Economic Update: Swedish Socialism Undone 

Once the USSR disbanded, there was no "threat" of another way possible so taking away all those social democratic concessions was all the easier.

I’ve been an avid listener, watcher , and reader of Professor Wolff since I sat, mesmerized, by the first production I saw featuring him, ‘ Capitalism Hits the Fan ‘, when Democracy at Work was the tiniest twinkle in someone’s eye. Here’s to another decade ( and more ) of Professor Wolff’s organization !…

As "doomer" as it may sound, I have a sick feeling that the global monied few are beginning to "circle the wagons" around their own privilege in response to Earthly "circumstances". In the same fashion that rich white guys ignored the humanity of African slaves and Native Americans, the monied few now seem equally indifferent to the plight of most of us.

Brilliant. Keep going with interviews like this. Folks in the US are so unaware of the outside world. Vital info.

The last vestiges of whatever Socialist ideals remained in Swedish Social Democracy was assassinated alongside Olof Palme. We've had 30 years of neoliberal reforms and austerity which have been devastating to our society and safety nets.

Wow - I’m so impressed with your guest Eleanor Goldfield. She is so articulate and immensely knowledgeable about the politics of Sweden. Great job Eleanor.

Eleanor is a brilliant woman. We are very lucky to have her objective eyes and ears everywhere. She is mega talented and I am so glad she is now a mom too ❤️

This is heartbreaking to hear that Sweden has allowed the neoliberal ideology into their country. Truly heartbreaking.

This has been written in the wall for a long time, Sweden's NATO accession is the final nail on the coffin.

Eleonor's analysis of Sweden is very accurate, clear, and reflects my personal experiences as a health care worker in Sweden.

Reagan and Thatcher economic policies was a major factor. And still is today. 😎

I’ve been living and working in China for almost 15 years and can verify how well they dealt with the virus. Three months after the virus appeared I was teaching our students in class, wearing a mask, but while the west argued about masks, we were getting back to normal in China.

This seems to be the near universal story of social democracy. Rather than paving the way for socialism, it sets up a future resurgence of capitalist interests, beating back and subjugating the working class. I think if we want to have any kind of lasting victory, we may need to set social democracy aside & look at more ambitious options.

I mourn the losses of Sweden. If they privatise healthcare, they will regret it. Just look at the US. Even the UK retains its NHS: I hope Sweden changes directions. This was a real eye-opener for me. Thank you for the work you do.

A "Nation" - any nation, SHOULD represent the People. A "nation" is NOT its borders, government and military. A "nation" should represent the collective-well-being of its citizens, including healthcare, education and economic viability. If that were true, "the sum of the parts would be greater than the whole". We, in America, are just the opposite. America is much, much less than it could be because of the greed and power of a small minority. America is becoming more feudalistic with every passing day. Now, it seems, so is the rest of the World.

Don’t forget that in the 80s, as USSR was declining and became less and less of “viable alternative”, capital started getting bolder in its effort to increase exploitation

As an American, I recall my first few work trips to France. After a couple visits, I realized just how far America had decended into a cultural and human rights disaster, not in spite of, but absolutely as a result of, our economic system.

I so love listening to Professor Wolff. I wish he was running the US

Thank god someone is saying this. As a Finnish citizen, I can say practically all Eleanor said about Sweden is true also of Finland. That model is dying, and we need to go much further in our leftism. Scandinavian social democracy was a half-measure and it's already mostly destroyed even here. The world needs a much more radical ideal to strive towards.

Thanks for bringing to light what Sweden has become. Very revealing interview.

Professor Wolff, please make a series of interviews of Scandinavian, (i.e. Norway, Finland, Denmark) socialists!

Thank you Prof Wolff!

Great conversation with Goldfield. I appreciate her perspective of Sweden.

In my own lifetime, (I'm 89), I saw Sweden change from a sensible country to a downright evil one! Right after China proclaimed the start of a new copntry- the People's Republic - the Soviet group immediately came to establish diplomatic relationship with China. 5 or 6 months later, Sweden, followed by 3 other northern European countries, came to recognize China, thumbing their nose to the powerful US. I think they did the right thing. Two thumbs up for them. Look at them today, particularly Sweden, behaves just like the rest of the West--- KowTowing to the Super E**l!!! I feel sorry for them, the Swedes. I went there in 1966, I was so welcomed. At the inn in Dalana, the other Swedish guests took turn to ask me to have afternoon Tea with them. A university girl working at the inn for the Summer practically wanted to come home with me! Today, it's all changed. To the Chinese tourists,"please, don't come! You are not welcome!" Chinese are still the same. Only richer, far more powerful, far more advanced than the West and the Japanese. And yet the Swedes hate us! I really feel sorry for them!!!

Wonderfully informative but sad to hear. Once again thank you for making the effort to educate us! It looks like tough times ahead.

She seems more informed & educated than a whole graduating class in the u.s.

I tweeted this out :) Thanks 🙏🏼 Mr. Wolff

Same situation in Norway. Both government the msm are simply the lackey of big business. Socially conservative and moralistic folks, like think of how Norwegians from the Midwest act and then add some oil money vulgarity and you have suburban Oslo and the rural areas are even worse. And yet we Scandinavians get lauded as some kind of successful and daring societal paradise, which only goes to show how grim things can get l suppose.

This is weird. I'm Swedish. We have never, ever called Sweden "socialist". Social democratic, yes. Big difference. I'll have to continue listening, maybe they will get to that. Social democracy started to be dismantled in the early 90ies, to embrace Thatcherism, and the wellfare state is now a husk of it's former self.

No one I know, friends, family, colleagues in my entire 7+ decades of life could have or even desire to listen to and discuss any of this. They only gossip or mumble inanities. The isolation I feel is suffocating. At least there is Prof. Wolff and others I can tune into and know there are others out there somewhere by the comments and maybe before I die can have a face to face intelligent conversation with someone, anyone. What a depressing situation.

So much for all the videos on youtube asserting that Sweden is ranked number 1 as the best place in the world to live in and the happiest country in the world.

The Roe decision isn’t just about a women’s right to choose whether to have a child. It is also about bodily autonomy in general; not just for women, but for other marginalized folks. It is also about the right to privacy. Clarence Thomas’s response made this quite clear. With no explicit right to privacy, the door is open to a whole host of controls (and yes, I am aware that this re-enforces and strengthens the surveillance state we already live in).

Great interview but a bit short. I've followed R. Wolff for many months now, Liking videos he makes. He always made sense and speaks justly. A great silence has befallen me however, and I had nothing to say, in praise or in defense. Perhaps being so different from the mainstream in my conclusions, that I felt nothing good could come from me speaking. After many years of outrage, I needed temperance, which I found in meditation. If trading money is the way to do things, then you wish to give out as little as possible, and accumulate as much as possible. The boss is antagonistic to the worker, and vice versa, of course. Complex relationships become impossible. Love between people becomes impossible. Money creates a zero sum game of society. My country of Canada is undergoing devastation. 60% of people have trouble not going hungry every month. Megacorps are buying up all the houses and renting them back to people. And if you don't have shelter in Canada, you freeze to death in december. They've got us by the balls. I followed the hunger statistics of my country for years and they kept rising, no matter what the media propaganda reported. I moved back in with my mother many years ago, foreseeing the coming problems, and also for health reasons. Together, we manage to hang onto a house and freely choose what we want to eat at the still (for now) stocked grocery store. We're part of the lucky 40% of Canadians, despite gov taxes and ever rising prices at the store. Even my meat loving mother is interested in going vegetarian, for health and cost reasons. Govt debt is such in Canada and the USA that increasing the money supply is the sensible thing to do, or so the bosses feel. The lenders should of just been smarter! This will antagonize the lenders greatly. Conveniently, a war broke out, and there's talk of a new Iron curtain. Despite Capitalism and commerce being everywhere now. The Euro, which was worth more than the Dollar, is now at parity. Oil and gas are through the roof. The old order of the world is preserved. But at what cost? Food is climbing in price everywhere. The war could spiral out. Europe might lose access to vital gas. But Europe and its uppity workers are being brought to heel. Canada, which still has 35% unionization rates, is being gutted of vitality. I feel that South America and Africa are watching and they will decide that war is a bane they cannot afford. But even a division into continental strongholds is fundamentally unacceptable to Capitalism, which wants to have its goods sold everywhere, and ever fears the new idea that will upend things. Only a global system will suffice, and countries are melting down, like ore for smelting, in the heat. As the interview seemed to indicate, Sweden is melting into NATO. But the old order is that of petroleum, coal and gas. Solar power is now cheaper than coal in most places. This means industry will favour the sun belt of the Earth. But you can have panels anywhere these days. The means of production are going global and they are up for grabs. The iron grip will loosen. It already has thanks to the internet : I can watch Prof. Wolff! Not in a million years would the corporate media of my youth have allowed this. But the fear of Capitalism, that they might lose out, means they have to keep the gates open, at least a little. Where once all I got was a few RATM songs on the student radio station and my own alienation, I now get Left Lens, Yanis Varoufakis, R. Wolff, ChapoTrapHouse and more! So, like Prof. Wolff, I am now more hopeful than ever. But my fear is more lively too. So... I nurtured my silence. Most older folks post about the decline they've felt, perhaps a few boast about their money. Middle age people like me post about how hard they have it and the joy of their children. The youth want to find their place, which increasingly means McDonald's for most, it seems. Getting splashed by hot grease is not fun. How to survive this world? Most millennials in China are home owners, so there's that. But is this mixture of Capitalism and Socialism tenable? Capitalists always fear the technical attack on their monopoly, so they need information and the ability to buy competitors. It's why there's 50 kinds of ketchup in the store, because someone might start up a competing brand. They plug the hole. They also want low wages for their employees. I'd say it's not tenable : the Capitalist will assail the social economy without respite. I could be wrong, but China has had to imprison quite a few billionaires. I decided to forgo children. I don't regret it, but it makes me sad. The old world still has it's fangs in me however. I could not offer the best in life. Perhaps in my 80s, when technology and world peace make the amazing Jetsons sci-fi future possible, then I'll have em. As you scrimp and save for a house and car in a world with more empty houses than homeless people, or, perhaps, gloat with your investments, perhaps spare a thought for the loss you have to have to earn that money. Greed has a cost. Well, I hope you all have a good day. Till next week!

Sweden was not the first country in Europe to introduce pensions. Pensions were introduced by Germany's Bismark as part of a general social safety net including guaranteed healthcare for German workers in 1881.

Great show, Richard. Crystal clear analysis of all topics discussed by both you and Elanor. Keep doing the superb job you are doing of countering the M. S. M. neoliberal propaganda machine.

What a great episode Professor, and a very important guest giving us some facts about Sweden we didn't know of.

Off topic, I love when Eleanor Goldfield joins Lee Camp on his podcasts. She is quite delightful and funny!

Thanks as always Professor Wolff for the in-depth, informative Conversation.

Imagine Prof Wolf as President of the US. What a completely different world we would be living in.

Thank you for the video, Prof. Wolff. Very informative as usual.

Reformism has a dead end street approach to socialism, and at the end of that progression is the existence of capitalism which inevitably either stalls development or pushes it back. This is the end of reformism, this era, as a Nordic country resident myself I can tell you more radical movements are already rising here to take the step beyond reform.

Excellent talk. Thank you.

Much appreciated you both!

Prof Wolff I will be tuning into your BRICS content. Thank you for being the only voice of truth

I have a Swedish friend who worships Reagan (peace be upon him). He would have been in his mid twenties at the time. There must be more to this transition than what is being discussed here. Sounds like neoliberalism took root there as well. Greed can be an enticing concept.

Eleanor is awesome. If you haven’t watched A Hard Rode of Hope do yourself a favour and find it now.

Thanks. You represent a light in the capitalist darkness

I love to listen to professor Wolf!!!

As an American living in Stockholm, Sweden I have felt many changes throughout my 31 years living here. I learn much more today about what's going on. Sweden is still a great place to live so far. Although I am now looking to live in the south of France where the weather is like my home state L.A. California. Winters in Sweden are too long.

Elinor makes every middleaged swede like me cry. Sweden was well on its way being The best wellfare state in The universe. 1930-1980 as The good years. Socialism have never been The system in Sweden, but workers and ordinary People had a say. When it comes to parties and politics they have all become liberals. Who ever killed Palme marked The date when we went from socialdemokrati to neoliberalism. Its quite sad, actually!

18:43 In 1913 the Swedish parliament voted for pensions for all citizens. The motion carried with a broad majority consisting of parties on the right-wing and left-wing.

Brilliant interview & overall the show brought so much needed information on important topics, especially for people, who like me live in the U.S..

The ironic part is that the bible says that life starts after the child has left the womb and taken its first breath.

Every Fed chair in my lifetime has said their primary job is to keep wage inflation down. So these people believe their job is to keep us down. Most of the ones after retiring from the system apologized to the people but kept their money.

Well spoken guest. Thanks.

Here in Canada...there are some small companies that are run and owned by its employees... they are an example of a form of cooperative whereby everyone has an equal share and has a say in the future of the company 🤔

Socialism doesn't really mean owned by the state.

I would like to see a similar discussion about Venezuela, although it has some serious corruption problems.

Love Prof. Wolff Great! 🙏

Good job. Love the depth of the content. Many areas you have covered are so significant food for thought and good for insights.

Germany introduced a pension scheme under Bismarck in 1889. But otherwise I found the lady incredibly informative.

Greed destroys socialism from within by pretending socialism is flawed.

I can see Sweden becoming more like the US. Years ago I heard Sweden designed an assault rifle. The rifle was a hot topic of weapon enthusiasts. I was surprised the Swedes were designing weapons like the US.

Very interesting show. Quite fascinating to hear Eleanor's perspective on Sweden

Making me wanna move to France here. I don't think I can survive much longer in the US.

Just goes to show you the fight for equality never ends. Even if you achieve it, there will always be forces there trying to take it away.

Great interview. Thank you

I talk to a Swedish friend very frequently including about Swedish politics. One element you probably did not have time to cover is the issue of immigration, which seems very powerful in Sweden just as it is used by the right wing in the USA. Immigrants are blamed for some of the social problems in Sweden, which will sound very familiar to Americans. Incidentally, so far as I am aware, I am not related to Eleanor.

Dear professor Wolf. I’m a long time listener. I deeply appreciate your work and its wonderful impact in our communities. In this one specific post. Please let us not keep naming the real center the far left because we have no far left in this country. I’m sure our kids will identify this period as the modern barbarians.

Prof Wolff's comments on how the Stock Market has impacted crypto is very interesting and needs to be discussed more; bitcoin was just as much a victim of capitalism as everything else.

This makes me sad, but I'm glad you posted this information.

Another great episode! Thank you.

And soon as the baby is born they are on their own

I only became aware of how far Sweden had slipped from being the soc-dem poster- child, when I encountered people on the libertarian right claiming Sweden was more capitalist than the U.S. and then praising the coutnry for the early non-interventionist stance on covid and performing all sorts of mental and statistical gymnastics to explain Sweden's poor performance against neighbouring countries in this period. Very sad situation

It's amazing that she was born in Sweden, lives in Sweden, and is a Swedish citizen, yet as an American, I would think she was American with zero foreign accent at all. How is that possible?

I watched that election carefully, it was heartwarming.

the first priority in the nordic nations must be moving from socdem economics to socialism to get rid of the exploitation and imperialism(which is direct imperialism not even soft imperialism like china does) done to the imperial periphery/third world.

richard wolff believes that social democracy is a type of socialism. the three main trends of socialism are reformism, anarchism, and communism. reformism (social democracy) was seen as part of the socialist tradition that believed that they can "reform" their way into socialism (which we all know doesn't work in the case of allende in chile). this is probably why richard wolff views "social democracy" as being "socialist." however personally, i don't see social democrats or social democratic countries to be socialist as they don't seek to change the mode of production and property relations. sure, social democrats may engage in nationalizations, wants an increase of the public sector, along with giving healthcare and education. the major differing line between social democracy and socialism are production, ownership, and property relations. there are also problems that comes with social democracy namely imperialism since it doesn't seek to change the capitalist mode of production and expanding markets to eventually export capital.

That was great..thank you

You mentioned worker's Co-ops. Are you familiar with something called the Mondragon experiment in Spain? I heard about it many years ago and it seemed an interesting system.

I was wondering when the Professor would address crypto. I looked into it last year, found all kinds of weasels infesting the landscape and decided against it. After all, as long as it was valued by how many dollars it was worth, it wasn't anything different than anything else.

Why did she leave out the Swedish General Strike of 1919, the real beginning of Swedish Social Democracy?

Sweden may be the first country in the world according to her, but the U.S. had a pension after the Revolutionary War. The last payment went out in 1906 I believe. The U.S. has also had Civil War pension programs, and Theodore Roosevelt added the age (65) as pension-eligible during his presidency 1901-1912.

Excellent information, as usual, thanks for the vid I want to know about Norway. Have you had or will you have any Norwegian guests on?

Social democrats betraying socialist ideals? Who would have thought! lol

I found her comments on the Left making itself irrelevant by concentrating on niche issues spot on. The right has captured the mainstream issues.. time to drop Woke!!!!

Lately I've heard politicians pit different groups against each other as a means to discourage the government providing benefits to one group vs another. The example was truckers vs those with student loans. I felt to say, as someone who went to college, "fine, I dont want to pay for a road for a trucker that I don't personally go down!" I don't feel that way, actually, but rephrased, this thinking shows politicians pray on our most base emotions.

There is that common time line event and common denominator once again. That Thatcher/Reagan shift in the late 70's/early 80's, with the Neoliberalism, which shifted the paradigm, which threw everything into reverse. As here in the U.S. as apparently slowly as so with the Swedes as well.

Having lived in Cuba and spent many of the post Chávez years amongst Venezuelans it is interesting to listen to this professor so protected by capitalism ramble on about the benefits of Marxism which he clearly has never experienced.

That means the virus started here in the usa.

This video touches on something I've been thinking about more recently and that's getting rid of the utopia stigma and messaging around socialism. Like every system before it, it will have to deal with human greed and corruption and thinking about these things now will help implementing it and improving the things that come with it.

Thanks!

Vote 3rd party

Great content, Money is worthless until you put it to work.... I made my 1st million invested into Stock market. Making money is the plan and with Crypto/stock Investment your plans can be fulfilled.

Very enlightening, and somewhat troubling.

Very interesting insight into the global system from the inside of Sweden. Scary indeed

We have a one party system soooo keep voting.

Very interesting, thank you.

I never realized till now. That the "Powell Memorandum" (1971 The Powell Memo: A Call-to-Arms for Corporations) had such an effect on the rest of the World, in terms of getting control of just about everything that was Socialistic in any way!

Very educative