Democratic Socialists Workers Party (SAP) came to power as a part of the majority coalition government under Per Albin Hansson. He did not become Prime Minister until 1932, succeeding Hjalmar Branting, the first SAP Prime Minister, but in 1928 he delivered a speech to the Riksdag which laid the foundations for the future agenda of the party (8). In the speech he expressed the need for Sweden to create a system of government that supported the people from cradle to grave (9). He spoke about the importance of creating a big tent of support in Sweden and the idea that the "people’s home" belonged to everyone. Mary Hilson, a scholar on Swedish socialism, writes that the speech expressed the vision for Sweden to be a place “where individuals could expect to be treated equally regardless of social status, and kindly without the stigma that had been attached to earlier recipients of welfare benefits” (10). In order to achieve this Hansson says, “workers must be accorded a share on economic administration, democracy must be introduced and applied to social and economic life” (11). During his four terms as Prime Minister, Hansson was able to institute many of the reforms that he described in this speech, including the expansion of the pension system and large scale public works efforts to fight unemployment (12). Hansson’s speech aligns with the party program from the 1920s, but political realities pushed Sweden in a much more liberal direction. The SAP party program in 1920 says, “All natural resources, industrial undertakings, institutes for banking and credits, means of transportation and communications are to be transferred to the ownership of the State with expert management and proper guarantees against bureaucratic methods. Workers and consumers should participate in the administration of state undertakings. State control should be applied to undertakings remaining in private hands” (13). This programme painted a picture of a socialized country, which for many members of the party was the goal (14). The SAP oriented their agenda around a cooperative transition to government led socialization. However, the political reality of the time did not allow for this programme to come to fruition. In order for the SAP to accomplish the welfare reforms that were the central to their goals, they were forced to compromise with the Farmers and other more conservative groups, ultimately leading to the party moving away from socialism in favor of a slightly more liberal approach (15). The compromises that were made under the Red-Green alliance gave more power to both business and the government. Government instituted regulations combined with heavy tax burden on businesses that operated in a free market system are hallmarks of the welfare state and came as a result of this period of political compromise (16). Within Hansson's government, Ernst Wigforss, one the most prominent Swedish Model theorists, served as the minister of finance and helped create an economic system that both supported free enterprise and made room for broad welfare systems. His work remains largely untranslated into English, but secondary accounts describe how his theories focused on, “social policy, full employment, and the possibilities of cooperation with private capital… and sufficient equality of property to prevent classes based on inherited wealth” (17). As a member of the Riksdag and the Minister of Finance he shaped many of the policies that aided in the transition to a fully functional welfare state. He argued against Marxists ideologies and instead advocated for socialization within a capitalist PAGE 16 VOL. 1, NO. 1 ZEITGEIST
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