Chris on the Swedish question

[m-14970@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Hugh Rodwell)]

Chris, approaching Robert M a bit deviously ('personal' instead of
political, as is his habit, and not such a sin really), writes among other
things:

>There is information we need now about
>how the working class and democratic movement in Sweden is
>responding to the destruction of social democratic politics.

Two things:

1) 'democratic' movement is a euphemism from the Stalinist days of peaceful
coexistence and popular fronts. The powerful forces within it are usually
working class tendencies that should know better, and for the rest it's
made up of marginal individuals or groups from the petty bourgeoisie.

2) What's at issue is not the 'destruction of social democratic politics'
at all, it's the destruction of bourgeois welfare state policies brought in
by liberals and (mainly, in Sweden) Social Democrats, by Social Democrats.
The Social Democrats are consistent in their class collaborationist,
pro-capitalist policies. When the welfare state was at its height, they
claimed it was for the better promotion of production and profits. Now the
welfare state is being dismantled on the orders of international capital
(both Swedish and foreign multinational capital), it is also for the better
promotion of production and profits.

This is a very important point. One of the greatest weaknesses of the
Swedish left of all shades is the constant nostalgia for the good old days
of 'real Social Democracy'. As long as this reactionary garbage fills
people's heads, the working class will move nowhere.

Well, actually, it has a use. It emboldens workers to criticize and attempt
to replace their current leaders -- never a bad thing. The problem,
however, is what to replace these leaders and their policies with. 'Real
Social Democracy' would land us with another fifty years of bureaucratic
half-measures and Real Bourgeois Control, and I haven't got that much time
to waste.

Cheers,

Hugh




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