Elections in the new Scandinavian democracy

[Volodio]

Game started on 1.3 as Sweden with the Better Politics Mod.

This AAR is officially finished.

Unlike my previous AAR, this one isn't already finished and in need of proofreading, so if you dislike something about the format, tell me and I'll try to change some things. In particular if you feel like it lacks pictures or there is too much text, tell me, I can adjust. On the other hand, it also means more typos.

1856 Elections​

Democracy in Scandinavia finds its origins in the political troubles of the late 1840s and early 1850s in Sweden, a period called the Swedish Awakening. It was a time where the Swedish people was clamoring for free elections for everybody. They wanted an end to the absolute power of the king, Oscar I, who was creating more taxes to support his policy of industrialization and expansion. The political protests grew more violent and radical as the government refused to hear them. Some talked of ending the monarchy altogether, a wish which resonated especially easily as there was little allegiance to this new foreign dynasty.

Eventually, political assassinations began to happen, targeting the royal family and people close to it. Oscar I was murdered, a few years after surviving another assassination attempt, and a regency council was formed for his son, Ferdinand-Philippe I. Despite being still a child, the new king was also targeted. A lone assassin shot him in the head. Ferdinand-Philippe survived, as he was hit in the jaw, but he would bore the scar for the rest of his life.

In 1855, the regency council relented and decided to work with the liberals to institute general elections. It was not a popular move and the Church and aristocrats organized an armed uprising in 1856 against the government. It was put down by the army and some worker paramilitary organizations.

There were a lot of debates on the procedure of these elections. A conflicting point was notably the question of whether Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Greenland should be given a voice. Eventually, it was decided that they would receive it as it was an occasion to formally unite Scandinavia into the United Kingdom of Scandinavia. However, the main political power stayed in the hands of the Swedes as the others were not as politically active, had not been involved in the Swedish Awakening for years and far less effort was accorded to ensuring a strong electoral process outside of Sweden. As a notable example of this, the votes in the West Indies only arrived after the official national results were announced and no correction was even attempted (though it is debated whether it would have changed even a single seat). In general, the Swedish supremacy was so important that 79% of the political articles pertaining to the Scandinavian elections of 1856 were published in Sweden. The rest of Scandinavia was given even less political power as the number of seats was decided according to the general results of the election rather than elected locally. Out of the 300 elected members of Parliament in 1856, 238 of them were Swedish.

Three parties were formed for the 1856 elections: Hoyre, the Right, composed of conservatives, Venstre, the Left, composed of liberals, and the Labor Party, formed by trade unions who distrusted the liberals from Venstre. The election was primarily fought over whether a change of regime was necessary. Ferdinand-Philippe was 16 and had a deep hatred for the liberals. It was the fear of Venstre and the Labor Party that he would find a way to abuse his power to put an end to democracy. They wanted a republic. Hoyre defended the king and the monarchy.

The elections were chaotic. There was a lack of resources and care put into the elections outside of Sweden, to the point of a shortage of ballots in Kristiansand in Norway. Even in Sweden, the armed aristocrats uprising controlled the south and though it was put down by the army before the end of the elections, they had succeeded at hampering the electoral process. Furthermore, they refused to form a party and called to their supporters to not vote in order to not give legitimacy to democracy. Some were even censored and repressed by the paramilitary groups associated with the Labor Party. Overall, the 1856 elections would be completely illegitimate by today’s standards and even at the time their legitimacy was questioned, even by some liberals who suggested to push back the elections to 1857 or 1858. It was however not followed by the rest of the Venstre or the Labor Party as they were concerned with having the regency council acts as a provisory government for too long, especially so soon to the king’s majority.

Overall, the elections had a turnout of 27%. Hoyre came first at 47%. Despite the strong activism of the liberals, the majority of the population was still traditionalist. The fact that Ferdinand-Philippe I was a child who had survived an assassination attempt also brought him a lot of sympathy. Venstre tried to avoid criticizing the monarchy too much, but it resulted in the Labor Party taking a lot of their votes. The Labor Party came second with 34,9% and Venstre last with 17,9%. It gave 141 seats for Hoyre, 105 for the Labor Party and 54 for Venstre. Hoyre insisted on keeping power and stayed in government, with the support of the young king, but Venstre and the Labor Party worked together to block all laws proposed by Hoyre and draft the constitution for a new regime.

 

[Volodio]

1860 Elections​

The campaign for the 1860 elections happened less than two years after the end of the civil war which had turned Scandinavia into a republic. It was still fresh in people’s mind and had a deep impact on the elections.

Hoyre was the most affected. With most of its members having sided against the republic and lost, many of their leaders had been arrested and their supporters had to keep their affiliation hidden to avoid trouble. They could not campaign as heavily as the other parties. Moreover, the fact that a part of Hoyre had chosen to back the republic in the civil war in exchange for being part of the government and having the first president be from Hoyre created a deep sense of betrayal among the other members of the party. Many outright decided to boycott the elections. The first president, Fenni Herlenius, being a woman did not help. She had managed to start a policy of colonialism in Africa, but it was meagre consolation as Venstre had effectively ran the government during her term, which they insisted to shorten by making the legislative and presidential elections coincide.

Venstre was without a doubt the party which had the most gained from the civil war. They had instituted the republic they wanted, taken over the government without involving the Labor Party and even negotiated to get the support of the trade unions, which effectively entirely ran the campaign of the Labor Party and was the source of most of their voters. Some had stayed loyal to the Labor Party, but not enough to keep it relevant. However, that strength was not without crack for Venstre had tried so much to bring everyone into their parties that it was riddled with conflicting interests. In particular between the liberals and the trade unions. But the liberals were willing to compromise for they felt they needed the support of the workers to pass laws protecting the future of democracy.

The election also had a higher participation from the Danes and Norwegians, who finally had strong institutions, though the Swedes continued to dominate. The most underrepresented group was the Germans of Schleswig and Holstein. It was a strange situation as at the time there was a strong Germanophilia as the Prussians had helped the republic during the civil war against the monarchy and its Russian supporters, but the Germans also did not feel like they belonged inside of Scandinavia. It created some conflict. A party focused on the German national identity tried to form itself, but it was prevented by the government. Without it, the Germans decided not to participate in the elections.

There was still a heavy lack of participation, but it was not defined by national identities. Instead, it depended on classes. Many people, especially poor and illiterate, did not concern themselves with politics, felt unaffected or had the impression their voice could not matter. It was a concern for both Venstre and the Labor Party, which tried to increase political consciousness, but it was a long endeavor and the fruits of their labor were not to be seen by the end of the campaign. Finally, many of the conservatives did not participate in the elections after the civil war, either because they could not or would not. It is estimated nearly a third of the people who had voted in 1856 refused to do so in 1860. Hoyre had not managed to rebuild its support and attract back their voters.

Venstre came first, with 79,9% of the votes, gained largely thanks to the trade unions. The leader of the party, Rudolf Ehnemark, an anti-clerical liberal, became the second president of the United Republic of Scandinavia. Hoyre came second with 11,3% and last was the Labor Party, with only 8,7%. It gave 240 seats to Venstre, 34 to Hoyre and 26 to the Labor Party. Thanks to its huge majority, Ehnemark did not invite Hoyre into his new government.

 

[HistoryDude]

This is a novel format. It looks fun...

Wait, what happened during the Civil War? Why did it start?

When was Denmark annexed to the new Scandinavia? Is that part of the mod?

 

[Volodio]

It was a civil war between monarchists and republicans. There was a high degree of foreign involvement. The UK and Prussia backed the republicans while Russia and Austria backed the monarchists. Ultimately the republicans won.

Denmark was puppeted in the early 1840s, then annexed when Scandinavia was formed in 1855. Basically I played 20 years, formed Scandinavia, then turned it into a democracy before starting my AAR, because I wanted to focus on the elections part.

Because of this, I focus solely on the things that matter in the elections. That's why I didn't really expand on the civil war. But if you'd prefer to have more context on events which are not primarily relevant to the elections themselves, just say so. I think you've been my sole reader for the last three AARs I posted on Paradox forums, so I'm basically writing only for us both. If you want something different, just say it.

 

[HistoryDude]

It's fine as is. I'll just ask for context if I need it. Also, I suspect that you do have silent readAARs (readers who don't comment).

 

[Volodio]

1864 Elections​

The elections of 1864 took place in the middle of a German uprising in Schleswig and Holstein, which led to an economic crisis in Scandinavia due to all the resources coming from the region. It revived Scandinavian nationalism and was used as a platform for unity by Venstre, in great need of it.

In its four years in power, Venstre had managed to secure Scandinavian democracy. Strong institutions guaranteeing liberty and safeguarding the constitution had be created to prevent the country going back to a monarchy, the power of the Church had been entirely destroyed, the clerical grip on education had been removed by privatizations and religion had been banned from public life. As a result, there was no longer any need for so many people of different ideologies to stay inside the same party. The unity of Venstre was showing its crack. There was a split with some members of the party leaving to create the Radical People’s Party, more focused on equality between classes than the traditional liberals of Venstre, and Ehnemark struggled to keep the trade unions, which brought the largest number of voters through their efficient activism. In the end, he was successful and there was no further separation.

Hoyre had seen many changes. The leadership had been entirely changed, the monarchist line had been abandoned and the party had switched its platform to focus solely on conservative issues within the republic. New newspapers were created and its base of support had been rebuilt entirely. Ironically, most of the leaders of Hoyre were women who were arguing for traditional values and against equality between sexes. While it succeeded in gaining back many supporters, it was not as powerful as in 1856. The new party line did not convince everyone, the number of women within the leadership of the party decreased its credibility to their misogynistic voter base and people were less concerned about the societal issues in the midst of an economic crisis. Moreover, there were far less peasants and the workers felt far more nationalist, leading to many former Hoyre supporters going to Venstre.

The Labor Party was slowly rebuilding itself without the trade unions, that they accused of colluding with the bosses. There was strife between the workers with more and more rejecting the trade unions. They were still dominating, but their power was being eroded. But the Labor Party was hampered by its own focus on criticizing the Church, making it seems redundant to Venstre’s effort.

The elections were the most correct that Scandinavia had seen until now. There was far less censorship and most of Scandinavia could fully participate in the democratic process, though many still refused to do so. However, the Germans, while allowed to vote, were forbidden from creating their own parties, and the African colonies were not authorized to participate in the elections. The regions outright did not have any electoral institution and thus even the Scandinavians going there could not vote, though there was not many of them.

Ehnemark secured a second term with 57,6% of the votes. Second came Hoyre with 20,5%, then the Labor Party with 12,8% and finally the Radical People’s Party with 8,8%. It gave 173 seats to Venstre, 62 to Hoyre, 38 to the Labor Party and 27 to the Radical People’s Party.

 

[Volodio]

1868 Elections​

The elections of 1868 happened just after the land reforms which had greatly encouraged aristocrats to sell their farms, sometimes even against their will, to the people working for them. This had greatly empowered the peasants and made them realize directly the importance of politics. However, while the reforms had come from Venstre, the peasants were largely conservative. In particular, many of them were religious and they were angered by the anti-clerical policies of the government. Ehnemark had gone so far as to massively seize churches during the land reforms and sell them to be destroyed and farms be built in their stead. Though there were cases of farmers buying back the church and allowing the priest to live inside of it. The popularity of Hoyre had increased as a result of these land reforms.

The Radical People’s Party had dissolved and its members joined back Venstre. The fragile alliance between the trade unions and the liberals continued to hold, in particularly thanks to Ehnemark agreeing to halt the effort to replace men by machines. Thanks to this, the factories were competing against each other for labor and the trade unions were greatly empowered. Their number continued to grow.

The Labor Party was unable to achieve similar results and thus was losing support. Its members were also distracted by the creation of the First International. Many preferred going to the first convention and discuss their ideology and how to spread it rather than participating in the campaign.

With Venstre putting an end to the discrimination against the Germans, they became more involved in Scandinavian politics, with their votes split between Venstre and Hoyre.

Ehnemark was elected for his third term with 65,9% of the votes, Hoyre came second with 25,6% and the Labor Party was last at 8,3%. It gave 198 seats to Venstre, 77 to Hoyre and a mere 25 to the Labor Party.

 

[HistoryDude]

The Schleswig-Holstein Question will probably come up again. I wonder if it will be a dividing line between parties...

When will more extremist parties emerge?

How much power did the Church have in the first place? Both Denmark-Norway and Sweden were historically Lutheran, weren't they?

 

[Volodio]

When I'm referring to the Church, I'm referring to the Church of Sweden, which is indeed Lutheran.

 

[Volodio]

1872 Elections​

The First International had created deep divisions within the socialists. It especially affected Scandinavia as those divisions caused the collapse of the Labor Party. However, it was immediately entirely retaken by the trade unions, which had finally left Venstre because of internal divisions with the liberals. The creation of a privatized healthcare and a free trade economy, while somewhat supported by the trade unions because they were better than what was before, were also something the trade unions wanted to be improved. The unions had grown very strong and this was a huge blow to Ehnemark. The elections were close.

With the trade unions gone from his government, Ehnemark was adopting more liberal policies. In particular, he was trying to open the borders of the country to let migrants come. He was also planning on authorizing back automation methods. He did not voice his project during the campaign, hoping to keep some workers in Venstre, but some documents leaked in the press and it became an important issue of the elections.

Meanwhile, Hoyre was criticizing free trade and open borders. Hoyre by that point had completely abandoned its royalist ideology and was focused on defending national identity. Even religion became less of a concern. They were notably saying that with the Russians crushing the Finnish anti-royalist independentist revolt, Scandinavian identity was in danger. It shows the change within the party, as fifteen years before they were the royalists with Russian support.

Ehnemark was re-elected for his fourth term with 41,4%, followed by the Labor Party at 33,5% and Hoyre with 24,9% of the votes. It gave 124 seats to Venstre, 101 to the Labor Party and 75 to Hoyre. For the first time since 1860, Venstre no longer had a legislative majority. Yet the opposition was not united and thus Ehnemark did not enter a coalition with another party, choosing instead to exploit the disputes and bring individual MP of either party to support the laws he wanted to pass. Ehnemark died merely a month after the election. He was replaced as president by Otto Anker, a Norwegian.

 

[Volodio]

1876 Elections​

By 1876, the Labor Party was slowly reuniting the socialists under the leadership of the trade unions. The anarchists were the biggest group that refused to get involved in the elections due to their disagreement with the concept itself of a government. The trade unions were also constantly growing, in large part thanks to the economic reforms of Venstre. These reforms had focused on implanting technological advancements in the industries and, while they had been successful at boosting the economy, they had also created a need for an educated workforce, which became more involved in political activism and often unionized.

A particularly hot issue was child labor. The Labor Party was trying to get some regulations in place, some even through violent means. Anker did his best to oppose it, believing it would weaken the businesses, but he had some oppositions even from his own party, a struggle which was leaked in the middle of the campaign. The Labor Party was also effectively using newspapers to publish sad stories about children being destroyed by their work in the mines or the factories.

By that point, the number of voters had also significantly increased in Scandinavia. A lot of Scandinavians felt a sense of national identity and became more concerned with politics, a result in large part of the effort made by the liberals, the trade unions and the socialists since 1860. However, while the majority of the potential voters in Scandinavia did vote, 1876 was also the year where the population in the colonies outnumbered the one in Scandinavia. Africans could not vote in the Scandinavian elections. Yet the colonies were ruled largely autonomously with local power structures still in place as too little actual Scandinavians were interested in going to Central Africa. So while the Africans did not have a say in Scandinavian politics and notably the economic policies that influenced them, they still had a large degree of autonomy notably for social and political issues. Of course, it was not a democracy and in effect most of the people were ruled by some local chieftains who acted as a liaison between the locals and the colonizers and used the occasion to enrich themselves.

Hoyre kept itself relevant notably by focusing on nationalist issues and specifically on opposing Russia due to their involvement against Scandinavian colonialism. The attempted Russian invasion of Stockholm of 1874 was used heavily in propaganda to try to gain new voters.

Venstre was also weakened by its own relaxed migration laws as many people, specially Germans and business owners, went to Prussia where they felt there were better opportunities for them. The business owners were particularly important to Venstre as many were donors that the party relied on.

The Labor Party won the elections for the first time with 45,4% of the votes. Second came Venstre with 29,6%, then Hoyre at 24,8%. It gave 136 seats to the Labor Party, 89 to Venstre and Hoyre kept its 75 seats. Johan Fredrick Andersson, the leader of the political branch of the trade unions, became the 4th president of the United Republic of Scandinavia. He was a behemoth of Scandinavian politics, having led the trade unions since 1855. He was the original founder of the Labor Party and very respected among socialists, even those that hated the support the trade unions gave to Venstre. Thanks to the time that the trade unions spent amongst Venstre, they had created deep connections with the left wing of the party, which they used to pass the reforms past the Parliament without needing to enter a coalition with the entire Venstre.

 

[HistoryDude]

Let's see how this new government does...

What's up with Russia? How did they justify attacking Scandinavia?

How did the First International form? Are there any communist countries yet?

 

[Volodio]

Russia got involved in a play I was making against an African country. They backed the African country.

The First International is an event from the Better Politics Mod. It shows the formation of the International Workingmen's Organization by the different socialists all across the world. It also serves to split the socialists, who are previously united, into the revolutionary and reformist socialists and the anarchists. It's what caused the collapse of the Labor Party between 1868 and 1872. There is no communist country yet.

 

[Volodio]

1880 Elections​

The four years of rule had given a platform to the more radical socialists within the government. Thanks to this, they had gained many supporters, including from the trade unions, and were taking over the Labor Party. The unions were slowly losing their political role. This led to rivalries during the campaign as the socialists were trying to put one of their own as president. This struggle lasted until the day of the election. Yet this did not detract them from the elections as they were able to play on their achievements, notably the increased investments in education, the regulations against children work, the raised standard of living and the fairer taxations, affecting more the rich. Their popularity had considerably increased.

The Labor Party was even more popular as they were in the process of passing an extensive reform package to repel anti-unemployed laws instituted under the monarchy and create the first retirement pension system in the world. Venstre was opposing it, which cost them many of their voters.

Hoyre was the party which was struggling the most to keep itself relevant. Many of their voters were adhering to the socialist ideology as they became exposed to it. Moreover, a large number of the Germans who agreed with conservative ideology had decided to leave to Canada, who they felt fitted more their value.

The Labor Party won the elections with 54,8% of the votes, followed by Venstre at 29,4% and Hoyre at 15,7%. The socialists won the internal struggle within the Labor Party and put their leader, Adam Oxholm, as the 5th president of Scandinavia. However, he died suddenly a few months later and was replaced by Briet Johanesson, a socialist woman. Thanks to their majority, they had little compromise to make, and none with Venstre.

 

[HistoryDude]

Now that the socialists are in power, I wonder if they will pursue the World Revolution... or will they focus on being an example to other nations of socialism's benefits?

 

[Palescar666]

Interesting AAR mate

 

[Volodio]

Interesting AAR mate

Thanks, nice to have another reader.

 

[Volodio]

1884 Elections​

In these four years in power, the socialists had created the first retirement pension, established a minimum wages, nationalized healthcare and railways and passed numerous laws improving the security of workers in the factories. They had also tried, unsuccessfully, to support the first communist revolution abroad, in the Netherlands, and entirely reorganized the economy to not depend on Prussian trade ships. The living standards of the workers had increased significantly and the government was very popular.

However, the socialists wanted to do even more and be even more radical. Notably they wanted to completely change the mode of government, to instead rely on elected workers’ councils which would represent the interests of the workers and choose the leader of the country. A move which was intended to empower the workers and making sure their fate was in their end. The trade unions opposed it as their leader, Andersson, was a firm republican. It was not helped by more radical desires of some of the socialists, like the idea of “liberating the workers of the world” or extend this new form of government to the African colonies, which would be given voting rights in Scandinavian elections. As a result, the unions left the Labor Party and joined Venstre, of which Andersson became its leader.

The campaign was by far the closest of the republic so far. Both sides made their best effort to attract as many voters as possible as they felt the result of this election would change the fate of Scandinavia.

Meanwhile, Hoyre was continuing to lose influence. They tried to oppose the Labor Party, but refused to unite with Venstre. It was seen by many liberals and conservative voters alike as a big risk benefitting the socialists. The increase in living conditions had caused many former Hoyre members to join the socialists. Lastly, the African colonies were starting to take over the agricultural needs of Scandinavia. Many farms became abandoned with the farmers going to the cities, where they were influenced by the liberals, the socialists and the trade unions. Hoyre lost a large part of their voter base.

The Labor Party won closely with 46,1% of the votes, followed by Venstre at 43,3% then Hoyre at 10,4%. It gave 138 seats to the Labor Party, 130 to Venstre and 32 to Hoyre. The Labor Party chose Ukrik Klauman as the 7th president. Johanesson had lost her position mainly due to her faction, more radical, losing the struggle within the party and also because she was a woman and the socialists were afraid of driving away their most conservative voters. While the Labor Party did not have the majority in Parliament, many MP from the trade unions disagreed with Andersson and chose to collaborate with the ruling party. Therefore, the effort of creating a new government continued.

 

[Volodio]

1888 Elections​

Following the successful establishment of the first socialist state in the world, the socialists quickly divided between the radical communists and the moderate social democrats. Their chief divide was that the communists wanted to export socialism, by supporting revolutions around the world and giving the same rights to Africans, while social democrats wanted to focus only on Scandinavia. Another point of contention was the desire of the communists for a complete reform of society. The division were so big that the communists left the Labor Party and created the Communist Party. With the Labor Party becoming more moderate, the unions agreed to join back.

The elections were focused on this division and were intended to decide the fate of Scandinavia. It was the first election with this new system of vote which greatly empowered the workers. While the communists were influent, they were scaring many people. Notably their support of the failed communist revolution in Mecklenburg against Prussia had decreased their popularity. Their radicalism also contributed to increase the support for Hoyre.

While the standard of living of the workers had significantly increased, the split among the government had slowed down the passing of new laws and reforms. In particular, the project to nationalize education entirely was stalled by the division. As a result, some workers were not convinced by the promise of the left and joined Venstre.

The Labor Party arrived first in the elections with 36,9% of the votes, followed by Venstre with 32%, then the Communist Party at 17,2% and finally Hore with 13,6%. Klauman, the leader of the Labor Party, became the first chairman of the Scandinavian Socialist State. The repartition of seats at the Socialist Assembly, which in effect was just a new name for the old Scandinavian Parliament, was of 111 for the Labor Party, 96 for Venstre, 52 for the communists and 41 for Hoyre. With no side having the majority to rule alone, the social democrats and the communists compromised on being part of the same government as there were several more reforms they agreed on and wanted to push. They were also afraid of giving pack power to the liberals.

 

[HistoryDude]

Huh, it seems as if the very existence of a socialist Scandinavia is inspiring revolutions. I can't imagine that the powers of Europe are very happy with that - and they see it as a situation to be... corrected.

What was this Mecklenburg Revolution like? Localized to Mecklenburg and its environs? Why didn't it spread?