The Ådalen shootings was a series of events in and around the sawmill district of Ådalen

Ådalen

Ådalen is the river valley of the Ångerman River, downstream Junsele, in Sweden. It often refers to the broad, densely populated, fjord-like mouth of the river, in Kramfors Municipality, and is known for the Ådalen shootings in 1931....

, Kramfors Municipality

Kramfors Municipality

Kramfors Municipality is a municipality in Västernorrland County, northern Sweden. Its seat is located in the town Kramfors....

, Ångermanland

Ångermanland

' is a historical province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders to Medelpad, Jämtland, Lapland, Västerbotten and the Gulf of Bothnia. The name "Ångermanland" comes from the Old Norse "anger", which means "deep fjord" and refers to the deep mouth of the river Ångermanälven...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, in May 1931. During a protest on May 14, five persons were killed by bullets fired by Swedish military troops called in as reinforcements by the police.

Background to the shootings

As a response to an outdrawn industrial conflict over pay reductions at the pulp

Wood pulp

Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood, fibre crops or waste paper. Wood pulp is the most common raw material in papermaking.-History:...

 factory at Långrör, workers at other plants went on a sympathy strike

Strike action

Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

. The owner of the Graninge company, Gerhard Versteegh, hired around 60 strike-breakers (a.k.a. "scab

Scab

Scab can refer to the following:* Scab, a hard coating on the skin formed during the wound healing reconstruction phase* Derogatory term for a strikebreaker, a person who works despite strike action or against the will of other employees...

s"), who arrived in the village Lunde

Lunde

Lunde is a common Norwegian and Danish surname. Lunde appears as a place name in Norway, Sweden and in a number of Danish locations in Jutland and on the island of Funen. The word Lunde can be translated from Norwegian to mean grove. Lunde is also the Norwegian name of the Atlantic Puffin...

 in Ådalen on May 12. The workers held a peaceful protest rally in Kramfors

Kramfors

Kramfors is a locality and the seat of Kramfors Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 6,235 inhabitants in 2005.Geographically the town is situated on the western shore of the Ångerman River. This river was the reason that Kramfors was founded, because in the 19th century it was a...

 and marched to the Sandviken plant north of the town, where they approached and attacked some of the strike-breakers. Since the police had not been able to intervene, the County Administrative Board

County Administrative Boards of Sweden

A County Administrative Board is a Government appointed board of a County in Sweden. It is led by a Governor or Landshövding appointed for a term of six years and the list of succession, in most cases, stretches back to 1634 when the counties were created...

 asked for military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 troops from Sollefteå

Sollefteå

Sollefteå is a locality and the seat of Sollefteå Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 8,530 inhabitants in 2005.The earliest written account on Sollefteå is found in a script dating back to 1270. During this time the name of the village was given as De Solatum - a name that can be...

 to be deployed to protect the strike-breakers. When the troops arrived, May 13, in the late evening, they were met by protesters, allegedly throwing stones.

The confrontation

On May 14 the trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s held another rally, during which the attending workers decided to stop all work in the timber and pulp industries in Ådalen - a general strike

General strike

A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...

. After the meeting, several thousand participants marched to the strike-breakers quarters in Lunde, where the military troops had been ordered to defend the strike-breakers. When they arrived in the village, mounted troops tried, and failed, to stop them. In the confusion that followed, the military commander, Captain Nils Mesterton

Nils Mesterton

Carl Fredrik Nils Mesterton was a Swedish military captain who became known as the military commander on the scene at the Ådalen shootings in Sweden on 14 May 1931.- Personal background :...

, claimed to have believed the demonstrators carried weapons. At a distance of less than 100 meters, he ordered his troops to fire. Five people were killed by the military's bullets: Oskar Berggren, Erik Bergström, Evert Nygren, Sture Larsson and Eira Söderberg, a 20-year old bystander. Five people were injured. An inquiry later concluded that there was no evidence that the workers were in fact armed.

The same day, the County Administrative Board had decided to prohibit the strike-breakers from working. Their decision did not reach the demonstrators until after the shooting. It is widely believed that the confrontation could have been avoided if the news had reached the marchers earlier. The Swedish Employers' Association

Confederation of Swedish Enterprise

The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise is a major interest organisation for business and industry in Sweden. It has 48 member associations representing close to 55.000 member companies with more than 1.5 million employees....

 later asked the Swedish Parliamentary Ombudsmen to review the decision.

Aftermath

The events spawned a raging national debate, deeply divided along political lines. The political left called the shootings "murder", while the right claimed that the military had been forced to open fire to defend themselves and the "willing workers" from the rage of the demonstrators. The publishers of several left-wing newspapers were convicted for violations against the limitations in the Freedom of the Press Act. Major demonstrations took place in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

.

The County Governor was tried in court

Court

A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...

 but acquitted. A few soldiers, including Mesterton, the military commander, had to spend a few days in custody. On the other hand, several demonstrators had to face severe sentences: Axel Nordström, considered to be the leader, was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment with hard labour

Penal labour

Penal labour is a form of unfree labour in which prisoners perform work, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence which involve penal labour include penal servitude and imprisonment with hard labour...

. No damages

Damages

In law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...

 were awarded to the wounded persons and the families of the five dead.

The government, under the liberal Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Sweden

The Prime Minister is the head of government in the Kingdom of Sweden. Before the creation of the office of a Prime Minister in 1876, Sweden did not have a head of government separate from its head of state, namely the King, in whom the executive authority was vested...

 Carl Gustaf Ekman

Carl Gustaf Ekman

Carl Gustaf Ekman was a Swedish politician, Member of Parliament 1911-1932 , leader of the Freeminded People's Party 1924-1932 and Prime Minister from 1926 to 1928 and again from 1930 to 1932....

, replaced the County Governor and launched an investigation into the event. The investigation, with representatives from both employers and trade unions, later concluded that the military was highly unfit to uphold public order in similar situations. The use of military against civilians was more strictly regulated, but the legislation was on the books until it was repealed by the 1969 Riksdag. However, there was broad political unity not to use military force against civilians. The Ådalen shootings were still a concern in the discussions after the 9/11 events, when military support to the police was considered. Therefore, the legislation that allowed the military to take part in anti-terrorism actions contained several safeguards. The military must be under command by the police and legislation specifically says that the military can not be used against demonstrations. There was still concern that these safeguards would not be enough.

At the time of the 1931 events, there existed no possibility to call in police reinforcements from outside the county. Thus, army assistance was the only recourse available to a County Governor when the county's police force would be insufficient to deal with large scale events. The shootings highlighted the inadequacy of this state of affairs. One effect of the Ådalen shootings was the formation of a national police force in 1933.

Contemporary significance

In 1969, well-known Swedish filmmaker

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 Bo Widerberg told the story of the events in his film Ådalen 31

Ådalen 31

Ådalen 31 is a 1969 Swedish drama film directed by Bo Widerberg. It depicts the 1931 Ådalen shootings, in which Swedish military forces opened fire against labour demonstrators in the Swedish sawmill district of Ådalen killing five people, including a young girl.The film was X-rated in the United...

(released as Adalen Riots in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

). Partly thanks to the film, partly through the persistent use of the events in political debate, the Ådalen shootings are still well-known in Sweden, and are sometimes referred to in connection with violent clashes between demonstrators and police, such as the protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001

Protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001

The protests during the EU summit in Gothenburg 2001, parts of which are often called the Gothenburg Riots , took place in the Swedish city of Gothenburg during the three days of the EU summit and EU–US Summit, June 14–16, 2001...

.

The incident is also mentioned several times in the 1979 Swedish comedy film Repmånad

Repmånad

Repmånad is a 1979 Swedish comedy film directed by Lasse Åberg. The plot revolves around a group of men called in for refresher exercise in the Swedish army, and who did their national service together some years earlier.-Cast:...

.