The Press WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1942. Elections in Sweden

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23750, 23 September 1942, Page 2

The Press WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1942. Elections in Sweden

The results of the district council elections in Sweden—the first free elections which have been held in Europe for more than a year—have infuriated Dr. Goebbels and the German press and will probably lead to a crisis in Swedish-German relations. The annoyance of Dr. Goebbels is understandable, for among the parties contesting the elections were two—a Swedish Nazi Party directly controlled from Berlin and another party with proNazi sympathies—which put in the forefront of their programmes more active participation by Sweden in Hitler’s “ new Euro- “ pean order,” To some extent, therefore, the elections can be regarded as the first free expression of opinion by a European people on Hitler’s plans for reorganising Europe. The results are striking. The Social Democratic Party lost 34 districts but still controls 830 out of 1500; the Communists gained 16 districts and now control 42; the pro-Nazi organisations failed to gain a single district. As an indication that wherever men are free they reject the “ new European order ” for the sham that it is. this is encouraging. But some of the- jubilation which has been aroused in Britain and the United States seems premature, for it cannot be assumed that because of the elections Sweden will be disposed to out up a stiffer resistance to German demands. On the contrary, it is more likely that the opposite will happen. Both the Communist and Nazi Parties in Sweden represent a very small proportion of the total population, and most Swedes heartily detest the ideas they stand for. At a pinch, however, they are much more afraid of Russia and Communism than they are of Germany and Nazism. On several occasions the Government has been on the point of suppressing the Communist Party; the censorship has dealt harshly with newspapers favourable to Communism; and the Swedish Army's last manoeuvres were held, not in the south, where a German invasion might be expected, but in the north, around the fortress area of Boden, which was built during the last war with an eye to the possibility of a Russian attack. It is thus possible that the Communist successes in the district elections will have the effect of driving Sweden closer to Germany. Moreover, it has to be remembered that, although Sweden retains a surprising degree of independence and internal freedom, she has been able to do so at the price of heavy concessions to Germany. By the transit agreement of July, 1940, against which the British Government lodged a vigorous protest, she authorised Germany to move troops and all kinds of goods, including military equipment, across Swedish territory into Norway; and practically the whole of Sweden's output of iron-ore, timber, and woodpulp, a large part of her food production, goes to Germany. Economically, indeed, Sweden is already a part of the “ new European “ order ” —a fact which makes it difficult to resist the combination of economic and political pressure which is the favourite weapon of German diplomacy.