Social Democrats' crisis and new program
| News
After the Social Democratic Labor Party's (S) election loss in 2022, growing dissatisfaction within the party has put forward demands for a new party program to replace the ten-year-old one.
The decline of the Social Democrats, from having been a state-supporting and majority-ruling party several times to having had to share power and stand in opposition, has in turn caused its leaders to need to develop a "new direction".
The Social Democrats would like to appear as a "party of the whole people" but don't be fooled, every party has a class character and a social base. By social base we mean, in contrast to the voter base which is who votes for a party, the actual social group that, like presidents, preaches its policies and carries out their work to the voter base. The Social Democrats are a bourgeois party of class character, a servant of the Swedish imperialist monopoly bourgeoisie, and have as their social base, on which their backs rest, the labor aristocracy. The labor aristocracy, a stratum of bourgeoisified workers, whose class affiliation is petty bourgeois, is made up of the representatives of the bourgeois “labor organizations” (S, LO, HGF) which systematically serve to defend imperialism, the interests of Swedish monopoly capital and the subjugation of the proletariat.
The Social Democrats, in collusion with the labor aristocracy, claim to represent the interests of the working class in order to win its votes and to create the illusion of a workers’ government. The position of the labor aristocracy is inseparable from imperialism, of which it is an expression. In an imperialist country like Sweden, which stood on the border of the socialist Soviet Union (until 1956), it was an absolute necessity for the imperialists to have a calm and well-organized country. In order to transform the Swedish proletariat from being a rebellious and combative proletariat (which during the early 20th century were some of the most experienced in the world) into a "calm and fine people", in the sense of the Jante Act, Swedish imperialism could use its imperialist super-profits to usurp and corrupt the organizations of the proletariat by transforming these into corporative organizations that represent both workers and employers in the same way that a fox guards the henhouse and says that it does so for the sake of the chickens.
Social Democrats' crisis and new program | News After the Social Democratic Labor Party's (S) election loss in 2022, growing dissatisfaction within the party has put forward demands for a new party program to replace the ten-year-old one. The decline of the Social Democrats, from having been a state-supporting and majority-ruling party several times to having had to share power and stand in opposition, has in turn caused its leaders to need to develop a "new direction". The Social Democrats would like to appear as a "party of the whole people" but don't be fooled, every party has a class character and a social base. By social base we mean, in contrast to the voter base which is who votes for a party, the actual social group that, like presidents, preaches its policies and carries out their work to the voter base. The Social Democrats are a bourgeois party of class character, a servant of the Swedish imperialist monopoly bourgeoisie, and have as their social base, on which their backs rest, the labor aristocracy. The labor aristocracy, a stratum of bourgeoisified workers, whose class affiliation is petty bourgeois, is made up of the representatives of the bourgeois “labor organizations” (S, LO, HGF) which systematically serve to defend imperialism, the interests of Swedish monopoly capital and the subjugation of the proletariat.
The Social Democrats, in collusion with the labor aristocracy, claim to represent the interests of the working class in order to win its votes and to create the illusion of a workers’ government. The position of the labor aristocracy is inseparable from imperialism, of which it is an expression. In an imperialist country like Sweden, which stood on the border of the socialist Soviet Union (until 1956), it was an absolute necessity for the imperialists to have a calm and well-organized country. In order to transform the Swedish proletariat from being a rebellious and combative proletariat (which during the early 20th century were some of the most experienced in the world) into a "calm and fine people", in the sense of the Jante Act, Swedish imperialism could use its imperialist super-profits to usurp and corrupt the organizations of the proletariat by transforming these into corporative organizations that represent both workers and employers in the same way that a fox guards the henhouse and says that it does so for the sake of the chickens.
The labor aristocracy in Sweden is born from the class betrayal of social democracy and the old reactionism during the early 20th century, systematized by the so-called “Swedish model”, a corporatist freak which was born during the Saltsjöbad Agreement of 1938, where LO took away the workers’ right to strike in order to instead safeguard “class peace”, under the idea of a “people’s home” that offers social prosperity and welfare that could only be achieved by the workers safeguarding the growth and exploitation of capital.
The entire army of bureaucrats – regardless of whether they are called functionaries or ombudsmen – who belong to the Social Democrats, the trade unions, the Left Party, the “people’s movements”, etc. constitute this layer, together with supervisors and foremen of various kinds. The existence of the labor aristocracy is directly dependent on the prosperity of finance capital and its state, which is why this layer is reactionary through and through. It is the most important support of the Social Democrats. But due to the weakening of LO, HGF and the “people’s movements”, by repeatedly showing their true face to those they claim to defend, and due to the state cuts that have weakened part of the state bureaucracy where the labor aristocracy can exist, the social base for the Social Democrats has been weakened. The labor aristocracy is a less influential stratum today than it was during the second half of the 20th century and through the constant anti-worker policies of the Social Democrats, its voters have tried to find solutions elsewhere. This in turn has led to the weakening of the Social Democrats, which is becoming more and more evident with each election.
The Swedish monopoly bourgeoisie is facing problems that it is unable to solve.
Social Democracy, as an expression of the superstructure of imperialism in Sweden, has developed on the basis of the development of the economic base. During the early 20th century, when Swedish imperialism was in its youth, Swedish industrialization was in full swing, there was room for reformism, for bourgeois workers' parties that offered crumbs from the tables of the rich in exchange for burgher peace. During this time, in order to divert the proletariat's eyes from power, the proletariat was able to win several social reforms. After the Second World War, which left Europe in ruins while Sweden stood unscathed and wealthy thanks to Swedish imperialism's dirty war dealings, the Swedish imperialists enjoyed good years of growth with the reconstruction of Europe and through its relatively strong capacity for capital export. This made possible the construction of the people's home, the purpose of which was to divert the interest of the masses to socialism and to compete with the prestige of the communists in the post-war period.
The social democratic superstructure was forced to reform, however, after imperialism entered its strategic defensive and decaying process during the 1980s. Growth slowed and the economy experienced more and more stagnation. This meant that the reforms of social democracy were stopped and its character as a reformist party ended. The so-called “Swedish model”, with developed corporatism and a strong labor aristocracy, based on the relatively good position of Swedish imperialism in the world, has come to an end. Swedish imperialism was able to get out of the crisis of the nineties through the new markets and spheres of influence that it conquered in the Baltics, above all, but also in Central and Eastern Europe. But after this there was no longer room for more openings. Capitalism does not allow for stagnation; the group of monopoly capitalists that does not grow and strengthen, perishes and is swept away by others. Therefore, profits must constantly increase, at any price.
The Swedish imperialists then became less and less inclined to use the super-profits they gain from the exploitation of the oppressed nations to bribe the labor aristocracy. Instead, reaction is applied across the board. In search of greater profits, the imperialists increase exploitation at home through increased prices, real wage cuts and by dismantling the workers' won rights.The labor aristocracy is also weakened by the state bureaucracy experiencing cuts and by the unions increasingly having to lower their already puny demands.
This has led to the Social Democrats, and its supporting parties, having to transform its facade into another "neo-liberal" party, like the others in the Riksdag, which in turn has led to a crisis in which its voter base has become even more undefined. The Social Democrats have become a party that is tearing down the reforms they themselves have pushed through and is thus applying the same policies as its competitors.
The Social Democrats’ new program
The “new direction” that the Social Democrats want to present in their new program only expresses their crisis as a party with an increasingly undefined social base and facing serious problems that they cannot solve. Initially, they present five main points in the draft of their new program:
“1: You shall live a better life in a richer country.
A policy for increased growth and more good jobs with a living wage.
2: You have the right to a functioning society.
3: A new policy to deal with market failures and strengthen welfare.
4: You shall live in safety and security.
A new effective crime policy and a security policy for a new era.
5: You shall be part of a strong social community.
A policy that breaks down segregation and ensures strict migration.”
Four out of five points put forward as the main basis can be concretized into two positions, to make Sweden “richer” and “stronger”. It is easy to see that they primarily want to expand the state from a security perspective, which means both a larger military and police, in order to ensure “tight migration” and, more importantly, “a functioning society”. The absence of their old empty platitudes about justice, equality and class is obvious.
What they themselves see as a “functioning society” is not expressed. But for Marxists it becomes quite obvious. We know that the main function of the state is as an apparatus of violence for the rule of one class over another. This is consistent in its descriptions of the most important tasks of the program.
Furthermore, they write that:
“Social democracy is a freedom movement. It sees that the individual’s ability to control his own life and make free choices presupposes a society based on equality.”
Here they express the bourgeois individualist worldview which is a cornerstone of liberalism, the ideology of the bourgeoisie. These “free choices” they speak of are only the choice of which capitalist you sell your labor to or which party will rule over you unless you are a bourgeois and can enjoy whatever freedom you want. This freedom is nothing more than the freedom that all kinds of capitalists talk about: the freedom of the individual. Social democracy thus constitutes only the same “freedom” that capitalism is supposed to offer.
They then write that:
“Social democracy wants to see a Sweden where the inhabitants stand up for each other and trust each other. It is a Sweden where the citizens should find meaning, belonging and a feeling of being part of something bigger”. They continue to highlight the importance of society “belonging” to a common body that acts monolithically. They make a distinction between inhabitants and citizens, but believe that everyone should be obedient to the common denominator, i.e. the state. This way of looking at society is similar to Mussolini's corporatist "everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state". Seeing society as a common body is a very important pillar of corporatism, which is the most important aspect of fascism. The contradiction between the first and second paragraphs is understood only by introducing class into the analysis. What they want is a freedom for capital and a subordination of the working class in a common body under the bourgeois state, under the political leadership of social democracy.
The question of the social base of the party
"The importance of work for human freedom and independence cannot be overestimated. It is the basis for Sweden's prosperity and the common welfare. That as many people as possible work is crucial to the country's future, both for cohesion and for welfare and prosperity. Work is both a right and a duty. Everyone who can work therefore has a responsibility to contribute to the common. Insurance jobs are the consequences of the work subordinate to short -term profit interests and that society has withdrawn. A high unemployment undermines workers 'and other employees' position in the labor market, through weakened negotiating position and poorer working conditions, in favor of employers and capital. "
Again, "cohesion", "the common" and "prosperity" expresses an increasingly corporate stance. This is also expressed in its view of the work as a "duty", which, under capitalism, becomes a defense of the bourgeoisie's right to exploit the workers. The only role that the working class has, according to them, is to contribute to the "common prosperity". However, this prosperity is hardly something that we can jointly share, which they themselves recognize when it grows as the class divisions grow, that the people become poorer at the same time as the capital does record year after record year. They do not mention that it is their own policy that caused this, as during its last government period, which was characterized by economic crisis, inflation, pandemic, elkris, etc. for the working class, while Swedish capitalism produced 351 new billionaires during these four years, an increase of 183%(!).
So why would it be workers' duty to continue to increase this prosperity for capitalists? Maybe this is due to the "weakened negotiating position" that they address? But if it may be, why was the Social Democrats the actor who tore up our union rights during the previous term, as the greatest butcher of trade union rights in Sweden's history?
As we notice in the draft, they mark "short -term profits" and those who represent these, such as the "care giants", staffing companies, so -called "free schools, etc.. This is only the capitalists that stick most in the eyes of their voter base and therefore they find it difficult to openly defend their other major and more influential capital.
Their class analysis is easily expressed in its use of the concepts "workers" and "employers" where the employee, like a thief, takes a salary from the kind employer who offers work. This is revealed in the crisis for its social base, which parts of the Social Democrats themselves cackle. Heavy names within the Social Democrats, such as Björn von Sydow and David Lundqvist, recently submitted a proposal that one should change the party name from the Social Democratic Labor Party, to instead be called the "Employer Party" with the explanation that:
"If we continue to designate ourselves as" only "a workers' party, we give 2.1 million officials continued reason to ask: " Why should I vote for a party that does not address me? "
As a result of its social base weakening, they try to transform into a "whole people's party" instead. The question is: Do they reach more or do they all miss?
Economic policy
"Social Democracy wants to see a healthy market economy where private companies can work well. It requires democratic counterbalance to capital interests in the form of stable rules of play. It is only institutions that are independent of the market that can decide on sufficient rules to maintain competition and prevent private monopoly (...) the many and varying needs in society that is based on welfare, responsible companies and strong trade unions ”
The "mixed economy" that the Social Democrats are talking about is only an expression of state monopolistic capitalism - the form of monopoly capital's dominion, whose basis is high concentration and centralization of capital, the all -power of the monopoly in the economics of the capitalist countries and politics leading to a mergers of the monopoly, to the provision of the Monopoly and the state, the provision of the Monopoly and the Monopoly. The Social Democrats have long been a political representative of the fraction of state monopoly capitalism vis -à -vis private monopoly capital. These two fractions are two parts of the same class.
The state monopolite capitalism has several forms such as "staff unions", that is, influential civil servants are included in the boards of the monopoly and the representatives of the monopoly are directly prepared in the governments of the bourgeois states. This is obvious among several prominent Social Democrats in the major companies' boards, such as Göran Persson, former party leader, school, finance and prime minister, and Jens Henriksson, former secretary of state, who is chairman and CEO of Swedbank or Thomas Östros, vice chairman in the Swedish Parliament's Business and Financial Committee 2006-206-206- The list can be made very long. Another form of state monopolite capitalism is that the monopoly submits the "state household", either by building state companies, railways, etc. or through bourgeois nationalization which, through the tax system and profitable military orders, can acquire monopoly capital monopoly capital's enormity.
The Wallenberg sphere is part of the state monopolite fraction in imperialist monopoly capital. They use state interventions and state companies to strengthen their own position and increase its own part of the dominion of capital. For example, LKAB, a state mining company where both Marcus Wallenberg and Göran Persson acted as Chairman of the Board, acted, large profits for the Wallenbergs by purchasing products from, for example, Atlas Copco.
The development of state monopolistic capitalism further tightens the contradictions of capitalism. It therefore grows most powerful in times of war, war preparations and economic crises. The bourgeois state's involvement in economic life does not remove the capitalist system, but on the contrary, the anarchy of production and all the contradictions of capitalism appear even clearer. Various groups monopoly capitalists are drawn into the fight for dominion over the state apparatus, for items in state bodies and to cut as much as possible of the "state cake".
Preventing private monopoly and maintaining competition, as the program expresses, is only a game for the galleries.
“The state monopoly capitalism is a monopoly capitalism in which monopoly capitalism has merged with the political power of the state. By fully utilizing the state's power, the concentration and accumulation of capital is accelerated, the exploitation of the working class, the absorption of small and medium -sized companies, is intensified, and the absorption of some monopoosis of some monopoosis of some monopoccas Monopoly capital for international purposes, for competition and expansion. Under the cover of "state intervention in economic life" and "resistance to monopoly", and with the state's name to deceive, transmit the cunning huge gains to the pockets of the monopoly groups through secret methods ". (Once again about the differences between comrade Togliati and us, some important problems in Leninism in modern times, the editorial for the magazine Hongqi (red flag), Beijing, March 1963.)
In addition, these state interventions, regulations and the entire soup for "mixed economy" and "long -term" are only state monopolistic capitalism, which only serves monopolism behind closed doors and contributes to an increasing part of the national income being grabbed by monopoly capital. State monopoly capitalism is growing greater during times of economic crisis and war preparations. The Social Democrats are probably well -conscious of the stricter international oppositioners who inevitably lead to more crisis and war.
The world's "democracy" in crisis?
"The weakened democracy has led to increased freedom for people around the world. War and conflicts have been pushed by authoritarian leaders based on their own power interests, with indiscriminate violence and suffering as a result. Many people have been forced into increased surveillance and repression, while being silenced."
While taking up how the world has been towards a "positive" development in the form of increased prosperity, at the same time, you talk about how the "democracy" is weakened and war has become even more widespread. They say that it is mainly "authoritarian" leaders who have diluted war from their own power interests, without the Social Democrats recognizing their own role in this. By swaning partly after US imperialism, which is the world's enemy number one, as in defense of its position as the world's only hegemonic superpower, tried to move around its military play pieces. They have acted as the largest accelain for reaction worldwide. The Social Democrats were the power that brought Sweden into NATO, the world's largest warrior, and contributed with enormous support to one of the greatest conflicts of our time, the so-called "war against the terror", led under the leadership of US imperialism between the years 2001-2021. Civil sources state that almost 5 million people have died and 38 million have been displaced from their homes as a result of the US invasion war, we know that figures are significantly higher. But when the Social Democrats refer to war in their program draft, it is not these devastating war they refer to. In the typical imperialist spirit, this war ("the war against the terror"), and the Russian invasion of Ukraine as two different ones, where the former was completely righteous, since the Social Democrats themselves have been leading to ensuring that Swedish forces were able to support the West's imperialist conspiracy, which is, for example, in Afghanistan, and Irak, Mali, och Libyen, they only recognize to serve its own imperialist interests.
In addition, the Social Democrats believe that Sweden should be a "leading player in the EU", it will develop a "Nordic cooperation, also in security policy when the entire Nordic region is in NATO", and that a "more powerful joint foreign and security policy is needed for the EU to contribute to increased security in an uncertain environment". The EU, as an alliance of imperialists, contributes to the increasing warness through the militarization of the EU in recent years, especially after the Russian imperial war in Ukraine. By taking advantage of this imperialist aggression, the EU has increased its war and increased its militarization process. It is obvious that the Social Democrats' preference for the EU links Swedish imperialism closer to its friends in the EU, especially the German imperialism that is the leader in this alliance.
The program also does not choose to mention the Social Democrats' participation in arms deals, which, for example, Stefan Löfvén, former party leader and prime minister, was driven in, both during his time as party leader and prime minister who after. To distinguish between "authoritarian" leaders and "democratic" leaders, as they so gladly do in their rhetoric, they are happy to avoid doing when it comes to arms exports. Their world analysis is an analysis of hypocrites. They were involved in litting the fire and now they point to the smoke.
Other points they lift are "strong resilience throughout society through robust total defense, significant military ability and good civilian preparedness" and "a Swedish folk defense with expanded protection and civil duty". The Social Democrats contribute to the war and militarization by expanding the military and through the NATO membership, they force more and more workers to the imperialist wars.
Furthermore, they write that they plan for "efforts to promote Swedish exports, protect free trade and counteract protectionism." Their policy indicates that the Swedish bourgeoisie was probably in advance that Trump would win the election in the United States, which is trying to solve the crisis of US imperialism by weakening the European imperialists, including Swedish imperialism, by competing them and moving forward at its expense.
Therefore, the Social Democrats see the importance of advocating free trade and fighting protectionism. There are several reasons for this, but one of the largest is that Sweden is unable to compete against the major economic powers in a trade war. The Swedish economy may be strong for its size, but is very limited compared to the American and even the German market.
Domestic politics: More reaction, more repression
The program draft presented by the Social Democrats differs from the "right parties" program, including the Swedish Democrats, in principle only in terms of form, how they express themselves, how they formulate their arguments and positions, but the content is basically the same. A "tight Swedish migration policy" is the general line of the Swedish parliamentary parties.
The Social Democrats advocate a "powerful control of organized criminal activities". We know from the previous reign that this is only a cold on increased repression and increased militarization of proletarian suburbs. They require "a police force that reflects the entire population, with a good local presence and the powers and tools required". This is obvious not to "fight the gang", which they are obviously not interested as they have several links to the gang, especially at the municipal level, and because their measures only involve militarized suburbs and not real police investigations among consumers, the petty and bourgeois everyday life, where they can find evidence. These measures are used to make the state's monopoly more trade -off, which in turn develops its defense. The proposals that you present are obviously linked to the increased wave of gang violence that is happening in Sweden, but this is only used as an excuse to reactionary the state and enable increased surveillance and develop the police repression, probably as a result of a fear of the future, which will mean greater resistance and increased dissatisfaction with the bourgeois state. Measures such as "Chat Control" and increased powers for eavesdropping do not appear to have affected the gang. Rather, the criminal violence is even more widespread than before introducing these measures.
The Social Democrats believe that they defend democracy. But in practice, the Social Democrats during the Corona pandemic showed that the possibility of abolishing the bourgeois democratic rights is not so difficult. Although Sweden has a constitution for freedom of expression, it was limited by the prohibition by public gatherings, whether it is considered right or wrong at this period. This was expressed in the form of increased repression against demonstrations, not least during the BLM demonstrations in 2021 and during the multiple Palestinian consequences in recent years. The police were determined to stop these protests, and many who participated in these events have for the first time been testified to the abuse of police.
What are the Social Democrats today?
The Social Democrats, like the other bourgeois parties, are only defenders of the old rotten imperialist world system, which only brings misery, poverty and war to the people of the world. The Social Democrats' capacity as a reformist party has disappeared. The Social Democratic experiment, which was in full roll during the middle of the previous century, is over. The Social Democrats do not differ very much from the so -called "right parties". Prior to the next election, as opposition, they will probably assume more "progressive" slogan. But don't be fooled. Social democracy today only intends to develop reactionaristation and militarization, increase the war and increase the working class exploitation. The Social Democrats go the same path as the other parliamentary parties, the cold from the imperialist monopoly bourgeoisie for those in the same direction.
This does not only apply to the Social Democrats because they in turn have several support parties. Including the Left Party (V) - an auditist party that for at least 60 years - under different names - played the role of "the friendly driver". It is a social force whose role is to channel the resistance of the working class and the people into reformist dead ends. But today, there is no longer any room for reforms, which only makes V the Social Democrats' "more radical" propagandist, and nothing else. Here it is also worth keeping in mind that there is a variety of "revolutionary" or "left" parties, organizations and groups, which to varying degrees call themselves "extra -parliamentary", and claim that they "put pressure" on V, which makes them tails to V and hence its facts constitute its support troops; They are "the friendly driver's friendly driver". By extension, all of these are in turn also support parties for the Social Democrats. During the coming period, V will do everything to maintain the "cooperation" with the Social Democrats and one will be its most important tool in trying to use the popular protests in the fight against Swedish imperialism to channel this in the power of the Social Democrats.
Hence, it becomes important for all revolutionaries to build a movement that opposes all forms of revisionism, opportunism often expressed in various forms of reformism and parliamentary cretinism - for this it requires a leadership. This is why we highlight the slogan to reconstitutes Sweden's Communist Party as the working class of the working class, Kampstab and a war machine.
Kontakta oss via Kommunisten@riseup.net!