Swedish Social Democratic Party
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Template:Infobox Swedish Political Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party (Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti, commonly referred to as Socialdemokraterna), is the largest political party in Sweden. The party was founded in 1889, and in 1917 a split occurred when the communists and revolutionaries left to form a separate party.
Ideologically the party is Social Democratic (it is a full member of Socialist International) and has a base of blue-collar workers, intellectuals, and public sector employees. It derives much of its power from strong links with the Swedish Trade Union Confederation or LO, which represents around 90 percent of Sweden's blue-collar workers. The party programme combines a commitment to social welfare and government direction of the economy.
Currently, the party has about 165 000 members. There are roughly 2 540 local party associations around the country, as well as some 500 workplace associations.
There are a number of special, independent organisations within the Swedish social democratic movement: The National Federation of Social Democratic Women in Sweden (S-kvinnor) organise Social Democratic women. The Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (Sveriges Socialdemokratiska Ungdomsförbund or SSU) organises the youth movement. The Social Democratic Students of Sweden (Socialdemokratiska Studentförbundet) organises Social Democrats at universities. The Christian Brotherhood (Broderskap) organises Christian Social Democrats.
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Voter base
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The Swedish Social Democratic Party has received between 40%-50% of the votes in all elections of "modern times" (couting between 1940 and 1988). Being so dominating, its voters come from many different backgrounds. A few important groups can be identified. One of them are immigrants, while another one is the blue-collar workers. People employed in the public sector do also tend to vote for the Social Democrats. Quite a few leftist intellectuals vote for the party too.
Ideology
The Social Democratic Party is in theory a revision of marxism. In its party program they call their ideology for democratic socialism, or Social Democracy.
Their intention is to fund a general welfare politic based in solidaric taxes.
The party is responsible for the Swedish welfare state that was came into existance after World War II. The Swedish society as it is generally depicted abroad was a result of this politic.
After economical recessions in the 70's, the party feverous persisted in its politic to cover up deficits in the economy by supporting puchases of the Swedish currency and borrowing money abroad. When this did not work any longer in the early 90's, the party was blamed for irresponsibility and between 1991-1994 lost its place as governing party of Sweden.
In 1996 and After, the working class profile of the Party has faded away. They have for economical reasons privatized many state companies, such as the phone, postal service and nursing homes, to allow a greater market competition. They still claim to be working on behalf of a welfare state however.
In recent times they have become strong supporters of feminism, equality of all kinds, and in strong opposition to all forms of discrimination and racism.
Social Democrat Prime Ministers
- Hjalmar Branting, (1920, 1921-1923, 1924-1925)
- Rickard Sandler, (1925-1926)
- Per Albin Hansson, (1932-1936, 1936-1946)
- Tage Erlander, (1946-1969)
- Olof Palme, (1969-1976, 1982-1986)
- Ingvar Carlsson, (1986-1991, 1994-1996)
- Göran Persson, (1996-present)
Other key members
Former ministers
See also
- Prime Minister of Sweden
- Government of Sweden
- Parliament of Sweden
- Elections in Sweden
- Politics of Sweden
References
- United States Department of State - Sweden (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2880.htm)
External links
- Template:Sv icon Socialdemokraterna (http://www.socialdemokraterna.se/) - Official site
Template:Swedish political partiesde:Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti et:Rootsi Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Tööpartei fr:Parti social-démocrate du travail suédois it:Partito Socialdemocratico Svedese sv:Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti