Modernization of Sweden

Politics in the New Riksdag

The economic condition of Sweden, owing to the progress in material prosperity which had taken place in the country as the result of the Franco-Prussian War, was at the accession of Oscar II to the throne on September 18, 1872 fairly satisfactory. Politically, however, the outlook was not so favourable. In their results, the reforms inaugurated during the preceding reign did not answer expectations.

Within three years of the introduction of the new electoral laws Louis De Geer ministry had forfeited much of its former popularity, and had been forced to resign. In the vital matter of national defence no common understanding had been arrived at, and during the conflicts which had raged round this question, the two chambers had come into frequent collision and paralysed the action of the government. The peasant proprietors, who, under the name of the "Lantmanna" party, formed a compact majority in the Second Chamber, pursued a consistent policy of class interests in the matter of the taxes and burdens that had, as they urged, so long oppressed the Swedish peasantry; and consequently when a bill was introduced for superseding the old system of army organization by general compulsory service, they demanded as a condition of its acceptance that the military burdens should be more evenly distributed in the country, and that the taxes, which they regarded as a burden under which they had wrongfully groaned for centuries, should be abolished. In these circumstances, the "Lantmanna" party in the Riksdag, who desired the lightening of the military burden, joined those who desired the abolition of landlordism, and formed a compact and predominant majority in the Second Chamber, while the burgher and Liberal parties were reduced to an impotent "intelligence" minority. This majority in the Lower Chamber was at once attacked by another compact majority in the Upper, who on their side maintained that the hated land taxes were only a kind of rent-charge on land, were incidental to it and in no way weighed upon the owners, and moreover that its abolition would be quite unwarrantable, as it was one of the surest sources of revenue to the state. On the other hand, the First Chamber refused to listen to any abolition of the old military system, so long as the defence of the country had not been placed upon a secure basis by the adoption of general compulsory military service. The government stood midway between these conflicting majorities in the chambers, without support in either.

The Lantmanna Party

The Swedish "Lantmanna" party was formed in 1867. It consisted mostly of the larger and smaller peasant proprietors, who at the time of the old Riksdag of the Estates were always opposed to the nobility and the clergy. The object of the party was to bring about a fusion between the representatives of the large landed proprietors and the regular peasant proprietors, to support the interests of landed proprietors in general against those of the town representatives, and to resist Crown interference in the administration of local affairs.

Such was the state of affairs when Oscar II of Sweden, surrounded by his late brother's advisers, began his reign. One of his first cares was to increase the strength of his Royal Swedish Navy, but in consequence of the continued antagonism of the political parties, he was unable to effect much. In the first Riksdag, however, the so-called "compromise", which afterwards played such an important part in Swedish political life, came into existence. It originated in the small "Scania" party in the Upper House, and was devised to establish a modus vivendi between the conflicting parties, i.e. the champions of national defence and those who demanded a lightening of the burdens of taxation. The King himself perceived in the compromise a means of solving the conflicting questions, and warmly approved it. He persuaded his ministers to constitute a special inquiry into the proposed abolition of land taxes, and in the address with which he opened the Riksdag of 1875 laid particular stress upon the necessity of giving attention to the settlement of these two burning questions, and in 1880 again came forward with a new proposal for increasing the number of years of service with the militia. This motion having been rejected, De Geer resigned, and was succeeded by Count Arvid Posse. The new Prime Minister endeavoured to solve the question of defence in accordance with the views of the "Lantmanna" party. Three parliamentary committees had prepared schemes for a remission of the land taxes, for a new system of taxation, for a reorganization of the Swedish Army based on a "stamtrupp" (regular army), by the enlistment of hired soldiers, and for naval reforms. In this last connection the most suitable types of vessels for coast defence as for offence were determined upon. But Count Posse, deserted by his own party over the army bill, resigned, and was succeeded on May 16, 1884 by Oscar Themptander, who had been minister of finance in the previous cabinet. The new premier succeeded in persuading the Riksdag to pass a bill increasing the period of service with the colours in the army to six years and that in the militia to forty-two days, and as a set-off a remission of 30% on the land taxes.

Free trade vs. Protectionism

Influenced by the economic reaction which took place in 1879 in consequence of the state of affairs in Germany, where Prince Otto von Bismarck had introduced the protectionist system, a Protectionist party had been formed, which tried to gain adherents in the Riksdag. It is true that in the Riksdag of 1882 the commercial treaty with France was renewed, but since 1885 the protectionist party was prepared to begin the combat, and a duty on barley, which had been proposed in the Riksdag of the same year, was rejected by only a slight majority. During the period of the unusually low price of barley of 1886, which greatly affected the Swedish farmers, protection gained ground to such an extent that its final triumph was considered as certain within a short time. During the Riksdag of the same year, however, the premier, Themptander, emphatically declared himself against the protectionist party, and while the parties in the Second Chamber were equal in number, the proposed tax on barley was rejected in the First Chamber. In the Riksdag of 1887 there was a majority for protection in the Second Chamber, and in the first the majority against the tax was so small that the tax on barley would have triumphed in a combined meeting of the two chambers. The government, availing itself of its formal right not to dissolve the chamber in which it had the support of a majority, therefore dissolved only the Second Chamber in March 1887.

The new Riksdag assembled in May with a free trade majority in the Second Chamber, but nothing in connection with the great question of customs was settled. In the meantime, the powerful majority in the Second Chamber split into two groups - the new "Lantmanna" party, which approved protection in the interests of agricultural classes; and a somewhat smaller group, the old "Lantmanna" party, which favored free trade.

The victory of the free traders was not to be of long duration. The protectionists obtained a majority in both chambers in the next Riksdag in 1888. To the First Chamber protectionists were almost exclusively elected, and in the Second all the twenty-two members for Stockholm were disqualified, owing to one of their number not having paid his taxes a few years previously, which prevented his being eligible. Instead, then, of twenty-two free traders representing the majority of the Stockholm electors, twenty-two protectionists, representing the minority, were elected, and Stockholm was thus represented in the Riksdag by the choice of a minority in the capital. This singular way of electing members for the principal city in the kingdom could not fail further to irritate the parties. One result of the Stockholm election came at a convenient time for the Themptander ministry. The financial affairs of the country were found to be in a most unsatisfactory state. In spite of reduced expenses, a highly estimated revenue, and the contemplated raising of taxes, there was a deficit, for the payment or discharge of which the government would be obliged to demand supplementary supplies. The Themptander ministry resigned. The King retained, however, for a time several members of the ministry, but it was difficult to find a premier who would be able, during the transition from one system to another, to command sufficient authority to control the parties. At last Baron Gillis Bildt, who, while Swedish ambassador in Berlin, had witnessed the introduction by Otto von Bismarck of the agrarian protectionist system in Germany, accepted the premiership, and it was under his auspices that the two chambers imposed a series of duties on necessaries of life. The new taxes, together with an increase of the excise duty on spirits, soon brought a surplus into the state coffers. At a Council of State on October 12, 1888 the king declared his wishes as to the way in which this surplus should be used. He desired that it should be applied to a fund for insurance and old age pensions for workmen and old people, to the lightening of the municipal taxes by state contributions to the schools and workhouses, to the abolition of the land taxes and of the obligation of keeping a horse and man for military service, and, lastly, to the improvement of the shipping trade; but the Riksdag decided to devote it to other objects, such as the payment of the deficit in the budget, the building of railways and augmentation of their material, as well as to improvements in the defenses of the country.

The Barley Question

Baron Bildt resigned as soon as the new system seemed settled, making room for Baron Gustaf Akerhielm. The latter, however, also soon resigned, and was succeeded on the July 10, 1891 by Erik Gustaf Bostrom, a landed proprietor. The protectionist system gained in favour on the expiry of the commercial treaty with France in 1892, as it could now be extended to articles of industry. The elections of 1890, when the metropolis returned free traders and Liberals to the Second Chamber, certainly effected a change in the latter, as the representatives of the towns and the old "Lantmanna" party joined issue and established a free-trade majority in the chamber, but in the combined meetings of the two chambers the compact protectionist majority in the First Chamber turned the scale. The customs duties were, however, altered several times in accordance with market prices and ruling circumstances. When the import duty on ungrounded barley was reduced in 1892, the same duties were also retained for the following year. They were also retained for 1894 at the request of the government, which desired to keep faith with their promise that while the new organization of the army was going on no increase of duties on the necessaries of life should take place. This measure caused much dissatisfaction, and gave rise to a strong agrarian movement in consequence of which the government, in the beginning of 1895, before the assembling of the Riksdag, made use of its right of raising the two duties on barley just referred to, which were afterwards somewhat reduced as far as seed barley for sowing purposes was concerned.