European University Institute Department of History and Civilisation ISTITUTO UNIVERSITARIO EUROPEO 2 0 SET. 2004 BIBLIOTECA Making Politics in the Streets Political Rituals and Rhetoric in 1860s Sweden By Katarina Andersson Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor in History and Civilisation from the European University Institute Florence, October, 2004 iirr i European University Institute Il lill liti li II 1 II li 1,1 Ul I llll II1IJIII 3 0001 0044 6415 4 Yf EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE Department of History and Civilisation Making Politics in the Streets Political Rituals and Rhetoric in 1860s Sweden Katarina Andersson Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of the European University Institute Examining jury: Professor Lars Edgren, Historiska Institutionen, Lunds Universitet Professor Raffaele Romanelli, Università di Roma “La Sapienza” Professor Bo Strath, European University Institute (Supervisor) Professor Oystein Sorensen, Historisk Institutt, Oslo Universitet 3 9 <?. & 9 - X T H ESt*: 948.504 - P. ANP.,.. ■ *,*> « V- V r* 1 \ V- Table of Content I. Introduction 1 II. Field of Research 18 III. Ritual and Language 27 IV. Voluntary Associations 42 V. Garibaldi 50 VI. Poland 86 VII. The Union Day 1864 123 VIII. The Engelbrekt Festival 154 IX. Political Reform 171 X. Conclusion 212 Biography and Bibliography 222 1 I J Acknowledgements Writing the acknowledgements might seem as an easy thing to do after having written a whole Ph.D thesis for several years. It is, nevertheless, not that easy because there are so many I would like to thank for their support and encouragement that the list would be too long. For those who will not be mentioned here I hope you will still feel and understand my gratefulness to you all. There are two persons, two Lars that I first and foremost want to thank for having been patient and supportive during the last six years. It is my brother and private historical mentor Lars I. Andersson and my external supervisor, Professor Lars Edgren. Without their endless support, ideas, reading efforts and criticisms I would probably never have completed this thesis. In this context, the History Department in Lund have also been an important base every year when I returned to the archives and the sources. I am very grateful for having been able to use its facilities and attend as well as present papers in the research seminars there. At the EUI History Department, I would like to thank professor Raffaele Romanelli for always having been willing to read my chapters and for having been patient, and even supportive, in periods when my mind drifted away among the clouds producing somewhat crazy ideas. I hope he at least had some fun too. Then, last but not least, I want to thank my supervisor professor Bo StrSth for having been understanding and supportive to my research. His seminars have furthermore been an interesting and important point of reference for the development of my research. My mother, and the rest of the family members, has o f course also been an important support during the last few years. Their sense of normality and down to earth attitudes were always helpful in an environment where many of us sometimes get lost in the world of words. In this sense, my friends back home in Ystad have also played a significant part during the last years. Among the EUI friends, a special thought goes to Bruno, a dear friend and the best and most witty flatmate ever. Watching the replica of Striscia la notizia in via Bertelli will never be the same again... Apart from Bruno I also want to thank Jose, Morakot, Karen, James, Ana, Annalisa, Savina, and Antonia for having contributed to the academic experience here. Florence, September 2004. i rrrri I. Introduction Prologue Amici miei. La mia Patria può correre verso i suoi gloriosi destini quando la coscienza di tutti gli onesti di Europa dice ai suoi figli «Avanti ƒIo sono con voi / » - Ma per alcuni é un ostacolo il putrido melmoso di Roma. - Altri impensierisce al cospetto della prepotenza straniera. - E i pusilli temono. - E uccidono meglio i fratelli abili a liberarli, che puntare l’arma contro l’impudente sostegno dì una tirannide quasi impossibile - tanto più infame ! Vi ringrazio per le nobili vostre parole. Sono pur tanto grato al vostro libero popolo, che io saluto di pensiero e di cuore. Addio, amici. Credete sempre al mio affetto. Vostro G. Garibaldi.1 This letter was written by Giuseppe Garibaldi in October in 1862 and sent to the citizens of Helsingborg to thank the city for having organized a festival in his honour and for an accompanying message. This letter was one among several in a correspondence between Garibaldi and the Swedish people in 1860 to 1862. Patriotic feelings and more direct contacts between Italy and Sweden in these years were a key feature of the beginnings of the national political movement in Sweden. Thus the Garibaldi movement is an important part of this thesis, demonstrating the importance of a festive culture in making politics in the streets. 1 ÖP, 10/11,1862.“ Mina vänner! Mitt fademesland kan gä sin ärofulla bestämmelse till möte, dä heia det ärliga Europas medwetande Säger till dess söner - ,4 spetsen! Jag är med Eder! - Men nägra finna ett hinder uti Roms stinkande pöl - Andra blifwa betänksamma wid äsynen af den utländska öfwermakten - De fege fhikta. - Och de döda hellre de bröder, som künde befria dem, än de med wapen tränga pä mot det oförskämda stödet för ett tyranni nästan omöjligt - sä mycket mera nedrigt!“ 1 iwMMwiinn—HTwmnnwwiiMimanoflaa jwwf r Political overview This thesis will study the ways in which rhetoric and rituals were politically employed in Sweden in the 1860s, in particular how rituals and language were used in the context of parliamentary reform and Scandinavian union from 1859 to 1865. Rhetoric and rituals became important tools in 1860s Sweden in order to express a need for constitutional reform and a broader union than that existing between Sweden and Norway. The debates on parliamentary reform and Scandinavian union both focused on the important question of defining a Swedish national identity, in order to convince public opinion about these projects. Therefore, the Swedish struggle for parliamentary reform and Scandinavian union looked for inspiration to the nationalist movements of the European continent. The nationalist movements in France, Italy, Poland, and Hungary became models for politicians wanting to define the need for parliamentary reform and Scandinavian union in the 1860s.2 3 The constitutions of both Sweden and Norway had undergone some major changes at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In 1809 Sweden experienced a coup d'etat in which the king was overthrown and a new constitution established, while Norway gained a modem and radical constitution in 1814. The assembly of the Estates that followed the coup d’etat in Sweden brought about a struggle for power between different political fractions. The Swedish Riksdag however agreed to design a new constitution before considering an heir to the Swedish throne. The essence of the new constitution was that royal power should be restricted in favour of a balance between king and parliament.4 The Regeringsform (constitution) of 1809 was inspired by Montesquieu’s formula and of an executive, legislative and judging power. The constitutional revolution of 1809 did not bring about major democratic developments as it merely reorganized existing governmental fractions, making the Estates more powerful. Thus, Sweden continued to be a monarchy and it was not a bourgeois or republican revolution that had taken place. The Swedish historian Lars I Jag tackar Eder för ert högsinta ord. - Jag är ock djupt tacksam mot ext fria folk, hvilket jag helsar i tanken och i hjertat. Farwäl, mina wanner. Waren alltid öfwertygade om min tillgifwenhet.“ (Translation from the same newspaper.) 2 Eimer, Cavourand Swedish Politics , Lund 1978, pp. 415-420.; Holmberg, Skandinavismen i Sverige vid 1800- talets nütt, Göteborg, 1946, pp. 370-380,400-405.; Furlani, „La Svezia, lo Scandinavismo e il Risorgimento Italiano“, Turino, 1976, pp. 290f.; Furlani, J l mito di Garibaldi in Scandinavia “, Rome, 1982, pp. 334-338.; Postdn, De polska emigrantemas agentverksamhet i Sverige 1862-1863 , Lund, 1982. 3 The new heir to the throne, Jean-Baptiste Bemadotte, was brought in from France where he had been an official in Napoleons army during the Napoleonic Wars. In Sweden, he became Charles XIV John. See Norborg, Sveriges historic under 1800- och 1900-talen: svensk samhällsutveckling 1809-1992 , Stockholm, 1993, pp. 240f.; Andersson, Lars, I., Sveriges historia under 1800-och 1900-talen , 2003, a., pp. 15ff. 4 The new constitution of 1809 has been defined as a kind of noble constitutionalism as it was not striving towards democracy but rather towards more power for the Estates. See Norborg, 1993, p. 81. 2 Andersson has described Sweden after 1809 as a nation which was “defined by its constitution” .5 In 1814, in the peace treaty of Kiel, the victors over Napoleon decided that Norway should be transferred to Sweden from Denmark, its other Scandinavian neighbour. The Norwegians opposed this decision, convening a Norwegian national assembly in EidsvoII (near Oslo) in the spring of 1814. The EidsvoII assembly resulted in a radical constitution inspired by the French Revolution, a grundlov , on 17th May 1814. The Swedish king, however, was not favourable towards the Norwegian constitution, but rather wanted the decisions of the Kiel treaty to be respected. In the end, King Charles John had to accept some changes, and at a Convention at Moss in August 1814 Norway was joined in a union with Sweden by means of a « riksakt» (statute).