Labour Movement Theory Versus Corporatism: Social Democracy in Sweden

Abstract

This article assesses the challenge from `labour movement theory' to the conventional `corporatist' interpretation of Social Democratic Sweden. It begins by outlining the theoretical debate. It then examines the labour movement's compromise with capitalism and the issues of redistribution, codetermination and economic democracy. It argues that the corporatist interpretation of the period from the 1930s to the 1960s stands up well to criticism. The more radical Social Democratic policies of the later 1960s and after are more consistent with `labour movement theory', but in the end demonstrate the weakness of labour political power in a capitalist society. `Corporatist theory' provides a better starting-point than `labour movement theory', though it must be modified to include the notion of the contradictions of corporatism. The strength of the Swedish labour movement made corporatism possible but when the discontent generated by corporatism threatened the unity of the movement it was this same strength of the labour movement that produced the radicalism of the 1970s. Radical measures were, however, blocked by the state's dependence on capital and the employer counter-offensive.