{"id":96,"date":"2011-03-23T13:57:50","date_gmt":"2011-03-23T13:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/?p=96"},"modified":"2016-03-30T11:23:30","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T11:23:30","slug":"olof-palme-one-life-many-readings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/06-1\/articles61\/olof-palme-one-life-many-readings\/","title":{"rendered":"Olof Palme: One Life, Many Readings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\t
\n\n\t\t<\/i><\/span> <\/a>\n\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

In short, historiographic reflections have been penalized by a kind of personality cult, even if reversed in the case of Palme\u2019s opponents.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

1. Literature on Olof Palme<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

His spectacular political career, on the one side, and his tragic end, on the other side, have nourished \u2013 already when Palme was still alive \u2013 a thriving and deplorable literary genre made up of speculations on his demoniac nature, his crimes, or at best his inadequacies;[2]<\/a> as well as conspiracy theories of all kinds and hundreds hypothesis on the murder.[3]<\/a>\u00a0. In the end of the 1980s the first biography came out, written by the journalist Bj\u00f6rn Elmbrant:[4]<\/a> it is still an unavoidable reference. It was followed later by the purely political biography written by the journalist Peter Antman and by the Social Democratic politician Pierre Schori,[5]<\/a> who was State Secretary for Foreign Affairs in the second Palme government. Collective volumes[6]<\/a> followed too, including contributions that focused on particular aspects of Palme\u2019s politics\/policies (first and foremost the foreign one)[7]<\/a>, and memoirs by representatives of the Social Democratic Party.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

Due partly to the awareness that much was left to be studied with regards to Palme\u2019s life and political role, and partly to the approaching 25th anniversary of his tragic death, recent years have witnessed a renewed biographic effort, thanks first of all to the monumental work (nearly 900 pages) by Kjell \u00d6stberg, a historian who has devoted great part of his scientific production to social movements and to the relationship between intellectuals and politics. One could wonder what was left to be said about Palme after this two-volume biography, published between 2008 (1. I takt med tiden. Olof Palme 1927-1969<\/em> \u2013 Behind the times. Olof Palme 1927-1969[9]<\/a>) and 2009 (2. N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde. Olof Palme 1969-1986<\/em> \u2013 When the wind turned. Olof Palme 1969-1986[10]<\/a>). Nevertheless, in 2010 two more works were published: the short Palme<\/em>, by Klas Eklund,[11]<\/a>\u00a0who was one of the economic advisors of the second Palme government; and the impressive (more than 700 pages) Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss. En biografi \u00f6ver Olof Palme<\/em> (Wonderful Days in Front of Us. A biography of Olof Palme)[12]<\/a> by Henrik Berggren, historian but above all leading writer of \u201cDagens Nyheter\u201d, the most influential Swedish newspaper, which typically endorses \u201cindependent liberal\u201d stances.<\/p>\n

The aim of this article is not to review the last three biographies mentioned above, but to try to identify their methodology, so to speak, then singling out \u2013 in a way which may come across as arbitrary \u2013 some of the controversial points in Palme\u2019s political career (leaving out both scandals and vulgar attacks), as they will prove to be good opportunities for comparing the interpretations given by their authors.[13]<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\n

2. Different ways to tell a life<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Eklund\u2019s book differs from the other two works for it is part of a series devoted to the Swedish Prime Ministers in the last hundred years (i.e. from Karl Staaff to the present PM Fredrik Reinfeldt). Each volume is meant as a quick introduction to a specific PM, and in fact Eklund\u2019s Palme<\/em> is a fairly simple political biography (with only a limited attention to Palme\u2019s private life). Nonetheless, its final section (Arvet efter Palme<\/em>, Palme\u2019s legacy) makes it different from a flat list of facts and dates. In a few pages, the author takes indeed a stock of Palme\u2019s outcomes and failures and then even goes so far as to try to imagine what could happen if Palme had not been murdered — a kind of counterfactual history, in other words.<\/p>\n

\u00d6stberg\u2019s and Berggren\u2019s biographies show at first glance a similar structure, not only due to their remarkable length, but also insofar as both aim at an in-depth reconstruction of Palme\u2019s life and role, as well as of the world around him (i.e. 20th<\/sup>-century Sweden and international, history). The title of the first volume of \u00d6stberg\u2019s biography, Behind the Times<\/em>, summarizes very well the author\u2019s starting point, as it is made clear in the Introduction<\/em>: first of all, the idea that Palme went across several ages during which history turned more than once to a new direction; secondly, the acknowledgement that Palme showed an extraordinary talent for grasping the Zeitgeist<\/em> and the changes affecting it, and therefore was in the best position for exerting an effective influence on what was going on.<\/p>\n

\u00d6stberg\u2019s approach is not at all individualistic.[14]<\/a>\u00a0His biography is rather a history of Palme within<\/em> the history of the Swedish labour movement and of its changing relationship with Capital, with a swinging from collaboration to conflict that took place exactly under Palme\u2019s political apex. That does not imply that Palme\u2019s individuality is sacrificed in the end, but rather that the dilemmas which he had to face and the choices which he made are understandable only in the view of the power relations between classes and of the pressures upon the labour movement and its organizations coming both from the Right and from the Left. That explains why the two volumes of \u00d6stberg\u2019s biography represent an imposing picture of 20th-century Swedish political and social history.<\/p>\n

To sum up Berggren\u2019s work is a trickier task, because of a kind of paradox which somehow undermines it. The main perspective is definitely individualistic, with regards both to the methodology \u2013 Palme\u2019s behaviour (as a person and as a politician) is often, too often perhaps, interpreted from a psychological and philosophical point of view \u2013 and to the interpretation \u2013 Berggren portrays Palme, whom he states to have voted for in 1982 and 1985,[15]<\/a> far more as a liberal than as a socialist. On the other hand, it is exactly Palme who disappears eventually in the demanding history of Swedish culture and, in a way, Swedish civilisation in the 20th century, which constitutes the actual core of the book. Though fascinated by the gallery of poets, artists, film-makers, theorists and journalists \u2013 besides politicians \u2013 that Berggren recalls and outlines with great skill, the reader can not help wondering: \u201cwhere has Palme gone?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

3. \u201cClass treason\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

One of the more investigated turning points in Palme\u2019s life are the reasons that led a talented offspring of one of the most influential families in Stockholm to join the Social Democratic Party (SAP) in 1951 \u2013 after drawing attention to himself as student leader on an international scale \u2013, only to be appointed two years later as secretary of the then prime minister, Tage Erlander, at the age of twenty-six years.<\/p>\n

All three authors stress the formative impact on the young Palme \u2013 until then holder of the conservative vision (even if with social and international openings) inherited from his family \u2013 of the journeys made around the USA (1948), Eastern Europe (1949) and Asia (1953). These experiences meant the dramatic discovery of a reality made up of misery and oppression.[16]<\/a> All three authors refuse the common yet misleading explanations focusing on Palme\u2019s opportunism: a young man with his background could have chosen far more promising careers. Besides, that the Social Democratic Party, in power since 1932, would have kept its position until 1976 was something that no one in the beginning of the 1950s could expect. On the contrary, many took for granted the forthcoming end of the Social Democratic age, as the party, perhaps as a consequence of being so successful, seemed unable to renew itself.[17]<\/a>\u00a0Why the labour movement then?<\/p>\n

Eklund puts forward the easiest explanation: Palme joined the SAP because of his ideology: anti-colonialist, reformist, anti-communist.[18]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00d6stberg\u2019s thesis is summarized in a few words in the very last page of the second volume, but his whole work illustrates it. Two were the driving forces which turned Palme into a Social Democrat: the awareness that the world was about to change \u2013 and that he was in the best position, with his talent and his social and intellectual network, to contribute to a new age \u2013 and what Palme himself called the \u201cjoy of politics\u201d;[19]<\/a>\u00a0a feeling, the latter, that evokes the portrait of the politician by vocation outlined by Max Weber:<\/p>\n

\n

Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards. It takes both passion and perspective. Certainly all historical experience confirms the truth \u2013 that man would not have attained the possible unless time and again he had reached out for the impossible. But to do that a man must be a leader, and not only a leader but a hero as well, in a very sober sense of the word. And even those who are neither leaders nor heroes must arm themselves with that steadfastness of heart which can brave even the crumbling of all hopes. This is necessary right now, or else men will not be able to attain even that which is possible today. Only he has the calling for politics who is sure that he shall not crumble when the world from his point of view is too stupid or too base for what he wants to offer. Only he who in the face of all this can say \u201cIn spite of all!\u201d has the calling for politics<\/span>.[20]<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

As to Berggren, he argues that one could expect that Palme would choose a career in politics, due to his interest in social problems, as well as in journalism or research, due to his strong liking for intellectual life; but in the former case, siding with the Right; while in the latter keeping a more distanced approach to the public debate. What Palme did was to combine these two alternatives by turning to political engagement in the ranks of the Social Democratic party. Palme\u2019s unexpected choice was therefore twofold, as both an active role in politics and even more so a left-wing position did not belong to his social background, even if Berggren often insists on the continuity between Olof and his grandfather, Sven, the founder of the family fortune, who advocated social reforms.[21]<\/a> It is noteworthy that Palme\u2019s political<\/em> radicalism and the reformism that both Eklund and \u00d6stberg point out as one of Palme\u2019s main features (with \u00d6stberg referring to it in a double meaning: the awareness that reforms were needed and the talent for bringing forth reforms), are kept in the shade in Berggren\u2019s work. Yet, what comes in the spotlight is an overall attitude of cultural radicalism that, in Sweden, is traditionally associated with the Liberal party.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

4. Radicalism abroad and compromise at home?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

One could be tempted to wonder whether the biographers\u2019 conclusions as to Palme\u2019s joining the labour movement have influenced their interpretation of his politics as a whole; or whether on the contrary the opinions on Palme\u2019s place in Swedish history, developed at the end of their works, have favoured a retrospective reading of Palme\u2019s first controversial step, that is to say, \u201cgoing over to the enemy\u201d, as his decision was perceived by many of his class peers. Whatever the answer, it is most interesting to see what kind of connection is established in the three biographies between the talented upper-class young man who committed himself to the struggle for the labour movement and the worldwide-known politician who displayed his radicalism in foreign affairs and was nevertheless inclined to compromise in domestic politics, both with the opposition parties and with the business community. What the biographers face here is the debate about Palme\u2019s position within the party, and his role within the history of Swedish Social Democracy as a whole.<\/p>\n

\n

4.a Foreign policy<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Palme\u2019s radicalism in foreign policy has been related above all to his firm condemnation of the Vietnam War, which created considerable troubles to Sweden in its diplomatic relations with the USA. This was an irony of fate, given that Palme has been defined by many — \u00d6stberg and Berggren among them[22]<\/a> — as the most American among Swedish politicians, due to his education, his journeys and his contacts in the USA.<\/p>\n

Palme expressed his contrariety to the American military intervention in Vietnam in a few well-known speeches and articles: the so-called \u201cG\u00e4vle speech\u201d delivered in 1965, when Palme was minister of Transport and Communication;[23]<\/a>\u00a0the speech held at the Vietnam demonstration on February 1968,[24]<\/a>\u00a0when Palme was minister of Education and Culture and marched close to the North-Vietnamese ambassador in Moscow \u2013 and the picture came out in hundreds of newspapers all over the world; the article on Song My<\/em> (a Vietnamese village destroyed by 19-20 years-old US soldiers) published in 1970,[25]<\/a>\u00a0when he was already prime minister; and finally Hanoi, Christmas 1972<\/em>, a speech broadcast on the Swedish Radio and which is worth being quoted:<\/p>\n

\n

We should call things by their proper names. What is going on in Vietnam today is a form of torture.<\/span><\/p>\n

There cannot be any military justification for the bombings [\u2026].<\/span><\/p>\n

People are being punished, a nation is being punished in order to humiliate it, to force it to submit to force.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the bombings are despicable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many such atrocities have been perpetrated in recent history. They are often associated with a name: Guernica, Oradour, Babi Yar, Katyn, Lidice, Sharpeville, Treblinka.<\/span><\/p>\n

Violence triumphed. But posterity has condemned the perpetrators.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now a new name will be added to the list: Hanoi, Christmas 1972.<\/span>[26]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\u00d6stberg presents the reader with the diverse reactions raised by Palme\u2019s statements. For most of his party fellows his engagement on such an issue not only was absolutely sincere, but also in line with the labour movement tradition of internationalism; right-wing representatives complained his home (ab)use of foreign policy, aiming at opposing the growing influence on social movements gained by the New Left in the 1960s; others have seen in his position a sign of his opportunism and careerism: he benefitted from the solidarity movement with the Vietnamese people and strengthened his position within the party and\/or consolidated his reputation as international politician.[27]<\/a><\/p>\n

Eklund maintains that thanks to Palme\u2019s G\u00e4vle speech \u201cit became legitimate to criticize the USA\u201d, and that his statements shifted the whole Swedish debate on international affairs to the Left. At the same time, he notes that the Vietnam issue strengthened Palme\u2019s political identity, anointing him once and for all as an icon of the new time; because of his age (38 when the War started), no one among the Social Democratic representatives was more suitable than him to undertake the task of competing with the New Left for the \u201chegemony\u201d on the new social movements.[28]<\/a> Berggren shares this analysis, emphasizing furthermore Palme\u2019s skill in awaking a kind of national feeling, a sense of honour which moved a little country like Sweden to express its indignation in an unusually plain language. The words \u201cSwedish neutrality\u201d \u2013 which under the Second World War had got a quite bitter taste \u2013 came to be related to the solidarity with the struggle for independence of Third World nations. That is why Berggren refers even to a paradigm shift, as Palme introduced an interpretation of what was going on in Vietnam which challenged the one up to then prevailing, i.e. that the USA fought always and only for democracy, yet without embracing a Communist perspective.[29]<\/a><\/p>\n

The home impact of the debate on the Vietnam War is also the focus of \u00d6stberg\u2019s chapter Vietnam!<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The starting point whereby to explain Palme\u2019s behaviour is the same, i.e. the Social Democrats\u2019 awareness that they were in danger to lose support from the Left, and that the person in the best position to try to resist that trend was Palme, whose anti-communism was well-tested. Unlike Eklund and Berggren however, \u00d6stberg is more sceptical about the outcomes of this strategy: if Palme succeed in keeping the party together around the Vietnam issue, the SAP lost nevertheless the battle for the hegemony on the Vietnam movement. It was not devoid of significance that business \u2013 including trade of military technology \u2013 and intelligence relations between Sweden and the USA were not affected by the turbulence roused by Palme\u2019s vehemence, and that did not increase the SAP\u2019s credibility among the New Left activists. \u00d6stberg\u2019s conclusion is that the Vietnam War did not ruin at all Palme\u2019s attachment to US liberalism, with its belief that the best way to resist Communism was to gain influence on radical social movements. But Palme was in no way a pure pawn in the party\u2019s hands (as Eklund and Berggren, too, acknowledge); he did not hesitate to make statements that in few hours could compromise years of careful diplomatic relations. It was not Palme to create the Vietnam issue; but his role in putting it on the agenda can not be underestimated.[30]<\/a><\/p>\n

On the occasion of the Portuguese Revolution (1974) some of the core values in Palme\u2019s view of international affairs came again in the light, according to \u00d6stberg: colonialism vs<\/em> liberation struggles, poor countries vs<\/em> rich ones, democracy vs<\/em> fascism as well as communism, great powers vs<\/em> small States. In the neutralization of the pressures aiming at questioning the Western Order, the Socialist International played a crucial role, and Palme, thanks to the influential example of his country, was in the forefront \u2013 in his own way: not by clash but by dialogue, favouring a reformist outcome of the Portuguese revolutionary phase.[31]<\/a> Eklund discusses shortly the event, by writing that Palme contributed to avert the danger of a too radical shift to the Left and secure the establishment of a Democratic government;[32]<\/a> while Berggren puts the accent on the rapproachement that took place on that occasion between Sweden and the USA, as both countries feared\u00a0 revolutionary developments in Europe.[33]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

4.b Home politics<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

It is a widespread opinion that Palme, in spite of his radicalism in foreign policy — which however, as we have seen, is to be understood in the light of his effort to put forward Social Democracy as a successful alternative to Communism — showed a willingness to compromise when domestic policy was concerned that often aroused dissatisfaction in his own ranks. If there is a wide consensus on the wave of reforms passed by his first government (1969-1976) \u2013 on gender equality, Welfare State, labour markets \u2013 that consolidated the notion of Sweden as a \u201cmodel\u201d country, other issues were highly controversial, both within the labour movement and in the relationship with the opposition. Here the focus will be on Palme\u2019s line with regard to the wage earners\u2019 funds, a cross which went along with him from the middle 1970s to 1983, and the so-called \u201cThird Way\u201d, the economic policy introduced by Kjell Olof Feldt, minister of finance in the second Palme government (1982-1986). By examining these issues it will be perhaps easier to understand \u00d6stberg\u2019s, Eklund\u2019s and Berggren\u2019s concluding remarks on Palme\u2019s role in the history of Swedish Social Democracy.<\/p>\n

Between 1975 and 1983, under the influence of the radicalization of society and of the debate of the perverse effects of the solidarity-focused wage policy[34]<\/a> \u2013 a cornerstone of the Rehn-Meidner model, i.e. the Swedish model for economic policy from the late 1950s onwards \u2013 the Swedish labour movement discussed the proposal put forward between 1975 and 1976 by the leading economist of the General Labour Confederation (LO), Rudolf Meidner, so as to establish employee funds (l\u00f6ntagarfonder<\/em>) that would gradually shift the ownership in medium to large companies from employers to workers.[35]<\/a> The principle \u201cequal pay for equal work\u201d, aiming at avoiding inequalities among employees, caused that profitable companies, not being required to pay wages commensurate with their higher profits, found themselves with a surplus that was not being redistributed among the workers, thus ultimately widening the gap between capital and labour.[36]<\/a><\/p>\n

The debate on Wage Earners\u2019 Funds turned into a hot potato for the Social Democrats, who were about, in 1976, to face an uphill general election. Certainly, these funds did not help; the right-centre parties and the Employers\u2019 Association charged the labour movement with the will to introduce in Sweden a socialism of the Eastern kind.<\/p>\n

The question which is interesting to raise when comparing different interpretations of Palme\u2019s politics is not so much why he was against the funds \u2013 his whole political education and experience led him to oppose socialization \u2013 but rather why the prime minister managed the issue in a way which has been blamed either as ambiguous (by the supporters of the Meidner plan) or passive (by his opponents). Eklund and Berggren focus on the latter problem, the more \u201ctactical\u201d one, though not leaving out entirely the ideological dimension. Eklund\u2019s starting point is his own personal thesis, whereby Meidner\u2019s plan went far beyond what up to then had been discussed within the labour movement \u2013 and what in fact was needed \u2013 in order to resist the concentration of property; as it aimed at socializing the Swedish economy, it was not consistent with the Swedish model, which \u2013 as Eklund recalls \u2013 has identified in taxation, legislation and the Welfare State the counterbalance to Capital. On the other side, however, Eklund acknowledges that Palme was aware of the discussion which was going on within the LO, even if he expected that at the end the Union leadership would invite its activists to a realistic approach. But it did not go this way. As to the party leadership, after the 1973 general election, even if still in power, it had to face the \u201clottery-parliament\u201d (the seats in parliament were equally divided between the two blocks) and it seemed not particularly interested in the issue; that is why Palme and his colleagues in the government did not follow it close up from the beginning.[37]<\/a><\/p>\n

Berggren agrees on the idea that Palme, reluctant to interfere in the debate within the union, relied on the LO chairman, Gunnar Nilsson, in order to neutralize the funds; the latter nevertheless had to take into account the appreciation which the funds enjoyed among the workers. Furthermore, the personal relationship between the two labour leaders was not so good. Berggren points out as well that Palme had difficulty in understand the plan\u2019s core in itself. It seems that Palme said, referring to the LO\u2019s support to the plan: \u201cThey have gone further than what I had thought in my most unrestrained imagination!\u201d[38]<\/a><\/p>\n

Eklund discusses also Palme\u2019s political calculations: besides the workers\u2019 support to the project, it must be borne in mind that when the confrontation on the funds actual set up took place, between 1978 and 1980, the SAP was in opposition and for the first time Palme\u2019s leadership was questioned, not so much because of the electoral defeat in 1976, but due partly to his \u201cflirt\u201d with the Liberal party (then in power by a minority government), and partly to his intense engagement in international affairs (e.g. the Socialist International, the commission on disarmament, the Iran-Iraq war). Additionally, his upper class background could expose him to criticisms from the labour movement, if he dared go against the union on such a crucial issue. Finally, though against the funds on principle, he could not but support them in the face of the opponents\u2019 attacks: the enemy was not allowed to settle the labour movement\u2019s programs.[39]<\/a><\/p>\n

Compared to Berggren\u2019s and Eklund\u2019s, \u00d6stberg\u2019s work devotes more attention to the ideological implications of Palme\u2019s dilemma. In the author\u2019s view, the wage earners\u2019 funds were the major issue among those which forced Palme to take a definite position between market and planning: it was unthinkable under that circumstance to keep the balance peculiar to the Social Democratic Third Way. Meidner\u2019s Plan was \u2013 this is \u00d6stberg\u2019s view \u2013 perhaps the most ticklish question Palme had to face. Paradoxically, the challenge \u2013 to question private property \u2013 did not come from the Left, but from the pillar, together with the SAP, of the Swedish way to reformism, that is to say, the union.<\/p>\n

Whose influence on society was, in the first half of the 1970s, at its peak; but at the same time, the Swedish Employers\u2019 Confederation started right then its ideological and political counterattack. Palme\u2019s strategy was first to postpone the issue (after the 1976 general elections) and then to neutralize the most \u201csubversive\u201d elements in the plan, stressing from the beginning its compatibility with a market economy. And at last the aim \u2013 to reassure the business circles \u2013 was achieved by adding a fourth goal to the three formulated by Meidner (to transfer a quote of profits from capitalists to workers; to oppose property and wealth concentration; to establish workers\u2019 influence on the economy through property): to favour capital formation, for the benefit of industrial investments. This was not exactly what had aroused, in 1975-1976, the union activists\u2019 enthusiasm. In the early 1980s, the Meidner plan, then completely perverted, came to be incorporated into the program against the economic crisis worked out by the SAP.[40]<\/a><\/p>\n

Noteworthy is that while the three biographers agree that the law on funds passed by the parliament in 1983 and introducing a pension funds scheme, had nothing to do with Meidner\u2019s original plan, they differ as far as the effectiveness of Palme\u2019s line is concerned. For Eklund, the whole discussion on the wage earners\u2019 funds was one of Palme\u2019s worst failures from an ideological point of view, as he stayed all the time on the defensive and contributed to a deep demoralization in the labour movement\u2019s ranks.[41]<\/a> On the contrary, Palme\u2019s strategy seems to \u00d6stberg to have been successful, in terms of impact on the public opinion: he could neutralize the plan, without provoking too serious inner splits.[42]<\/a> Berggren is more neutral, just joining under the category of \u201csymbol-politics\u201d the impressive demonstration against the funds held by the Employers\u2019 Confederation on October 4, 1982 and the passing of the law few weeks later.[43]<\/a><\/p>\n

The program against the ongoing economic crisis implemented by the second Palme government and to which, as we have seen, the wage earners\u2019 funds were utilized, is considered as well one of the most controversial chapters in his political career.[44]<\/a> In 1982 the minister of finance Kjell Olof Feldt presented three alternatives: an expansionist policy; a restrictive one; and what he called \u201cthe big bang\u201d, that is to say, a policy aiming at stimulating investments and production, but at the same time squeezing domestic demand by means of devaluation. The last one was accepted. On this point, it is of particular interest to read Eklund\u2019s points, as he was one of Feldt\u2019s staff members. According to him, Palme and Feldt failed in the task of curbing the spiral of inflation, provoked by unrestrained wage claims by the unions. Palme showed once again \u2013 this is Eklund\u2019s thesis \u2013 his weakness before the unions, portrayed by the author as a short-sighted organization, unable or unwilling to grasp the requirements of the economic system.[45]<\/a> However, in the pages dealing with the \u201cwar of the roses\u201d, that is to say, the unions\u2019 dissatisfaction with the SAP\u2019s profit-oriented economic policy, the author recognizes that the labour movement had to accept major changes in the Swedish model yet with no return (e.g. an active industrial policy or wage earners\u2019 funds worthy of the name).[46]<\/a><\/p>\n

Berggren is content with reporting Palme\u2019s satisfaction for the economic recovery, which he comments upon in an interview given on February, 28 1986 (mind the date) when he declared, with a tragic irony of fate, that 1986 was a year full of opportunities,[47]<\/a> thereby acknowledging that Feldt\u2019s policy was effective and that the Social Democrats had once again fortune on their side.[48]<\/a> Yet, the long-term consequences, both economic and political, of the shift begun under Palme are not deepened by Berggren. They come instead in the forefront in \u00d6stberg\u2019s work, where it is pointed out that the real nature of the \u201dThird way\u201d (as the new economic policy was called, i.e. neither expansionist nor restrictive) was bound to be widely discussed. Was it consistent with a Social Democratic orientation or did it mean the surrender to Neo-Liberalism? Certainly Palme supported his minister of finance, and he did so by arguing that the new economic policy was a condition for preserving the Welfare State.[49]<\/a>\u00a0Nevertheless \u2013 and this is one of the crucial points in \u00d6stberg\u2019s biography \u2013 Palme accepted it as a necessary evil, while to Feldt\u2019s eyes the policy was dictated by a long-term adaptation, perceived as unavoidable, to a more market-oriented political climate. As a sign of the ideological disagreement between the two leading Social Democratic politicians, \u00d6stberg brings forward Palme\u2019s disappointment when Feldt made a statement in favour of the privatization of Swedish pre-schools; also in his last interview, few hours before being murdered, Palme confirmed his strong support to the public sector, which he regarded as a key aspect of modern civilisation.[50]<\/a><\/p>\n

Berggren too reports Palme\u2019s firm reaction to the openings to neo-liberalism made by his minister of finance, but the interpretation of their relationship is definitely different. Palme was moved, Berggren argues, not so much by the concern of safeguarding a distinct Social Democratic platform, but rather by tactic calculations: a breakdown in the labour movement tradition would have caused inner splits and favoured the building of a competing party on the Left. Berggren agrees that Palme was against privatization, but at the same time the author believes that the prime minister shared many of Feldt\u2019s viewpoints and perhaps that is why he reacted so firmly. With a member of the government staff Palme indeed seems (Berggren unfortunately does not refer to any source) to have made clear his awareness that increased competition, effectiveness and freedom of choice within<\/em> the public sector (a condition that Berggren should have emphasized) were needed.[51]<\/a><\/p>\n

Eklund\u2019s version is somehow in the middle: he recognizes an ideological gap between Palme and Feldt, but reduces it essentially to a matter of make-up: the former kept a more traditional rhetoric when arguing in favour of the new economic policy, while the latter made no secret of the fact that the \u201cThird way\u201d was part of a process of \u201cmodernization\u201d of the national economy.[52]<\/a> Palme\u2019s early and vehement condemnation of the dangers inborn in Neo-Liberalism \u2013 social atomization, destruction of the environment, democracy turned into an empty box \u2013 is not mentioned here.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

5. Continuity or breakdown?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Maybe Palme was only tired or even depressed because of the long time in the frontline, the many troubles that he had to face from the very beginning since coming back in power in 1982 (the U-boat affair, the Bofors and the Harvard scandals, incessant union unrest), and the many personal attacks that he suffered from; maybe he was planning to leave, perhaps accepting an appointment as United Nations (UN) Commissar on Refugees, or staying on for a while.[53]<\/a> What is certain is that everything was shattered by the shots which echoed in the evening of February 28, 1986.<\/p>\n

Berggren, with a choice that can be disappointing to the reader and nonetheless reveals some elegance, stops his long story then, when the Swedish prime minister died in the heart of the city where he had spent all his life, not far from his childhood home, close to the SAP building, next to the wife he had been married with over nearly thirty years.[54]<\/a> Nothing is said on the inquiry that followed.<\/p>\n

Eklund shortly summarizes what happened in the aftermath: the widespread belief that a murder of a prime minister can not but be the outcome of a plot; the only person ever charged with the crime (and then released) being a single and violent individual, Christer Pettersson; the kind of private investigation (backed by the SAP leadership) which did its best to confirm the PKK (the Communist party of Kurdistan) hypothesis.[55]<\/a>\u00a0Eklund writes nothing about the tremendous failure of the Swedish justice in an inquiry that has exceeded even the one on the murder of US president John F. Kennedy.<\/p>\n

\u00d6stberg\u2019s second volume takes up in the end an epic style: on the one hand we follow a man and a politician who was fed up, worried for the world and for his own safety, getting older and no longer as unquestionable as he had been in the 1970s;[56]<\/a> on the other hand, we enter the opaque area of hate campaigns arranged by a blend of different groups, ranging from the extreme right of the Employers\u2019 Confederation to unaffiliated anarchic psychopaths, affecting Palme in his last years more than ever before.[57]<\/a> In other countries the relationship between a murder and the preceding hate campaign against the victim has been regularly scrutinised, apart from the person who materially committed the murder; in Sweden this scrutiny has been less common. Under this perspective, \u00d6stberg definitely contributes a significant study. Besides, his chapter devoted to the murder and the ensuing inquiry is a useful and involving reconstruction of what happened and what ought not to happen, yet without trying to add one more Truth about the murder to the long list of hypotheses \u2013 some of them pretty fanciful \u2013 formulated until now.[58]<\/a><\/p>\n

After twenty-five years the murder is still unresolved, the SAP has lost two elections in a row (2006 and 2010), and Palme remains a controversial issue. Who was Olof Palme? Which was the connection between the Olof Palme who made the US government fly into a fury due to his condemnation of Imperialism and the Olof Palme who backed the business-friendly \u201cThird way\u201d in economic policy?<\/p>\n

It has to be noted here that the three biographers are all fascinated by his talent, meant both as intellectual brightness and as ability in problem-solving (hence Palme\u2019s success in bringing forth actual reforms); yet they acknowledge too that this talent could turn into a double-edged weapon in the relations, both political and personal, with others.[59]<\/a><\/p>\n

In Eklund\u2019s final remarks, Palme appears as the highest expression in Sweden of the 1950s and 1960s Zeitgeist<\/em>: the commitment to achieve demanding and long-term reforms; nevertheless he is also described as unlucky, for his appointment as prime minister in 1969 took place at the same time when the Golden Age ended, and he was not inclined to face a downward age.[60]<\/a> What has been perceived by someone as Palme\u2019s ambiguity or contradiction, or, worse, opportunism, depended instead on a diverse approach to the different fields of reality: Palme was left-wing as far as social, educational and foreign policy were concerned, but he was right-wing as to economic and security policy. He personified the unending swing in Swedish Social Democracy between Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy.[61]<\/a><\/p>\n

Berggren\u2019s interpretation is equally continuity-oriented: Palme was a democrat, moved to politics more by an \u201cexistential\u201d choice than by an ideological conviction; along his whole life, he remained a pragmatist. As such, his role can not be defined either as a Cold War soldier (under the 1950s standard banners) nor as an anti-imperialist (under the 1960s and the early 1970s ones). Rather, Palme showed the typical Social Democratic ability to achieve viable arrangements. After tracing Palme\u2019s relationship with politics back to his existentialist philosophy \u2013 a puzzling thesis broadly developed in the book\u2013 Berggren goes further in his accentuation of Palme\u2019s individualistic dimension \u2013 and in the removal of the socialist one. The other distinguishing features that he singles out are indeed, besides the international perspective, Palme\u2019s belief that the individual has a duty to pursue what he maintains to be Truth and Justice, and Palme\u2019s strong volunteerism.[62]<\/a> In the end, according to Berggren\u2019s biography, Palme seems to have shared with Swedish Social Democracy only an attitude to compromise, on one side, and to modernization, on the other side; the latter element implied also to improve people\u2019s living conditions, but more in a liberal perspective (i.e. to give everybody the chance to lead his own existence) than in an endeavour to make society more equal.[63]<\/a> According to Berggren\u2019s analysis, Palme\u2019s awareness that society can safeguard freedom only by securing equality (and in a substantive meaning) is negligible.[64]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00d6stberg\u2019s conclusions are more complex with regard to the dilemma continuity vs<\/em> breakdown. Palme was behind the times until the Golden Age went on; in the mid-1960s he was able to understand, thanks to his good relationship with intellectuals and young people, that the Zeitgeist<\/em> was changing. That favoured the portrait of him as a radical, but also the disappointment of those who had misunderstood Palme\u2019s position. He was not a radical, \u00d6stberg stresses; rather he took his place in the party centre-wing. His condemnation of colonialism and violence was sincere, and at the same time perfectly consistent with his reformism: he hoped and believed indeed that sooner or later the countries fighting for their liberation would have followed the Swedish way, that is to say, the achievement of political, social and economic democracy by reformist politics. Somehow he contributed to the radicalism of that age without being a radical.[65]<\/a> The impact of the reforms passed under his first government was such as to raise in many (both sympathizers and opponents) the question: are the Social Democrats about to reverse the Swedish system?<\/p>\n

To this climate Palme contributed by the radicalism accompanying the passage of the reforms. But \u2013 \u00d6stberg insists on this crucial passage \u2013 when the borders of Swedish reformism were questioned, e.g. on the occasion of the debate on the wage earners\u2019 funds, he refused to go over. He lost touch with the Zeitgeist<\/em>, as the historical phase when he had developed his ideas and approach \u2013 the age of the trust in never-ending economic growth and therefore in an increasing Welfare State\u2013 was over. This loss was not Palme\u2019s failure, but the result of the challenge issued by the ongoing economic crisis and the spreading of Neo-Liberalism to the whole Swedish Social Democracy. From the 1950s to the 1980s Palme maintained a unitary vision, although trying to tailor it to changing conditions: the task was to extend democracy from the political dimension to the social and economic one, yet without questioning private property.[66]<\/a>\u00a0Such was Olof Palme in fact: when blaming the USA and the USSR for their arrogance and oppression, when putting gender equality on the agenda, when flirting with the Liberal Party, or neutralizing the more demanding union claims; he was a Social Democrat, who experienced the shift from an age when everything seemed possible to a crisis undermining all the certainties and requiring new answers.<\/p>\n

How and whether Palme\u2019s heirs have succeeded in this hard task: to be up to the new challenges without getting rid of the Social Democratic tradition \u2013 hence of Palme\u2019s legacy too \u2013 is today, at least apparently, matter for discussion, in one of the toughest phases of the party\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

[1]<\/a> See \u00c5. Linderborg, Socialdemokraterna skriver historia. <\/em>Historieskrivning som ideologisk maktresurs 1892-2000<\/em>, Stockholm, Atlas, 2001, pp. 108-111.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[2]<\/a> See B. \u00d6stergren, Vem \u00e4r Olof Palme? Ett politiskt portr\u00e4tt<\/em>, Stockholm, Timbro, 1984; Claes Arvidsson, Olof Palme. <\/em>Med verkligheten som fiende<\/em>, Stockholm, Timbro, 2007. Noteworthy is that the publisher of both these highly polemic works, come out at a distance of twenty-three years, is the same, the new-liberal think-tank \u201cTimbro\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[3]<\/a> Among the many possible references, K. and P. Poutiainen, Inuti labyrinten: om mordet p\u00e5 Olof Palme<\/em>, Stockholm, Grimur, 1995 (on the domestic track); J. Bondeson, Blood on the Snow. The Killing of Olof Palme<\/em>, Ithaca, Cornell University, 2005 (on the track related to the traffic in arms); H. Hederberg, Offret & g\u00e4rningsmannen: en ess\u00e4 om mordet p\u00e5 Olof Palme<\/em>, Stockholm, Atlantis, 2010 (guilty: Christer Pettersson, the only person sentenced, yet then released, for the murder).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[4]<\/a> B. Elmbrant, Palme<\/em>, Stockholm, Fischer&Rye, 1989.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[5]<\/a> P. Antman, P. Schori, Den gr\u00e4nsl\u00f6se reformisten<\/em>, Stockholm, Rab\u00e9n Prisma\/Tiden Debatt, 1996.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[6]<\/a> See E. \u00c5sard (ed. by), Politikern Olof Palme<\/em>, Stockholm, Hjalmarson & H\u00f6gberg, 2002, focusing on Palme\u2019s view of politics, massmedia, foreign policy and rhetoric.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[7]<\/a> See for instance A. Kullenberg, Palme och kvinnorna<\/em>, 1996; U. Larsson, Olof Palme och utbildningspolitiken<\/em>, Stockholm, Hjalmarson & H\u00f6gberg, 2003;\u00a0 A.-M. Ekengren, Olof Palme och utrikespolitiken<\/em>, Ume\u00e5, Bor\u00e9a, 2005; G. Bj\u00f6rk, Olof Palme och medierna<\/em>. Ume\u00e5, Bor\u00e9a, 2006.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[8]<\/a> See I. Carlsson, Ur skuggan av Olof Palme<\/em>, Stockholm, Hjalmarson & H\u00f6gberg, 1999 and T.G. Peterson, Olof Palme som jag minns honom<\/em>, Stockholm, Bonnier, 2002.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[9]<\/a> K. \u00d6stberg,\u00a0 I takt med tiden. <\/em>Olof Palme 1927-1969<\/em>, Stockholm, Leopard, 2008; see, on this e-journal, IV, 2009, 1, my review.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[10]<\/a> Id., N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde. Olof Palme 1969-1986<\/em>, Stockholm, Leopard, 2009; I have reviewed both the volumes in Olof Palme e i venti della storia<\/em>, \u201cMeridiana\u201d, 2008, 62, pp. 233-243.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[11]<\/a> K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, Stockholm, Bonnier, 2010.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[12]<\/a> H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss. En biografi \u00f6ver Olof Palme<\/em>, Stockholm, Norstedts, 2010.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[13]<\/a> In order to accomplish such a task, I will profit by the \u201cconfrontation\u201d among the three biographers arranged by the \u201cLiberala Klubben\u201d at the ABF (Arbetarnas bildningsf\u00f6rbund<\/em>, Workers\u2019 Educational Association) in Stockholm, on December 8, 2010, which I attended to.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[14]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg,\u00a0 Inledning<\/em>, in Id., I takt med tiden<\/em> cit., pp. 13-14.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[15]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, p. 8.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[16]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg,\u00a0 I takt med tiden<\/em>, pp. 61-68 (on the USA), pp. 74-76 (Eastern Europe), pp. 104-106 (on Asia);. H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, pp. 111-141 (USA), pp. 156-159; K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, pp. 22-23.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[17]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg,\u00a0 I takt med tiden<\/em>, pp. 108-112; K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, p. 24.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[18]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, p. 24.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[19]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, p. 421.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[20]<\/a> M. Weber, La politica come professione<\/em>, in Il lavoro intellettuale come professione<\/em> (1919), Torino, Einaudi, 1983, pp. 120-121; for the English translation, see www.sscnet.ucla.edu\/polisci\/ethos\/Weber-vocation.pdf.<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[21]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, p. 109.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[22]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg,\u00a0 I takt med tiden<\/em>, p. 394; H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, pp. 313-315.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[23]<\/a> One month after the speech, the USA embassy in Stockholm sent a report to the State Department in Washington where the event that Palme would be appointed as the next prime minister was faced with anxiety. Cfr. K. \u00d6stberg,\u00a0 I takt med tiden<\/em>, p. 279.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

See the English translation in http:\/\/www.olofpalme.org.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[25]<\/a> See O. Palme, For My Lai in our hearts\u2026<\/em> (1970), and a partial English translation of it in Olof Palme speaking. Articles and Speeches<\/em>, ed. by G. Banks, Stockholm, Premiss, 2006, pp. 137-141.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[26]<\/a> See O. Palme, Hanoi, Christmas 1972<\/em> (1972), in Olof Palme speaking<\/em>, pp. 141-142.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[27]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg,\u00a0 I takt med tiden<\/em>, pp. 165-166.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[28]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, p. 43.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[29]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, pp. 355-357.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[30]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg,\u00a0 I takt med tiden<\/em>, pp. 309-311.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[31]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, pp. 131-139.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[32]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, p. 64.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[33]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, pp. 517-518.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[34]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, p. 527.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[35]<\/a> See the English translation of the 1975 Report, R. Meidner (with the assistance of A. Hedborg and G. Fond), Employee investment funds : an approach to collective capital formation<\/em>, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1978.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[36]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, p. 72.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[37]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, pp. 72-75.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[38]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, pp. 529-532; Palme\u2019s quotation p. 531 (the Author yet does not refer the source of Palme\u2019s statement).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[39]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, pp. 76-77.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[40]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, pp. 247-256.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[41]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, p. 78.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[42]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, pp. 258-259.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[43]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, pp. 627-628. The confrontation on the wage earners\u2019 funds, that is, the inner splits between the LO and the SAP and within the SAP, and the bourgeois mobilization, is however reconstructed quite hastily by the author.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[44]<\/a> According to \u00d6stberg, it is one of the most controversial issue in the whole Swedish contemporary history. See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, p. 299.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[45]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, pp. 91-92.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[46]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, pp. 103-104.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[47]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, p. 655.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[48]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, p. 617.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[49]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, pp. 301-304, within the chapter on The War of the Roses<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[50]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, p. 312.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[51]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, pp. 639-640.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[52]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, p. 93.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[53]<\/a> Eklund\u2019s idea is that Palme would have left in 1987, or perhaps two years later (after the 1988 general election), and that his successor would have been Anna-Greta Leijon; in other words, the SAP would have elected its first female party leader in the late 1980s, and not in 2007. Paradoxically, Leijon\u2019s political career was damaged due right to a scandal involving the party leadership which had to do with the inquiry on the murder of Palme. See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, p. 123.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[54]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, p. 657.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[55]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, pp. 106-107.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[56]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, pp. 366-385.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[57]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, pp. 362-365.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[58]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, pp. 386-405.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[59]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, pp. 108-109; K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, passim; H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, passim.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[60]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, pp. 108-109 and 113.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[61]<\/a> See K. Eklund, Palme<\/em>, pp. 120-121.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[62]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, p. 179.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[63]<\/a> See H. Berggren, Underbara dagar framf\u00f6r oss<\/em>, pp. 333-334.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[64]<\/a> See P. Antman, Arvet efter Palme<\/em> , in P. Antman, P. Schori, Den gr\u00e4nsl\u00f6se reformisten<\/em>, pp. 45-48.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

[65]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg,\u00a0 I takt med tiden<\/em>, pp. 394-396.<\/p>\n

[66]<\/a> See K. \u00d6stberg, N\u00e4r vinden v\u00e4nde<\/em>, pp. 417-418.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The analysis of Olof Palme\u2019s politics and of his legacy in Swedish Social Democracy has been somewhat \u201cfrozen\u201d due to two uncommon circumstances. Firstly, there has been his violent death, which makes it uneasy for commentators to express any detached judgement. Secondly, there has been a kind of sin of omission; that is to say, in looking at his figure, right-wing as well as left-wing politicians and intellectuals have recalled the man \u2013 whose biography is undoubtedly a success story \u2013 rather than discussing his contribution to national history and to the Social Democratic movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[203,272,176,225,273,179,180,274,275,182],"coauthors":[1235],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles61","tag-capitalism","tag-cold-war","tag-communism","tag-neoliberalism","tag-palme","tag-social-democracy","tag-socialism","tag-sweden","tag-vietnam","tag-welfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1135,"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions\/1135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nome.unak.is\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}