The Social Democrats Embrace Sport

During the second half of the nineteenth century, as discussed in the previous chapter, in Sweden sport was not drawn into political conflicts between conservatives and liberals as in Denmark and Norway. Nevertheless, during the first third of the twentieth century, sport became the subject of political conflict in Sweden between conservatives and socialists. In the public debate, the centre-right newspapers appreciated the sport movement. Undoubtedly, a few highly right-wing and culturally conservative journals expressed their concern over this new societal phenomenon. Still, most of the criticism came from left-wing voices. During the interwar period in all three Scandinavian countries, a socialist worker sport movement emerged. The sport-political consequences of how this movement developed and was confronted by the Social Democratic Parties and governmental institutions differed between the countries and were long-lasting.