The Sleeping People
The Sleeping People is a 1993 book by Fredrik Reinfeldt, later Prime Minister of Sweden, which argues for abandoning the welfare state in Sweden and reducing the state's influence in society. Reinfeldt wrote the book when he was 28 years old, an elected Member of Parliament for the Moderate Party and chairman of its youth wing, the Moderate Youth League. The book was edited by Per Schlingmann and Christer Söderberg, and published by the Moderate Youth League.
Written when the early 1990s banking crisis was deepest, the book argues for abandoning the general welfare state in Sweden, for sharp tax cuts, and for the rollback of the state's involvement in education, law, culture, and the media.
Background
The Swedish Social Democratic Party was, after World War II, a dominant force in Swedish politics. S led the government from 1948, until 1976 when the Moderates formed a government with the Liberals and the Centre Party. M was then part of the government until 1982 when S once again formed a government. In the 1991 general election, Munder the leadership of Carl Bildtonce again formed a government and Reinfeldt was elected to the Riksdag, representing Stockholm county.Sweden was at the time facing a banking crisis.
Reinfeldt had been active in the Moderate Youth League since 1983, and represented a conservative faction in the organization. In 1992 he became the chairman of the organization, beating the incumbent Ulf Kristerssonwho represented a more liberal factionin what has been called the Battle of Lycksele.
Content
The book is a compilation of five chapters. The first chapter describes a dystopian world where there exists two types of people: "fools", who work for the government, and "the sleepy brains", who live on government welfare. The story is told from the perspective of a "fool" who finds out his son has died from an illness called "the welfare death". The son was 28 years old and a "sleepy brain", who had no motivation or purpose in life and just watched TV all day, with a remote glued to his hand.The second chapter describes how the Moderates should convince people of their ideology. Reinfeldt accuses the Social Democrats of suppressing civil society and brainwashing people to support them. The chapter also disparages the Left Party, the Liberal People's Party and parts of the Centre Party. The chapter advocates for a reduction in government influence.
Chapter three is a fictional diary entry by Johannaa young Swedish womandescribing a day in her life. She is motivated, plans for the future, talks to older generations, supports Djurgården IF and thinks about international events.
In Chapter four, Reinfeldt reflects on the Ten Commandments and their relevancy in the modern world. The chapter ends with a call to action for Moderate Party politicians, to be more daring in their actions.
Chapter five is a non-fiction story, about how Reinfeldt fund-raised money for a famine in Ethiopia in 1985. At the time, Reinfeldt was part of a committee representing conscripted soldiers in Sweden. The story describes how he helped organize a country wide campaign to convince conscripts to voluntarily donate their money, and raise .
Reception
After Reinfeldt became the leader of the Moderate Party in 2003, and Prime Minister in 2006, the book was often referred to by his political opponents. At the 2009 Social Democratic Party congress, the party leader Mona Sahlin recommended reading the book, not for inspiration, but to understand the ideology of the Reinfeldt cabinet.Reinfeldt has tried to distance himself from the book, calling it a "sin of youth". When asked in May 2014 if he had written any books, he said: "I have not written any literature or non-fiction books, but have been a co-author to texts that the Moderates have published." Folkbladet published an article criticizing Reinfeldt for having denied authorship of the book, and Alliansfritt Sverigean anti-Alliance organisationaccused Reinfeldt of falsifying history by hiding his authorship.