Fairy tale election in Sweden

Press, 14 September 1976, Page 20

Fairy tale election in Sweden

In the "Emperor’s New Clothes.” the Danish fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen made fun of the monarchy and human weakness generally, but it is hard to imagine a situation today where an author of children’s books takes on the longest-lived demccraticallvelected ruling party in the world and could be a serious factor in contributing to the party’s fall. That, however, is what is happening in Sweden. Astrid Lindgren. Sweden’s most successful living writer and "creator” of the obtuse child heroine, Pippi Longstocking (the little girl who lifts up horses and defies grown-ups), has attacked the Social Democrats in au open letter published in the daily newspaper “Expressen.” She relinouishes her longstanding loyalties to the partv. and appeals to all Swedes to throw out the Prime Minister (Mr Olof Palme) and his Government at the polls in Sweden next Sunday. Her “Letter to a Social Democrat.” signed. “An exSocial Democrat.” accused the Swedish Social Democratic Party, in power almost without a break since 1933, of preventing people from running their own affairs. "They want to make us small people.” she writes bitterly — championing the tallest, wealthiest people in Europe. Tn an earlier attack last spnng she criticised a taxation svstem which took m2 per cent of her earning*. The Government countered her

By Colin Narborough in Stockholm

attack last time by dismissing her as a rich old lady who did not like paying her taxes; it similarly dismissed complaints by Ingmar Bergman, the actors Max von Sydow and Bibi Anderson, and other Swedish celebrities under pressure from the tax office. This time. Miss Lindgren has cited someone of more lowly income — her hairdresser, who. she says, pays 19.000 crowns in tax and duties out of a total annual income of onlv 30,000 crowns ($6800). Her direct appeal to Social Democrats to reconsider their support for a party she personallv regards as "power crazy” is a most serious threat to the Social Democrat election campaign If the opinion polls are to be believed. The Social Democrats are already behind the non-Socialist opposition parties. Her outspokenness is amazing. compared with the dampened tones of most debate in Sweden: “If the voters do not come to their senses and bring down the Palme Government we will have a oneparty State the like of which has not been seen in any European country’ except the dictatorships,” she said. But what are the alternatives? The choice is between four parties: the nonSocialist Centre Party, the Conservatives, the Liberals and, to the left of the Social Democrats, the Communists. The onlv problem for somebod v who wants to vote down the Social Democrats is that thev are bv far the largest single party and will

remain so if they keep the 156 seats they currently hold in the 350-seat Riksdag (Parliament). The latest opinion poll showed the Social Democrats to have 42.5 per cent of the electorate behind them, with little change expected before

the election. This means a two per cent improvement since June, the most substantial advance they have achieved this year, a year plagued by bad public relations from the Government. There was Ingmar Bergman’s well-publicised flight

from his beloved Sweden after being hauled away in mid-rehearsal for interrogation on alleged tax offences. Then came Miss Lindgren’s satirical saga about a dreaded tax ogre, and other set-backs —including the discovery of a leading Social Democrat union boss sunning himself in out-of-bounds Spain. The latest evaluation of public opinion here shows that the Centre Party, with 22 per cent backing, is still making progress; so too is the Liberal Party (12 per cent) and the small Communist Party (4.5 per cent). The only party to have lost ground since the last poll in June is the Conservatives, whose leader, Mr Goesta Bohman, has the compensation of being the most popular party leader among his own supporters. Mr Palme, in spite of his deliberate attempts to court popularity, still remains a rather distant and intellectual figure. One of the most ideological themes, strongly attacked by the opposition, has been the trade union proposal for workers’ funds to syphon off company profits into special funds. This would mean the automatic transfer over a period of time of all corporate ownership, to the trade unions, but not to the individual workers. High taxation and all its ramifications have also figured large, with everybody promising alleviations. Even the management of Sweden’s much-praised economy has not gone uncriticised and there are indications that the international recession that Sweden largely misses is starting to have a delayed effect on industry. 0.F.N.5., copyright

marks can be demonstrated easily enough. During the nineteenth century, Conservatives were saying much the same things. But what did Parliamentary “democracy” mean to povertystricken workers who couldn’t even vote because they did not own property? And what did “fundamental” and “imperishable” human rights signify then? Only that a few had the fundamental right to exploit the working people. Freedom has more meaning today, but no credit should go to Conservatism. The extension of democratic rights to all, has been achieved, not by the Conservatives who opposed every advance towards freedom and equality, but by the Labour movement and its political representatives. However, total participatory democracy requires community ownership of the nation’s economic and social institutions. Only on this basis, will fundamental and imperishable human rights be fully realised.— Yours, etc., M. W. GOURLEY, September 11, 1976.