Quote:
Originally Posted by wilpuri
For example, the Nordic welfare state, which in Sweden has been known as the Folkhemmet, the People’s Home, is a clear source of inspiration when formulating the nationalist perspective on social policy. The early Nordic social democratic tradition also has many interesting figures, which have recognized the strength national unity (=homogenity) provides a small nation. It is with the nationalist perspective in mind that we should look for these sources of inspiration. Of course, we should not seek a ready formulated plan of action from the past, but rather, we should seek the ideal.
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I find it surprising that "folkhemmet" appears so often also abroad in nationalist circles, as something supposedly
positive, sometimes along with upholding Swedish social democrats as role-models, making it truly absurd. I want to stress the importance here of taking a closer look at the history of the so-called worker's movement and social democracy. Begin with Sweden, why not, that makes a good example since social democracy has been succesful in achieving their goals in Sweden like nowhere else. But after that you may also want to take a look at social democracy in a broader context. For this, I can recommend a volume written by Svante Nordin,
Filosofernas krig, which is about the first world war and all the ideologies on stage at that time. It's in no way confined to commenting on social democracy, but like no other work I read it puts the rise of social democracy in context with other institutions, ideas, movements and trends.
Now for some comments on Swedish social democracy, "Folkhemmet", "homogenuity" etc. I think it will eventually become clear to anyone studying the history of the worker's movement and social democracy in Sweden as well as elsewhere in Europe, that it was from the very beginning conceived as a classical marxist movement with internationalist notions of identity and solidarity that will never be compatible with ethnic nationalism of any sort. "Folkhemmet", "homogenuity" and other concepts that they liked to flash about were always adopted because they knew that it was an effective way to gain votes. The very idea of folkhemmet wasn't even a social democratic concept originally, but one they stole from västgöten Rudolf Kjellén of Högerpartiet (The Right Wing Party). See this article, according to which Kjellén also founded the scientific discipline of geopolitics:
Rudolf Kjellén - Wikipedia, den fria encyklopedin
"Homogenuity" was another fancy word that social democrats liked to flash about, but it was only idle talk, since with one arm they embraced "homogenuity", while at the same time they introduced mass immigration. Go further up in time, and you will find the social democratic slogan
To be Swedish is to be social democrat ("Att vara svensk är att vara socialdemokrat"). Basically nothing changed during that time as far as the "ideals" - if any - of social democracy are concerned.
It just got worse the longer they pursued their internationalist agenda, even to a point where they made a mess of political life in Sweden
in toto. All the other parties adapted to social democratic standards in a desperate attempt to break their reign, only to lose most of what their opposition was about. I will take this opportunity to remind you that the opposed Högerpartiet, now Moderaterna, cleansed their party of a declining nationalist faction no earlier than under their present chairman, statsminister Fredrik Reinfeldt. That cleansing took place during a period of time after the 2002 election. The disastrous political climate was a fact long before that, created by the social democrats with support of the people, since most people were unable to distinguish between what social democrats said, and what they did in practice.
In closing, I don't see any good reaon whatsoever to get inspired by social democracy.