This little book, "Kommunistisk Riksdagspolitik" was actually written by Set Persson, a Swedish Communist leader, and published by the SKP (the Communist Party of Sweden) in 1946. It contains an extensive report on the motions moved by the Communists in the Swedish Parliament 1945-46. Some of it is interesting reading, other parts less so.
It's hardly surprising that the Communists demanded sanctions against Franco's regime in Spain, the sacking of Swedish pro-Nazi generals, or a revision of Swedish libel laws making it easier for newspapers to expose establishment figures with Nazi ties. More surprising, perhaps, are the motions to turn Sweden into a planned economy! At the time, the line of the SKP was to act as a ginger group on the Social Democrats, to turn them in a more "radical" direction. As a prelude to a fully formed planned economy, the SKP also proposed the immediate nationalization of the armament industry, the mines, the main sugar-producing company and all businesses formerly owned by German foreign nationals. (Of course, it's sometimes possible to make the "capitalist" state regulate the economy, just look at Roosevelt in the United States.)
Most of Persson's report deals with less dramatic issues, such as government benefits to the needy, economic compensation for conscript soldiers, progressive taxation, abolition of corporeal punishment in public schools, hunting rights for ordinary citizens on land owned by the state or large land-owners, etc. Of course, these issues had a more direct bearing on the lives of ordinary people. Some problems in 1946 remind me of problems we *still* have (or have again?). Thus, elderly unemployed were "offered" work in various public archives for a meager pay (sounds like the current "Fas Fyra"). Meanwhile, refugees from the Baltic countries were given identical jobs with better pay despite not even speaking Swedish! Interestingly, the Communists opposed this preferential treatment of immigrants. But then, the immigrants in question came from nations occupied by the Soviet Union, i.e. they were the "wrong" kind of refugees...
"Kommunistisk Riksdagspolitik" is interesting for another reason, too. In Swedish Communist history, Set Persson is mostly known as the quixotic super-Stalinist who left the SKP in 1953 to form a minuscule group of Stalin faithful, the SKA. Although I don't like Stalinists (super or otherwise), this is somewhat unfair to the man. In reality, Persson was one of the central leaders of the Communist Party of Sweden. He was a member of its Central Committee and its Politbureau, a Member of Parliament, and for a brief period an assistant mayor of Stockholm City, responsible for public housing issues. (During a brief era of good feelings between Social Democrats and Communists after World War II, the Social Democrats agreed to appoint a Communist to a local government position in Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden. This was the Swedish version of the policy which gave the more important Communist parties of Italy and France seats in national coalition governments.) Persson was otherwise mostly known as the leader of a local general strike at Sandarne in 1932, during which police opened fire and killed protesting workers (for some reason, this event has been overshadowed by a similar event at Ådalen the year before). I think this record shows that Persson wasn't the kind of windbag who insists on forming small sectarian groups just for the sheer fun of it.
That being said, Persson nevertheless did end his political career as the leader of a very small Stalinist group. Immediately after World War II, the SKP (just as other Communist parties) embarked on a "moderate" course in the hope that the Allied victory would lead to a prolonged period of peaceful co-existence and collaboration between the Soviet Union and the Western powers. The new course was a continuation of the People's Front policy of the 1930's. The SKP began calling for a "peaceful transition to socialism", a "democratic foreign policy" and closer cooperation with the Social Democrats, even to the point of adopting their post-war program as its own. (The Social Democrats were and are the dominant left-of-center party in Sweden. They control most important labor unions and have usually opposed Communist influence. No similar party exists in the United States, but Roosevelt's New Deal Democrats came close.) A similar political line in the United States was derogatorily known as "Browderism", after CPUSA leader Earl Browder. Persson opposed the "moderate" line, arguing that the People's Front had been a temporary tactic, and that a more offensive course was called for after the war. He can therefore be compared to William F Dunne or Sam Darcy in the United States. Interestingly, Persson almost succeeded in challenging SKP leader Sven Linderot within the party leadership, allying himself with people that could be compared to William Foster. The reason was probably the Cold War tensions, beginning in earnest around 1948, which made the "peaceful" course look outdated. In the end, however, the ever-adaptable Linderot proved to have Moscow's full confidence. After issuing a bogus "self-criticism", the Linderot faction managed to split the opposition, leaving Persson completely isolated. At the SKP congress in 1953, Persson criticized the party leadership for still being too moderate, but his criticism fell on deaf ears. Persson was forced to leave the party, and his few supporters were unceremoniously expelled.
Like many other Communist stalwarts, Persson never admitted or realized that the "revisionism" he was fighting was decreed by Stalin himself. Instead, he seems to have blamed everything on Linderot (and perhaps people like Browder), while defending Stalin. In 1956, when Khrushchev explicitly attacked Stalin's legacy, Persson saw this as proof that the great leader had been innocent, and that the "revisionism" was the work of his treacherous underlings. The same year, he formed the Communist Workers League of Sweden (SKA). The new group published a Stalin-loving periodical, sided with Mao against Khrushchev during "the Great Polemic", but otherwise had no impact at all. It's unclear when the SKA disappeared, but 1967 (when the explicitly Maoist KFML was formed) is often given as an end date. Apparently, a few elderly SKA-ers gave the KFML (a new split from the SKP) their formal blessing. Persson had passed away already in 1960.
The story of Set Persson also has a curious footnote. In contrast to virtually all other Stalinists, Persson had good personal relations with Trotskyists! Bertil Säfström, the leader of the first Trotskyist group in Sweden, was actually invited to attend the SKA's founding in 1956. However, I don't think this bespeaks any pro-Trotskyist orientation on Persson's part (although that would be *really* interesting). Rather, facts are the other way around: Säfström was a pro-Stalinist Trotskyist, even to the point of supporting the Soviet crackdown in Hungary the same year. Thus, Säfström took a position similar to that of the Marcy-Copeland group in the United States. I actually met Säfström about 20 years ago. He was notorious for showing up at May Day marches in Stockholm with a huge Soviet flag and was something of a firebrand (he actually reamed me out once). Eventually, he broke with Trotskyism and joined the SKP, the very party his old friend Persson had been forced to leave back in 1953. Ironically, SKP leader Rolf Hagel (a kind of Linderot character) criticized old Säfström for still maintaining friendly relations with Trotskyists...
OK, kids, that's all for now.
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