Pelle Dragsted is the political leader of Enhedslisten — the Red-Green Alliance and a member of the Danish parliament. He is the author of the book, Nordic Socialism: On the Way to a Democratic Economy (published in Danish, Swedish, and Finnish).
Elon Musk is trying to export Tesla’s anti-union model to Sweden, and workers across Scandinavia are launching solidarity actions to thwart him. We should be embracing the Nordic countries’ model of strong worker rights, not Tesla’s elitist union busting.
Throughout decades of neoliberal counterreforms, the most resilient parts of the Nordic welfare state have been the ones under direct popular control. Their experience shows that the best way to push back against capital is to democratize power in society.
For decades, Denmark’s Social Democrats have preached compromises between capital and labor to share out the proceeds of growth. What they can’t explain is how come today workers are getting less and less.