APSR kommenterar valen i Sverige och Norge 1936

När jag satt och letade efter helt andra saker i den topprankade statsvetenskapliga tidskriften American Political Science Reviews arkiv, snavade jag över deras valrapport från valen i Sverige och Norge 1936. Lite kuriosaläsning, hur man såg på dessa val från en amerikansk statsvetenskaplig ståndpunkt då när det hände:

"Workers' Parties Show Gains in Sweden and Norway. Every twelve years, the parliamentary elections in Sweden, which take place quadrennially, and those in Norway, which occur triennially, fall within a few weeks of each other. In 1936, spirited contests in these two Scandinavian countries (September 21 in Sweden and October 19 in Norway) culminated in gains in each case for the workers' parties. The workers' parties of these two contigous democracies have much in common. Both are moderately socialistic, and both are believers in the democratic parliamentary system of government. The official title of the Norwegian party is Labor, while that of the Swedish is Social Democrat."
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In both countries, the workers' parties were the 'ins' and were asking for a continuance in power, which, as shown in the tables below, was granted by the voters in each case. In Sweden, where the gains of the workers' party (Social Democrat) were more pronounced than those in the neighboring democracy, the 'ins' were accused of waste and extravagance, of levying unduly heavy taxes, of piling up a huge national debt, and of desiring a dictatorship. The 'ins' pointed to recovery, to improved living conditions for the average man, and insisted that they were 'spending to save'. A live issue was raised by the active support by the Social Democrats of a program of work relief in the form of public works, with labor paid as in the open market, accompanied by supertaxes on big fortunes. The Conservatives opposed both of these proposals, although the Agrarians supported them."

Ben A. Arneson (American University), "Workers' Parties Show Gains in Sweden and Norway", The American Political Science Review vol. 31 No. 1 February 1937, pp. 97-99