OLOF PALME

The man and the politician.
" Now Swedish political life has become rigid and ¿boring. We have nobody to love or hate, nobody to joke about or imitate. We could handle the death of Erlander because we still had Palme left. And now we have nobody but Johansson, Pettersson, Söder and a bunch of other well-trimmed, somwhat dull and ingratiating individuals. Palme was an electric experience. When he stepped into a room, in Parliament or at any meeting-place, people were captivated, for or against, never in-between"

He always stirred strong feelings. Olof Palme was in the heart of Swedish politics for nearly 35 years - a unique career that began during the 50's and 60's economic growth and total belief in the superiority of the Swedish model, and ended in a period of ideological uncertainty and internal strife.

Throughout this period Palme's fervent and uncompromising efforts for peace, freedom and social justice made him both loved and hated as a politician. He was not the type of politician Swedes were used to. He believed that political will and conviction had to sprout from emotional experience. He himself became a socialist and an internationalist after being confronted by starving children in the slums of Asia. "Solidarity without boundaries" became his motto. He was not believed to be genuine at first because of his upper-class background. Workers in Sweden called him a high-brow intellectual who had no experience in the working life and therefore was incapable of forming politics for the working people. Despite this, politics became his calling beyond duty. His vision went further than the Swedish boundaries. His dynamic personality seemed to be better suited for the international scene than the bickering in domestic politics. At home he was often criticized for his unilateral decisions and his contradictions. He was accused of being too international and subsequently less knowledgeable in Swedish affairs.

As a person he was charming, amusing and sincere. He was known for his presence of mind sensitivity, insight, and his ability to make people feel important. He cared about others, remembered their names, what they did, small details about their personal lives; his phenomenal memory was a great help. He was almost always interested in what was said to him, about himself, about Sweden or the world, whether it came from a Swede on the street or from an important international politician. His patience with a person less knowledgeable than himself was remarkable, but he did not tackle stupid arguments very well. Vicious arguments, on the other hand, were a challenge to him. During the last years of his life he was said to have become more suspicious, bitter, intolerant and self-centred.

His brilliance and intelligence often made people feel uneasy and his very intense blue eyes and his quick moves frightened many opponents. He was enraged when criticized about his apperance, his family or his aristocratic background. It upset, him very much when he was described as arrogant and power-hungry.

According to his friends and colleagues he was a humble person. He always queued patiently in a ticket line-up and it was not his style to walk into a restaurant and demand the best table. During his first years as prime minister he had his telephone number listed, and foreign journalists were dumb-founded when the prime minister himself answered the phone.

He had a certain boyish charm. He had a passion for ties which he bought on his foreign trips,
but they had t0 b e bargains. His interest in clothes was minimal and he was often seen in an old worn corduroy suit. He was considered careless by his colleagues. "No I'm not careless, just unorganized," he said.

Olof Palme showed an appreciation for humorists like Hasse Alfredson and Povel Ramel and he had an infectious giggle. When relaxed he enjoyed telling funny stories, often reverting to Stockholm slang expressions.

Palme's sense of humour and humility were personal, not political. On the rostrum he turned into an agitator, an opponent with whom it was impossible to debate. "I argue, therefore I'm alive," he said. He was the most oratoryconscious Swedish politician in his generation. He amassed an enormous amount of knowledge and was aware of the importance of language, arguments and performance. While others used a prepared text, he made use of the rhythm and syntax of speech, punctuated now and then with the famous pause, as well as with sarcasm and witty metaphors to make his point. Before a major speech Palme always spent a few minutes alone to gather his thoughts.

"Without indignation, you don't achieve anything," he said. And indignation and compassion became tools in Palme's speeches. But to many these same speeches were rough and arrogant. He felt good when he was talking to a crowd. "I'm an old-fashioned orator. After an hour-long speech without a manuscript, I feel like I've done a 5 000 m run."

To win - under any circumstances - was important to Palme. A friend tells of a time when Palme got hold of a labyrinth game one evening and would not let go of it until he had mastered it - in the early hours of the morning. Palme is said not to have been able to lose - even against himself.

Taking risks was also very much a part of his life. "To be able to live, you've also got to take the risk of dying." Once the security police car he was riding in broke down on the way to Arlanda airport. Concerned about not missing his flight he went down to the roadside - and started hitch-hiking. A car stopped and while the horrified security police stayed behind, Olof Palme continued to Arlanda with a total stranger.

The very spontaneous and sentimental (un-Swedish) reaction to Palme's death surprised many. It was logical, however; he always stirred up strong'feelings.

"The passing of no other prime minister would be quite so universally mourned." The Financial Times

OLOF PALME The private life of a Prime Minister.,
Journalist: -If you had to choose between the conservatives and the communists, which party would you prefer to work for?
Palme: -That would be like choosing betwecti the plague and cholera.

Sven Olof Joakim Palme was born on January 30, 1927 and was the youngest child of Gunnar and Elizabeth (von Knierem) Palme. The Palmes lived in the upper-class enclave of Stockholm - Ostermalm - and considered themselves loyal conservatives. Olof often said that he thought his father was a liberal, although he could not be sure since his father died when he was 7 years old.

Olof Palme had a very profound love for Stockholm. He described himself as the child of an immigrant as his mother came from Latvia. She was deported to Russia but escaped and came to Sweden. Here she worked to improve the welfare of children, something her son was always proud of.

As a child Olof was clever and cute, happy and kind, according to his brother Claes. He was not a very healthy child, having contracted tuberculosis at the age of five. Books became his passion during childhood, later on combined with a keen interest in sports.

Olof's knowledge of languages stems from his childhood. His mother spoke German with the children, Olof's German later being described as full of nuances but a little old-fashioned. Olof picked up French from his nanny and later on learned almost perfect English, Spanish and not a little Russian.

Olof Palme first joined Beskowska skolan and later continued at Sigtuna Humanistiska läroverk, both famous private schools of Sweden. At the age of 12, Olof sang at a school concert to a roaring applause, but nobody heard his song - the applause was for his very un fashionable clothes! He graduated from high school at the age of 17 and did his military service in Umea.
In 1948 Olof Palme got a scholarship to attend Kenyon College in Ohio where he was an A Student and received a BA degree.His room-mate from this time describes him as sentimental and caring, unlike most men around him. He worked harder than most, probably because he could not spend unlimited time at this very expensive college. After his studies, he travelled through 34 states for three months on a low-budget tour. lie also visited his wealthy relatives in Mexico. The black slums and the misery in the world's richest country were an eye-opener to him.

Seeing the world became important to Palme and he travelled extensively. In 1949 during a, trip in Europe, he married a Czechoslovakian student to help her leave the country. The couple divorced as agreed upon their return to Sweden.

In 1956 Olof Palme married Baroness Lisbet Beck-Friis, who he had met 5 years earlier. They had three sons, Joakim, Mårten and Mattias. His very close family nurtured his political career. The only time he considered leaving politics was when Mattias, then 8, was mobbed at his school after the Social Democratic defeat in the 1976 election. In 1.985 while in New York, Olof Palme became the proud grandfather to Joanna. He rushed to Bloomingdale's to get a present - a bib with the text "I love grandpa".

Olof's wife Lisbet is described by friends as humble, private and down-toearth. Her work as a child psychologist has been of paramount importance to her. Her colleagues describe her as witty, determined, hard-working, organized, fair and well-disciplined. In interviews she insisted on only talking about her job and not her role as the wife of the prime minister. "I am no different from any other working woman".

Lisbet has always guarded her private life and she wanted her sons to have a normal upbringing. She has never been interested in spending time and money on clothes and parties and has therefore been a target of media criticism for her lack of taste. She has not taken this criticism to heart and has been seen in her old leather coat and knitted toque, whether she has been shopping at the local grocery store or, receiving foreign dignitaries with her husband.
Lisbet s parents were active members of the conservative party and she was brought up to believe that socialism was a threat to society. She herself became a socialist "to realistically change the economic and social imbalance that make people suffer unnecessarily."

Politics were Lisbet's and Olof's common interest. Lisbet always guarded her husbands integrity. She did not join him on many of his foreign trips, being herself a working mother but she looked after Olof, protected him and supported him. She played an active role in the party and her strong views on family and social politics, and video censorship had a strong influence on her husband. The Palmes were always at pains to live like any other family. Until recently, they lived in a townhouse in a middleclass suburb of Stockholm, Viillingby. Here their old and dirty Saab put the other cars in the complex to shame.

The holidays were spent in a simple cottage on Fårö with an outhouse and no electricity. Here Olof and Lisbet enjoyed helping their neighbour with haying, feeding the chickens and gathering eggs. They also enjoyed cycling and jogging. Through the years Olof had become less competitive and did not feel the need to time every run.

During his life Olof Palme often described his path to social democracy, a path which was not followed by others of his background. He however did not let ideological differences with his relatives destroy a very close relationship. His relatives in their turn remained loyal to him, always describing him as the kindest man in the world.