Scandinavian Zone Proposals

Abstract

When the Norwegian and Danish Governments in 1957 had declared that they harboured no plans for receiving nuclear arms in their territories and the Swedish Government in 1959 had resolved to postpone the decision on the development of a national nuclear capacity, it seemed likely that Scandinavia would continue to be a de facto nuclear-arms-free area. However, the nuclear issue only slowly receded from the domestic political agenda in the Nordic countries. If the majority was satisfied, the anti-nuclear and pacifist organisations, including groups open to Soviet influence through the communist parties or through the World Peace Council in Helsinki, wanted the Nordic governments to make an absolute commitment never to acquire nuclear weapons under any circumstances — a commitment these governments, for obvious reasons, were unwilling to make. This became the main issue behind the split of the Norwegian Social Democratic Party in 1961 (p. 61). The Swedish Social Democratic Party barely avoided a similar trauma when the leadership was challenged by the strong anti-nuclear forces in the party, especially in the Women’s league and the Youth organisation.