GLOBAL VISIONS OF OLOF PALME, BRUNO KREISKY AND WILLY BRANDT International Peace and Security, Co-operation, and Development B. VIVEKANANDAN Global Visions of Olof Palme, Bruno Kreisky and Willy Brandt Also by B. Vivekanandan AS THE MIND UNFOLDS: Issues and Personalities (e ditor ) BUILDING ON SOLIDARITY: Social Democracy and the New Millennium (e ditor ) CONTEMPORARY SOCIALISM: An Analysis (c o-editor) CONTEMPORARY EUROPE AND SOUTH ASIA (c o-editor) ECHOES IN PARLIAMENT: Madhu Dandavate’s Speeches, 1970-1990 ( editor ) GLOBAL VISIONS OF OLOF PALME, BRUNO KREISKY AND WILLY BRANDT: International Peace and Security, Cooperation and Development INDIA LOOKS AHEAD: Jayaprakash Narayan Memorial Lectures, 1990-2001 ( editor ) INDIA TODAY: Issues Before the Nation (c o-editor) IN RETROSPECT: Refl ections on Select Issues in World Politics, 1975-2000 INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL POLITICS: Some Selected Essays INTERNATIONAL CONCERNS OF EUROPEAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATS PATHFINDERS: Social Democrats of Scandinavia PROFESSOR M.S. RAJAN: An Outstanding Educationist and Institution Builder THE ISSUES OF OUR TIMES (e ditor ) THE MODERN COMMONWEALTH THE SHRINKING CIRCLE: The Commonwealth in British Foreign Policy, 1945-1974 WELFARE STATE SYSTEM IN SCANDINAVIA WELFARE STATES AND THE FUTURE (c o-editor) WHY SOCIAL DEMOCRACY: Essays by Prof. B. Vivekanandan B.   Vivekanandan Global Visions of Olof Palme, Bruno Kreisky and Willy Brandt International Peace and Security, Co-operation, and Development B.   Vivekanandan Jawaharlal Nehru University New Delhi, India ISBN 978-3-319-33710-4 ISBN 978-3-319-33711-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-33711-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016951733 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2 016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © Olof Palme Archives Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland To Dr JAYASHREE VIVEKANANDAN My daughter F P T M OREWORD BY ROFESSOR HOMAS EYER Professor B. Vivekanandan, a recognized expert on international social democracy, has written a book that explores an extraordinary chapter in European intellectual and political history. We know of no other histori- cal case in which three prominent statesmen, holding offi ce as heads of government in important countries simultaneously and during a time of crisis, were infl uenced so profoundly by shared ideas and convictions that they put their stamp on the history of their own nations and of entire regions. Moreover, in addressing the problems of their own time, they also understood how to leave a legacy that continues to inspire the world and shape its future. The three towering political fi gures in the history of social democracy studied by the author are Willy Brandt (Germany), Bruno Kreisky (Austria) and Olof Palme (Sweden). During the 1970s and 1980s, they headed the Social Democratic parties of their respective countries and—in the context of the Socialist International—defi ned the image of social democracy throughout the world. At the same time they served as their nations’ prime ministers and were therefore in a position to shape European history during the Cold War era. In the latter role they contributed much to the détente policy that eventually helped overcome the intense confl icts between the two Cold War systems: the free world of Western democracy and Soviet communism. During those years, the three social democratic leaders, all good friends, worked together closely to make history. Not only did they help mould the image of modern Europe in crucial ways, but they also served on international commissions with a focus on global affairs where they collaborated in formulating political ideas and operational principles that vii viii FOREWORD BY PROFESSOR THOMAS MEYER even today seem as timely as ever. Indeed, their relevance and urgency only increase as the years go by. By dint of his remarkable knowledge of the historical contexts and his perspicacious presentation of the ways in which these leaders worked together, Professor Vivekanandan rescues from oblivion the message of the three grand old men of social democracy, making it available to today’s globalized world, especially the English-speaking portion of it. It is no accident that the ideological and political alliances and personal friendships that bound Willy Brandt, Bruno Kreisky, and Olof Palme together earned them a sobriquet inspired by French literature: T he Three Musketeers of the golden age of social democracy. Scholarly research has indeed tended to portray the three decades after World War II in just those terms. On one hand, the special circumstances of that era were an important pre-requisite for the highly successful performance of these three extraordinary politi- cians and for their ability to set standards for their successors. On the other hand, they themselves contributed a great deal to making those years a high-water mark for social democratic thought and politics. In a sense they personifi ed the idea of a social democratic golden age. That notion is intended to suggest a complex sequence of events. Europe suffered through a long series of causally linked disasters during the twentieth cen- tury, beginning with World War I and the Great Depression, and ending with the victory of National Socialism and World War II, all of which had devastating consequences for nearly every European country. But these disasters were followed by a three-decade-long phase during which the ‘social democratic compromise’ took root in almost all European democ- racies, not only in the most crucial political and economic institutions, but also in the broader political culture. The social democratic compromise bore certain traits of Scandinavia’s political culture. It replaced the older idea that the capitalist form of eco- nomic activity itself ought to be jettisoned in favour of a more pragmatic notion: representatives of the two great social forces, capital and labour, drawn mainly from the business community, labour unions and politics, should forge a historic compromise among themselves. Its core elements involved an exchange of concessions and assurances between capital and labour in their joint efforts to master the devastating effects of the Great Depression, which had been precipitated by a form of capitalism that, even in those days, was already heavily internationalized. We must not forget the implicit threat that hung over these negotiations. The Depression and what it implied—the breakdown of capitalism itself—menaced the very existence FOREWORD BY PROFESSOR THOMAS MEYER ix of the societies whose representatives were searching for a compromise. Many of them came from social democratic and socialist parties that had been signifi cantly strengthened by the economic collapse. They were quite serious about the project of overcoming the uncontrolled markets and nearly untrammeled private ownership of the means of production that then characterized the capitalist economic system. The pressure exerted by the gathering crisis and the potency of social democratic political forces cul- minated in general agreement concerning the historic compromise embod- ied in social democracy, a deal without which the history of Western Europe in the second half of the twentieth century would remain unintelligible. Its success, coupled with its widespread acceptance at all levels of society, weakened the more radical forces, damped down economic and social class confl ict, and reconciled the overwhelming majority of the working-class population to a brand of ‘civilized’ capitalism which over time became domesticated and embedded in society. The substance of this historic social democratic compromise in post- war Europe may be expressed in a simple yet momentous formula. The spokespersons of capital promised henceforth to involve labour represen- tatives, via co-determination, in the most signifi cant decisions being made at the level of the individual fi rm or even the entire company. They further committed themselves to support comprehensive labour legislation that would offer protection to workers and to divert some of their profi ts to fi nance a wide-ranging social welfare state. In return, the representatives of labour assured their opposite numbers that labour would accept pri- vate ownership of the means of production and the market economy duly embedded in the framework noted above. One might say that the three Social Democratic parties and their leaders in the era that inaugurated this new culture embodied ‘ideal types’ of the social democratic com- promise. The avant-garde of these pioneers were the Scandinavian Social Democrats. On the Continent south of Scandinavia it was Austrian and German Social Democrats who played the key roles in implementing this moderate course and increasing its attractiveness. Before long their strat- egy bore fruit in the form of growing prosperity and increasing social secu- rity for the working population, coupled with an economic resurgence. So it is not merely a coincidence that all three members of this excep- tional social democratic trio, Bruno Kreisky, Willy Brandt, and Olof Palme, were socialized politically and intellectually in the social demo- cratic milieu of Scandinavia and remained deeply affected by those experi- ences for the rest of their lives. They thus were able to personify the spirit