Sweden: Fascism In Slow Motion
I have previously pointed out that modern-day Sweden is rather fun for conservatives to know about but what about the Sweden of the past? I argue below that the old Swedish model -- the "folkhemmet" (people's home) -- gradually became a version of the Fascist "corporate State" with government, business and labor all intertwined to the detriment of the economy. Sweden has been essentially a one-party State since 1932, with only a very brief interlude in the 1990s. But what exactly the folkhemmet should consist of evolved and developed only very slowly and gradually. Change in Sweden is glacial even in the hands of Leftists so the fundamentally paternalist folkhemmet took many years to develop a sweeping dominance of Swedish life. Bit by bit taxes were raised, business was regulated and taken over and welfare programs were expanded. It was not in fact until the early 1990s that the whole edifice came crashing down. So the concept of a fatherly government was there from the beginning, the one-party State was there and a quiet conviction of Swedish superiority and unique wisdom was also there. Like all Fascist ideologies, however, folkhemmet had its own unique national character. So the Swedish folkhemmet State was welfarist, nationalist, paternalist and essentially all-powerful. Because it used its power very sparingly and cautiously, however, and respected civil liberties, it was undoubtedly the mildest of the Fascist States. And after the war it did as all Leftists did and abandoned overt nationalism -- though a sense of Swedish superiority undoubtedly continued and discreetly made itself apparent from time to time.
posted by Unknown @ 12:37 PM
4 Comments:
I haven't really penetrated whether it's reasonable to think of Sweden, my home country, as "fascist" or "fascistoid", even though it certainly is possible to make an argument for it.
Often foreigners as well as swedes are puzzled the fact that swedes are so docile and tolerant of their government, how the social democrats can have such a gigantic influence and long reign of power in our society.
Well swedes aren't exactly known as rebellious, and there might be historical reasons for it.
Unlike most other nations we have never, or maybe almost never, had a really bad government. There certainly haven't been many distinguished ones either, for some reasons we haven't really had any real maniacs, any appalingly incompetent ones, or at least the really bad ones haven't managed to screw things up completely in a dramatical and obvious way.
It might be a lucky coincidence, but I guess historical experiences make a difference for how people relate to their leaders.
The same way of reasoning can also explain the pacifist tendencies in continental Europa, in contrast with the Anglo Saxians, who have rather positive experiences of successfull warfare, where the end results have been rather beneficial for most parties involved.
So, maybe our historical experiences make us a rather obedient people, easy to control. Maybe that's a part of the reason for how one can get the impression that Sweden has fascist tendencies.
I think I would label Sweden as "soft-totalitarian", with its all-pervasive state intruding into every aspect of the citizens' lives. The same goes for Norway, to a lesser extent.
I guess "soft totalitarian" is a rather reasonable term.
It's a bit frightening to live here with the daily experience of listening to media, mainstream intellectualls and ordinary people demanding even more such state intrusions, in order to solve some perceived problem.
People getting by depending on their own efforts and capabilities are unheard of. Everybody and his brother are expecting some kind of "help" from society.
The propaganda pressure is so ubiquitous that I really can't blame people for failing to realize it's there.
It would be such a relief if more people understood that the positive rights of one person demands the initiation of force on another.
Maybe too much to hope for.
FOMI, a swedish forum against islamization.
nouille wrote: "or mamaybe it'the fact that Sweden provided Germany with a major portion of the iron ore needed for weapons and armoured vehicles and ball bearings. "
Well, we sure made some good money on that war.
The consensus in Sweden is that we all should take great pride in our WWII neutrality , our preference for peace and prosperity for ourselves to the price of suffering for others lives on.
The fact that our socialist democrats were in effect allied with the national socialists haven't occured much.
Herr unswedenizer, that was an interesting line of thought. For sure the main difference between socialism, fascism, nazism and islam is the object of idolization that everything and everyone has to succumb to.
For the socialist it's the "people", for the fascist it's the "state", for the nazi it's the "race" and for the islamist it's "god".
If one doesn't suit you, pick another.
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