SWEDEN - September 14, 2014 - GUIDE and THREAD

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The key point is that Swedish industrialisation was a little weird - essentially because so much of it was resource based - and this has had important long-term implications with regards to class, the distribution of wealth and so on.

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Adding a few more maps to the thread because, what the hell.

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Yeah, farmers are a right-wing bunch in most industrialised countries. There will be some (basically always smallholders) exceptions here and there but less than the 'exceptions' in most social groups,¹ and there will be some farmers in some places who will vote for parties that are not right-wing for various culture war reasons,² but that will generally be it. All of the farmers in the valley I grew up in were Tories, as were their wives and children.

If you still have a peasantry it can be - though still wouldn't usually be - a little different, but then we're actually talking of a different social group. Farm labourers - a different group again - have traditionally voted to the left in many countries, but mechanisation means that there are a hell of a lot less of those than there used to be.

<sub>1. My one great uncle was a hill farmer and a solid Labour man. Which is statistically unusual.
2. All of those Plaid voting farmers in North Wales, for instance. But they're still a very right-wing bunch.</sub>

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Yeah, it also was the model of the British Labour party, though I think it's been quite lost now.

Oh no, the National Executive is still full of TU representatives (12 out of 33: the next largest group - representatives of constituency parties - get six. And in practice it is invariably 13 out of 33 as the post of Party Treasurer pretty much always goes to a Trade Unionist) and the TU block vote is still an important feature at Conference.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I am as of yet undecided. I know I won't vote SD, V or FP but anything else is still possible.

That's verging on gustaf.txt

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M represents The Man therefore is obviously the principle conservative party of record

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I don't think you can really call the Swedish Greens 'ultra left'.

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It is because Sweden is secretly twin-countried with New Zealand.

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Amusing to see a Trot argue that elections are governed by the logic of the market and the existence of the rational consumer of electoral goods.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Amazing stuff.