A large part of the party founders in the late 1980s came from Nazi, racist and undemocratic contexts, the conclusion reads, writes Swedens radio.
– One came from the New Swedish movement, a fascist idea movement from the interwar period onwards. Another came from the skinhead movement. Some seem to have cultivated different types of National Socialist contacts and have moved quite unhindered in these environments, says Tony Gustafsson, senior lecturer in the history of ideas and learning at Uppsala University, who wrote SD’s white paper.
Party member and Member of Parliament Mattias Karlsson says Swedish daily newspaper that he wishes that SD was formed under circumstances it would have been easier to be proud of.
– If, as this sub-report does, you focus on people, there is no doubt that a number of people come from an ideological background that is unpleasant. Which you almost get a little stomach ache from reading about. However, not everyone, he says to SvD.
Party leader Jimmie Åkesson announced in 2017 that the party would have a researcher write a white paper that would illustrate the party’s roots. However, the project lagged behind because it was not possible to find a suitable researcher who wanted to tackle it. Only four years later did the party find its candidate.
Gustafsson has been paid for the assignment and has been based on the thirty people who founded the party in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö in 1988.