The Social Democrats and Monarchy : A Study of Three Social Democratic Newspapers' Anti Royal Writings During Oscar II's 25 Years Jubilee as King of Sweden in 1897

Abstract Title: The Social Democrats and Monarchy, a Study of three Social Democratic newspapers and their reports about Oscar II’s 25 year anniversary as king of Sweden. The Social Democrats in Sweden has almost had a power monopoly over the parliament and government during the entire 20:th century. Since the party was established in 1889 they have been against monarchy as a way of govern society. When the monarch lost political power and influence during the 20:th century, they still condemned monarchy as undemocratic. They preferred to have a republic instead, with an elected president, rather than a king or a queen. Even after they seized power and maintained power over the decades they did not abolish monarchy. This essay will explore how three newspapers connected to The Social Democrats, in terms of ideology, wrote and reported about Oscar II’s 25 year anniversary as king of Sweden, in September in 1897. The study shows that all three newspapers, in various ways, wrote very badly about Oscar II and monarchy as a way of government as a whole. The newspapers were not afraid to speak out and try to influence their readers. This knowledge proves that it was important for the early Social Democrats to talk about and discuss monarchy. However they did not see the monarch as the archenemy, they viewed the king simply as a puppet for the ruling class, in other words the capitalists. Nyckelord Socialdemokraterna, Oscar II, Arbetet, Social- Demokraten, Östgöten, monarki, republik, rojalism, statsskic