The conservative politicians and the bourgeois press in Sweden and internationally are trying to place the blame on the social welfare state. They seek to put an equal sign between the social gains working people have won -such as child-allowances, union wages, school lunches - and policies like forced sterilization.

The racial hygiene policy in Sweden was built in unity between all the bourgeois parties in Sweden. Even though they draped it in different ideological forms, the racist and anti-working-class content of this policy was supported by both the Nazis and the social democrats.

One of the aims of this policy was to strengthen the institution of the family. The counterpart to the sterilization policy that scapegoated "undesirables" was an effort by the social democracy to shore up the family, including with maternity benefits of different kinds and rent subsidies for couples with many children. The 1938 abortion law denied women the right to choose, instead putting the decision on whether a woman could have an abortion or not in the hands of the authorities. To end her pregnancy, a woman could be forced to undergo sterilization. It was not until the civil rights movement, the radicalization among youth, and the women's liberation movement forced the government to change the law in 1975 that a women had the sole decision over her body, including if she wants a sterilization.

"We" are not all part of the guilt, as both social democratic and conservative officials are saying today. Working people have no guilt in this policy - they were its victims. The least the guilty can do is to give immediate compensation to the victims.  
 
 
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