Law or fist? An interview on the Social Democrats and political resistance

How do you organize political resistance? Is it reasonable to use non-democratic methods to protect a democratic society? And how do you get everyone in a large organization to agree on a common strategy? Listen to an interview with historians Johan A Lundin and Victor Lundberg.

On the 11th of March, Johan and Victor – researchers at Malmö University – came to our research seminar to talk about their article "With a fierce punch and a well-placed kick? SSU and the Nazi Challenge 1933", published in the journal Arbetarhistoria 2014: 1-2 . In the article they talk about how SSU (the Social Democratic Youth League) in Skåne reacted to the Nazi takeover in Germany in 1933. That same year the German Social Democratic Party was banned and the National Socialist parties in Sweden, inspired by the developments in Germany, strengthened their efforts to find new voters.

This research project aims to understand how the Social Democrats developed during this time and how it's political culture was influenced by the events before and during World War II. In this first study they conclude that in 1933, there were significant differences between the local and central levels of the party regarding the reactions to the Swedish fascist parties. They can also see that both strategies and discussions on how to handle the fascists at that time, still have a bearing today. It's about fundamental questions concerning values and the limits of democracy.

Listen to an interview where Johan and Victor talk about the study (in Swedish).

Lag eller näve? Intervju med Victor Lundberg och Johan A Lundin om SSU och en antifascistisk kamp by Institutet För Framtidsstudier on Mixcloud

The articles that Johan talk about in the interview:
Slaget på Limhamns torg (pdf)
Lag eller näve? Stormöte i Limhamn för demokrati - ett 75-årsminne (pdf)