anuary 1924, following a scandal at the University of Stockholm when the Nazis tried to sabotage a conference, the party lost even more prestige when the head of their secret services, Gösta Wiklund, was attacked by the Communists. Intense propaganda draws many people to the party, but when it comes to the fact that it was an attack orchestrated by Wiklund, many leave. However, the grouping around Furugård had some successes, especially in the 1934 local elections, when it won almost 80 mandates.
In the parliamentary elections of 1936, however, the party lost most of its supporters, and the party’s leader decided to dissolve it. Lindholm’s wing, which was subject to a more socialist ideology, also suffered from internal conflicts following the failure of the election. In 1938 the political profile of the party changed, as the name Svensk Socialistisk Samling (Swedish Socialist Assembly), and the swastika disappeared in favor of the bunch of wheat, the coat of arms of Vasa.
The hit in World War II
Although these changes were more theoretical in nature, many dissatisfied members founded their own groups. The autumn of 1939 was the climax of the splits, due also to the uneven attitude towards relations with Germany. The attempt to organize a unitary national movement failed due to the existence of too many groups of various orientations, rivalries for leadership, and connections with Germany. During the war, Lindholm’s activity was rather limited, and tensions increased.
In 1943 Lindholm sends to Germany a report on the position of Swedish Nazism, stating that the Nordic countries should cooperate with Nazi Germany even after the end of the war, provided that they remained independent. Not everyone resonated with his views. Lindholm registered for the parliamentary election race, although the alliance with the Swedish Socialist Party and other groups did not materialize. The results were disastrous.
In public opinion, the Swedish Nazi parties were often perceived as an agent of Germany on the NSDAP model. Of course, Birger Furugård and Lindholm also maintained links with German national socialists, but it is exaggerated to talk about copying structures. Between 1933 and 1945, the relations with the German Nazis were ambivalent, between the ideological affinity and the plea for independence. Lindholm had to be careful because many of his supporters had a much stronger nationalist orientation, while others were much more strongly influenced by German national socialism.
In 1948, the Stockholm police searched several NSAP members on the grounds that they had received financial assistance from the Germans, but suspicions were paid. As we have noticed, the Swedish national socialists actually represented a vast mosaic of small groups with oscillating supporters. It is estimated that there would have been around 30,000 in 1930. Lindholm’s movement would go out in 1950. But not the neo-Nazi outbursts.
From Politics to Hooliganism
In 1956 Nordiska Rikspartiet (the Party of the Nordic nation) was founded under the auspices of Göran Assar Oredsson, which lasted until late 2009. Although he preached a rather radical racial mysticism, the party was as non-existent on the political scene, except for small altercations, which he provoked. In 1961 a demonstration took place in Stockholm, and the propaganda spread to Småland and Norrland in the following years.
At the end of the decade, the party achieved very limited success through some local branches in Malmö or Gothenburg, which attracted anti-Nazi protests in 1974. In 1973 the leaders were even charged for using the solar cross as a symbol. Also, in the same period, the NRP(Nordic Reich Party) had several altercations with the Democratic Alliance, which is suspected of vandalizing the Stockholm headquarters and to which it responded by several smoke bombs.
Another reason for conflict with the authorities was caused by a party member who led a short campaign to release Rudolf Hess. At other times people in the NRP themselves attacked political opponents, as happened in 1975 at a demonstration in Malmö in support of the victims of the Basque militants. But most of the time, the confrontations were limited to verbal ones or to anti-Semitic and anti-immigration propaganda through leaflets, preoccupations at the periphery of the political spectrum. But the protests radicalized in the 1980s, with more supporters accused of inciting violence.
New groups are emerging in connection with what is called “vitmaktvärld” (the world subject to the power of whites, therefore neo-terrorism) in the spirit of a wider phenomenon of European nationalism. One of these is Vittariskt motstånd (resistance of the white Aryans), a movement “noticed” after 1991 by a spectacular robbery at a bank. The media attention turned to them because of attacks on refugee camps. But she is not alone.
Neo-national-post-1990 socialism was much more hybrid than before when the supporters belonged to some traditional organizations. Today we have a fluid movement rooted in racial ideology but with many nuances. It is an underground culture with no defined organizational structures. The racists of the 1990s emphasize the desire for a globalized world but in which there are only whites. Today, this movement is known as the Nordic Resistance Movement, which carries the same fascist context.
The nation is no longer important and subordinate to race. Activists believe in a biological perspective on history and that whites share a common destiny. History is, for them an almost holy war between races, which represents a concrete everyday reality. Anti-Semitism is still present, with the idea that a Zionist regime controls the world, thus in solidarity with the American Christian Identity movement. In other words, they are the same old conceptions of the extremist parties but nuanced according to the new contexts.
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