Sweden: The personnel control system 1969-1996 (feature)
01 January 1999
On 22 December 1998 the Registration Board published their report into the Swedish personnel control system 1969-1996. Its contents include the secret government instructions to the Security police on surveillance and registration of "subversives". These show that ALL left groups outside parliament were placed under surveillence. This occurred despite the Government, in October 1969, banning the registration of people solely on the grounds of their political opinions; this became a part of the Swedish constitution (Regeringsformen) on 1 January 1977. The contradiction between the law and the covert instructions was known by successive governments - or at least the different justice ministers - since 1969, no matter whether they were social democrat or conservative. It was also known to the supervising authorities and committees.
The most astonishing example of this clandestine activity was an investigation, carried out in 1989 and 1990 by the Justice Chancellor, who was given the specific task of checking if the Security police had opened files on Swedish citizens because of their political opinions. In his report (submitted in January 1990) he said that he had checked both the secret instructions and approximately 1,000 different files and could unequivocally state that no such political surveillance occurred.
Simultaneously, the same Chancellor - in a secret report to the government - acknowledged that this kind of registration was not only common but was also enforced by government instructions that told the Security police to open files on members and symphathisers of extreme left and right wing organisations.
These organisations were identified in other secret government instructions (from April 1973 and until December 21 1998), when the last secret instruction was abolished on the day before the report of the Registration Board was made public.
To be registered an individual had to be defined as being "active" in an organisation or party. Being "active" was considered to be fulfilled when s/he joined a study group, for example in Marxist theory. Since almost all of the listed parties insisted that members participated in study groups the criteria for active membership was inevitably met. If an individual was a member of an athletics organisation, actively participated in a demonstration or voted for a prescribed organisation they were also regarded as actively engaged in an organisation and would be listed.
In 1980, 3,998 Swedish citizens were registered because of membership of, or symphathy with, one of the abovementioned left or anarchist organisations: crime suspects were NOT included in these figures. At the same time 158 right wing members or sympathisers were registered in the same way. The figures for 1990 were Left/Anarchist 3,467 and for the Right 118; for 1998 Left/Anarchist 2,062 and Right 98.
Some concrete examples of registration are given below:
1. 1975 we found out that X was a member of KFML(r), nowadays called KPML(r). Thereafter nothing is known
2. In August 1974 it became known that Y was a member of KPML(r) a Gothenburg group and that he in may 1975 was asked to join a study meeting organized by the KPML(r). Thereafter we have no further information about Y
3. In September 1973 X was observed together with another person in Kalmar, putting up posters for the KFML(r) on public electricty boxes and walls etc. 1974 we found out that he was a member of KFML(r).
4. 1977 it was found out that P was a deputy substitute in the athletic organisation Roda Stjarnan IF, which is an athletic organisation with connections to KPML(r). As a deputy substitute he must most certainly be regarded as a member of KPLM(r). His car has on four different occasions in 1979 been seen parked close to places where KPML(r) has had meetings.
5. At...the SKP organised summer camp E participated, by ordering food for the kitchen, at a function...at Scan West.
This kind of information was used<