"It took decades for the party to rise to dominate the political scene, but when Per Albin Hansson won a landslide victory in the 1932 elections, he started the process of re-forming Sweden in the party's image. This he did through the creation of the Swedish welfare state, the 'folkhemmet' (home for the people), attempting to achieve full employment and redistributing wealth."
Editor's note: When Prout propounder Shri P.R. Sarkar visited Stockholm a little over 25 years ago, he remarked that Sweden was closest to Prout. Things have changed significantly since that time as the country falls prey to capitalist globalization and pro-immigration neo-marxist social ideology. It is worth reading a very brief summary of Swedish social programs, however, for those who are unaware of them, especially in light of current American superpower projection of the ideology of freedom with little corresponding sense of socioeconomic justice for local populations.
The last few weeks have seen smiles returning to the faces of Social Democrats. For the first time in months, opinion polls have shown the ruling left-wing coalition ahead of the conservative-liberal Alliance.
But any celebrations on behalf of Sweden's most powerful political party could be premature. The left wing coalition's lead is less than one percent, prime minister Göran Persson is still less popular than his rival, Moderate Party leader Fredrik Reinfeldt, and according to one poll by Synovate Temo, Social Democrat voters tend to be less certain of their vote compared to voters for other parties.
This may seem a little odd given that things are going well for Social Democrat-ruled Sweden, on paper at least: the Swedish economy is growing faster than the economies of most comparable countries, and official unemployment figures, which had been stubbornly refusing to fall, have now given way slightly. At the same time, there is little sign that Swedes are aching to drop the country's famously high taxes and generous social security.
The party has been paid the ultimate compliment by its opponents - Reinfeldt has consciously been trying to make the Moderates sound more like Social Democrats, emphasising the importance of public services and promising only modest tax cuts.
Still, an endless stream of bad news stories for the party, with the tsunami-related difficulties of former foreign minister Laila Freivalds and Lars Danielsson, Göran Persson's closest aide, have dented the party's image as the invulnerable titan of the political scene.
As a result of these difficulties the party has in the past two years frequently come across as a tired, old and corrupt political giant rather than a vibrant, successful force, as it would like to be seen . The Moderates, putting on a fairly united show with their three Alliance partners, appear to be a fresh, confident and promising alternative.
But do the Social Democrats' current problems expose deeper issues within the party?
"Their position in Swedish politics has made it hard to develop. There has been no need to do so, and the consequence has been a party with ideas and policies which in some ways are not very up to date", says Jenny Madestam, a political scientist at Stockholm University.
The party's strong organizational base and the close relationship to the trade unions has been one of its main sources of power. Indeed, trade union sympathizers were among the party's original members when it was founded in 1889.
It took decades for the party to rise to dominate the political scene, but when Per Albin Hansson won a landslide victory in the 1932 elections, he started the process of re-forming Sweden in the party's image. This he did through the creation of the Swedish welfare state, the "folkhemmet" (home for the people), attempting to achieve full employment and redistributing wealth. He introduced sickness and unemployment benefits, retirement pensions, universal dental care, and public works to combat unemployment.
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