afloweroutofstone:

arospacecase:

afloweroutofstone:

I don’t know how to break this to y’all because I know they’re well-loved, but the band ABBA played a direct role in preventing Sweden from actually becoming a socialist nation in the 1980’s. This isn’t a shitpost either

please elaborate

Note that the following article was written in a way which was transparently hostile to the Swedish wage-earner fund plan, a fantastic idea that would have made Sweden the first nation to achieve a full model of democratic socialism.

Chris Mosey, “Sweden’s Abba sings the blues… And Socialist plans cause private industry to join the chorus,” The Christian Science Monitor, 1 September 1982:

In the run-up to a general election Sept. 19, [Abba], which numbers its fans in millions all over the world, is fighting a last-ditch stand to keep the financial empire it has built up in its homeland. Abba’s riches flow, appropriately, from such hits as “Money, Money, Money” and “Winner Takes It All.”

A proposal that would allow the trade unions to take over private industry is one of the main planks of the Swedish Social Democratic Party’s election manifesto.

Abba, which runs several of Sweden’s most profitable companies, is a prime target for the Socialist program masterminded by Marxist economists of the Swedish Confederation of Trade Unions, which is affiliated to the party in much the same way as the Trades Union Congress is linked to the British Labour Party.

The plan allows for the establishment of 13 so-called wage-earner funds. Successful companies would be forced to contribute 20 percent of what the unions describe as “excess profits” to the funds. Workers would also contribute with enforced deductions from their wages.

With this cash, the union-run funds would then buy shares in all leading companies.

Per-Martin Meyerson, leading economist with the Federation of Swedish Industry, estimates that within five years the funds would control most of Swedish industry. “The market economy would cease to exist,” he told the Monitor.

Olof Palme, leader of the Swedish Social Democrats, who have swung steadily further left in recent years, says the funds are necessary to raise investment for industry and haul Sweden out of an economic crisis of horrifying dimensions…

The Social Democrats have a commanding lead in all public opinion polls. If they win, it could be the beginning of the end for Abba. The group’s manager, Stig Anderson, is deeply concerned by the threat of a Socialist takeover of his empire. “If we had had these funds today, we would have been forced this year to part with about $2.16 million,” he said. “Why should I continue to work 14-15 hours a day to give money away like this?”

“The funds are just a device so that the unions can get power. They would be disastrous for the country. It is ridiculous to think that they could take care of the money better than us professionals.”…

Anderson is currently organizing a gala concert at Grona Lund, Stockholm’s open-air amusement park, on Sept. 5, to help finance the fight against the Socialist takeover.

And Bjorn Ulvaeus, who has composed many of Abba’s greatest hits, is now penning a leaflet alerting young people to the dangers of the funds. “We are trying to reach young families,” said Anderson, “It is their children’s futures that are at stake. This election is tremendously important. Someone said to me the other day that it might be the first time that a country will freely vote to go behind the Iron Curtain. Unfortunately, that could be the truth of it.”

Fuck Abba

Virgin Air and Virgin Galactic literally trace their lineage back to this song: