[Marxism] Sweden, Germany and socialism

["Nestor Gorojovsky" <nestorgoro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 18:02:04 +0000 (GMT)
> From: "farmelantj@xxxxxxxx" <farmelantj@xxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Re: [Marxism] Ingmar Bergman 1918-2007
> To: marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I am reminded of something
> that I posted on the Marxism-Thaxis list some years ago concerning
> Bergman. There I wrote:
> 
> Sweden has long harbored many people with pro-Nazi
> outlooks and that during WW II, Sweden although officially
> neutral, in fact sold Germany iron ore and other raw materials
> while also permitting German troops to cross Swedish territory.

Well, we may like this or not, but that's one of the possible paths 
that a "neutral" country was allowed to take. Swedish neutrality, and 
the pro-German position of its upper classes (where being pro-Nazi 
was simply a consequence), is basically the result of the particular 
position of the country, which tends to see Russia as the main enemy. 
There is a statue of a very beloved Swedish king in Stockholm, don't  
remember what number of Gustav Adolphus, on horseback and pointing 
East "that's where danger comes from". It should be remembered that 
the Swedish socialists were very sympathetic to Lenin in 1917. 

The decission to remain neutral and allow German (Nazi) troops to 
cross the Northern part of the country, then the Kiruna Red Belt of 
Sweden, in order to invade Norway (this country could not remain more 
neutral than Iceland, because of its "oceanic" leaning, that is its 
dependence on the powers that ruled the Atlantic, namely Britain and 
US), was taken by a Socialist Prime Minister. 

This was a _good_ decision if observed from the point of view of a 
social-democrat (that is of a _socialist patriot in an imperialist 
country_). Sweden remained out of the conflict, traded with all 
powers, and used other peoples' war to build itself as a new 
industrial power, which arose from the war proper untouched. 

The decission was a personal one, taken in loneliness, while the 
Congress of the Socialist Party was raging against its possiblitity. 
Veterans of the Spanish Revolution and Civil War were the great 
speakers of the moment. But the Prime MInister decided that Sweden 
should remain outside the confrontation. Communist and Left Socialist 
militants along the path of the German troops were jailed _for their 
own safety_ during the mobilisation of the Nazi armies through 
Sweden, and then released.

This was not only a ruling class decission. It was a moment in which 
the future fate of the country was decided. The Swedish welfare 
state, which really began to exist in full after 1945, has this not 
so holy origin...

Ironies of history, I guess.

Este correo lo ha enviado
Néstor Miguel Gorojovsky
nestorgoro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[No necesariamente es su autor]
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"La patria tiene que ser la dignidad arriba y el regocijo abajo".
Aparicio Saravia
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