Riding the Wave: Sweden’s Integration into the Imperialist World System

by Torkil Lauesen

"In general, the Scandinavian countries did not have the necessary military power and administrative capacity to establish and operate their own colonies. They had to ride the wave of the great colonial powers in order to enjoy the benefits offered by imperialism. There was no difference, however, between the Scandinavian countries and the great colonial powers regarding their attitude towards colonialism. European colonialism can be seen as a unified whole in which large and small countries played different roles. Some managed territories and opened up markets, others provided capital, built infrastructure, or transported goods to and from the colonies. The Scandinavian countries earned large sums by navigating in the wake of the major colonial powers." -- from Riding the Wave

The Scandinavian countries, particularly Sweden, are capitalist welfare states which provide high standards of living and social security for their nation's citizens. Sweden is regarded as progressive; some even consider it to be half way on the road towards socialism. It is often evoked as a showcase of "capitalism with a human face," when it is not being described as outright "socialist." These are the accomplishments of the Social Democratic Party, supported by the strong trade union movement. However, such claims only makes sense if one takes imperialism out of the equation.

Torkil Lauesen's Riding the Wave tells another story, about how Sweden rides on the wave of colonialism and imperialism, how it was integrated as a core-state in global capitalism, and how the Swedish “people's home” has been paid for by value transfer from global production chains stretching throughout the Global South. This is also the story of Social Democracy and how the struggle in the Second International between two lines -- one reformist, nationalist, and pro-imperialist, the other internationalist and anti-imperialist -- remains relevant to this day.

Lauesen recounts Sweden's failure to establish colonial territories of its own, leading it to find its place as a junior partner first to Germany and then to the United States. Sweden's complicity in settler colonialism and the slave trade is examined, as is its intervention in Finland's Civil War, its profitable trade relations with the Third Reich, support for Belgian colonialism and genocide in the Congo, involvement in exploitative mining operations in Liberia, the rise and decline of the Social Democrats, and much more. An overview if also provided of specific Swedish corporations, from the Kreuger Group to IKEA and H&M, as well as the historically important Swedish arms industry and Swedish imperialism in the Baltic region. All of these are examined within the context of capitalism, colonialism, and imperialism, with particular attention paid to the crisis of neoliberalism and the rise of China. Lauesen insists that in order to understand the history, nature, and prospects of Sweden we must adopt a global perspective.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Sweden, Economics

249 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

a scaled-down, country-specific version of his work The Global Perspective of a few years earlier. lauesen argues that sweden (and denmark, he talks a lot about denmark too) failed to establish colonial empires but settled for advantageous arrangements with england and later germany to secure opportunities for domestic capital to reach new markets. the class struggle in the 19th and 20th century in sweden led to powerful workers organizations and attempts at social control of production via employee-funded ownership schemes, but not to a fundamental challenge to capitalism itself. today, after neoliberalism, the welfare state has become eroded, industrial production has been largely outsourced, and swedish capital depends on unequal exchange facilitated by value-chain relationships of the type described in john smith's book Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century.

lauesen identifies the 'principal contradiction' or 'conflict that affects all other conflicts' in the world as being between transnational capital and the nation state and its classes. in sweden this takes the form of swedish capital depending on outsourcing, immigration and reduction of the welfare state for profitability, and workers responding by either demanding an end to the internationalization of the swedish economy (which is impossible, without also doing away with the benefits sweden as a whole collects from imperialism) or attempting to reform the welfare state back to the glory days of the 70's.

there are lots of other interesting details in the book, like an examination of the effects of the pension system and real estate markets on the consciousness of working people, a critical discussion of olof palme and dag hammarskjold, an analysis of the geopolitical aspects of the swedish weapons and telecommunications industry, and more.

his main strategic suggestion is for a change from 'internationalism' which he equates with each working class struggling against its capitalists, to 'transnationalism' in which labor and other struggles explicitly coordinate across borders from the beginning. sounds good to me.

[Nick Girvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

While a pretty decent read with lots of good information, I found the title to be rather misleading. Riding The Wave: Sweden’s Integration Into The Imperialist World System implies a historical narrative that traces the country’s roots up to what it is today in that sense. While this does achieve that goal, it’s very brief, and has this bad tendency to go off on a more general idea of social democracies and why they’re no more progressive than open capitalism.

In other words, it lacked the level of detail I was looking for in what’s already a short book. Maybe 1/3 of this (that’s being generous) focuses on Sweden or the Nordic nations, and the rest talks more on the topics of general history and the ability for social democracy to develop out of hidden imperialist endeavors. This is a topic very much worth discussing, and the book does this well, but maybe it should have been titled “Social Democratic Imperialism” or something, and referenced the Nordic nations instead. It’s worth a read, and likely a good one for quick reference, but for those seeking a deeper historical dive on Sweden’s place on the world stage, I would look elsewhere. If you’re looking to dig into why social democracy isn’t enough, then perhaps give this a read.

[Bablu · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty interesting, a quick read but fairly "total" in its scope. goes through some illustrative examples of historical swedish integration into the world system and how it changed as the mode of production shifted from mercantile to domestic industrial to neoliberal/outsourced/globalized. throughout the book are listed the many capitulations and betrayals by social democrats over the decades to make sure sweden stayed on the side of the imperialists, while it also makes clear that the much vaunted 'swedish model' of worker share buyback programs leading to long term social peace and prosperity is not possible anymore thanks to the proliferation of globe-spanning value chains. appreciated seeing the specific numbers and wage levels listed out of domestic and overseas workers working for swedish transnational corporations. some of the second half of the book is a rehash of lauesen's ideas from other books

[Glenn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lausen does a fair job of explaining the particular conditions which led to the Swedish Folkhemmet (and to some extent Scandinavian social democracy more broadly), demonstrating its dependence on Imperialism and exposing the myth of this supposed 'third way' between capitalism and socialism.

This first quarter is worth reading. But the rest is pretty weak. The analysis too often wanders off into the weeds. And the 'global perspective' loses all focus in hurriedly attempting to put the whole world to rights.

His Third Worldist view I think mistakes temporary and secondary factors (e.g. labour aristocracy) for a fundamental shift in class relations, and is based on an unsteady reading of Engels and Lenin. He even touches on how this trend is ending since 2008 (e.g. welfare cuts) and the new political problems this creates (e.g. populism) but blames the insufficiently revolutionary working class, and not the pathetic leadership of the left.

Finally, he calls for a vague/loose solidarity network, which forgets the very core of his hero Lenin; party building.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book, the like of which I’d like to see emulated for many other core and semi-peripheral nations, Australia included. For those already familiar with third-worldist writing and argumentation, there isn’t a huge amount new in this text apart from specific details regarding Swedish history. I found the discussion around the decline of Swedish domestic manufacturing very interesting (that is, outsourced, in the case of IKEA, foreign owned, in the case of Volvo, or pivoting to military-industrial production, in the case of SAAB). The text is rather disjointed, however, and lacks any real consistent thrust. For those unfamiliar with Emmanuelian conceptions of unequal exchange, I think this text would be mind blowing in parts, but very little of the non-Sweden-specific detail felt particularly new to this reader.

[Comrade Zupa Ogórkowa · Rating 5 out of 5]

To counter the idea that Scandinavian countries have achieved any level of socialism worthy of praise and replication, Torkil Lauesen illuminated Scandinavian countries’ complicity in the Atlantic slave trade and their current role in neoimperialism- of which a significant amount of money goes towards funding these supposedly progressive safety nets.

[Tyler Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant as always

[Dan McCallum · Rating 2 out of 5]

some good info and the thesis is def correct but the book itself is very disordered w long sections that feel misplaced or just irrelevant