Att anpassa sig till en ny världsordning. Den svenska socialdemokratin och beslutet om att ta emot Marshallhjälp 1947–1948

Abstract

This thesis shows how Sweden took its first steps into the emerging cold war order during the years 1947-1948. The study focuses the Swedish Social Democratic party, which had to wrestle with different views on the conflict between east and west, capitalism and communism. The acute matter that had to be handled was whether Sweden was going to participate in the first organization of the western bloc – The Marshall plan and OEEC. This was a tough question, not only ideologically but in relation to Swedish official policy on neutrality. Drawing on Gramscian theory, the study shows how the Social Democrats adjusted themselves to the new hegemonic world order, during the process in which this order was shaped. This was a formative phase in many respects, and shaped Swedish domestic policy for years to come. The thesis shows how the new world order partly was imposed on Sweden by coercion from the United States, but also how the cold war conflict resonated with already existing dynamics in Swedish politics. The formation of the new hegemony reignited the conflict between Social Democrats and communists in Sweden, and marginalized the leftist flank within the social democratic party. This was in part a return to the relations of Swedish politics in the 1930s. The debate about Sweden joining the Marshall Plan resulted in a foreign policy consensus between The Social Democrats and the liberal and right wing parties. This consensus was based on a western-friendly neutrality and animosity towards communism, both within Sweden and abroad. This was formative for Swedish politics for the decades to come, with the Social Democrats moving in a centrist direction and searching cooperation with the right, marginalizing the Swedish communist party.