Erlander I Cabinet

The first cabinet of Tage Erlander was the cabinet and government of Sweden between 11 October 1946 and 1 October 1951. It was formed following the sudden death of Prime Minister Per Albin Hansson on 6 October 1946.

Tage Erlander's first cabinet
38th Cabinet of Sweden
Date formed	11 October 1946
Date dissolved	1 October 1951
People and organisations
King	Gustaf V (until 1950) Gustaf VI Adolf
Head of government	Tage Erlander
Member party	Social Democrats
Status in legislature	Single-party majority government (first chamber) Single-party minority government (second chamber)
Opposition parties	Right Wing Party Rural Party Farmers' League People's Party Swedish Communist Party
History
Predecessor	Hansson IV
Successor	Erlander II

It was succeeded on 1 October 1951 by the Erlander II Cabinet, a coalition government between the Social Democratic Party and the centre-right Farmers' League.[1]

Policy

Following the Second World War, social reform was the pillar of Swedish social democracy. The architect behind the Swedish welfare reforms during this period was the Minister for Social Affairs, Gustav Möller.

During the reign of the Erlander I Cabinet, the following reforms were implemented:[2]

• A system of public health insurance for all, legislation which was passed in December 1946 and originally planned to come into effect in 1950, was implemented on 1 January 1955 after two delays. The system included free healthcare, state-funded medication prescriptions and paid sickness leave for workers.
• In 1947, a unanimous Riksdag approved the barnbidrag; a policy of children's allowance for all children younger than 16.
• Rents were lowered and construction of new housing was subsidized.
• The Worker's Protection Board was established in 1949, an authority responsible for protecting workers' rights. Work during the night was essentially prohibited. In 2001, the board was reformed as the Swedish Work Environment Authority.

During the war, it was feared that an economic depression would follow after the war's end. The economist Gunnar Myrdal warned of this coming depression in his 1944 book Varning för fredsoptimism (sv). But in 1945, it became clear that the economy was improving. As a consequence, inflation increased in 1946 and 1947 whilst a deficit in the balance of trade became all the more clear. The Swedish currency reserve ran out when the import surplus reached two billion crowns.[3]

Thus, in 1947, reforms and regulations were implemented in order to curb the Swedish import. Making imports and out-going international payments was made more difficult. Rationing on coffee, tea and cocoa was re-introduced. In April 1948, rationing on gasoline was introduced. The rationing and economic difficulties were criticized by the opposition, especially by the liberal People's Party which under the new leadership of Bertil Ohlin had hardened their policies and become the leading right-wing opposition party.[4] The People's Party along with the Right Wing Party spoke of "Krångel-Sverige" (lit. "Hassle Sweden") and chastised the Social Democrats, branding them as an authoritarian party which wanted to regulate things solely because of principles[5]. The reforms were also regarded as an attempt to socialize the private sector.[4]

An inquiry into Sweden's taxation policy was ordered in October 1945 and the subsequent 1946 report authored by Ernst Wigforss proposed that the income tax on poor people should be lowered while the income tax on people with high incomes should be raised. The final proposed legislation suggested raising the corporate tax from 32% to 40%, mandatory taxation on fortunes exceeding 20 000 crowns and a special tax on certain inherited estates. The debate surrounding the tax reform was harsh. The Svea Court of Appeal ruled the proposed inheritance tax as unconstitutional, since the constitution at the time stated that "no-one is to be deprived of their property without a legal verdict". The tax reform was nonetheless approved by the Riksdag.[6]

The opposition's criticism of government policy was sparked by the 1948 general election, when the tone between the ruling Social Democrats and the opposition turned unusually bitter. A prevalent topic during the election revolved around the financing of the parties. Morgon-Tidningen, a Social Democratic newspaper claimed that the People's Party was receiving contributions from "Big Finance", amounting to almost four million crowns. The claims were later found to be untrue, and were conveyed to the newspaper by a Social Democratic MP. The election was a success for the People's Party which increased its share of the vote by over seven percent. The Right Wing Party and the Swedish Communist Party performed poorly in the election.[7]

Monetary policy was focused on keeping interest rates low. Ivar Rooth, the head of the Swedish National Bank resigned in December 1948 when a dispute between the board and himself regarding implementing policies he regarded as inflationary.[8] In September 1949, the Swedish crown was devalued, a day after the British pound sterling was devalued.

Following the election, the Social Democrats began cooperating more closely with the Farmers' League. Talks were held about forming a coalition were initiated but were ultimately unproductive. In the summer of 1951, however, talks were resumed[9] and on 28 September 1951 it was agreed that a joint Social Democratic and Farmer's League government would be formed. The Farmer's League eventually received four ministerial positions in the Erlander II Cabinet.[10][11]

Ministers

Portfolio	Minister		Took office	Left office	Party
Prime Minister		Tage Erlander	1 October 1951	11 October 1946	Social Democratic
Minister for Justice		Herman Zetterberg	11 October 1946	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Minister for Foreign Affairs		Östen Undén	11 October 1946	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Minister for Defence		Allan Vougt	11 October 1946	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Minister for Social Affairs		Gustav Möller	11 October 1946	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Deputy Minister for Social Affairs		Eije Mossberg	11 October 1946	1 July 1947	Social Democratic
Minister for Communications		Torsten Nilsson	11 October 1946	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Ministry for Finance		Ernst Wigforss	11 October 1946	30 June 1949	Social Democratic
		David Hall	1 July 1949	17 October 1949	Social Democratic
		Per Edvin Sköld	21 October 1949	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Minister for Wages		John Lingman	4 January 1950	1 July 1950	Social Democratic
Minister for Agriculture		Per Edvin Sköld	11 October 1946	29 October 1948	Social Democratic
		Gunnar Sträng	29 October 1948	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Deputy Minister for Agriculture		Gunnar Sträng	11 October 1946	11 April 1947	Social Democratic
Minister for Trade		Gunnar Myrdal	11 October 1946	29 October 1948	Social Democratic
		Axel Gjöres	11 April 1947	24 September 1948	Social Democratic
		John Ericsson i Kinna	24 September 1948	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Minister for the Interior		Eije Mossberg	1 July 1947	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Minister for Civil Affairs		John Lingman	1 July 1950	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Minister for Austerity		Axel Gjöres	11 October 1946	11 April 1947	Social Democratic
		Gunnar Sträng	11 April 1947	29 October 1948	Social Democratic
		Karin Kock-Lindberg	29 October 1948	31 December 1949	Social Democratic
		John Ericsson i Kinna	1 January 1950	30 June 1950	Social Democratic
Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs		Josef Weijne	11 October 1946	8 March 1951	Social Democratic
		Hildur Nygren	17 March 1951	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Legal Counsel		Gunnar Danielson	11 October 1946	1 October 1951
Legal Counsel and Minister for Churches		Nils Quensel	11 October 1946	1 October 1951
Minister for Fuel		John Ericsson i Kinna	11 October 1946	28 October 1948	Social Democratic
Minister for Economic Questions		Karin Kock-Lindberg	11 April 1947	28 October 1948	Social Democratic
		Sven Andersson	28 October 1948	1 October 1951	Social Democratic
Minister for Economic Organization		Per Edvin Sköld	28 October 1948	21 October 1949	Social Democratic
Minister for Foreign Trade		Dag Hammarskjöld	6 February 1951	1 October 1951

References

Bibliography

• Mares, Isabel (2006). Taxation, wage bargaining and unemployment. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521857422.
• Flora, Peter, ed (1987). Growth to Limits: The Western European Welfare States Since World War II (4 ed.). Walter de Gruyter.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)

Footnotes

1. Nohlen, D; Stöver, P (2010). Elections in Europe: A data handbook. p. 1872. ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7.
2. Mares (2006)
3. Rosenthal, Albert Harold (1967). The social programs of Sweden: a search for security in a free society. ch. 7-8.
4. "Partiernas historia: Folkpartiet". Popularhistoria.se (in Swedish). 2010-07-05. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
5. Dahlberg, Hans (1999). "1946". Hundra år i Sverige. Albert Bonniers. ISBN 9134519904.
6. Riksdagsförvaltningen. "Kungl. Maj:ts proposition nr 212 Proposition 1947:212 - Riksdagen". www.riksdagen.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-03-04.
7. Esaiasson, Peter (1990). Svenska valkampanjer 1866-1988. Stockholm: Allmänna förlaget. pp. 128–131. ISBN 91-38-92035-2.
8. "Ivar Rooth Dies; Swedish Banker; Led World Monetary Fund From 1951 to 1956". New York Times. 29 February 1972. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
9. Tage Erlanders dagböcker 1950-1951 [Tage Erlander's diaries 1950-1951]. p. 337.
10. "1950-talet". www.centerpartiet.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2020-03-04.
11. Enochsson, Jorma; Pettersson, Roland (1973). Gunnar Hedlund. Andra upplagan. Stockholm: Norstedts. pp. 49–53. ISBN 91-1-733032-7.