My grandmother and the welfare state belong together.My grandmother was born in 1912 and lived through hunger, disease, women’s suffrage, the rise of the welfare state, and the political unrest of our own time.She saw people set against one another – and still chose to keep her heart with others.When I look at the world today, I wonder what her life can teach us about responsibility, courage, and human dignity.
Read this post in Swedish ->Min mormor och folkhemmet – ett sekel av ansvar
In the photograph, my grandmother stands as a little girl, together with her family in the garden.
She stands close to her father, who holds himself upright and looks at his children with a quiet pride.
She was born in 1912 and went on to carry an entire century in her life.
A responsibility that often came before both rights and support – yet one she carried with dignity and care for others.
A life that did not follow the rules
My grandmother was a young girl when she had her first child outside of marriage.
It was not something spoken about openly at the time.
The shame was social, economic, and deeply lonely – and it was almost always borne by the woman.
She later had four more children.
Motherhood was not a choice one discussed. It was a responsibility one accepted – and carried.
My grandmother lived most of her life with responsibility long before she had any real power.
Was there help from society?
When my grandmother was young, there was no obvious safety net.
Child allowance, as we know it today, did not exist.
Before 1948, families could in some cases apply for support, but it was means-tested, local, and often tied to control and scrutiny. Help was something you asked for – not something you were entitled to.
When the universal child allowance was introduced in 1948, it marked a decisive shift.
Children became a shared responsibility of society.
My grandmother had already carried much by then.
She lived to see women gain the right to vote
My grandmother was a child when women in Sweden gained the right to vote.
It was not something she celebrated with banners and speeches.
But it changed what a woman could be – slowly, step by step.
Not necessarily in everyday life, but in the law.
The right to vote did not make life easier.
But it meant that women’s voices were no longer invisible at the foundation of society.
Ådalen – when the state fired on its own people
She was also alive when the shots were fired in Ådalen in 1931.
When the military opened fire on workers.
When people died for demanding bread, work, and dignity.
Ådalen became a trauma in the collective memory.
A reminder of how far power can go – and of the importance of never forgetting.
Those events shaped political will going forward.
Never again.
For a period of time, my grandmother was engaged in the left-wing movement.
It was a time when people were registered for their political views – and she was one of them.
My grandmother and the welfare state
– two sides of the same story
Out of hunger, conflict, and injustice, the idea of the welfare state emerged.
A society where people would not be left alone when life became difficult.
Where children, work, illness, and old age were not private failures –
but shared responsibilities.
The welfare state was not perfect.
But it rested on one decisive idea:
that security is not individual.
My grandmother saw how something truly changed.
How society began to carry – at least a little more.
To me, my grandmother and the welfare state are two sides of the same story – a life that carried responsibility before society fully did.
The 1940s–50s – work, restraint, and duty
Grandmother and Welfare State
When my mother was little, society was shaped by work, order, and restraint.
You saved. You endured. You did what was right.
Security was not about emotions.
It was about food on the table and not standing out.
Women worked – often without it being called work.
Children were expected to adapt.
The 1960s – belief in the future and movement
Grandmother and Welfare State
In the 1960s, something began to shift.
The welfare system expanded. Education became important. Faith in the future grew.
Responsibility and duty were still there –
but the gaze began to lift.
The 1970s – voices, protest, and Palme
My grandmother and the welfare state
In the 1970s, new voices were heard.
Songs on the radio about moose that protest.
About the environment, peace, and justice.
Olof Palme gave speeches about solidarity beyond national borders.
Politics was about wanting something – not just managing.
It was not a perfect society.
But it was a society that took a stand.
The 1980s–90s – speed, money, and cracks
The 1980s brought speed, consumption, and opportunity.
Yuppies, money, and faith in the individual.
In the 1990s, bubbles burst.
Crisis, unemployment, and adjustment.
Security once again revealed itself as fragile.
And now – our time
And here we are now.
We see how Donald Trump steps into other countries’ affairs and speaks of power, borders, and strength – but rarely of responsibility.
We see how Vladimir Putin strikes Ukraine with violence and denial, while the world weighs its words.
We hear condemnations.
But they are often cautious. Measured. Tame.
Even here at home.
People have given their votes to a right-wing bloc that speaks of order and security, but does not always dare to take a clear stand when democracy is tested beyond our own borders.
This is not about blaming voters.
It is about daring to see the patterns of our time:
the fear of taking a clear stand when it comes at a cost.
When I look at our time today, I do so through the story of my grandmother and the welfare state.
I have written more about responsibility and social climate in the text
Humanity and Social Climate – Reflections on Responsibility.
History does not repeat itself – but it rhymes
My grandmother lived in a time when people were divided into worthy and unworthy.
She knew what hunger feels like.
How shame silences.
How fear governs.
And still, she always had honey candies.
Not because life was kind.
But because someone had to be.
A rhetorical question for you who read
If the welfare state was built so that no one would stand alone –
what does it say about our time when we hesitate to take responsibility for one another,
both at home and in the world?
Thoughts about responsibility and the direction of life also connect to
The Meter of Life.
Reflection – between the lines
A society is not tested by its success,
but by how it carries those with the least power.
Live today, right now.
Yesterday rests in history, and tomorrow waits further ahead.
But the courage to take responsibility for our words and actions
is always decided here and now.
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