Three huge demonstrations (particularly for a city with only half a million inhabitants) took place during the EU summit in Gothenburg. 10,000 marched against president Bush on Thursday 14 June, 20,000-25,000 against EU/EMU on the Friday and 10,000-15,000 against the policies of the EU on the Saturday. These was the largest demonstrations in Gothenburg since the big strike and lockout of 1980. It also reflects a growing discontent amongst young people and workers.
The Swedish media has been taken by surprise by the groundswell of opposition to the US military adventure. Now the opposition to the US attacks has begun to be expressed in demonstrations. Opinion polls reveal that 6 out of 10 Swdes are against any US attack if any innocent civilians were put at risk. Only 3 out of 10 favour such attacks. In addition 56% have little or no confidence in Bush and only 32% have confidence in him. By Lena Ericson Hoijer, Editor Socialisten,
the Swedish Marxist Journal. In addition we publish a report on an anti-war demonstration in Stockholm by Pia Hallgren.
In this article Martin Oscarsson, from the Editorial Board of the Swedish Marxist journal
Socialisten,
illustrates how the deepening worldwide crisis of capitalism
is affecting Swedish society. A radical mood is developing among
the youth in the Social Democratic Party (SSU) and the unions are being
placed in a position where they will have to come out into open opposition to the party.
The old "Swedish model" once fondly referred to by all the right-wing
leaders of the labour movement internationally has definitely broken down.
Sweden faces an intensification of the class struggle.
The municipal workers in Sweden have come out on strike. All over the country day-care centres, schools, refuse-processing plants and other public services have been shut down. This strike marks an important turning point for the class struggle in Sweden.