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Historisk tidskrift 125:3 • 2005

Innehåll (Contents) 2005:3

Uppsatser (Articles)

”Den siste af de typiske 1848 års män i Sverge.” Anteckningar om Julius Mankell och den svenska demokratins förhistoria

Victor Lundberg

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Summary:

‘The Last of the Typical Men of 1848.’ Notes about Julius Mankell and the Prehistory of Swedish Democracy

This article deals with the radical liberal politician, publicist and (former) army captain Julius Mankell (1828–1897). Starting with the death and glorious funeral of this honoured man in Stockholm in 1897, it provides a survey of his political ideas and life. Mankell was a well-known, controversial and pugnacious, but also at times important and influential, political actor in the latter half of 19th-century Sweden. An analasys of three of Mankell’s many works shows that his ideological position was a specific version of a historic “Swedish radicalism”. This radicalism was ultimately based on a view of history and society as fraught with conflicts. It also seems to have contained a separatist and negative attitude towards the State authority and, in line with this, a tendency to anarchism and an ambition to decentralize government. Furthermore, Mankell’s political thinking appears to have been characterized by strong nationalistic ideas and also a striking passion for weapons and their social significance.

The life and political activity of Julius Mankell illuminate this version of liberal “Swedish radicalism”. In the revolutionary year of 1848, he was excited by the new and radical ideas which spread throughout Europe, and from this time his military career became problematical. Instead, he gradually and successfully established himself during the following decades as one of the better known and active political actors in Stockholm and Sweden. In the 1850’s, he acted as personal military counsellor to the warlike King Karl XV, and in the 1860’s he was a leader and organizing force behind the massive and popular mobilization of the widespread sharpshooters association. In the 1870’s and afterwards he engaged in parliamentary and extra-parliamentary politics, mainly as advocate of universal suffrage.

The radical liberal ideology that Mankell represents thus seems to have had an important influence on the political scene and its transformations in Sweden during the latter half of the 19th-century Sweden. Despite this fact, Mankell and his radical tradition seem to have left little trace in the political and academic historiography on the prehistory of Swedish democracy. The reason for this is probably to be found in the influential and still prevalent idea of a peaceful political culture in the long course of Swedish history. This conservative conception has had important effects on both the political and academic practice in 20th-century Sweden. Consequently Mankell, his “Swedish radicalism” and many other historical phenomena fraught with conflicts have been wrapped in mystery. But, by analysing conflicting interests and hidden agendas from the prehistory of modern Swedish democracy, historians of today can contribute to the important contemporary discussion about democracy, citizenship and the structure of politics.