Page:CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090019-6.pdf/19

 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090019-6

In 1970 the Social Democratic Party lost its majority in the Riksdag, partly because the apostate Communists who had defected to the Social Democrats in 1968 returned to their party fold. The Social Democrats attributed their bad showing to a lackluster campaign and voter apathy; they pointed out that a lower percentage of voters turned out than in the 1968 elections. They found it necessary to tailor some controversial legislation to suit the Communists in order to assure a majority of support in parliament. While the bourgeois parties still lack the real cohesion necessary to unseat the Social Democrats, as evidenced by the latters' success in gaining occasional support from the Center Party, the bourgeois parties have moved closer together since November 1971 in the face of Prime Minister Palme's confrontation politics.

b. Organization and leadership

The SAP is the best organized of the non-Communist political parties. Discipline has been generally well maintained despite the increase in internal strains during the past few years. The highest authority is the party congress, made up of 350 delegates elected by the members by a system of proportional representation. Theoretically the congress is the highest policymaking body; because it usually meets only once every 3 years, however, most of the actual power, except the election of all principal national officials, rests in the hands of the national and executive committees. The national committee, made up of 28 members selected by the congress, meets regularly once a year as the highest authority between congresses. In this capacity it makes policy regarding all aspects of party activity. The national committee selects seven of its members, who must be Stockholm residents, to act as the executive committee. This body meets at least once a month and has the primary function of carrying out decisions of the congress and national committee. Its seven members are the SAP chairman and secretary, who are ex officio members; the chairman of the LO, with which the SAP has close ties; the executive director of the Central Organization of Salaried Employees (TCO); and three top party leaders in the cabinet, other than the chairman. The head of the party chairs its parliamentary group and also serves as the Prime Minister. The secretary is responsible for executing party policies and decisions and coordinating all national activities. The national organization is duplicated on the district and local levels. District committees act as liaison between national headquarters and the labor communes, which are the basic units for recruiting and training members and propagandizing the electorate. These communes also set up special party associations in residential areas and clubs in places of work; their man function is to counteract Communist activity through political propaganda.

To train future leaders the SAP uses the Workers Educational Association, organized by the party and the LO in 1912, to complement the regular school system and provide general education. The Swedish Social Democratic Youth Association (SSU) provides young people with more practical training in party and national affairs. The SSU, which was organized in 1917, is the second largest and most influential political youth group in Sweden and had some 72,000 members in 1972. In addition to being a source of future party leaders, the SSU is a vehicle for conducting educational and propaganda activities within the party and among the electorate. At the

12

APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090019-6