Sweden's modern history

Chapter 10 is the largest in the material — pages 32–38 — and it produces by far the most practice questions. It’s also the most date-heavy chapter. If you work through the chronology carefully once, the rest of the chapter gets much easier.

From an agricultural society to an industrial society

Two hundred years ago, Sweden was a typical agricultural country. Nearly the whole population lived in the countryside and worked farming the land and tending animals, the towns were small, and compared with other European countries Sweden was poor.

During the 19th century, efficient machines were invented and industries grew up across Europe. Sweden’s first larger industries started in the mid-1800s: sawmills that produced timber goods, and industries that manufactured steel. Later came factories for shoes and clothing, and engineering industries.

Many people moved to the cities to work in the factories, which in turn affected housing conditions, the labour market, and infrastructure.

Population growth and emigration

At the start of the 1800s there were around 2.5 million inhabitants. A hundred years later the population was twice as large. The causes were better farming methods that produced more food, and medical advances that reduced the risk of children dying from disease.

But the country was still poor and many struggled to find work. More than a million Swedes emigrated to the USA between 1850 and 1920.

The road to democracy

The king, the nobility, the church, merchants, and farmers had long held political power. As society industrialised, more and more people demanded that the political system change too.

• 1809 — the Riksdag adopted a new constitution that limited the king’s power.
• 1865 — a constitutional amendment gave more people the right to vote and meant the nobility and clergy lost their old political influence.

But this was not yet democracy. Women still lacked the right to vote and could not be elected to political office. Among men, only those with a certain income or wealth could vote — and the richest had several votes.

The popular movements

The popular movements were a decisive factor in the transition to real democracy. People organised in voluntary associations to demand their rights: an eight-hour working day, the right to vote, and freedom of religion.

The four largest were the labour movement, the free-church movement, the women’s movement, and the temperance movement. Already during the 1800s, hundreds of thousands of people got involved. They started their own libraries and study circles and organised meetings.

The methods were lawful: demonstrations in streets and squares, protest meetings, books, and newspaper articles. Many of the popular movements still exist today.

The breakthrough of democracy

• 1909 — nearly all men gained the right to vote.
• 1918 — the decision on universal suffrage, after many years of protest and political unrest. The women’s movement in particular pushed for the right to vote to include women too.
• 1921 — the first Riksdag election in which both men and women could vote, and in which women could be elected to the Riksdag.

With the 1921 election, Sweden had become a democracy. That is the most important date in the whole chapter.

The world wars

During the First World War, 1914–1918, Sweden declared itself neutral. The country was nevertheless hit by shortages of food and other essential goods, which led to demonstrations and protests.

During the Second World War, 1939–1945, Sweden also remained neutral. The country found itself in difficult situations several times — when Finland was attacked by the Soviet Union, and when Nazi Germany occupied Denmark and Norway. To reduce the risk of being drawn into the war, the government allowed German soldiers to travel through Sweden on their way to occupied Norway and to Finland.

During the Holocaust, the Nazis murdered around 6 million Jews in Europe. In the 1930s, Sweden had a strict policy that made it difficult for Jews to move here, and it continued through the war’s early years. Toward the end of the war, the policy changed:

• About 7,000 Danish Jews fled to Sweden with the help of a Danish–Swedish rescue operation.
• The diplomat Raoul Wallenberg issued Jews with protective passports, documents showing that they were under Swedish protection and could not be sent to concentration camps.
• At the end of the war, the Red Cross rescued thousands of Jews from the German concentration camps and drove them across the border into Sweden in the white buses.

The interwar period: conflict and folkhem

The period after the breakthrough of democracy was turbulent. Many were unemployed, class differences were large, and strikes for better wages and working conditions were common. In 1931 the military fired on demonstrating workers in Ådalen, and several people were killed — an event that shook Sweden and showed how deep the conflicts ran.

In 1928, the Social Democratic party leader Per Albin Hansson formulated the idea of the folkhem (“the people’s home”): a society in which everyone could feel security and community regardless of background, and in which class differences and political conflicts would shrink.

In 1938, the Saltsjöbaden Agreement was signed between employers and trade unions. It laid the foundation for the Swedish model — that employers and unions, not politicians, agree on labour-market terms through collective agreements. The model still shapes how wages and working conditions are set today.

At the same time, everyday life was modernised: more households got electricity, and in the 1930s many apartments got modern kitchens and bathrooms — although many still lived in cramped conditions and lacked a flush toilet.

The darker sides

The material is explicit that the modern society did not make life better for everyone. During this period there was race-biology research that affected minorities such as the Sami, Tornedalians, Jews, and Roma. The Riksdag passed laws that made it harder for certain groups, such as Roma and Jews, to immigrate. People who were not considered to fit in were placed in hospitals or other care institutions, sometimes for the rest of their lives — especially people with mental illness or disabilities.

Only in more recent times has Sweden come to terms with this history and offered some redress to those affected.

The record years

After the Second World War, Sweden had strong economic growth for a long period. Unemployment was very low, industries did well, and living standards rose quickly. The Social Democrats mostly held government power on their own from 1945 to 1976.

The strong economy made major reforms possible — hence the name the record years (rekordåren):

• a 40-hour work week with Saturdays off
• five weeks of paid vacation
• expanded healthcare and elder care
• a better social safety net: child allowances, sickness insurance, and pensions

Better wages meant more people could afford a car, a summer cottage, and holidays abroad. Many of the welfare systems that exist in Sweden today have their roots here.

Sweden becomes a country of immigration

The strong economy drew people from the countryside into the cities. At the same time, many people immigrated to work — from countries including Finland, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Turkey. Sweden, which in the 1800s had been a country of emigration, now became a country of immigration.

The rapid influx created a housing shortage. To solve it, the state launched the Million Programme (miljonprogrammet) in the 1960s, with the goal of building one million homes in ten years. New residential areas grew up in the suburbs, with larger and more modern apartments than in the city centres and with access to shops, healthcare, and schools.

Equality and cultural change

During the record years, both equality and gender equality increased. The pay gap between men and women narrowed, more and more women began working outside the home, and childcare centres were expanded to make that possible.

The 1960s was a decade of youth protests against injustice, with strong engagement for peace, the environment, and international solidarity. The Du-reform meant people began addressing each other with the informal “du” instead of using titles or the formal “ni” — an expression of a more equal society. In the early 1960s, the television set also arrived, changing how people consumed news and entertainment.

The information society

From the mid-1970s, the industrial society changed into an information and knowledge society. At first this was felt as an economic crisis: competition increased as other countries began producing cheaper goods, several large Swedish industries closed down, and unemployment rose.

Partly as a reaction to the crisis, Sweden got its first non-Social Democratic government in 1976 — the start of a period alternating between Social Democratic and centre-right governments.

After the crises, a high-tech society emerged, and attitudes toward education changed. Universities and colleges were expanded, more people studied for longer, and the need for lifelong learning grew as knowledge quickly became outdated while technological development accelerated.

The chapter ends with the multicultural society, individual rights, and the digital revolution and globalisation.

Dates worth knowing

Year	Event
1809	New constitution limits the king’s power
1850–1920	More than a million Swedes emigrate to the USA
1865	Constitutional amendment; nobility and clergy lose influence
1909	Nearly all men gain the right to vote
1914–1918	First World War, Sweden neutral
1918	Decision on universal suffrage
1921	First election with both men and women — Sweden becomes a democracy
1928	Per Albin Hansson formulates the folkhem
1931	The shooting in Ådalen
1938	The Saltsjöbaden Agreement
1939–1945	Second World War, Sweden neutral
1945–1976	The record years
1960s	The Million Programme, the Du-reform, television
1976	First non-Social Democratic government in a long time