TAGE ERLANDER

Author: Tage Erlander
Year: 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1982, 
Publisher: Tidens Förlag
Language: Swedish 

Since the end of the Second World War, Sweden has had a Social Democratic prime minister for a total of 59 years. For more than 1/3 of those, the name of the Prime Minister was Tage Erlander. These are his memoirs in six tomes: ”1901-1939”, ”1940-1949”, ”1949-1954”, ”1955-1960”, ”1960-talet” (”The 1960s”), and ”Sjuttiotalet” (The Seventies”). The first four volumes are penned by Erlander himself, the fifth by Arvid Lagercrantz in the form of interviews with Erlander, and the last by what seems to be an undisclosed ghostwriter.

In Sweden, Tage Erlander is remembered as the builder of “Folkhemmet”, the People’s Home. Folkhemmet is a vision of the country as the home for its entire people based on the idea of a trilateral partnership between capital, labour, and people who all benefit from a stable co-existence and co-dependence marked by negotiation rather than confrontation. The concept was spawned by Erlander’s predecessor as Prime Minister, Per Albin Hansson, in the 1920s, but the necessary means and financial strength to put it into practice were not available until after the war.  

Although Erlander was the builder of Folkhemmet, he was not its architect. It is obvious from his memoirs, and he himself emphasises it, that he was no great ideologist. He is careful to credit several thinkers (most notably Ernst Wigforss and Gustav Möller but there were many others) for the ideas that formed the politics of his government and claims few, if any, ideas for his own. However, he was an outstanding politician who had an unusual aptitude for turning will into action. And there was no lack of will in the Social Democracy at the time!

Sweden after the world war was lifted up from the poor provincial agricultural nation that it used to be, to become the highly industrialised welfare state that we know today. Erlander supervised the overhaul of the mandatory primary school, pensions, public health insurance, non-alliance based defence, nuclear power, science and innovation, modern housing, and infrastructure. Under his stewardship, Sweden rose to become one of the most prosperous nations in the world.

Democratic Socialism, too, was tested during this time. With the end of Stalinism and the rise of various incarnations of socialism in different governments around Europe, parliamentary democracy being a young form of government still was by no means a given, and Sweden’s constitution as a hereditary monarchy was an unlikely but nonetheless lingering threat.

Tage Erlander writes in great detail about events, people, and ideas.  He has been greatly aided by his habitude of keeping a diary and retaining his letters but he has also employed the assistance of many of his friends and colleagues, as well as public files and journalistic archives. Although his tone is consistently placid throughout the series and he never veers from his respectful attitude toward the people that he mentions by name, allies and adversaries alike, it does show that the memoirs were written over a long period of time and that the Prime Minister aged significantly between each volume. While the first book that covers his youth and first steps into politics before the war is light-hearted, humorous, and witty, the middle volumes are more technical, featuring lengthy quoted passages from meeting minutes, news articles, diary entries, and speeches, whereas the last two tomes are contemplative, pensive, and sometimes philosophical.

Already in the second volume, he takes a moment to dwell on the essence of democratic socialism against the backdrop of the Second World War and the increasingly loud Communists. He writes “The supporting pillar in the ideology of social democracy is the respect for the freedom of the individual and the principles of democracy.” It is telling how the much smaller Swedish Communist Party persisted in calling the Social Democrats “traitors” on account of categorically rejecting revolution and dictatorship as permissible instruments for the liberation of the workers. Indeed, passages from his diaries show signs of concern due to his own longevity as Prime Minister and the detrimental impact that he might have on the faith in the democratic system among the Swedish electorate.

Although the political challenges for Sweden have changed since Tage Erlander’s days, it is useful to follow the ideological thread that derived out of thoughts that shaped his politics and that proceeds to the modern social democrats of today under Magdalena Andersson’s leadership. Erlander frequently returns to concepts such as democracy, rule of law, and liberty, and his actions and choices are routinely guided by these values. He explains how it is possible to be a socialist and support private investments into production and trade with ensuing profits. He defends a labour market that is based on mutual agreements between employers’ organisations and trade unions free from political interference (which is why there is no regulatory minimum wage in Sweden). In the fifth volume, Erlander talks at length about his dialogues and meetings with some of the most important industrialists in Sweden, among others Marcus Wallenberg and Axel Wenner-Gren.

It is inevitable that a person writing his autobiography will take the opportunity to shape his or her reputation. At its worst, an autobiography can become a self-aggrandising propaganda piece. At its best, it is the product of selective memory. I do not expect Tage Erlander’s memoirs to be an exception. Having said that, despite his numerous and radical accomplishments, I never get the feeling of reading about a great man. Although Erlander rarely brings up any significant mistakes or miscalculations from his past, he also resists the urge to glorify himself or his achievements.  From this perspective, the fifth entry, “1960-talet”, where he is interviewed by Arvid Lagercrantz, is perhaps the most revealing part of the series and at some point Erlander even schools his speaking partner when he disapproves of a certain question. This somehow underscores his modesty and leaves me with a feeling of having read the thoughts and memories of a person who is not altogether different from me. 

As a historical document about one of the most exciting periods in Swedish post-war politics, Tage Erlander’s memoirs are close to matchless and I am delighted to have had the opportunity to spend this time in the company of this influential person. Despite the books being written before I was born and deal with a time dating back to the first half of the 20^th century, I am often struck by how current the topics that he brings up are and how crisp (and often witty) his political commentary. “What would Erlander have done?” is not a bad thought experiment for modern-day social democrats when faced with the issues of our time. And that, perhaps, is the best testament to the greatness of this man.