Swedish Compulsory National Service Act

The question of introducing compulsory national service for Swedish youth in secondary schools was raised in the winter of 1940 as a response to increased threat levels and a perceived regional insecurity due to the Second World War.

"The young shall be taught to understand, that they are limbs in the fatherlands great organism and that the individual must obey … The natural authority belief can not be undermined, and the duty of obedience shall be adopted as a society’s necessary and obvious demand”.

[4] The stated aim of the motion was to prepare the Swedish population for total war and give it knowledge about general security and safety measures, and a degree of familiarity with weapons and shooting.

The division largely followed the political spectrum, with conservative newspapers such as Nya Dagligt Allehanda, Svenska Dagbladet and Hallands Nyheter praising the proposition on the ground that it would lead to “disciplining and a spiritual uplift”[6] of the youth, while the left generally was very critical of the motion.

[7] However, further to the left the opinion was overwhelmingly negative; the syndicalist newspaper Arbetaren stated that the proposition would lead to “the militarisation and barbarisation of the young souls”,[8] and several others went as far as drawing parallels to Hitler-Jugend.

Göteborgs-Tidningen expressed the concern that the aim was to create a Swedish Kraft Durch Freude phalanx[9] and Eskilstuna-Kuriren claimed that the motion was dominated by “emotional thinking”, declaring that Sweden did not need a “Per Albin-Jugend”.

The selection of statements from the consulting bodies demonstrates disregard for the opinions of the volunteer organizations and an unwillingness to reveal criticism of the motion by the Ministry of Education and Ecclesiastical Affairs.