Förberedelsernas år : Deltagande och subjektsformering kring den svenska socialdemokratin 1889-1891

Sammanfattning: This master’s thesis revolves around the means of participation established around the newly formed Social Democratic Party in Sweden at the end of the 19th century. In 1889 the party was organized in close proximity to the editorial office of the party newspaper, Social-demokraten, and dependent on the support of its subscribers to uphold and increase circulation. Simultaneously, the consolidation of the Second socialist international provided a new framework for the national organisations as it was decided that May 1 of 1890 would be the date of synchronized mass- demonstrations for the legislation of the 8-hour working day. The thesis examines the means of participation and the associated construction of participatory political subjects in relation to the newspaper, the demonstration and the question of work time regulation. The analysis shows that the Swedish campaigns promoted an increased sense of self-awareness and obligation towards the larger organizational structures as well as society as a whole. Participation was put forth as a means of confessing to a genuine and unadulterated identity. This identity and its assigned biological features, as they were portrayed in relation to the question of work time regulation, created the physical characteristics of the participant as a focal point of the political project. The question was used to create knowledge about the participant as an objective outset in the quest for legitimacy. This process can also be seen as the creation of a situated public as an origin of power.