Re: [Marxism] Sweden, Germany and socialism

[Jim Farmelant <farmelantj@xxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:35:04 -0300 "Nestor Gorojovsky"
<nestorgoro@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
> > 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. 

It also should be kept in mind that in the early 1930s the Social
Democrats came back into power in Sweden following a wave
of militant and often violent strikes that brought the country
to the brink of civil war.  Although the Social Democratic
leadership was able to strike a deal with the country's
ruling class in which they agreed to adhere capitalism
while being permitted to gradually build up a welfare
state, that was something that did not sit very well
with many middle and upper class people in Sweden,
who of course realize that despite the moderation of
the party leadership, many rank and file members
of the party looked to the October Revolution for
inspiration.  Ingmar said in his autobiography that his father
was violently anti-Social Democratic.  And such
attitudes were hardly unusual in such circles at
that time. BTW Bergman also said in his autobiography
that his father voted for the Swedish National Socialists
several times.

> 
> 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]
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 
> "La patria tiene que ser la dignidad arriba y el regocijo abajo".
> Aparicio Saravia
> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 
> 
>

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