democrats got into government for the first time, in coalition with the liberals. The same year, a few months before the elections the left within the party had left to form what was to become the Communist Party.
But no sooner had the social democratic ministers taken office before they started to make a compromise with the liberals on the issue of universal suffrage, which the most urgent demands raised in the mass actions.
• In 1928 a law on collective bargaining was passed, taking a big step to limit the possibilities of striking through the introduction of the "peace obligation" That is, conflicts are forbidden as soon as the central agreement is signed.
• In 1938, LO and the employers
"Saltsjöbaden agreement" establishing a network of rules to regulate bargaining and limit strikes. This process continued throughout the 1930s and 40s and the result could be summed up in the following way — it is almost impossible to wage a legal strike in Sweden today.
In every branch the leadership can veto a strike. What is more, the central leadership of LO with 15 persons, can veto any strike that affects more than 3% of the members of any branch within the LO!
The first social democratic government 14 formed in 1932 and the remained in government — with a tew International Viewpoint #188 • July 2, 1990 exceptions such as a broad coalition during the war and an alliance with the farmparty in the 1950s - until 1976. During this period Sweden changed totally, from an agricultural country to a modem industrial nation. A huge public service sector took form, reforms in all fields of life were introduced and social wealth increased. All of which the social democrats claim are the product of their
But there can be no doubt that what was more important was the fact that Sweden did not participate in the Second World War. During the war Swedish factories could produce at full pace for the coun tries at war. In 1945, Swedish factories were undamaged and could compete favorably with the industries of warstruck Europe. Swedish capital could thus draw the maximum benefit from the postwar boom, when it began in the late
It was during this period that the Swedish model took shape. A leading Social Democrat coined the phrase, good for industry is good for Sweden" and this became the lodestar of social democratic politics. The Social Democrats opted for a long term stable alliance with the most modern sectors of Swedish capital - the companies producing for export - and gave them benefits accordingly. Society was restructured in the interests of big industry, tens and maybe thousands of workers had to leave their homes and native regions and move to the new factories.
They were rewarded with rising wages, better housing and better education for their children. And it seemed that these rewards were the result of the parliamentary work of the SAP, with big industry and without resorting to class struggle methods. Emptying of political life from workers' movement
This peaceful development together with the already extreme degree of bureaucratization and centralization contributed to an emptying of all real life out of the workers' movement. The SAP branches today have virtually no rank-and-file activity. Trade union meetings are normally attended by a few handfuls of members, even in big factories. The distance between the workers' leaders and "the led" has grown bigger and bigger. The present LO chairman, as an example, has a salary of 560,000 crowns a year — while his average member earns
In the 1960s we could witness a wave of youth radicalization and the formation of a "new left" in Sweden — a left that was often formed on questions of international solidarity rather than on a sharpeyed criticism of class society at home. This left came out of the middle classes and had a very small base in the traditional workers' movement.
For this new left, the relationship to social democracy became a key question on which there was much vacillation. But the different new left organizations coincided in claiming that social democracy could not be reformed, arguing that social democracy had made a historical option of serving the interests of big capital. This was possible in times of economic boom, but would inevitably lead to a crisis in periods of capitalist crisis. In such a situation the SAP would not be able to change its basic line.
This is exactly what is happening today. In 1976 the Social Democrats lost the elections at a period of increasing crisis for traditional Swedish industry — in the mining, ship building, and textile industries amongst others - and of increasing unemployment.
Drastic devaluation of Swedish crown
Six years later, in 1982, the SAP got back in government after a period of increasing workers' discontent with the bourgeois governments and their austerity packages. The first measure taken by the Social Democratic government was to devalue the crown by 16%. A drastic austerity measure, widely exceeding anything the bourgeois governments would have dared to do
Things have continued in the same way The Social Democrats claim to have chosen the "third road" avoiding the double evils of inflation and unemployment. The basic message of the "third road" has been directed at the workers: "The country has been mismanaged by bourgeois governments. We must repair all that, getting industry working. And that can only be done if we allow profits to get higher. So you workers will have to wait a few years until things are better and you can get your share.
There was an initial willingness to accept this bitter pill. The traditional strong links between the Social Democrat-led trade unions and the government were a guarantee for that.
But it was soon obvious that the results of the "third road" were not increased investments and flourishing industrial activity but the growth of an unproductive speculation economy and a massive redistribution of income from the public sector and the low wage earners to the banks, the private companies and the richest 10% of the population.
As a radical trade unionist stated a few years ago: "The third road has become a cul-de-sac for the workers and a motorway for the capitalists. " The British financial magazine, the Economist, applauded Swedish economic policy a few months ago, describing it as more Thatcherite than Thatcher.
The right wing turn by the Social Democrats is not confined to economic
issues. The government has decided to restrict the possibilities for refugees to enter Sweden, whilst it is favourable to a proposal to import "guest workers" from
SWEDEN the Baltic States. The government has decided to build a new motorway near -ARFOR ALLT DETTA RAT ON MOS Gothenburg and a bridge across the Channel to Denmark, siding in this with Volvo against strong public opinion, including inside the SAP, demanding a reduction in car traffic and pollution. The SAP claims that Sweden cannot join the Common Market, given the country's traditions of neutrality, but at the same time is collaborating with the bourgeois parties and industry to quietly bring Swedish legislation nearer and nearer to de facto entry into the EC. There have also been a whole series of decisions and proposed laws "What's all this fuss about Moscow?" — Turmoil in the VPK
(Swedish Communist Party). restricting civil liberties and democratic
There has been a slow growth of working class reactions, important being the launching of the first "Dala rebellion" in 1985. This is a rank-and-file movement in the trade unions, which over the past years has waged campaigns against the unjust redistribution of income and in favour of higher wage increases. At the beginning of 1989 the Dala rebellion organized a meeting bringing together 500 trade unionists from around the country.
Passive discontent shows through in elections
There have also been actions against the construction There have been massive protests against the recent restrictions on immigration with month-long vigils in churches throughout Sweden. There have been a few examples of long and militant strikes, for instance in one of the SAAB car factories. But in general the situation has been marked not so much by active protest as by passive discontent, expressed for instance in the elections of 1988. The SAP lost 200,000 voters in these elections and 900,000 voters abstained.
But none of this can be compared to the explosion of anger and discontent this spring. At the beginning of February the social democratic government proposed a package containing a wage freeze and a ban on strikes. These measures were proposed just as the municipal workers who have been the big losers in the last ten years of austerity - threatened to strike for higher wages.
The answer was immediate and spontaneous. Short strikes of protest, thousands of workers leaving the social democratic party, big sections of the trade unions immediately stopping all financial contributions to the SAP, demands from all over the country that the LO leader Stig Malm (who had accepted the strike ban) should resign. After a little less than a week, the social democratic government retreated and withdrew the strike ban — which anyway, given the "normal" restrictions on strikes, was an unnecessary provocation.
Even parliament rejected the new deal (though the Communist Party, the VPK, hesitated long before deserting its traditional line of compromise with the Social Democrats) and the government resigned —- only to come back in the same shape a week later. The only difference was that Kjell-Olof Feldt, the minister of finance and future Volvo board member had decided to resign. The "new" government at once introduced a new austerity package, this time with the support of the liberal People's Party, a package that is not so provocative, but still hits working people hard. Combined with a new tax reform decided upon last autumn, it will increase inequality.
The acute crisis has passed, but social democracy cannot feel safe. Opinion polls indicate that there is an increasing number of voters — around 17% - who do not know which party to vote for. And the VPK has been gaining, recording nearly 9% in recent polls compared to 6% at the last elections.
Also, for the first time there is a sign that the discontent is finding active political forms. One sign is the formation of a new workers' party, the Workers' List, which was first announced at the end of January and finally founded with almost 2,000 members at the end of May.
The Workers List addresses social democratic workers frustrated with the policy of income redistribution and has attracted some of the more important spokespersons of the Dala rebellion. An early opinion poll indicated that up to 26% of the voters could imagine voting for the Workers' List. Obviously this gives an inflated idea of the List's real support, but it indicates that many workers are prepared to consider an alterna-
But there are also problems in the formation of the Workers' List, one of them being a lack of programmatic clarity on many issues, and another one being its relation to other left currents. The Workers' List has so far kept its distance from the VPK, not wanting to be associated with "decaying communism". But in reality there are very small differences on most current issues. The congress also took a hesitant position on a proposal for an electoral alliance with the VPK in the general elections of 1991, the hardest opponents often being Workers' List members coming directly from the social democracy. Socialist Party indicates path to new workers' party
Members of the Socialist Party, the Swedish section of the Fourth International, have argued that a new workers' party can only be formed through the coming together of different currents, as a result of practical collaboration in the work places and in trade union struggles. The party has argued that such a new organization must keep an open structure and see itself as a melting pot of different traditions, organizations and individuals. Several SP members also took part in the initial setting up of local Workers' List branches and were elected as delegates to the congress. These delegates were however forbidden from taking part in the congress, in spite of the fact that the congress itself decided that dual membership should be allowed during a short transitional period.
The VPK has also been affected by the current changes in political climate. The party was Eurocommunist before Eurocommunism, but still failed to cut all its links with the East European and Soviet bureaucracies. Nor did it draw the necessary conclusions concerning the construction of socialism. This party, which has founded so much of its legitimacy on the capacity to get parliamentary agreements with social democracy, has also been affected by the crisis of the SAP. An increasing number of party members and voters have questioned the agreements on tax rises, on reductions in public budgets and so on that the VPK leadership has hurried to make. The party lost 6,000 15 members in the 1980s and now has slightJuly 2, 1990 • #188 International Viewpoint