In the Shadow of the Soviet Union

This article was originally sent to the Freedom Network News for publication.

Sweden has been ruled by the socialist Social Democrat Workers Party for the last seven decades. Their power is still unthreatened by other parties even though they do not hold a majority of the seats in parliament. The elections in September 2002 made the party even more dominating among the seven parties in parliament by reaching approximately 40% of the popular vote. The communist and environmentalist parties gained together another 13%.
      The socialist rule has strongly influenced the way Swedes look upon the state and which issues are considered political or private. The Swedish state currently taxes its working citizens by approximately 65-70% of earnings. Taxpayers’ money is spent mainly on the distributional systems of the welfare state, as well as on public schools, public health care, public daycare centers, providing high-speed internet access for everyone, the war on drugs and so on.
      Communists like Mao Zedong and Karl Marx would be proud to know what the Swedish State has accomplished. As a matter of fact, the Swedish State uses capitalism for wealth creation in the same way as the Communist Party in the People’s Republic of China. It has also, as we shall see, implemented all measures proclaimed in The Communist Manifesto to fully enforce the dictatorship of the proletariat.
      As Marx and Engels foresee, “the first step in the revolution by the working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class, to win the battle of democracy.” The purpose is to “centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the State.” This will typically be accomplished in ten measures:

1. Expropriation of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes
Enforced. Rents of land are effectively collected through heavy taxation of land and both labor and produce in every step of the production process. Also, the government has full right to expropriate any private property for public use, and by law anyone may use other peoples land for e.g. recreational purposes (camping, hiking, picking berries and mushrooms…).
      Precious metals and stones can be extracted from anyone’s private property without the owner’s permission, but compensation for depreciation of property value must be paid.

2. A heavy progressive tax
Enforced. Progressive taxation was introduced in the beginning of the 20^th century by the conservatives and has never been challenged by any party in parliament since. Sweden is currently number one in taxes, taxing its low-income citizens with over 60% of earnings.

3. Abolition of all right to inheritanc
Almost enforced. Inheritance is heavily taxed and restricted. Anyone inheriting the home of one’s childhood will have to be very rich to be able to keep it. Applicable taxes will have to be paid within 30 days from the settlement of the estate.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebel
The Prime Minister of Sweden has promised to publicly condemn anyone slandering Sweden or Swedish financial policy. Also, since a few years there have been discussions on how to impose sanctions on companies moving headquarters abroad.
      There are no actual rebels in Sweden today, except for a small number Nazis, whose property is repeatedly seized in the name of “public interest.” It is currently illegal to express nazi opinions publicly.

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly
Enforced. As in any country today, the gold standard of currency has been abandoned in favor of paper currency (funny-money) based solely on the coercion of the State. Interest rates are set by the Riksbank, the Swedish central bank. (Speculation forced the Riksbank to increase interest rates to 500% in 1992 to defend the fixed exchange rates. It failed, leaving the taxpayers a multi-billion dollar cost.)
      There will be a referendum in September 2003 of whether to join the European Monetary Union, thus to go even further towards centralization of the currency.

6. Centralization of transport in the hands of the State
Enforced. The State has full responsibility to plan and uphold all infrastructures – railways, highways/roads, and airports as well as high-speed internet access and telephony – in the country. Some maintenance work is sometimes purchased from private enterprises, but the State holds control and the overall responsibility.
      Private initiatives are regulated and taxed, opposed or prohibited.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing of cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a general plan
Enforced. The Department of Industry enforces national industry policies in the marketplace. Corporation start-ups are subsidized, contracts are regulated, and the labor market is supervised.
      According to Plan- och bygglagen (the Planning and Building Act), the government has to plan any areas (even private property) to become residential areas. The planning and decision process includes decisions on road building, how and where to provide public sewer systems and electricity, organizing for public schooling and daycare centers and more.

8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture
Enforced. All children are raised in public schools to be good citizens and wage earners, emphasizing the supremacy of work over other preferences and choices. Children not agreeing are usually sent to the school welfare officer to be taught manners.
      Full employment is the main issue in Swedish politics. Those not working are subject to State programs of reeducation and competence development. Not being employed is generally considered inappropriate and “wrong.”

9. Combination of agriculture with industry, promotion of the gradual elimination of the contradictions between town and countryside
Enforced. Regional development policy is one of the main issues in Swedish politics next to full employment; companies are usually heavily subsidized to move to the wastelands. Billions are invested to provide public services (such as schools, hospitals, roads) to “everybody everywhere.”
      The State proclaims all companies should compete under the same conditions, which in the wastelands of the north means the State must provide all infrastructure available in city areas (even if originally provided by private enterprise).

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. etc.
Enforced. The obligation to attend school for everybody 6 to 15 years old creates a uniform environment where the children of the welfare state are raised to good citizens.
      A “maximum rate” for daycare (approximately $200 per child and month) was introduced in 2002, which will increase State influence over the upbringing of children. The “maximum rate” literally makes it financially impossible to choose other than public daycare centers.

This is Sweden of today, a country which was considered one of the wealthiest in the world. The truth is people are actually dying awaiting surgery in public hospitals; children are graduated after nine or twelve years in school without being able to read; and violent crime rates are increasing rapidly, while police stations are continuously closed down. At the same time, the tax burden is increased every year to guarantee the welfare.

Subscribe to the PerBylund.com Update! Subscribers receive a short e-mail message every time one of Per Bylund’s columns is published, with a synopsis and link.

Subscribe here: www.PerBylund.com/notifier/?p=subscribe