Incomprehensible Men and Invisible Mothers Gendered Visions of a Fascist Future in Sweden 1933–1939

Abstract

In this paper, with point of departure in theories on generic fascism and critical gender history, I analyse gendered visions in fascist propaganda produced by the National Socialist Labour Party (NSLP), an interwar Swedish party. The presented results are part of my forthcoming thesis, aiming at investigating how the NSLP legitimated and made fascism intelligible in a Swedish context. Even if the party strived to depict a radically renewed future in its propaganda, it was also stuck in its own context. As a small party on the fringe of the public sphere, the NSLP had to situate itself and its political message in relation to central contemporary political issues, socioeconomic structures and cultural norms, in order to make its ideology comprehensible. Additionally, it was a constant balancing act for the party trying to juggle the creation of an appealing propaganda while at the same time maintaining the organizational unity and not abandon the ideological core. By looking at different aspects of power structures based on first and foremost gender, but also race, class and age, in the ideological visions and interpretations of political realities in fascist propaganda my research will contribute to an extended understanding of the relation between ideology and gender in general and the gendered ideological construct of Swedish fascism in particular.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n9p195