The policing of alcoholics: Power and resistance in early welfare-state Sweden

ABSTRACT

What in this article is called ‘the policing of alcoholics’ was a process involving several agents and institutional bodies, including but not limited to, officials and at the alcoholics’ institutions, regional and local temperance boards, police authorities and local poor-law boards as well and several others. For the welfare state in the making, the recalcitrant and morally depraved alcoholic represented an anomaly, someone who did not really belong to society. Policing was in the last instance legitimated by the role it played in the process of creating a new social order. The early welfare state should not mainly be seen as a form of ‘liberal’ governance but as a state formation where a continuity with older forms of governance, i. e. policing, existed. The empirical material for this article is taken from the alcoholics’ institution at Svartsjö in the late 1930s and early 1940s. By being subjected to the workings of the power apparatuses in institutions like these, an undifferentiated mass of vagrants, beggars, drunkards, petty criminals, and unruly and socially troublesome people were transformed into a new welfare category, the alcohol abusers. Importantly, this was a process to which the alcohol abusers, through their resistance, also contributed.

KEYWORDS:

• Policing
• Sweden
• alcoholics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

References

Unpublished primary sources

Stockholms stadsarkiv (Stockholm City Archive)

Statens vårdanstalt i Svartsjö arkiv

A Ia Protocols vol. 30–36 (1940–1942)

B II a: 3 Concept for annual reports 1944

Notes

1. E. g. Sejersted, The Age of Social Democracy; Schön, Sweden’s Road to Modernity. On the concept ‘people’s home’, see Björk, Folkhemsbyggare. Cf. Berman, The Primacy of Politics, who argues that social democracy differentiates from both orthodox Marxism and from liberalism. She especially rejects the idea that social democracy is a ‘softer’ or ‘embedded’ version of liberalism.

2. Christiansen et al., The Nordic Model of Welfare. See also Transformations of the Welfare State, edited by Bengt Larsson, Martin Letell, and Håkan Thörn.

3. Runcis, Makten över barnen; Apologies, edited by Johanna Sköld and Shurlee Swain; Ohlsson Al Fakir, Nya rum.

4. Broberg and Tydén, “Eugenics”; Runcis, Steriliseringar i folkhemmet; Zaremba, De rena och de andra; Tydén, Från politik.

5. See, however, Edman, Torken.

6. Svartsjö had opened in 1891 as an institution for vagrants. It had been under the responsibility of the Swedish Prison Administration until 1921, when it was taken over by The National Board of Health and Welfare and started to be used as an institution for those sentenced to compulsory alcoholic’s care. See, Nilsson, “Parasiter,” 295.

7. The source material are protocols from the institutional board at Svartsjö during 1940, 1941 and 1942. However, this material also contains information about the inmates and their treatment during the preceding years.

8. SFS 1931:233 Lag om behandling av alkoholister was a revision of the first Swedish alcoholics law from 1913. Regarding these laws, see, Edman, Torken, 55–58.

9. Stenius, Privat, 63, 77; Edman, Torken, 102.

10. Technically, the number of inmates fluctuated constantly as a significant number were on furlough. Besides the alcoholics, some 100 men sentenced according to the Vagrancy Law were kept at Svartsjö.

11. Nilsson, “Parasiter,” 298–300.

12. Björkman, Vård; Edman, Torken.

13. I most cases, the inmates themselves wrote their applications, something that make these an unusual source material. The applications are found as appendices to the institutional board’s protocols where they are collected according to the date they were received. Each year at least 200 applications were sent in. All of them have been analysed. References to the applications are done in the following way: A Ia Protocols (Applications), the inmate’s initials (e. g. N J) and date (e. g. 18/4 1942).

14. Nilsson, “Jag ska aldrig”; Nilsson, ‘’Att ni måtte.”

15. See Edman, “A Medical Challenge,” 224–46. Regarding the ‘social’ character of the alcohol question in Sweden, see Stenius, Privat, 28 and further references.

16. See, e. g. Nicholls, “Putting Foucault to work,” 30–31.

17. See, e. g., Den svenska supen edited by Kettil Bruun and Per Frånberg; Edman, Torken.

18. See, e. g. Rawlings, Policing, Furuhagen, 715 Ordning på stan.

19. E. g. Neocleous, “Theoretical,” 35.

20. Neocleous, The Fabrication, 17; Neocleous, “Theoretical,” 22.

21. Neocleous, The Fabrication, ixf; Neocleous, “Theoretical,” 17.

22. Neocleous, “Theoretical,” 3.

23. Gordon, “Governmental,” 10.

24. Gordon, “Governmental,” 10.

25. Johann von Justi, Éléments généraux de police (1760), quoted in Donzelot, The Policing of Families, 7.

26. Cf. Gordon, “Governmental,” 5.

27. Cf. Hetherington, The Badlands of Modernity.

28. Gordon, “Governmental,” 10.

29. Neocleous, “Theoretical,” 35–36.

30. SFS 1913:109 Lag om behandling av alkoholister.

31. The law had a clear class- as well as gender bias. See e. g. Knobblock, Systemets långa arm; Björkman, Vård; Edman, Torken; Johansson, Staten, Supen och Systemet.

32. Stenius, Privat, 48–50; Edman, Torken, 18–24.

33. SFS 1931:233 Lag om behandling av alkoholister.

34. SFS 1931:233 Lag om behandling av alkoholister, §§ 37 and 41.

35. See, Petrén, Innebörden av den nya alkoholistlagen.

36. Edman, Torken.

37. Rosenqvist, “Nykterhetsnämnderna.”

38. In 1917, a special ration book (Sw. motbok) for alcohol had been introduced in Sweden which restricted the amount of alcohol each individual was allowed to purchase. Local temperance boards were, among other things, empowered to deprive alcoholics of their ration book.

39. Edman, Torken, 102.

40. See e. g. Eisenbach-Stangl, “From temperance movements to state action” 63.

41. See, Eisenbach-Stangl, 63 where the author argues that Swedish alcohol policy, through the Bratt System, partially seems to have been transformed into a ‘total institution’, as defined by Goffman. See, Goffman, Totala institutioner.

42. Rosenqvist, “Nykterhetsnämnderna”; Nycander, Svenskarna och spriten; Sulkunen and Warpenius, “Reforming,” 424–25.

43. Sulkanen and Warpenius, “Reforming,” 430.

44. Nilsson, “First we build,” 52.

45. Nilsson, “First we build,” 53.

46. Downing, The Cambridge Introduction to Michel Foucault.

47. Regarding intelligence testing, see Axelsson, Rätt elev i rätt klass.

48. See e. g. A Ia Protocols, vol. 35 26/8 1942 V J and K O H and vol. 36 30/101,942 G A H J-B.

49. A Ia Protocols vol. 30 28/6 1940 F G A-H and vol. 31 29/8 1940 B E G S.

50. A Ia Protocol vol. 36 30/101,942 E G J.

51. Foucault, Discipline and Punish.

52. Ambjörnsson, Den skötsamme. See, e. g. A Ia Protocols vol. 34 30/3 1942 K E S K-B, vol. 34 30/3 1942 E G B and vol. 34 27/2 1942 A E H W.

53. A Ia Protocol vol. 34 30/3 1942 E G W.

54. E. g. A Ia Protocols vol. 34 30/3 1942 K O N and vol. 30 29/2 1940 K H S.

55. A Ia Protocols vol. 34 30/3 1942 G K O B, vol. 36 30/9 1942 O V G T K, vol. 34 30/3 1942 E G E, vol. 30 29/1 1940 A E Ö and vol. 34 27/2 1942 K H.

56. About the concept ‘psychopathy’ in the Swedish context, see Berg, De samhällsbesvärliga.

57. E. g. A Ia Protocol vol. 34 30/3 1942 E G E.

58. A Ia Protocols vol. 36 27/111,942 G F F and vol. 35 30/6 1942 J N.

59. A Ia Protocols vol. 36 30/9 1942 C I L, vol. 36 30/9 1942 K T S, vol. 36 30/9 1942 K A J, vol. 35 5/8 1942 F H R S, vol. 35 30/6 1942 B A B E and vol. 30 29/1 1940 P G O.

60. A Ia Protocols vol. 36 30/101,942 E G J-L, vol. 35 29/5 1942 F V F S, vol. 34 28/1 1942 F E L, vol. 35 29/5 1942 J O and vol. 35 29/5 1942 L A B.

61. A Ia Protocol vol. 34 27/2 1942 B AR K-H.

62. A Ia Protocols 36 30/101,942 P G B, vol. 31 30/9 1940 H R G and vol. 35 30/6 1942 B R H E.

63. A Ia Protocols 35 5/8 1942 J W R and vol. 30 29/1 1940 K E A.

64. A Ia Protocols 36 29/121,942 A J, vol. 30 29/4 1940 O J P, vol. 33 28/121,941 A I E, vol. 33 28/121,941 V R R and vol. 20 29/1 1940 E G O.

65. A Ia Protocol vol. 30 29/3 1940 B A R U.

66. See, e. g. Broberg & Tydén, “Eugenics,” 104–8. For an international comparison, see Quine, Population Politics in Twentieth Century Europe.

67. Weindling, “International Eugenics: Swedish Sterilization in Context.”

68. See Tydén, Från politik.

69. A Ia Protocols vol. 36 27/111,942 K I N. More general, see, e. g. Broberg & Tydén, “Eugenics,” 117.

70. A Ia Protocols 36 27/111,942 K I N, vol. 36 30/101,942 G A H J-B and vol. 36 30/101,942 H G K-G.

71. A Ia Protocols 36 3/101,942 G J B 3/101,942. See also vol. 36 1/111,942 G A.

72. See B II a: 3 Concept for annual reports 1944. I have no exact information about how often sterilization of inmates took place in alcoholic institutions. However, I have come across several cases.

73. A Ia Protocol 34 29/4 1942 J J.

74. A Ia Protocol 34 30/3 1942 N G T.

75. A Ia Protocols 30 29/1 1940 and vol. 31 2/8 1940 J E H. It should be noticed that he, a couple of years later, published a collection of poems.

76. Pickett, “Foucault and the Politics of Resistance.”

77. See, e. g. Kelly, The Political, 107.

78. Kelly, The Political, 73.

79. See, e. g. Englund, Fångsamhället.

80. However, one note of caution: the applications must first of all be seen as documents where different discursive strategies came into use. This means a focus on what the texts actually say, not on whether what is put forward are ‘true’ descriptions of reality or expresses the inmate’s ‘real’ perceptions on various issues.

81. For a more comprehensive discussion on this subject, see Nilsson, “Jag ska aldrig.”

82. Kelly, The Political, 110, 122.

83. Although there were clear reasons to be pessimistic about the possibilities for the alcoholics to hold on to a regular job, there was a slight hope in a labour-market still heavily dependent on a low-qualified workforce, e. g. employments in forestry work or as sailor were common. In fact, during the Second World War the work opportunities for alcoholics improved when a considerable proportion of the ordinary workforce were drafted into the Swedish armed forces.

84. See e. g. A Ia Protocols (Applications) vol. 301,940 3/1 H D, vol. 30 4/3 1940 A H, vol. 351,940 H J, vol. 31 3/9 1940 G I P 3/9, vol. 32 7/2 1941 O H 7/2, vol. 33 20/7 1941 W, vol. 34 2/3 1942 E W.

85. A Ia Protocols (Applications) vol. 32 12/5 1941 E A, vol. 34 3/2 1942 O H.

86. A Ia Protocol (Applications) vol. 32 16/6 1941 K O K.

87. A Ia Protocol (Applications) vol. 34 3/2 1942 O H.

88. A Ia Protocol (Applications) vol. 32,194,127/2 B A.

89. A Ia Protocol (Applications) vol. 34 2/4 1942 E Ö.

90. Nilsson, En välbyggd maskin.

91. A Ia Protocol (Applications) vol. 35 14/7 1942 E A L.

92. Nilsson, “Att ni måtte.”

93. A Ia Protocols (Applications) vol. 31 9/101,940 A H H; vol. 33 14/7 1941 E O; vol. 34 w d 1942 A M K.

94. This does not, of course, rule out the possibilities of more collective forms of resistance and the forming of counter-hegemonic subject-positions, from the alcoholics either inside the alcoholics’ institution or, for example, in the proletarian milieus in the larger cities.

95. Barry, Osborne & Rose eds. Foucault and Political Reason.

96. See e. g. Hunt, “Governing the City,” 167.

97. See, for example, the contributions to Viljan att styra, edited by Sofia Lövgren and Kerstin Johansson (Lund: Studentlitteratur, 2007). At the same time, it must be underlined that Foucault’s conceptualization of liberalism is rather idiosyncratic as he sees it not as an economic doctrine or political ideology, but as a style of thinking concerned with the art of governing.

98. Cf. Gordon, “Governmental,” 14. This is also more in line with Foucault’s own introductory lecture to the subject. See, Foucault, “Governmentality.”

99. Pasquino, “Theatrum politicum,” 114.

100. See, for instance, Åman, Om den offentliga vården.

101. Edman has shown how maintaining this distinction was a cornerstone of Minister of Social Affairs Gustav Möller’s Programme during the interwar period. It was, according to Möller, important ‘not to confuse the Swedish working class with antisocial types’. See, Edman, “Lösdrivarlagen,” 139–40.

102. In the English translation of The Communist Manifesto, the German concept Lumpenproletariat is translated to ‘the dangerous classes’. See, Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, 18.

103. Ambjörnsson, Den skötsamme.

104. Cf. Ohlsson Al Fakir, Nya rum.

105. Nilsson, “First we build,” 51–54.

106. Cf. Nilsson, “Creating the Juvenile Delinquent,” 366–67.