Olof Palme - Policies

Policies

As leader of a new generation of Swedish Social Democrats, Olof Palme was often described as a "revolutionary reformist". Domestically, his socialist views—especially the Social Democrat drive to expand Labour Union influence over business—engendered a great deal of hostility from more conservatively inclined Swedes.

Olof Palme carried out major reforms in the Swedish constitution such as orchestrating a switch from bicameralism to unicameralism in 1969 and in 1975 replacing the 166-year-old Instrument of Government (at the time the oldest political constitution in the world after that of the United States) with a new one officially establishing parliamentary democracy rather than de jure monarchic autocracy, abolishing the Privy Council of Sweden and stripping King Carl XVI Gustav of most rights held even by ceremonial monarchs in Denmark, Norway and the United Kingdom.

His reforms on labour market included establishing a law which increased job security. In the Swedish 1973 general election the Socialist-Communist and the Liberal-Conservative blocs got 175 places each in the parliament. The Palme administration continued to govern the country but several times they had to draw lots to decide on some issues, although most important issues were decided through concessional agreement.

Under Olof Palme's government matters concerned with child care centers, social security, protection of the elderly, accident safety, and housing problems received special attention. Under Palme the public health system in Sweden became incredibly efficient, with the infant mortality rate standing at 12 per 1,000 live births. An ambitious redistributive programme was carried out, with special help provided to the disabled, immigrants, the low paid, single-parent families, and the old. The Swedish welfare state was significantly expanded from a position already one of the most far-reaching in the world during his time in office, while tax rates rose from being fairly low even by European standards to the highest levels in the Western world. Olaf Palme's last government, elected during a time when Sweden's economy was in difficult shape, sought to pursue a "third way," designed to stimulate investment, production, and employment, having ruled out classical Keynesian policies as a result of the growing burden of foreign debt, together with the big balance of payments and budget deficits. This involved "equality of sacrifice," whereby wage restraint would be accompanied by increases in welfare provision and more progressive taxation. For instance, taxes on wealth, gifts, and inheritance were increased, while tax benefits to shareholders were either reduced or eliminated. In addition, various welfare cuts carried out before Olaf's return to office were rescinded. The previous system of indexing pensions and other benefits was restored, the grant-in-aid scheme for municipal child care facilities was re-established, unemployment insurance was restored in full, and the so-called “no benefit days” for those drawing sickness benefits were cancelled. Increases were also made to both food subsidies and child allowances, while the employee investment funds (which represented a radical form of profit-sharing) were introduced.

An outspoken supporter of gender equality, Palme sparked interest for women's' rights issues by attending a World Women's Conference in Mexico. In 1968 Palme was a driving force behind the release of documentary Dom kallar oss mods. The controversial movie, depicting two social outcasts, was scheduled to be released in an edited form but Palme thought the material was too socially important to be cut.

As a forerunner in green politics Olof Palme was a firm believer in nuclear power as a necessary form of energy, at least for a transitional period to curb the influence of fossil fuel. His intervention in Sweden's 1980 referendum on the future of nuclear power is often pinpointed by opponents of nuclear power as saving it. As of 2011, nuclear power remains one of the most important sources of energy in Sweden, much attributed to Palme's actions.

Shortly before his assassination, Palme had been accused of being pro-Soviet and not sufficiently safeguarding Sweden's national interest. Arrangements had therefore been made for him to go to Moscow to discuss a number of contentious bilateral issues, including alleged Soviet submarine incursions into Swedish waters (see U 137).

On the international scene, Palme was a widely recognised political figure because of his:

• harsh and emotional criticism of the United States over the Vietnam War;
• vocal opposition to the crushing of the Prague Spring by the Soviet Union;
• criticism of European Communist regimes, including labeling the Husák regime as "cattle of dictatorship" (Swedish: "Diktaturens kreatur") in 1975;
• campaigning against nuclear weapons proliferation;
• criticism of the Franco Regime in Spain, calling the regime "devilish murderers" (Swedish: "Satans mördare") after its execution of ETA and FRAP nationalists in September 1975;
• opposition to apartheid, branding it as "a particularly gruesome system", and support for economic sanctions against South Africa;
• support, both political and financial, for the African National Congress (ANC), the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the POLISARIO Front;
• visiting Fidel Castro's Cuba in 1975, during which he denounced Fulgencio Batista's government and praised contemporary Cuban and Cambodian revolutionaries;
• strong criticism of the Pinochet Regime in Chile;
• support, both political and financial, for the FMLN-FDR in El Salvador and the Nicaragua under FSLN; and,
• role as a mediator in the Iran-Iraq War.

All of this ensured that Palme had many opponents (as well as many friends) abroad.

On 21 February 1968, Palme (then Minister of Education) participated in a protest in Stockholm against the U.S. involvement in the war in Vietnam together with the North Vietnamese Ambassador to the Soviet Union Nguyen Tho Chan. The protest was organized by the Swedish Committee for Vietnam and Palme and Nguyen were both invited as speakers. As a result of this, the U.S. recalled its Ambassador from Sweden and Palme was fiercely criticised by the opposition for his participation in the protest.

On 23 December 1972, Palme (then Prime Minister) made a speech in Swedish national radio where he compared the ongoing U.S. bombings of Hanoi to a number of historical atrocities, namely the bombing of Guernica, the massacres of Oradour-sur-Glane, Babi Yar, Katyn, Lidice and Sharpeville, and the extermination of Jews and other groups at Treblinka. The USA government called the comparison a "gross insult" and once again decided to freeze its diplomatic relations with Sweden (this time the freeze lasted for over a year).

Despite such associations and contrary to stated Social Democratic Party policy, Sweden had in fact secretly maintained extensive military co-operation with NATO over a long period, and was even under the protection of a US military security guarantee (see Swedish neutrality during the Cold War).

Asked about Palme, former United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once answered that he usually disliked the people he agreed with and liked the people he disagreed with, adding dryly: "So Palme, I liked - a lot". In response to Palme's remarks in a meeting with the US ambassador to Sweden ahead of the Socialist International Meeting in Helsingør in January 1976, Kissinger asked the US ambassador to "(...) convey my personal appreciation to Palme for his frank presentation (...).