Difference between revisions of "Olof Palme"

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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.
 
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.
  
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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 powers held even by ceremonial monarchs in [[Denmark]], [[Norway]] and the [[United Kingdom]].
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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 powers held even by ceremonial monarchs in [[Denmark]], [[Norway]] and the [[United Kingdom]].
  
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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.<ref>[http://karisable.com/palme.htm "The Palme Administration"]</ref>
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Olof Palme was a firm believer in [[nuclear power]] as a necessary form of energy, at least for a transitional period to curb the use of fossil fuel.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8cqbdE0j64 "Palme's green politics"]</ref> His intervention in Sweden's 1980 referendum on the future of nuclear power is often pinpointed by opponents of nuclear power as saving it. Nuclear power remains one of the most important sources of energy in Sweden, much attributed to Palme's actions.
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Under Olof Palme's government matters concerned with child care centres, social security, protection of the elderly, accident safety, and housing problems received special attention. Under Palme the public health system in Sweden became efficient, with the infant mortality rate standing at 12 per 1,000 live births. <ref>[http://info.lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/castro/1975/19750729 "Social policy"]</ref> An ambitious redistributive programme was carried out, with special help provided to the disabled, immigrants, the low paid, single-parent families, and the old.<ref>"Socialists in the Recession: The Search for Solidarity" by Giles Radice and Lisanne Radice</ref> 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,<ref>Taxation, Wage Bargaining and Unemployment by Isabela Mares</ref> while tax rates rose from being fairly low even by European standards to one of the highest levels in the Western world. Olof 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 Olof'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.
 
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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 use of fossil fuel.<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8cqbdE0j64 "Palme's green politics"]</ref> His intervention in Sweden's 1980 referendum on the future of nuclear power is often pinpointed by opponents of nuclear power as saving it. Nuclear power remains one of the most important sources of energy in Sweden, much attributed to Palme's actions.
 
  
 
On 21 February 1968, Palme (then Minister of Education) participated in a protest in Stockholm against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War together with the North Vietnamese Ambassador to the Soviet Union [[Nguyen Tho Chan]]. The protest was organised 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.<ref>[http://www.olofpalme.org/ingangar/tema/vietnam/ "Olof Palme och Vietnamfrågan 1965-1983"]</ref>
 
On 21 February 1968, Palme (then Minister of Education) participated in a protest in Stockholm against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War together with the North Vietnamese Ambassador to the Soviet Union [[Nguyen Tho Chan]]. The protest was organised 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.<ref>[http://www.olofpalme.org/ingangar/tema/vietnam/ "Olof Palme och Vietnamfrågan 1965-1983"]</ref>
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On 23 December 1972, Palme (then Prime Minister) made a speech on Swedish national radio where he compared the ongoing US bombings of Hanoi to historical atrocities, namely the bombing of Guernica, the massacres of Oradour-sur-Glane, Babi Yar, Katyn massacre, Lidice, the Sharpeville massacre and the Treblinka extermination camp. The US 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).<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvANQqWFsW4 "Anti-US speech"]</ref>
 
On 23 December 1972, Palme (then Prime Minister) made a speech on Swedish national radio where he compared the ongoing US bombings of Hanoi to historical atrocities, namely the bombing of Guernica, the massacres of Oradour-sur-Glane, Babi Yar, Katyn massacre, Lidice, the Sharpeville massacre and the Treblinka extermination camp. The US 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).<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvANQqWFsW4 "Anti-US speech"]</ref>
  
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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.
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Despite such associations, and contrary to stated Social Democratic Party policy, Sweden 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.
  
 
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,<ref>[http://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=110438&dt=2082&dl=1345 "Discussion with Prime Minister Palme of Socialist Meeting in Denmark - January 18–19"]</ref> Kissinger asked the US ambassador to "(...) convey my personal appreciation to Palme for his frank presentation (...).<ref>[http://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=110437&dt=2082&dl=1345 "Palme's views on Socialist International meeting"]</ref>
 
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,<ref>[http://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=110438&dt=2082&dl=1345 "Discussion with Prime Minister Palme of Socialist Meeting in Denmark - January 18–19"]</ref> Kissinger asked the US ambassador to "(...) convey my personal appreciation to Palme for his frank presentation (...).<ref>[http://aad.archives.gov/aad/createpdf?rid=110437&dt=2082&dl=1345 "Palme's views on Socialist International meeting"]</ref>
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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.<ref>[http://www.thelocal.se/32314/20110228/ "Palme's political legacy 'put Sweden on the map'"]</ref>
 
  
 
==Assassination==
 
==Assassination==

Revision as of 23:04, 29 November 2024

Person.png Olof Palme   ISGP Sourcewatch Website WikiquoteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Olof Palme.jpg
BornSven Olof Joachim Palme
30 January 1927
Stockholm, Sweden
Died28 February 1986 (Age 59)
Stockholm, Sweden
Cause of death
Olof Palme/Assassination
NationalitySwedish
Alma materSigtunaskolan, Stockholm University, Kenyon College
Children • Joakim
• Mårten
• Mattias
SpouseLisbet Palme
Victim ofassassination
Interest ofSven Aspling
PartySwedish Social Democratic Party
Subpage•Olof Palme/Assassination
Leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969, and two-term Prime Minister, until his assassination in 1986.

Employment.png Prime Minister of Sweden Wikipedia-icon.png

In office
14 October 1969 - 8 October 1976
Preceded byTage Erlander
Succeeded byThorbjörn Fälldin

Employment.png Prime Minister of Sweden Wikipedia-icon.png

In office
8 October 1982 - 28 February 1986

Employment.png Swedish Social Democratic Party/Leader

In office
14 October 1969 - 28 February 1986

Employment.png President of the Nordic Council

In office
1979
Preceded byOlof Palme
Succeeded byOlof Palme

Employment.png Sweden/Minister/Education Wikipedia-icon.png

In office
1 January 1968 - 14 October 1969

Employment.png Sweden/Minister/Communications

In office
25 November 1965 - 29 September 1967

Employment.png 

Dates unknown

Olof Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 to his assassination in 1986, and was a two-term Prime Minister of Sweden, heading a Privy Council government from 1969 to 1976 and a cabinet government from 1982 until his death. Electoral defeats in 1976 and 1979 marked the end of Social Democratic hegemony in Swedish politics, which had seen 40 years of unbroken rule by the party.

While leader of the opposition, Olof Palme divided domestic and international interests and served as special mediator of the United Nations in the Iran–Iraq War, but returned to power as Prime Minister after stunning electoral victories in 1982 and 1985.

Early life

Olof Palme came from an upper-middle-class, conservative and at the same time tolerant and cosmopolitan family. His parents were Gunnar Palme (1886-1934), managing director of the Insurance Company Thule, and the Baltic-German Elisabeth von Knieriem (1890-1972), who was born in the Russian province of Livonia but came in 1915 as a refugee to Sweden. Her paternal grandmother Hanna von Born was of Finnish-Swedish nobility. As a four-year-old, Palme spoke French with his nanny, German with his mother, and Swedish with his siblings.

Olof Palme first attended private school in Stockholm. Later he transferred to the elite boarding school of Sigtuna. He did his military service as a lieutenant of cavalry.

Through his mother's relationships, he began to write – unpaid – for the country's largest conservative newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet, until he received a scholarship from the American-Scandinavian Foundation for Kenyon College in Ohio, USA. Palme wrote his senior honour thesis on the United Auto Workers union, led at the time by Walter Reuther. On weekends he visited factories and got acquainted with the trade union movement. 1947/48 he received a Bachelor of Arts with a thesis on the concept of freedom in Friedrich August von Hayek's The Road to Servitude[1], and followed it up with a few months off, during which he hitchhiked around 34 US states. According to his later self-assessment, the experience of the USA gave him a strong feeling for the social inequality prevailing there. In the autumn of 1948, Palme began studying law at the University of Stockholm and joined the Social Democratic Student Association there, in 1952/53 he was /chairman of the Swedish Student Body. He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws.

From 1949 to 1952 he was married to the Czech Jelena Rennerová in a fictitious marriage. On June 9, 1956, Palme married the psychologist Lisbeth Beck-Friis; they had three sons: Joachim, Marten and Mattias.

Early political career

Palme was a member of the Social Democratic Student Club in Stockholm (SSK). In 1952, Palme became chairman of the Swedish National Union of Students, a position he held for a year. In 1953 he was recruited to become Bureau secretary at the military Defence Staff in the government of prime minister Tage Erlander, becoming Erlander's personal secretary and adviser. In the summer of 1955, was promoted to lieutenant in the cavalry reserve. In 1954, Palme advanced in the government office, becoming secretary of the Council of State, until 1961.

In 1957 he was elected as a Member of Parliament representing Jönköping County in the directly-elected First Chamber (Första kammaren) of Sweden's Riksdag. In the early 1960s Palme became a member of the Agency for International Assistance (NIB) and was in charge of inquiries into assistance to the developing countries and educational aid.

Palme was elected to parliament in 1957. In 1963, he became a member of the Cabinet - as Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office, and retained his duties as a close political adviser to Prime Minister Tage Erlander. In 1965, he became Minister of Transport and Communications. In 1967 he became Minister of Education and, the following year, he was the target of strong criticism from left-wing students protesting against the government's plans for university reform.[2] When party leader Tage Erlander stepped down in 1969, Olof Palme was elected as the new leader by the Social Democratic party congress and succeeded Erlander as Prime Minister.

Policies

As leader of a new generation of Swedish Social Democrats, Olof Palme was often described as a "revolutionary reformist".[3][4] 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 powers held even by ceremonial monarchs in Denmark, Norway and the United Kingdom.

Olof Palme was a firm believer in nuclear power as a necessary form of energy, at least for a transitional period to curb the use of fossil fuel.[5] His intervention in Sweden's 1980 referendum on the future of nuclear power is often pinpointed by opponents of nuclear power as saving it. Nuclear power remains one of the most important sources of energy in Sweden, much attributed to Palme's actions.

On 21 February 1968, Palme (then Minister of Education) participated in a protest in Stockholm against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War together with the North Vietnamese Ambassador to the Soviet Union Nguyen Tho Chan. The protest was organised 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.[6]

On 23 December 1972, Palme (then Prime Minister) made a speech on Swedish national radio where he compared the ongoing US bombings of Hanoi to historical atrocities, namely the bombing of Guernica, the massacres of Oradour-sur-Glane, Babi Yar, Katyn massacre, Lidice, the Sharpeville massacre and the Treblinka extermination camp. The US 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).[7]

Despite such associations, and contrary to stated Social Democratic Party policy, Sweden 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.

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,[8] Kissinger asked the US ambassador to "(...) convey my personal appreciation to Palme for his frank presentation (...).[9]

Assassination

Full article: Olof Palme/Assassination
An alleged SADF Military Intelligence report, dated 15 October 1985, concluded that Palme "should be seen as an enemy of the State." He was assassinated in February 1986.
Upon his release from prison in 1990, Nelson Mandela meets Mrs Palme in Stockholm

Olof Palme was assassinated in Sweden on 28 February 1986 whilst walking home from a cinema with his wife. A decidedly problematic Official Narrative of the assassination suggests that it was the work of a "lone nut". Evidence is gradually emerging that his assassination was a deep event, including a document from October 1985 before his assassination that stated that "should be seen as an enemy of the State."[10] A Dutch documentary had a Belgian investigator saying the murder was the work of Operation Gladio.[11]

Suspect named

Stig Engström, an advertising consultant was named as a "lone nut" suspect in the murder case by authorities on 10 June 2020, 34 years since Mr Palme was assassinated in central Stockholm. Since he died in 2000, the investigation was closed.[12][13]

Palme, the documentary

The 2012 film Palme

Palme is a Swedish documentary film premiered in Sweden on 14 September 2012 and written by Maud Nycander and Kristina Lindström. The film is a biographical portrait of the former prime minister Olof Palme, and covers his life from childhood to the role as a leading figure of Swedish politics. On general release in 2012, it has been shown as a 103-minute long feature film, and as a 175-minute long TV-movie in three parts on SVT at Christmas and New Year.[14]

Plot

On Friday evening, February 28, 1986 Olof Palme was shot dead in the street. The day after, news reached out to the people that the country's prime minister was dead, and the whole country found itself suddenly shocked. The film follows Palme's life from his youth until he is assassinated. It contains material from Palme's family that has never been shown in public, private snapshots and family movies.

External links


 

A Olof Palme victim on Wikispooks

TitleDescription
Olof PalmeLeader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969, and two-term Prime Minister, until his assassination in 1986.

 

Appointments by Olof Palme

AppointeeJobAppointedEnd
Bernt CarlssonSpecial Emissary to the Middle East and Africa19831985
Kjell-Olof FeldtSweden/Minister/Finance1 January 198316 February 1990

 

Events Participated in

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
Bilderberg/19652 April 19654 April 1965Italy
Villa d'Este		The 14th Bilderberg meeting, held in Italy
Bilderberg/197311 May 197313 May 1973Sweden
Saltsjöbaden		The meeting at which the 1973 oil crisis appears to have been planned.
Bilderberg/198411 May 198413 May 1984Sweden
Saltsjöbaden		The 32nd Bilderberg, held in Sweden
Geijer AffairSwedenSwedish 1970s prostitution/VIPaedophile exposure with possible intelligence blackmail ties.

 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:Afterword to "Who Really Killed Chris Hani?"Book29 February 2024Christopher NicholsonCourts have decided that freedom of expression trumps all other rights as without it nobody, including the courts, would ever hear of breaches of other rights. So those who have attempted to suppress this book have prevented the world from discovering and prosecuting the criminals, who perpetrated the foul murders. In law we would describe them as accessories after the fact of these killings.
Document:Olof Palme - The Man Who Played With Firebook review2020Simon MatthewsBernt Carlsson, a colleague of Olof Palme’s and UN Commissioner for Namibia 1987-1988, died in the Lockerbie bombing on 21 December 1988. Carlsson's presence on Pan Am Flight 103 has been cited as the reason it was bombed.
Document:Olof Palme — South African Spies Likely Murdered Sweden Prime MinisterArticle12 March 2018Ludwig De BraeckeleerTop Secret Apartheid Intelligence Report says that Olof Palme must “now be seen as an enemy of the State”
Document:PanAm-Rätsel LOCKERBIE: Es war Südafrika!…so wie bei Olof PalmeArticle6 October 1996Kurt Seinitz"It would have been easy for South African secret service agents, who had infiltrated Sweden's anti-apartheid movement, to exchange Carlsson's tape recorder in a hotel room against one containing the bomb. And then placing it inside one of those 'ubiquitous' Samsonite suitcases, so beloved by the peripatetic Bernt Carlsson."
Document:Reinstatement in HM Diplomatic ServiceLetter6 January 1997Patrick HaseldineA plea for reinstatement in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office by "Thatcher's Whitehall Critic"
Document:Who Really Killed Chris Hani?Book29 February 2024Christopher Nicholson"Apart from Chris Hani’s murder, we deal with five others, spread over three decades: Patrice Lumumba in September 1961; Dag Hammarskjöld on 18 September 1961; Olof Palme on 28 February 1986; Bernt Carlsson on 21 December 1988; and Anton Lubowski on 12 September 1989."
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References

  1. ↑ Bill Mayr: Remembering Olof Palme. In: Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin Vol. 34, No. 2, Winter 2012.
  2. ↑ Olof Palme - En levande vilja: Tal och intervjuer
  3. ↑ Dagens Nyheter 23 January 2007
  4. ↑ "Detta borde vara vårt arv" by Åsa Linderborg, Aftonbladet 28 February 2006
  5. ↑ "Palme's green politics"
  6. ↑ "Olof Palme och Vietnamfrågan 1965-1983"
  7. ↑ "Anti-US speech"
  8. ↑ "Discussion with Prime Minister Palme of Socialist Meeting in Denmark - January 18–19"
  9. ↑ "Palme's views on Socialist International meeting"
  10. ↑ Document:Olof Palme — South African Spies Likely Murdered Sweden Prime Minister
  11. ↑ https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Operati%C3%ABn_en_Inlichtingen#Divisions
  12. ↑ https://www.arabnews.com/node/1687671/world
  13. ↑ "Olof Palme assassination: Stig Engström named as suspected killer of Swedish Prime Minister"
  14. ↑ "SVT: Programtablå Palme"
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