APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090019-6
circulation. In addition to these two leading dailies, the party publishes a number of small daily newspapers throughout Sweden, the majority of which are owned by the trade unions in the LO and operate in the red. The LO and the SAP subsidize many of the papers. The party's chief source of income is membership dues, which vary in amount in different parts of the country. Another source is payment to the national committee by the labor communes and the party district committees, which cary on organizational work at a local level with one committee to each district. They assess extra dues for election campaigns and special drives.
2. Center Party
a. Membership and electoral strength
The Center Party was originally established as the Farmers' Union in 1913, subsequently took the name Agrarian Party, and then, in 1957, became the Center-Agrarian Party in order to appeal to non-rural elements; its present name was adopted a year later. From 1944 to 1964 the party generally ranked fourth in popular appeal, although it moved to third place in terms of seats won in the national elections of 1948 and 1964. It incurred its greatest electoral losses while cooperating with the Social Democrats from 1951 to 1957, after which it made steady though modest gains. In the provincial and local elections of 1966 the party won 15.2% of the total vote compared with 13.4% in 1964. Its successes at the polls continued in the national elections of 1968 and 1970. It is the second party in terms of electoral support and third in size of membership, with approximately 120,000 members in 1969. No longer only a farmers' party, the CP derives much support from office and factory workers.
b. Organization and leadership
The structure of the Center Party is somewhat similar to that of the Liberal and Moderate Coalition Parties (see below), but its tighter organization is more like that of the Social Democrats. The highest authority, the annually assembled national convention, elects the party chairman and two vice chairmen, who sit ex officio on the national committee. The national committee, most of whose members are elected by the district organization, prepares the agenda of the national convention and advises the eight-member executive committee. This committee - principally through its appointed secretariat - directs the affairs of the party between conventions. Four members of the executive committee are elected by the national committee and four by the convention, to which it is responsible. On the district and local levels the national organization is reflected in smaller scale replicas. The basic unit of party organization is the local section.
The Center Party relies heavily on its auxiliary organizations to supplement and expand its activities. The Center Party Youth Association is the largest of all the politically based youth groups, with some 90,000 members in 1969. It has won a considerable following among rural youth through educational and recreational activity - including study courses, lectures, and sports and travel facilities - and provides training for future party leaders. Educational activities are also conducted by the Center Women's League, which had 60,000 members in 1969, and by its student organization, the Swedish Rural Student Association. Party propaganda work is promoted by a special press association.
A change in the party leadership occurred in June 1971, when the 70-year-old Gunnar Hedlund stepped down after serving for 22 years as head of the party. His protege and successor, the 44-year-old Thorbjorn Falldin, inherited a clear title to head any eventual bourgeois coalition that may result from the 1973 elections. On the basis of the last two elections party fortunes appear to be rising, and as opposition leader in the Riksdag, Falldin is likely to be an important leader on the political scene. His parliamentary experience is equal to Palme's, both leaders having entered the Riksdag in 1958. Moreover, Hedlund's retirement 2 years before the next election has given Falldin ample time to establish himself with the electorate.
c. Program and policies
Since 1958 the domestic program of the Center Party has been designed mainly to expand its appeal beyond farming groups. The program emphasizes the need to find a balance between the concentration of economic power in private and public spheres, the need for individual enterprise, and the promotion of decentralized self-government as a means of protecting the individual from the "experts" and "society planners." The program also maintains that all "small enterprise" rather than just the small farmers should be protected and favored. In practice, party leaders continue to favor the farmers' interests, advocating increased government subsidies to supplement agricultural income and improved rural living conditions, expanded credit facilities, and reduced taxes on lower incomes. The party favors social welfare and security programs, but wants to import limits on government expenditures for them.
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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090019-6
