Propaganda and historical revisionisms are most effective when they are subtle. Here is a recent example from Swedish Television, SVT, that was so subtle, 99% of people probably missed it. It is just one out of a thousand such examples. But truth can also die of a thousand cuts.
To give a very brief background: Per-Albin Hansson served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1932 to 1946, with the exception of a brief period in 1936. He is most remember for leading Sweden through the Second World War, and for the Swedish “folkhem” (people’s home). Per Albin lived at Ålstensgatan 40 in Bromma, in one of 94 terraced houses designed by architect Paul Hedqvist and built in the 1930s. They have become a symbol of the folkhem and are today colloquially referred to as the Per-Albin houses. Today, the houses are listed as protected buildings. Now to the topic at hand.
In 2025, Swedish Television aired a TV series about how Sweden was built, with great emphasis on the folkhem, social democracy, and cooperatives. When discussing the Per-Albin houses and mentioning how the Social Democratic Prime Minister himself lived in one of them, SVT instead choose to show a row of identical houses (below).
Picture or a row of identical, or at least identically sized, Per-Albin houses, implying the Prime Minister lived in one of them.
However, and this is a very important however, the Prime Minister never lived in one of the houses shown. As George Orwell wrote in Animal Farm, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. An aerial view shows that one of the houses are indeed more equal than the others. Guess which one the Prime Minister lived in?
Aerial photograph of the Per-Albin houses. Most houses are equal, but one house in particular is more equal than others. Photograph from Google.
The actual house of Per-Albin Hansson has featured in SVT before. For example in the excellent drama documentary “Fyra dagar som skakade Sverige – Midsommarkrisen 1941” (lit. “Four Days that Shook Sweden - The Midsummer Crisis 1941”) by Hans Villius and Olle Häger. This time, in 1988, SVT showd the actual house of the former Prime Minister.
Picture of Per-Albin’s house with the semicircular extension. In addition, there is a large extension in the back, with a balcony or terrace on the second floor. Photograph from SVT drama documentary “Fyra dagar som skakade Sverige – Midsommarkrisen 1941”.
Now I have nothing against the Prime Minister living in comfortable accommodations, even a house that is considerably nicer than those of his neighbors, with a garden twice as large. But I do have a problem with this, and the thousands of other, often small but always deliberate, historical revisionisms by SVT. And the fact they are consistently getting away with it! How do I know these are deliberate you ask? Because they always have the same political angle. Honest mistakes would be random, not consistently favoring one political viewpoint or narrative. Do I have any hope this will ever change? Not much. As a public service and near monopoly, SVT is not subjected to market forces, but rather strategically allies itself with the political side most lilkely to preserve the status quo or increase funding (using tax payers’ money - obviously). My hope is that some day, someone will take the time to analyze this in detail, and identify the editorial processes that produce this consistent bias. But at least I can take some comfort in the fact that a court finally demanded SVT release material they had previously refused to make available to the public prosecutor. Any pushback on the self-righteousness of SVT is welcome, and very much needed.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!