4 ms·

Not a right-winger in the sense that the word is used now, he was in local politics for the Moderates mostly dealing with school issues. As for hating Palme, th

by progre 6y ago

Not a right-winger in the sense that the word is used now, he was in local politics for the Moderates mostly dealing with school issues. As for hating Palme, the same could be said of about a million people in Sweden at the time.

panpanna 6y ago
I had the impression that he was pretty popular outside a few far right circles. He was after all elected with a majority?
- kzrdude 6y ago
  He was pretty popular and pretty unpopular too. That's the story about him, he was a controversial, born "aristocrat" but still social democrat, and he had many who loved him and many haters. He was controversial and outspoken.
- progre 6y ago
  Oh he was extremly popular. My parents was in tears when they heard about the murder (from me, I was 8 but I had the radio on in my room). But he was also seen as a traitor by the right. Being outspokenly angry at him was not unusual or extreme at the time. Edit: This was diffrent times. Lots of people said things like "i wish he was dead" and worse things. Noone called out such talk like we do now. When I starded as aprentice in a factory about 9 years after this there was always threats of violence among workers, people was called racial slurs to their face, women was always "courted" in crude ways. Noone took such things seriously at the time.
  - barry-cotter 6y ago
    > Edit: This was diffrent times. Lots of people said things like "i wish he was dead" and worse things. Noone called out such talk like we do now. When I starded as aprentice in a factory about 9 years after this there was always threats of violence among workers, people was called racial slurs to their face, women was always "courted" in crude ways. Noone took such things seriously at the time. That your class position has moved from the working class to the professional managerial class does not mean the working class has adopted the PMC’s speech codes.
    - progre 6y ago
      I'm not so sure that it's primarily a class thing, I think its more generational. I was still in factories when the shift happened around -98. A bunch of mean old assholes retired and the gen-X people started to get influential in management and more assertive as workers. Very expensive project management roles started to be occupied by women and the company maybe thought they couldn't afford to lose them over some sexist bullshit. Asshole behaviour simply wasn't tolerated anymore, on any level. I have no illusion that people stopped being assholes in -98 but that kind of behaviour was kept to smaller social circles (or anonymus) for a while.
      - NotSammyHagar 6y ago
        I was curious what Palme did, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme tells me he pursued a non-aligned politics, but also he notably supported Cuban revolutionaries and attacked right wing authoritarian leaders (Franco, Salazar, Pinochet).
- username90 6y ago
  He created a policy slowly transferring company shares from private owners to workers unions with the intention of moving towards a fully worker driven economy. That was a disaster causing many big companies to leave Sweden and was reversed soon after and nobody has tried something similar since. So you could call him a communist idealist and a lot of people really hated him for it. If you think that being against this makes you "far right", then you are probably pretty far left.
  - username90 6y ago
    Do you get downvoted at HN just for mentioning "communism"? Doing this is why he was so loved and also so hated. Or could it be that the same things he did is being proposed in UK and USA right now, so people don't want to hear how it failed and was hated by many in Sweden over thirty years ago?
    - achtung82 6y ago
      I dont think ive heard anything similar being sugested in the US or UK. And it should be noted that the employment funds was hardly Palmes issue but something driven through by the unions that have large power with in the Social Democratic party in sweden. It was largely impopular even within the social democratic leadership. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_funds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_funds
      - username90 6y ago
        > I dont think ive heard anything similar being sugested in the US or UK. Both Bernie and Corbyn wants to do something very similar. > And it should be noted that the employment funds was hardly Palmes issue but something driven through by the unions that have large power with in the Social Democratic party in sweden But Olof Palme was the one who let it through, normally the Social Democrats doesn't agree with everything the unions wants. He might not have been that radical himself, but he was radical enough to not think it was a bad proposal.
        6y ago
- mongol 6y ago
  Olof Palme was ill liked among many, also people far from far right. It was also among the ordinary right, common people with conservative or libertarian opinions. Among traits Palme had that caused this was arrogance and divisiveness. Note that it did not take much to be conservative in Sweden in those days. Cannot be compared with the current US meaning of the word. If you thought that paying less than 50 percent of your salary in taxes was fair, you were basically conservative.
  - mongol 6y ago
    Would be interesting to know who downvotes me and why. Especially if they have any personal experiences from Swedish 80s political climate.
    - mc32 6y ago
      Anything that might question left leaning politics is subject to downvotes without substantive reason beside “I don’t like that opinion”.
- T-A 6y ago
  Only a plurality. More than half the electorate consistently voted for somebody else: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme#Socialdemokraternas_valresultat_till_riksdagen_under_Olof_Palme https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme#Socialdemokraternas...

by progre 6y ago

panpanna 6y ago

I had the impression that he was pretty popular outside a few far right circles. He was after all elected with a majority?

kzrdude 6y ago
He was pretty popular and pretty unpopular too. That's the story about him, he was a controversial, born "aristocrat" but still social democrat, and he had many who loved him and many haters. He was controversial and outspoken.
progre 6y ago
Oh he was extremly popular. My parents was in tears when they heard about the murder (from me, I was 8 but I had the radio on in my room). But he was also seen as a traitor by the right. Being outspokenly angry at him was not unusual or extreme at the time. Edit: This was diffrent times. Lots of people said things like "i wish he was dead" and worse things. Noone called out such talk like we do now. When I starded as aprentice in a factory about 9 years after this there was always threats of violence among workers, people was called racial slurs to their face, women was always "courted" in crude ways. Noone took such things seriously at the time.
- barry-cotter 6y ago
  > Edit: This was diffrent times. Lots of people said things like "i wish he was dead" and worse things. Noone called out such talk like we do now. When I starded as aprentice in a factory about 9 years after this there was always threats of violence among workers, people was called racial slurs to their face, women was always "courted" in crude ways. Noone took such things seriously at the time. That your class position has moved from the working class to the professional managerial class does not mean the working class has adopted the PMC’s speech codes.
  - progre 6y ago
    I'm not so sure that it's primarily a class thing, I think its more generational. I was still in factories when the shift happened around -98. A bunch of mean old assholes retired and the gen-X people started to get influential in management and more assertive as workers. Very expensive project management roles started to be occupied by women and the company maybe thought they couldn't afford to lose them over some sexist bullshit. Asshole behaviour simply wasn't tolerated anymore, on any level. I have no illusion that people stopped being assholes in -98 but that kind of behaviour was kept to smaller social circles (or anonymus) for a while.
    - NotSammyHagar 6y ago
      I was curious what Palme did, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme tells me he pursued a non-aligned politics, but also he notably supported Cuban revolutionaries and attacked right wing authoritarian leaders (Franco, Salazar, Pinochet).
username90 6y ago
He created a policy slowly transferring company shares from private owners to workers unions with the intention of moving towards a fully worker driven economy. That was a disaster causing many big companies to leave Sweden and was reversed soon after and nobody has tried something similar since. So you could call him a communist idealist and a lot of people really hated him for it. If you think that being against this makes you "far right", then you are probably pretty far left.
- username90 6y ago
  Do you get downvoted at HN just for mentioning "communism"? Doing this is why he was so loved and also so hated. Or could it be that the same things he did is being proposed in UK and USA right now, so people don't want to hear how it failed and was hated by many in Sweden over thirty years ago?
  - achtung82 6y ago
    I dont think ive heard anything similar being sugested in the US or UK. And it should be noted that the employment funds was hardly Palmes issue but something driven through by the unions that have large power with in the Social Democratic party in sweden. It was largely impopular even within the social democratic leadership. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_funds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_funds
    - username90 6y ago
      > I dont think ive heard anything similar being sugested in the US or UK. Both Bernie and Corbyn wants to do something very similar. > And it should be noted that the employment funds was hardly Palmes issue but something driven through by the unions that have large power with in the Social Democratic party in sweden But Olof Palme was the one who let it through, normally the Social Democrats doesn't agree with everything the unions wants. He might not have been that radical himself, but he was radical enough to not think it was a bad proposal.
      - 6y ago
mongol 6y ago
Olof Palme was ill liked among many, also people far from far right. It was also among the ordinary right, common people with conservative or libertarian opinions. Among traits Palme had that caused this was arrogance and divisiveness. Note that it did not take much to be conservative in Sweden in those days. Cannot be compared with the current US meaning of the word. If you thought that paying less than 50 percent of your salary in taxes was fair, you were basically conservative.
- mongol 6y ago
  Would be interesting to know who downvotes me and why. Especially if they have any personal experiences from Swedish 80s political climate.
  - mc32 6y ago
    Anything that might question left leaning politics is subject to downvotes without substantive reason beside “I don’t like that opinion”.
T-A 6y ago
Only a plurality. More than half the electorate consistently voted for somebody else: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme#Socialdemokraternas_valresultat_till_riksdagen_under_Olof_Palme https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme#Socialdemokraternas...