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The union conflict was not as important in Swedish
politics as it was in Norway, but in 1905 it was nevertheless a dominant topic
in Sweden. One result of the dissolution of the union was that union issues no
longer overshadowed other social problems. After 1905, Sweden could concentrate
on voting reforms, defence issues and economic development. The union crisis in
1905 also had an immediate impact on Swedish politics: Sweden had four
different prime ministers during the course of the year. Two of the changes in
prime minister were provoked by the union crisis, which thus helped move Sweden
towards a parliamentary system.
Sweden regarded the Storting's decision of 7 June as
unlawful and revolutionary. It was also considered an insult to the honour of
the King and the nation. The Swedish government immediately discussed the
possibility of military action against Norway, but concluded that it neither
wanted nor was able to take any military steps at that time. An extraordinary
meeting of the Riksdag was called on 21 June to decide how Sweden was to react.
The King had himself responded to the Storting in a letter dated 10 June, where
he protested the validity of the 7 June decision. However, he did not wish to
maintain the union or use arms against Norway, and the government submitted a
proposition in keeping with this view. The Riksdag was divided on this issue.
 Some people agreed with the King and the government and wanted to
end the union straight away. Others wanted to set conditions for the lawful
dissolution of the union. A third group of people wanted to retain the union by
force. Agreement was only reached when the committee's recommendations were
processed by the Riksdag. The chambers agreed on a number of conditions that
Norway would have to satisfy. The Riksdag's programme constituted a complete
reversal of the government's proposition. This led to the Ramstedt cabinet
resigning and the highly Conservative Christian Lundeberg forming a new
coalition government that was based on the political agreement in the Riksdag.
This was the first time that Sweden had had a complete change of government,
where the entire cabinet was forced to leave because of relations with the
Riksdag. The new coalition government under Mr Lundeberg's leadership lasted
throughout the entire negotiation period, but no longer. There was an election
for the second chamber of the Riksdag during the summer. The issues of suffrage
and defence dominated the election campaign. In light of the union conflict, it
was expected that the right wing would win the election, but it was in fact the
left wing that won, and on 7 November Karl Staaff formed a moderate Liberal
government. |
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