I think so. The 1950s study gives evidence both ways, but then 1956 was of course an election where the right was strong and the Agrarians weren't unambiguously right-wing, so it's a bit hard to tell. And of course SD screws things over a bit further.

The Centre Party wasn't unambiguously right-wing until the late 90s, mind you. They were willing to call themselves non-socialist, sure, but they were very reluctant to apply the dreaded B-word to themselves.
 
How the Hell did we end up in this situation here in Sweden where unlike everywhere else in the world, it is the countryside that is left-wing and the urban areas that are right-wing...?

Durham City is more conservative than the former mining towns that surround it, same with Sunderland. It's because Sweden isn't an agricultural nation, you're miners and foresters like us.
 
Durham City is more conservative than the former mining towns that surround it, same with Sunderland. It's because Sweden isn't an agricultural nation, you're miners and foresters like us.

And meanwhile the parts of the country that are thoroughly agricultural, i.e. bits of Scania, Västergötland, Östergötland and Uppland, are coincidentally also some of the most right-wing countryside in the country.
 
Durham City is more conservative than the former mining towns that surround it, same with Sunderland. It's because Sweden isn't an agricultural nation, you're miners and foresters like us.

Even so, our farmers have never really been properly conservative. Back when the Center Party was the Agrarian League and had a monopoly on much for the rural vote, they tended to be centre-to-centre-left. Or centre-to-centre-[and we need lots and lots and lots of subsidies for the farmers].
 
Even so, our farmers have never really been properly conservative. Back when the Center Party was the Agrarian League and had a monopoly on much for the rural vote, they tended to be centre-to-centre-left. Or centre-to-centre-[and we need lots and lots and lots of subsidies for the farmers].

Well, in 1914 it was some 50,000 peasants who marched up to the courtyard to demand the King build a new armoured cruiser in spite of the cabinet wanting to spend the money on state pensions, after all. (And some 60,000 workers who staged a counter-demonstration the next day, but that tends not to get mentioned quite as often) I think it was mostly because of the Depression that the Agrarians turned solidly Rural Pork For Rural People, before that… you know, I honestly don't know where they were at in the 20s, but I do know that the Right was massively strong among peasants, except in Scania for whatever reason.
 
Even so, our farmers have never really been properly conservative. Back when the Center Party was the Agrarian League and had a monopoly on much for the rural vote, they tended to be centre-to-centre-left. Or centre-to-centre-[and we need lots and lots and lots of subsidies for the farmers].

I wonder why - did you have large landowners or cooperative-like arrangements between free landworkers?
 
On the contrary, we even had a system of quasi-serfdom up and running until 1945.

I wonder how strongly the Social Democratic vote correlated to that. Come to think of it, I wonder how long it took us to get the secret ballot - was it when the estate system was abolished, alongside universal suffrage, or somewhere in between?
 
I wonder how strongly the Social Democratic vote correlated to that. Come to think of it, I wonder how long it took us to get the secret ballot - was it when the estate system was abolished, alongside universal suffrage, or somewhere in between?

I dunno, though I wouldn't be surprised if it was included among Louis De Geer's countless constitutional reforms meant to drag Sweden out of the 18th century in the 1860s.
 
Suddenly being extremely curious why it took so long before the statare system was abolished. I mean, by the time it finally was abolished, Sweden had already had time to go through a couple of Social Democratic Prime Ministers.
 
On the contrary, we even had a system of quasi-serfdom up and running until 1945.

Well quasi-serfdom might explain why the rural world is left-ish, if you've got large landowners treating people like crap, they are more likely not to be worried about property they don't possess. But this is based on my understanding of how agrarian politics worked in Spain, so I don't know how applicable that'd be
 
Suddenly being extremely curious why it took so long before the statare system was abolished. I mean, by the time it finally was abolished, Sweden had already had time to go through a couple of Social Democratic Prime Ministers.

Looking closer at it, I'm discovering that the system wasn't even abolished by an Act of the Riksdag, it was abolished because the farmers' union struck a deal with the organizations representing the landowners!

What the fuck?!
 
Suddenly being extremely curious why it took so long before the statare system was abolished. I mean, by the time it finally was abolished, Sweden had already had time to go through a couple of Social Democratic Prime Ministers.

We were very much a party for urban workers and miners at the time, but I don't really think that explains it considering Gunnar Sträng made his career organising farm workers in the 30s.
 
Looking closer at it, I'm discovering that the system wasn't even abolished by an Act of the Riksdag, it was abolished because the farmers' union struck a deal with the organizations representing the landowners!

What the fuck?!

S A L T S J Ö B A D S A N D A N
 
Yeah, but you cannot deny that it's indeed remarkable that the people involved managed to sort this bloody well out for themselves!

It's like if after the Peasant's Revolt instead of Wat Tyler being executed, he was instead invited over for a few pints at the Palace of Westminster while the King made the relevant declarations.
 
It's like if after the Peasant's Revolt instead of Wat Tyler being executed, he was instead invited over for a few pints at the Palace of Westminster while the King made the relevant declarations.

It's really more like if Wat Tyler and the feudal barons worked it out themselves and the King just didn't get involved in the matter in the first place.
 
So a case in point re the urban/rural divide.

Kronoberg
7 seats, quota (±25%): 20,103

val-alt-kronoberg.png


Växjö Norra (Växjö North)
As you can probably tell, this seat covers the northern half of Växjö. I've mostly used the municipal constituencies for the division, except that I've moved the villa neighbourhood of Högstorp from north to south and Araby, Växjö's main concrete suburb, from south to north. Aside from Araby and Biskopsgården (a name that never seems to be given to a nice area), this is mostly various types of rowhouse and detached neighbourhoods. Distinctly suburban in character.

Social Democrats: 6729 (37.53%)
Moderates: 3976 (22.17%)
Sweden Democrats: 1826 (10.18%)

Left Bloc: 53.28%
Alliance: 35.75%
Sweden Democrats: 10.18%

As you may have been able to guess, North is the more left-wing seat in the city, with about the same margin in party and bloc votes.

Växjö Södra (Växjö South)
This, then, is the rest of Växjö. The seat contains the city centre with the medieval cathedral and the station area (now being redeveloped), the older suburbs, as well as the industrial estates in the west and Teleborg, a mixture of Million Programme-era rowhouses and university campus to the southeast.

Social Democrats: 5736 (28.75%)
Moderates: 5340 (26.77%)
Sweden Democrats: 2135 (10.70%)

Left Bloc: 45.89%
Alliance: 42.61%
Sweden Democrats: 10.70%

On the one hand, the university area means that South is a better seat for the plural left than North, but it's also a much better seat for the Moderates. So much so that they come within two percentage points of winning in the party vote, although the margin is slightly greater in the bloc vote.

Norra Värend (Värend North)
For the eastern part of the county, I had the choice of dividing it between Växjö/not Växjö or north/south - I went with the latter, because while slightly harder to calculate, it feels a bit easier, and I doubt a situation where Tingsryd and Lenhovda are in the same seat while Ingelstad and Braås are in another one would've passed muster in a UK-style boundary review. This, then, is the northern seat, which covers Uppvidinge municipality and most of rural Växjö municipality, with the main urban centres being Åseda (famous for cheese), Lenhovda (famous for radiators), Rottne (famous for horticultural machinery), Braås (famous for articulated haulers) and Lammhult (famous for furniture). Small industrial towns like this are a penny a dozen in this part of the country, but unlike mill towns aren't necessarily left-wing - indeed, the Alliance would've won the Växjö-only seat on the bloc vote.

Social Democrats: 5010 (30.63%)
Moderates: 3312 (20.25%)
Sweden Democrats: 2878 (17.60%)

Left Bloc: 41.15%
Alliance: 40.57%
Sweden Democrats: 17.60%

As you can tell, very marginal on the bloc vote. However, the Centre are also fairly strong here (2033 (12.43%)) which muddles the party vote somewhat.

Södra Värend (Värend South)
The southern seat covers Tingsryd and Lessebo municipalities as well as the southeastern corner of Växjö, and its main centres are Tingsryd (famous for shops and the racetrack), Lessebo town (famous for its paper mill) and Hovmantorp (famous for its former glassworks, in common with much of the area). There's a stark divide here between Lessebo and the rest of the constituency - Lessebo doesn't really fit in with the rest of Kronoberg politically, as it's made up largely of former mill and/or glassworks towns with a strong labour movement, while the rest of the seat is much more typical of the county.

Social Democrats: 5681 (33.40%)
Moderates: 3215 (18.90%)
Sweden Democrats: 3209 (18.87%)

Left Bloc: 43.28%
Alliance: 37.19%
Sweden Democrats: 18.87%

Lessebo drags the seat leftward by a fair bit - without it, it would probably be quite winnable for the Alliance.

Alvesta
Alvesta itself is famous across southern Sweden as a place where everyone has went but no one has ever stayed - it's where the Southern Main Line meets the cross-country line from Gothenburg to Kalmar/Karlskrona, and consequently a lot of train transfers happen here. There was a radio advert a few years ago for a hotel there which was about a child who kept pestering his mother to stick around for longer and longer, which elicited a lot of ridicule from virtually everyone not living in Alvesta. Other major towns in the constituency include Moheda (famous for clogs), Vislanda (famous for sawmills) and Gemla (famous as a dormitory town for Växjö after years of paper milling). In addition to Alvesta municipality, a chunk of Växjö municipality around Gemla was added to the seat to make up the numbers - the rail line makes it fairly connected to Alvesta regardless of the municipal boundaries.

Social Democrats: 4695 (29.60%)
Moderates: 3603 (22.71%)
Sweden Democrats: 3116 (19.64%)

Alliance: 40.64%
Left Bloc: 38.97%
Sweden Democrats: 19.64%

And here we have the only blue seat in the county, at least on the bloc vote. Also the strongest SD vote anywhere in the county, which I suspect goes some way toward explaining why the Centre isn't stronger here than it is.

Älmhult och Markaryd
Älmhult should be well-known [citation needed] as the home of IKEA - although Ingvar Kamprad was actually from Älmtaryd in Agunnaryd parish, which is now in Ljungby municipality and constituency (hence the abbreviation, which comes from his then-address: Ingvar Kamprad, Elmtaryd, Agunnaryd), he founded his first shop in Älmhult, which was located on the aptly named "Ikea-vägen" and is now the site of the IKEA Museum (the shop itself having moved to the eastern edge of town). Markaryd is the former border town with Denmark (some would say it still is with tongue in cheek), and the home of Nibe, a manufacturer of heating equipment which, while less of a national icon than IKEA, is nonetheless fairly well-known.

Social Democrats: 5408 (33.89%)
Moderates: 3417 (21.41%)
Sweden Democrats: 2751 (17.24%)

Left Bloc: 42.73%
Alliance: 39.04%
Sweden Democrats: 17.24%

Fairly typical for the county, all things considered - Markaryd council is a rock-hard KD stronghold, but this is due to a UPLB effect and thus doesn't show up on the parliamentary level.

Ljungby
I know nigh-on nothing about Ljungby, so shan't be able to fill in much, but this seat is exactly coterminous with the municipality of the same name, which makes it unique in Kronoberg. Ljungby is to the south Swedish road network what Alvesta is to the rail network, to some extent, but the nature of car travel means there's much less interaction, so if I've been there at all I've probably never left the car. The city is built around the roads and the lumber industry, I'm told, and after a fire in 1953 a large portion of the city centre had to be rebuilt, so Ljungby shows (if possible) even less architectural heritage than comparable cities elsewhere. There are few other places of note in the constituency, but nearly half of it lives in the rural area around the city as opposed to the city itself.

Social Democrats: 5920 (33.42%)
Moderates: 3590 (20.27%)
Sweden Democrats: 2905 (16.40%)

Left Bloc: 43.03%
Alliance: 39.44%
Sweden Democrats: 16.40%

No comment really needed or available.
 
Alvesta itself is famous across southern Sweden as a place where everyone has went but no one has ever stayed - it's where the Southern Main Line meets the cross-country line from Gothenburg to Kalmar/Karlskrona, and consequently a lot of train transfers happen here. There was a radio advert a few years ago for a hotel there which was about a child who kept pestering his mother to stick around for longer and longer, which elicited a lot of ridicule from virtually everyone not living in Alvesta. Other major towns in the constituency include Moheda (famous for clogs), Vislanda (famous for sawmills) and Gemla (famous as a dormitory town for Växjö after years of paper milling). In addition to Alvesta municipality, a chunk of Växjö municipality around Gemla was added to the seat to make up the numbers - the rail line makes it fairly connected to Alvesta regardless of the municipal boundaries.

Considering how close the town was in our election, the train transfers and the general feel of the place as you describe it, is Alvesta the Swedish equivalent of Crewe?
 
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