Sjöfart på stormigt hav : Sjömannen och Svensk Sjöfarts tidning inför den nazistiska utmaningen 1932-1945

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to discuss German Nazism and Nazi Germany from the point of view of two specific representatives, namely, labour and capital. This has been facilitated by analysing the content of the Swedish Seamen’s Union’s newspaper, The Seafarer [Sjömannen] and its union counterpart, the Swedish Shipowners Association’s periodical, Scandinavian Shipping Gazette [Svensk Sjöfarts Tidning], from November 1932 up to and including 1945. The shipping industry was chosen because trade was of central importance to the Swedish economy and to relations with Nazi Germany. Direct contact with Nazi Germany meant that the organisations were kept up-to-date about what was happening there.A qualitative analysis of texts and images constitutes the major part of the study. This is complemented by a quantitative examination of the intensity of reporting on Nazi Germany.There were enormous differences between the two papers, both in terms of intensity and bias, with regard to the Nazi challenge. While The Seafarer described both Nazism and Nazis in strongly negative terms, the Scandinavian Shipping Gazette chose to remain silent. The Seafarer encouraged counteractions like demonstrations, strikes, boycotts and sanctions, whereas the Scandinavian Shipping Gazette considered such measures to be “undemocratic” and argued against them. The material in The Seafarer is strongly propagandist and always keenly opposed to Nazism and anti-Semitism. The paper served as an anti-Nazi mouth-piece. The means of expression range from poems, drawings and illustrations via highly factual and biased reports to weightier multi-page ideological analyses. All in all, the Nazi regime is described as one of violence and terror that is bent on stifling both the working class and people of other “races”. In sharp contrast, the study shows that the Scandinavian Shipping Gazette dedicates itself to describing events and developments taking place in Nazi Germany.There was no class-transgressing national ideology or policy within the shipping industry with which to facilitate an understanding of the Nazi challenge. In the study, class affinity has proved to be an important, and clearly distinct, factor in the approach to Nazism.