Establishing an ideologically coherent history : Swedish social-democratic historical culture, 1881–1900

This article analyses the historical culture of the Swedish Social Democratic Worker’s Party (SAP) during its formation in the last decades of the 19th century. Utilising the theoretical concepts of myth and conceptual metaphor, the sense-making aspects of historical narration is studied, especially the way coherent stories are told in which the movement under formation is made part of a long history leading to a desirable future. The SAP utilised history both morally-defensively and tactically-offensively. The moral use of history depicts Jesus, Münster and the French Revolution, establishing the righteousness of revolt. The revolutions of 1848 and the Paris Commune, where the workers are seen as acting more independently, are depicted in a way which draws attention to tactical aspects; lessons are learned on how the workers should act in a revolutionary situation. As has been shown to be the case regarding national narratives, the sense-making mechanisms of historical narration also tends to appeal to issues of identity. The metaphorical conceptualisation of ideas and movements as individuals and families, further underlines these issues