Class Formation in Sweden and Britain: Educating Workers

Abstract

The European labor movements developed in different directions during the twentieth century. The class formation literature has tried to explain these differences but left unexplored the internal dynamics of the labor movement and, above all, the differences in ideological schooling. Workers' education constitutes a forum for ideological schooling of members, and these educational settings can be identity constitutive and thus play an important part in the class formation process. In this article I analyze the institutions for workers' education in Sweden and Britain and I suggest that the variation of the design and practices of workers' education had an impact on the movements' developments in terms of identity formation and cohesiveness.The labor movement came to play a crucial role in the development of welfare states and democracy in the early twentieth century. Democratic citizenship was promoted by the reformist labor movement and became an important part of the consolidation of democracy during the interwar period. There were, however, significant differences between the European labor movements in terms of size, cohesiveness, ideology, and, ultimately, influence. In some of the Nordic countries, especially Sweden, the reformist labor movement became strong, unified, and influential. These countries developed comprehensive welfare states and peaceful industrial relations, while in other countries the labor movement was more fragmented. Different ideological factions ended up in conflict with each other instead of struggling together, making labor weak. Meanwhile in Spain, Italy, and Germany fascist movements overthrew democracy with support from parts of the working class. 2 How can we understand these national differences? There are varied explanations for the relative strength and ideology of the labor movements in Europe. The most common ones focus on structural variables and take the class formation literature as their point of departure. The internal dynamics of the labor movement and especially the differences in ideological schooling have, with few exceptions, not been the focus of comparative research on national labor movements. In this article I argue that examining workers' education may offer a path to a deeper understanding of the class formation process and, thus, a clearer grasp of national differences among labor movements. Workers' education constitutes a forum for ideological schooling of members that can be and has been identity-constitutive.To understand how class formation took place in different countries, we need to include workers' education in the analysis. In this article I analyze

The knowledge-oriented and relationship-oriented roles of popular education in labour movement parties in Sweden

“…ABF was founded in 1912 and came under the control of the reformist Swedish Trade Union Confederation (LO) and the Social Democratic Party, although smaller and less influential leftist organisations have been part of the umbrella organisation from the beginning. Hence, this development differs from the development of the workers' educational organisations in Britain, which was more pluralistic and more independent in relation to labour movement parties (J Jansson, 2016).…”

Educational imaginaries : a genealogy of the digital citizen

“…The dominance of the Social Democratic Party in 20 th century Swedish politics is often presented as a contributing reason for the Swedish welfare model. For over forty years, in the post-war period, the Swedish Social Democratic Party remained uninterrupted in governance, and the Swedish labor movement was regarded as one of the strongest in the world (Jansson, 2016).…”

“…Popular education was consequently mobilized as an important tool for ideological governance and unification of the labor movement (Jansson, 2012)-it aided in shaping the identity and ideology of the labor movement. Consequently, power over popular education became an important political muscle (Jansson, 2016). The relationship between popular education and the labor movement was thus one of mutuality.…”

Workers’ education under conditions of precariousness: Re-imagining workers’ education

“…There is consensus among many scholars that, unlike other types of education, because workers’ education seeks to preserve and advance the interests of workers and of the marginalised, it has to be democratic and participatory (Dolgon and Roth, 2016; Jansson, 2016; Rose and Jeris, 2011). In the context of Switzerland, workers’ education and organising have been used to defend and advance the interests not only of Swiss workers but also those of vulnerable migrant workers working in that country.…”

“…With few exceptions (Francisco, 2016; Hamilton, 2017; Patel, 2017), scholars who have written on workers’ education in South Africa and in other parts of the world have not reflected on the role of workers’ education under changing conditions of employment (Cooper, 2007; Dolgon and Roth, 2016; Jansson, 2016). Literature on precarious workers’ education is limited, but there are new contributions that are beginning to show that educators are using study circles, online sessions and workshops to educate workers dialogically about their rights (Patel, 2017).…”