Arbetsvillig eller Klassförrädare? : En presshistorisk analys av hur strejkbrytare skildrades inom fack- och rikstidningar.

Sammanfattning

This essay is a historical newspaper analysis with the purpose of investigating how six Swedish newspapers covered and depicted strikebreakers during three workplace conflicts in the early 1900s. The newspapers were chosen due to their varied political background, three right-leaning bourgeois newspapers, one of which directly represented industry owners, and three left-leaning socialist newspapers, one of which directly represented a union. How they covered the conflicts, and the strikebreakers will be presented individually and thereafter compared to each other, as well as analyzed in comparison to prior research and relevant theory. In short it can be summarized that political biases had a considerable impact on the coverage during the various conflicts and their portrayals of strikebreakers. The bourgeois newspapers were generally defensive of strikebreakers and portrayed them as good workers, whereas they were perceived very differently in the socialist newspapers in which they were generally portrayed as violent criminals and instigators of conflicts. There were also further nuances within the bourgeois and socialist newspapers, and these are highlighted throughout the essay. The moderate newspaper, Dagens Nyheter was government-friendly and occasionally criticized strikebreakers and industry owners. On the other side of the political aisle was the communist newspaper, Norrskensflamman, which was vehemently critical of strikebreakers but levied regular critique towards the reform-oriented social democrats. Ending off the essay is a didactical reflection, analyzing how the essay’s method and conclusions might be utilized in a classroom environment.