Erlander VS Tito : A comparative analysis of ideology

Sammanfattning: This thesis intends to do an analysis of the socialist ideology in former Yugoslavia and Sweden during the time 1948 until 1962. The analysis is done on 8 political speeches each, from the former president of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito and from the former prime minister of Sweden, Tage Erlander. We have specified our analysis on five certain policy areas which are: labour market, welfare, foreign policy, democracy and national identity. The aim of the study is to find what kind of similarities and differences that can be found in the speeches, in relation to socialist values. The reason for analysing the views from these two politicians’, is because both claim to be socialist. The study shows that the socialist ideology in Sweden and Yugoslavia, have both similarities and differences. Both Erlander and Tito stem from a Marxist idea tradition which is evident in how they advocate for economic socialism, the labour theory and for the overall implementation of socialism in their respective nation. The main differences that is evident from their speeches is how they look upon the control of government, something which makes them very different in terms of socialist values. Erlander is advocating for a social democratic socialist model which is controlled by the people in a democratic manner, whereas Tito is advocating for a revolutionary, soviet-like socialism that is controlled by himself and the party he represents. The differences and similarities in the socialist values becomes apparent in the different policy areas. Where in some areas, the socialist values differ a lot and in some, less.