Skeletons in the closet

Albert Jensen (1879 - 1957) was a Swedish syndicalist or libertarian socialist. From 1928 to 1950, he was the main editor of "Arbetaren", the newspaper of the syndicalist labour union SAC. Jensen was also a frequent delegate at various international syndicalist or anarcho-syndicalist conferences. He was married to Elise Ottesen-Jensen (Ottar), a famous Swedish feminist and sex educator.

"Syndikalisten Albert Jensen", a small book only available in Swedish, is a collection of Jensen's writings, edited by Evert Arvidsson, another editor of "Arbetaren" and important SAC leader. The collection gives a haphazard impression. SAC started out as a militant, revolutionary organization influenced by anarchism, but steered towards a more "reformist" position already during the 1920's. After World War II, under the influence of one Helmut Rüdiger, SAC became virtual "Cold War liberals". The anarcho-syndicalist international IWA responded by expelling them!

Jensen's role in this long march to the right is never fully explained by Arvidsson, who nevertheless hints at some kind of differences of opinion between himself and the older editor. Arvidsson seems to have been a firm ally of Rüdiger. Even a causal reader can see that the oldest articles by Jensen are super-revolutionary (including one titled "Let the Russians take us"), while the articles of his "middle period" sound more reformist, albeit without clearly spelling out all the implications. Jensen believed that the workers must acquire the skills to run the economy and society already within present-day society, and that the self-managed labour unions should gradually take over society and squeeze out the employers and the state. Of course, this (utopian) scenario requires a super-stable, ultra-liberal democracy to be even partially implemented. Therefore, Jensen should logically support the "bourgeois" liberals against the Communists and perhaps even the Social Democrats (who want a strong state).

Jensen never drew these conclusions during the 1920's. 30 years later, Rüdiger would draw them for him. But what about the late Jensen? Did he also become a Cold Warrior, or did he have some qualifications? How did he feel about SAC's (bizarre) support for South Korea during the Korean War? South Korea, of course, was a right-wing, military dictatorship... None of this is discussed by the editor.

When will the libertarian socialists, who constantly harangue the Communists and Social Democrats for various real or perceived historical sins, come to terms with the skeletons in their own closet?