Swedish Elections

During both of our visits to Stockholm (September 1979, and September 1985), a Swedish National election was to be held soon, and there were election rallies at street corners throughout the downtown shopping district. The political parties had small buildings scattered here and there (one party used a one-car garage size log cabin), with signs printed in their party colors.

The parties of the near-right and near-left don’t expect or want much change. The social democrats, further-left, want a lot more socialism, and the Communists insist on being given a lot of everything. We didn’t find any party that seemed to be very far to the right.

Since many Swedes speak English, it was interesting to talk to people at the edge of the rallies, about their way of life, their living standards, and about the upcoming election. It seems they mostly have a good standard of living, the Government “supplies” many advantages, but they do pay a very high tax for all those “free” things. All kinds of “goods” are available in the stores, but many items seem very expensive to us. As we travel in Sweden, it seems that “Sweden works!”

We stopped to talk to the people attending the Communist Party meeting. After he introduced a couple of singers, the meeting leader came over to join our discussion. He was so involved in our questions and comments, he didn’t notice that when the singers were finished, the crowd left. One Communist was upset to find that while we were still young, we didn’t have a full-time job, so we could earn money to give to the needy. I said I did even better than that, I gave my whole job to a needy person, not just part of my earnings.

I said that since Communism has been in operation for 75 years, there must be someplace in the world where it is by now an ideal form of government. We asked if the Communists wanted to make Sweden a copy of Poland, or Czechoslovakia, or perhaps the Soviet Union. And of course they said no, no, they wanted to make Sweden better than it is. I asked for examples of what the Communists were going to do. They said there are inequities in Sweden, some people have more than others, and that’s not fair. But they could think of no country that was better than Sweden.