Vol. 74/No. 33      August 30, 2010

Östling was speaking at an August 14 meeting to launch the election campaign here. Tirsén chaired the meeting.

“The ruling classes around the world, including here in Sweden, attack health care, pensions, and other social gains that we look upon as rights,” stated Östling.

Other political parties never mention the word depression in the unfolding debate leading up to the elections on September 16. Östling described the attacks on pensions and sick leave benefits, begun in the 1990s under the social democratic government and continued by the parties in the so-called alliance government formed in 2006. Unemployment benefits, for example, have not been raised since 2002.

“No matter what election coalition wins on September 16, the attacks on working people will continue,” she said. “That means we will need to use our organizations to defend ourselves.”

“The garbage collectors organized a strike in 2009 to defend their working conditions against speedup and wage cuts. Despite antistrike laws that have hamstrung the unions since working-class struggles were defeated in the 1930s, workers can use their unions and build unity to defend themselves,” Östling said.

Östling also pointed to the fight by Somali immigrants in 2008 to free two of their leaders who spent four months in prison, accused of terrorism. They were freed and charges dropped.

“I don’t think that workers in Sweden have become more capitalist minded,” one worker said in the lively discussion period. He asked, “How come the social democrats and the election coalition they lead do not appear to be headed toward an easy electoral victory?”

“The social democrats always administered the extraction of surplus value for the Swedish capitalists by presiding over their state. They promised reforms and a better life, but that is not possible any more. When capitalism is in crisis, the social democracy, like the Stalinists, are in crisis too,” Östling responded.

Others asked why the Sweden Democrats—a right-wing party that began in 1988 formed out of violent street gangs called “Keep Sweden Swedish”—gained seats in 130 municipalities in the 2006 elections and now, on September 16, seems will get more than 4 percent of the votes needed to retain seats in parliament. “The main capitalist parties paint a rosy picture of the situation, while working people sense that their future is uncertain,” Östling said. “The Sweden Democrats play on this fear, blaming the crisis on immigrants.

“All parties, from the Sweden Democrats to small parties on the far left of bourgeois politics, are nostalgically defending the ‘welfare state.’”

But no one can get this “welfare state” back, explained Östling. “Today working people face restrictive laws against strikes and spying and harassment of militant workers. We need to fight to defend every millimeter of gains, and defend ourselves against government attacks against us. The fights will not be over until we topple the rulers and their state in a proletarian revolution.”
 
 
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