Description

A promising opportunity or a frightening threat? During the last century, no political force could ignore the Soviet communist social project that emerged from the ruins of the First World War and developed into the world’s largest state. This was particularly true of the Swedish labour movement and its various branches, which existed on the very periphery of this great upheaval. The Arioso project at Södertörn University has investigated how both the Social Democrats and the Swedish Communist Party sought to deal with developments in the East, which often had a significant impact on Swedish society as well. Was Bolshevism an ‘oriental stranger’ and its supporters potential traitors to be closely monitored? Could Soviet feminism and the planned economy attract followers? Did Soviet communism, paradoxically, help to save liberal capitalism? In often unexpected light, the context does not always appear as it is perceived by posterity.