How Swedish workers stopped a war to crush Norway in 1905

In the summer of 1905, Sweden and Norway were on the brink of war. The Swedish bourgeois press wrote about the ‘revolution’ and ‘coup d'état’ in Norway. King Oscar II refused to recognise Norway's declaration of independence, and thousands of conservatives gathered in Stockholm to demonstrate and demand punishment for the Norwegians. Swedish troops were called in, fortresses were armed, and the general staff requested time to plan an invasion of Norway.

But throughout Sweden, another movement was also growing – a massive workers' struggle against the bourgeoisie's war plans. At mass meetings and demonstrations, slogans calling for peace with Norway rang out.

This is the story of how the labour movement and revolutionary youth stopped a war – and how the Swedish ruling class was humiliated in its quest to keep Norway in a union that had never been voluntary.

The forced marriage between Sweden and Norway

The dissolution of the union in 1905 was the culmination of a conflict that had been smouldering for almost a century.

When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1814, the great powers of Europe decided that Norway, after centuries of Danish rule, should be handed over to Sweden.

But the Norwegians resisted. On 17 May 1814, a constituent assembly in Eidsvoll declared Norway independent and adopted its own constitution. Shortly afterwards, the country was invaded by Sweden. After a brief war, Norway was forced into the union, and the King of Sweden became regent of both countries. The Norwegians were allowed to keep their constitution and their parliament, the Storting, but were forced to submit to Swedish foreign policy.

A strong national consciousness began to emerge in Norway, driven by the needs of its own bourgeoisie. The country was also more democratic than Sweden – more people had the right to vote, and the Storting had more power than the Swedish Riksdag. Over time, this strengthened demands for independence, especially as the Swedish monarchy repeatedly tried to prevent Norwegian politicians from making decisions.

The Swedish ruling class, on the other hand, saw the union as a strategic asset. Controlling Norway's Atlantic coast strengthened Sweden's defences against Russia, and the union's existence became a matter of prestige for the conservative elite.

One of the most contentious issues concerned the consular service. Although Norway had one of the world's largest merchant fleets at the time, all trade matters were handled by the union's consulates, which were controlled from Stockholm.

The Constituent Assembly in Eidsvoll in 1814. The Norwegian constitution of May 17 had far more democratic elements than the Swedish equivalent / Image: Wikimedia Commons

As early as 1895, the first crisis of the union broke out when the liberal Venstre party won the election in Norway and Oscar II tried to block the formation of a government. The Swedish parliament went so far as to give the king the power to declare war, but the crisis was averted when Norway temporarily backed down.

Ten years later, the situation was different. On 7 February 1905, Oscar II announced that negotiations on the consulate issue had broken down. In March, a new government was formed in Norway, which declared its intention to proceed with its own consular service. In Stockholm, the Swedish government fell, and tensions between the countries quickly increased.

At the same time, on the other side of the Baltic Sea, another revolution had broken out, sending shock waves across the continent.

The revolutionary year of 1905

On 9 January 1905, known to history as ‘Bloody Sunday’, the first Russian Revolution broke out after the military opened fire on demonstrators outside the Tsar's palace in St. Petersburg. The strike movement that followed shook the Tsarist regime to its foundations and inspired workers across Europe.

In Sweden, socialists gained new confidence. They saw how the masses in Russia had risen up against their masters and realised that the same thing could happen in Sweden. The ruling class feared that the labour movement would be inspired by its Russian comrades and that discontent among soldiers and workers would lead to revolt in Sweden too.

The Swedish labour movement grew rapidly. Between 1900 and 1907, the membership of the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party more than tripled, from 44,100 to 133,388. The party brought together the most class-conscious workers and had not yet broken with the revolutionary ideas on which it was founded.

As early as 1902, the party had led a major political strike for universal and equal suffrage. 120,000 workers participated for three days in a real show of strength. 

But, at the same time as the labour movement was growing, the Swedish state was preparing to crush any attempt at rebellion, both from Norway and from the Swedish working class. Between 1900 and 1907, more than a third of the state budget went to the military.

In right-wing and military propaganda, the crisis of the union was portrayed as an existential threat – but the same army that was being prepared for war against Norway was also deployed to crush the workers' struggle at home. The military was often called in to monitor or break up demonstrations – often in defence of strikebreakers, who were protected by the notorious ‘Åkarpslagen’ law – which fuelled the working class's anger against the state and its militarism.

In the autumn of 1904, a wave of strikes swept across the country, with workers in many places achieving victories, often after fierce battles. In Norrköping, the military was deployed against the tram strike and several workers were sentenced to hard labour. To halt this development, the government, in April 1905, presented a new bill to restrict the right to strike, the so-called ‘Åkarpslagen No. 2’.

Workers responded with protest meetings and demonstrations throughout the country. Throughout April, the streets were filled with demonstrations and clashes between workers and police.

Before May Day 1905, there was a tense atmosphere of class war in Stockholm. The garrison in the capital was considered ‘contaminated’ by the radical mood and therefore unreliable. 1,000 extra soldiers were called in from Östergötland, and each soldier was given 20 live rounds.

More than 25,000 workers took part in the May Day demonstration in Stockholm, where ‘friends of peace’ were urged to march at the front of the procession in solidarity with Norway.

The military remained on the streets of Stockholm until 13 May, when the proposal to limit strike rights was finally rejected by the Swedish parliament by the narrowest possible margin: 110 votes in favour, 112 against. The massive mobilisation of the working class and the threat of a general strike had defeated the capitalists' attack.

Uprising in Norway

17 May had long been a day of celebration of the Norwegian constitution and national independence. On this symbolic day, 30,000 Norwegians gathered in Oslo in what became the largest 17 May demonstration ever. The atmosphere was tense, and the very next day, the Storting passed a new law establishing a separate Norwegian consular service.

Oscar II, the joint king of Sweden and Norway, responded by exercising his veto and refusing to sanction the decision. The Norwegian government resigned in protest. The crisis was a fact.

On 7 June, the Norwegian Storting declared that the union with Sweden had been dissolved because the king had failed to appoint a new government. Oscar II was thus no longer king of Norway. On the same day, the most senior military leaders in Norway swore allegiance to the new provisional government in Oslo. Cheering crowds filled the streets of the capital, where celebrations continued with singing and speeches long into the summer night.

The Swedish bourgeois press now called for preparations for war. The newspaper Göteborgsposten wrote bitterly about the “coup d'état” and the “revolution in Norway”. Stockholms Dagblad stated belligerently:

“The mask has been thrown off. The men of the revolution are appearing openly, trampling underfoot law and justice, the people's allegiance to the king and long-standing agreements with Sweden. It seems like a mockery that the Council of State has been asked to govern according to the constitution of the Kingdom of Norway. The Norwegian Storting cannot be granted any right to decide alone on the fate of the union.”

On 8 June, Oscar II sent a telegram to the Norwegian Storting declaring that he could not approve the “revolutionary steps” they had taken “in rebellion against their king”. On the same day, thousands of reactionaries gathered in Stockholm for a demonstration in support of the king.

On 14 June, the Swedish general staff wrote to the government requesting three weeks to plan a general mobilisation. A week later, on 20 June, an extraordinary session of the Riksdag was convened in Stockholm to decide on war or peace with Norway.

The Youth League leads the struggle

Four days after the Norwegian Storting's decision to dissolve the union, the Social Democratic Youth League opened its very first congress. The league had been formed in 1903 in Malmö as a small splinter group from the anarchist-leaning Young Socialists. The organisation then grew rapidly.

Two years later, the league had 7,000 members at its congress, organised in over 100 different local branches. Hundreds of meetings and lectures were organised to bring together revolutionary youth, and the league's leading speakers travelled around the country to agitate.

The first congress of the Social Democratic Youth League, June 1905 / Image: Wikimedia Commons

The dissolution of the union and the struggle for peace dominated the Youth League's congress, which adopted a historic manifesto formulated by Zeth Höglund, who was later sentenced to eight months in prison. The manifesto became the basis for a leaflet that was distributed in over 100,000 copies:

DOWN WITH ARMS!

As it becomes clearer with each passing day that the Swedish upper class and the reactionary newspapers are seeking to stir up sentiment in order to meet Norway in its struggle for freedom with armed force, the representatives of Sweden's working youth gathered in Stockholm hereby declare:

• that it is a crime against the peaceful people of Sweden to incite war against a brother people;
• that it is the unshakeable decision of Sweden's workers and its working youth never to comply with a call to arms;
• that Sweden's workers are prepared to lay down their work throughout the country to prevent a war;
• that Sweden's working youth are firmly convinced that it is their duty, in the event of a mobilisation order, to refuse to report for duty, knowing full well that weapons – if they were to be directed against anyone – should not be directed against Norwegians; and finally, we call on workers and peasants throughout the country to organise mass meetings to discuss what the situation requires.

Our slogan is:

PEACE WITH NORWAY!

Peace with Norway – war against the bourgeoisie

“Down with arms” was a call for class struggle against the ruling class. This is how one should interpret the statement that “weapons, if they were to be directed against anyone, should not be directed against Norwegians”.

The manifesto emphasised that the workers' most powerful weapon was to “stop work”. Through the general strike of 1902, the labour movement had already demonstrated its capabilities. The threat of an unlimited general strike – especially in light of the tumultuous spring of 1905 – struck fear into the ruling class. Such a strike would not only render all war plans impossible but also raise the even more dangerous question of which class held power in society.

The manifesto spread quickly through the workers' press in Sweden and Norway. It was also the signal for an increased mobilisation within the labour movement in Sweden. On the same day that the congress ended, the Social Democrats' executive committee met to take a position on the crisis.

It was not clear in advance which path the party would choose. Opportunism already dominated the leadership, whose goal was usually to dampen the workers' struggle rather than lead it. At the forefront was the reformist member of parliament, Hjalmar Branting. During the union crisis of 1895, he had spoken out strongly against Swedish intervention:

“Should the terrible become reality, that Swedish guns were to march westward, then let those who bear responsibility also say that perhaps, down among the broad masses of society, someone might be tempted to set himself up as judge and, without orders, seek to prevent tens of thousands of bullets from being fired on orders to maim and slaughter friends and brothers.”

But during the new crisis that arose in 1905, Branting was initially opposed to the dissolution of the union. At the party congress in February, he had spoken of the need for the union in order to stand up to the “Russian danger”. In other words, he agreed with the nationalist arguments of the bourgeoisie, just as the leadership of the labour movement does today.

The left, led by Kata Dalström, defended Norway's right to self-determination. The congress hesitated, and Branting managed to prevent a clear statement from being adopted.

In June, barely four months later, however, there was no longer any doubt – the Social Democrats adopted a clear statement in support of Norway's independence.

Ten years later, when the First World War broke out, the reformist leadership betrayed the working class by supporting the bourgeoisie's war policy and entering into a truce with the state. But this time, in 1905, the reformists were not allowed to dictate the party line.

The Youth League was the revolutionary wing of the Social Democracy and played a decisive role in bringing the rest of the labour movement along. This fact was also recognised by the bourgeois press. The influential newspaper Nya Dagligt Allehanda wrote with dismay that the Youth League had become “the core of the anti-Swedish demonstration marches”.

At the union's urging, mass meetings were organised across the country. As early as 18 June, two large demonstrations were held. Despite police persecution, 20,000 people gathered in Stockholm and 35,000 in Gothenburg under the slogan “Peace with Norway.” Even in smaller towns such as Arboga, Helsingborg, Jönköping, Västerås, Södertälje, Sundsvall, Ludvika, Karlstad, Katrineholm and Grängesberg, the Social Democrats held demonstrations with thousands of participants.

The Verkstadskonflikt and fraternisation with the soldiers

At the same time as workers demonstrated for peace with Norway, the Verkstadskonflikt (‘factory conflict’), the largest labour dispute in Swedish history up to that point, was raging. Over 18,000 workers were locked out of their jobs in an attempt to keep wages down.

The capitalists hoped that a war with Norway would force the state to declare martial law and drive the labour movement underground. But the result was the opposite – the struggle against the war and the struggle against the employers merged. A nationwide campaign was launched to raise money for the locked-out workers.

Norwegian workers also contributed to the collection. On 16 June, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions decided that all trade unions would charge an extra weekly fee of 25 öre, which would go to the locked-out workers in Sweden.

The Social Democrats' executive committee stated in its statement on the union crisis that the Verkstadskonflikt had once again proven that we are not “one people, but ‘two nations’, the world of the rich and the poor, the hostile camps of capital and labour.”

In the same way, the youth leagues used the Verkstadskonflikt to show that the real enemy was at home. Both Social Democrats and young socialists began distributing leaflets aimed at soldiers and conscripts. In July, the Norrköping Socialist Youth Club produced a leaflet – 68,000 copies of which were distributed – which said:

Conscripts!

The Norwegian revolution has set the minds of our Swedish professional patriots into a state of steadily rising ferment. The paid scribblers and rhymesters of the so-called patriotic press are doing everything they dare and can to stir up a mood of war against Norway. [...]

Here at home, some of these loudmouthed ‘patriots’ have thrown some 20,000 workers onto the streets in order to further starve the starving and trample the trampled. Our Norwegian class brothers have, in the midst of the upper class's patriotic clamour, extended a faithful helping hand to us in our struggle against capital. Would we repay their solidarity so badly that, obeying the orders of the loud patriots, we would go out in droves to kill our Norwegian brothers who have helped us in our struggle? No proletarian can show such black ingratitude towards a class brother.

Look around you! Who is our enemy? The Swedish upper class – the capitalists – who oppress and exploit us to the utmost, who cut us down with endless emergency laws and exceptions, or the Norwegians, who demand nothing more than to rule their own country? The answer is obvious. It is against the upper class that we must arm ourselves, not against the Norwegians.

The negotiations in Karlstad: war or peace?

Sweden's extraordinary parliament began on 20 June. Faced with overwhelming public opinion against the war and the threat of a general strike – or even worse – many on the right realised that they were defeated. In a closed meeting, one of the members of parliament issued a warning to the bourgeoisie: if the threat of war was not immediately removed, “the entire working population will turn to socialism.”

The decision was taken to begin negotiations with Norway, on condition that the Norwegians first held a referendum. In order to “put weight behind the negotiations”, an extra 100 million kronor was added to the Swedish military budget.

368,208 Norwegians voted in favour of dissolving the union, while only 184 voted against

The Norwegian referendum was held on 13 August, and the result was overwhelming. 368,208 Norwegians voted in favour of dissolving the union, while only 184 voted against.

Negotiations between the Swedish and Norwegian governments thus began on 30 August in the Masonic Lodge in Karlstad. Swedish negotiators demanded that Norway dismantle its defences along the border, a demand that the Norwegians refused to accept. The negotiations dragged on, and by mid-September, the threat of war was once again palpable. Conscripts were mobilised on both sides of the border, and Swedish warships patrolled off the coast of Bohuslän.

However, many conscripts in Sweden had joined the labour movement's peace demonstrations, despite a ban. Several newspapers reported on soldiers who openly showed their opposition to a possible war. Among other things, they sang ‘Ja, vi elsker’ – Norway's national anthem – in mess halls and barracks. As a conscript at the camp in Revinge recounted in a letter:

“A Lieutenant L. then informed us that the song was not allowed to be sung under the current circumstances, whereupon ‘The Internationale’ and the socialist ‘Youth March’ were taken up and allowed to be sung without reprimand… In every man's face, one could clearly read a bitter hatred of militarism. The day when we are released from the crown's straitjacket will be a day of joy.”

During the summer and autumn, Swedish newspapers reported almost daily on the revolution in Russia, where soldiers and sailors were rebelling against their generals. On the same day that the mutiny on the armoured cruiser Potemkin was reported in the press, the Social Democratic newspaper Arbetet warned that the same thing could happen in Sweden:

“Should we go out against our Norwegian brothers? Or should we refuse to report for duty? Or should we allow ourselves to be armed and then use our rifles against our only real enemies? Everyone should make up their mind on these questions before the criminals gain the upper hand.”

With the revolution in Russia in full swing and the Swedish ruling class faced with the threat of armed resistance or even revolution, they did not dare to pursue their war plans any further. On Saturday, 23 September, Norwegian and Swedish representatives signed the agreement in Karlstad. The union was thus dissolved.

A month later, in October 1905, Oscar II officially abdicated the throne of Norway. This marked the end of a forced union that had lasted for almost a century.

1905: the working class shows its strength

In the autumn of 1905, the battle of the Verkstadskonflikt was also decided, with employers finally forced to give in on 13 November. Workers returned to their jobs with higher minimum wages and fixed working hours. The year thus ended with another victory for the labour movement, in addition to the battle against the strike law that had been won in the spring.

But the greatest victory was peace with Norway, a victory secured by the revolutionary wing of the labour movement.

Lenin later highlighted the role of the Swedish labour movement in the struggle against war. In On the Right of Nations to Self-Determination, he wrote that by recognising Norway's right to secession, Swedish workers proved that they placed class solidarity above bourgeois nationalism:

“The Norwegian workers were convinced that the Swedish workers had not been infected by nationalism, that brotherhood with the Norwegian proletariat was more important to them than the privileges of the bourgeoisie.”

Today, more than 100 years later, military rearmament, sabre-rattling and nationalism are as prevalent as they were at the beginning of the 20th century. Then, as now, rearmament and warmongering are taking place at the expense of the poor – but now they have the wholehearted support of the labour movement's leadership.

What would have happened if the Social Democrats had joined the militaristic chorus in 1905, just as they and Vänsterpartiet (the Left Party) are doing today? The 20th and 21st centuries are full of examples of neighbouring peoples committing the most terrible acts against each other, led by their ruling classes. Had the socialists capitulated to the ruling class, they would have driven us into disaster.

United we stand, divided we fall. The working class does not need internationalism for sentimental reasons: it is the only way we can prevent the ruling class from turning us against each other. We must build our politics on the fact that the working class, regardless of nationality, has the same fundamental interests. This is what Marx and Engels meant when they wrote that “workers have no country.” On this basis, we triumphed in 1905. On this basis, we must triumph again. Only an organised working class has the power to stop the bourgeoisie's wars.