Manic episode combined with insomnia! Perfect time to talk history, specially assassinations.
Political assassinations have always fascinated me, specifically a few, let’s take John F Kennedy. He is the, and I am so sorry for this wording, the platonic ideal of a political assassination, with a scandalous life, rich well known family and a very public murder mired in mystery and conspiracy theories.
Well I’m not here to talk about him tho, so let’s talk about Olof Palme, the Swedish JFK.
Palme was born in Stockholm 1927 to a rich family, his dad being a CEO and his mom being nobility. Growing up in a rather privileged place, due to a multilingual background he spoke many different languages from a young age: Swedish, German, French and Russian.
He would get an education in law, play field hockey as well as football, write reviews for a Swedish newspaper and take a stint in the army as an ensign, get married to a Czech woman to get her out of the authoritarian Czechia before divorcing her when she had become a proper citizen.
At 31 years old he entered the Riksdag (Swedish parliament) as a member of Social Democratic Party, a centre-left party born from the trade union movement that’s dominated Swedish politics for over a century.
In 1969 Palme would take over as leader of the Social Democrats and thus minister of state (prime minister) after Tage Erlander, a man who had held the position for over 20 years.
In 1973 something unprecedented would happen, the Social Democrats with support of the Left Party Communists got 175 seats in the Riksdag, meanwhile the liberal-conservative opposition bloc also got 175 seats. The result was that for any issue that was split by this bloc margin, the decision would be handled through lottery. Afterwards the system was changed so that the seats of the Riksdag would be 349, making sure this could never happen again.
After the election of 1976 Palme lost the election and entered opposition, still leading the social democrats. In this time he would get a special role as mediator by the UN in the Iran-Iraq war.
In 1982 he would once more win majority and thus return as minister of state, which he would hold until his death in 1986.
Before we get to his death, I wanna mention his politics as he was for the time rather radical.
While the Social Democrats had ruled Swedish politics for decades already at that point, he was one of the more radical members. What made him unique among leaders at the time was a hard stance against both the USA and the USSR, considering both to be oppressive colonial powers, exploiting the world. He would actively condemn and criticise the US war in Vietnam and the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
He would also actively attack dictatorships all across the world, calling them ‘These devil’s killers’, in regards to the authoritarian regimes in Chile, Spain and Greece.
He would spend resources and time to travel to and show support to many countries in Latin America and Africa, seeking an alternative for these countries that didn’t include being exploited by the Cold War, and supported an end to the Cuban blockade. He also spoke for independence movement and was an early adopted of suggesting economic sanctions against the South African apartheid regime.
Under his leadership the Social Democrats reached an at the time low approval ratings but also an at the time all time high, reflected in the up and down results in the elections held during his 17 years leading the party.
On February 28 1986 he went to the cinema with his wife and son, on the way home a man went up to him and shot both him and his wife, Olof Palme died on the scene while his wife, Lisbeth, survived the injury.
Sweden grieved and the longest police investigation ever began, lasting from 1986-2020.
A man called the Skandiaman is usually considered the most likely suspect, and the investigation itself concluded so, but since he passed away in 2000, the investigation calls it inconclusive. The Skandiaman had been at the location and in fact been a witness on it, but it’s been criticised to name him the suspect just to get an end to it without anyone actually getting indicted.
Other people have been suggested, including a mentally ill man obsessed with Palme who lived nearby, men who had expressed extreme hatred for Palme, or a heavy alcoholic with no connection other than him being the most similar to the composite sketch of the murderer, although with no clear motive.
For the investigation hundreds of people, and even foreign governments have pointed out suspects they deem the most likely, which is understandable considering it’s a 34 year long police investigation. Evidence includes the bullets from the gun, and witness testimony from Lisbeth Palme, their son and other people, which makes it clears the killer was acting alone, at least for the murder itself.
Now for the conspiracy theory field let’s talk the many suggested. As a man with many enemies in high places, both the USA and USSR have briefly been suggested, although as far as I know never been seriously investigated, to being involved. Specifically the Stay Behind movement, a secret network controlled by NATO, with the purpose of Guerilla warfare in Western Europe in case of a Soviet invasion. While he was critical of both sides, he was by the US and many in the west considered a Soviet friend.
Other suspects include the involvement of South Africa, Yugoslavia and the KGB due to his open statements and drawing attention to the crimes against humanity these regimes were committing.
The juiciest theory, and very popular among conspiracy theorists is called the Police Track, and closely related the SÄPO track (SÄPO being the Swedish security police). This due to them being the people who would know where he would be exactly, the fact that Palme had requested bodyguards by SÄPO on the night but was denied for unclear reasons, and the grave incompetence of the police investigation in the early days. There were also very vocal groups of police who despised Palme.
There’s even a theory that it was an accident, don’t remember the details but a drunk man mistook Palme for his bookie and killed him.
So why do I talk about all this? Well first off the insomnia mania, but also because it’s a fascinating case. Like any unsolved case pop culture have filled in the gaps and presented specific turn of events, leaning into certain theories. But it is also important to ask because of what kind of person he was. When a man like this gets murdered who he was gets erased a bit, as he becomes a martyr. In times like this it is good to remember that taking a stance is worth it, even when it cost him the seat as minister of state he held on to his principles and trusted he would earn the people’s faith back.
I am sure he was a flawed man, but he was a man who stood by his principles, the kind of people we need in the world and I can’t help but wonder sometimes what would’ve happened if he lived. He had spent a lot of time already in power, how much longer would he had remained? What would Sweden look like today if he had survived, could he in his lifetime achieved the idea of a unified third world, standing up against both the USA and the USSR? We’ll never know, but it’s fascinating to think about, especially when you combine it with the intrigue of an unsolved murder.
