Trial by Fire, a different Sweden

9 October 1946, Stockholm

After the first shock of losing Per-Albin so suddenly had abated the rest of the government had started working. The other ministers had quickly resigned and started an intense internal party process of electing a new party leader. quickly, two different and opposing blocks emerged in the bid for power. the first was based around the social minister Gustav Möller who had "come up" in the party together with Per-Albin and who together with Gunnar Myrdal (trade minister) and Gunnar Sträng (assistant agricultural minister) represented a continuation and expansion of Per-Albin´s line on the the development of social-democracy. the other block was centered around education minister Tage Erlander who together with Per Edvin Sköld (agricultural minister) and Östen Undén (foreign minister and current acting prime minister) represented a break with the Per-Albin line and who wanted a more cautious approach to reforms, and an alternative to the proposed socialization process of society.

the three days following Per-Albins death where extremely hectic and for a long time is was unknown what faction would prevail, but in the end the faction around Gustav Möller managed to capitalize on Per-Albins death and how he had defended the Soviet-Swedish trade deal to the end. as a result Gustav Möller won the nominee to leader of the social-democratic party in the evening of the 9th.



11 October 1946, Stockholm

Gustav Möller was in a very mixed emotional state as he stood in the office of the prime minister, looking out over parliament and the kings castle. on one hand he was devastated over the fact that he had lost one of his closest friends and political allies for many decades. on the other hand he was genuinely thrilled to be in the position to steer the country to the future, and he could feel that they had the wind at their backs, sure the right was screaming their lungs out calling them "secret communists" and "Stalin supporters", but that would do them no good, the old world and all its horrors would die in the ash heaps of world war 2. the future belonged to the people and the common man, who would finally be given their seat at the table...

he calmed his turbulent mind and returned to the list that was sitting on his table, his list of who would make up the new government together with him.

the line up of the government looked as follows:


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  • Prime minister: Gustav Möller
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  • Minister of justice: Herman Zetterberg
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  • Foreign minister:Torsten Nilsson
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  • Defense minister: Carl "Carla" August Ehrensvärd
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  • Social minister: Alva Myrdal
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  • Minister of infrastructure: Britta Åkerman
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  • Minister of finance: Gunnar Sträng
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  • Minister of education: Josef Weijne
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  • Trade minister: Gunnar Myrdal
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  • Minister of state institutions: Else Kleen
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  • Minister of the peoples supplies: Karin Kock
this line-up spelled a lot for coming reforms, as well as a clear statement as to what faction had won inside of the social-democratic party, as the other faction was expelled from a government position. many of the ministers where female, and a lot od controversy resulted from the fact that the government now had 2 couples in it, the famous couple Myrdal and that of the prime minister and Else Kleen. and big structural changes came from the fact that the ministry of agriculture and that of fuel had been absorbed by the ministry of the peoples supplies and a new ministry established in the ministry of state institutions that would led the reforms in state prisons, orphanages and mental healthcare facilities. this last sending shockwave in the establishment as Else Keen had been imprisoned in 1939 for publishing an account of a prisoner regarding to the mistreatment at the institution. her imprisonment had generally been seen as a statement by the conservative officials in the state apparatus that their was a price to pay for progressive politics "on their turf". now Gustav Möller had made it clear that this was a fight he was willing (and in a position) to start.
the hardest one to convince to join in the government had been "Carla", Gustav had manged to convince him finally by letting him name his successor, and let him (informally) regain full control of "the strategic research and development commission" as well as a large budget to expand on the work of the Nordic Defense Covenant.

the stage was set for the post-war period.


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"Carla" hands over the role of Commander-in-chief to General Helge Jung, despite Jung being hand picked by "Carla" he still wore a black armband of sorrow on the day of transition to represent his deep affection and sorrow for leaving the armed forces.
 
in reality the Gustav Möller faction lost (surprisingly) the bid for power, and Tage Erlander became prime minister.
 
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