The nearly 900-page white book describes the party's history from the SD's founding in 1988 to the party's entry into the Riksdag in 2010.
It shows clear links to National Socialism, anti-Semitic outbursts, and extreme statements. The book is written by the historian of ideas Tony Gustafsson, who has been given access to the SD's archives.
Neo-Fascist Movements
He states that the Sweden Democrats should be regarded as a reorganization of Bevara Sverige Svenskt (BSS), which has been described as a racist, right-wing extremist, and national revolutionary campaign organization.
Of the 30 representatives who founded the party, 18 had a direct or indirect background in BSS. Ten had a background in neo-fascist or National Socialist movements.
There was denial of the Holocaust, anti-Semitic statements, and opposition to international adoptions. In the early 1990s, immigrants and refugees were described with "a threatening appearance".
One emphasizes that they are ethnic strangers, uninvited, intruders, hordes, says Gustafsson.
When the youth association was formed in 1992, members greeted each other with "hell", a euphemism for the Nazis' "heil". In the early 1990s, the party arranged concerts with white power music where they sang about dreams of racial war, hatred of homosexuality, and tributes to the Ku Klux Klan.
It's music with very extreme content, it's not Viking rock, says Gustafsson.
Change Work Began
When the current party leader Jimmie Åkesson joined the SD in 1995, a change work had just begun. Among other things, the party made up with the youth association where about half of the members were thrown out.
According to Gustafsson, parts of the current party leadership, with Åkesson at the forefront, were driving a "ideological deradicalization".
It was about, among other things, changing the party's previous opposition to international adoptions and going from ethnic nationalism to cultural nationalism.
Dual Heads
But there was, according to Gustafsson, who has taken part in meeting documents, at this time also a discrepancy between what the party communicated outwardly and how they spoke internally.
How would you describe the party Jimmie Åkesson joined?
It was a party with dual heads. On the one hand, it was "we are only critical of the immigration policy that has been pursued".
But in reality, it is a party that is characterized by a heavy ideological heritage. A mixture of racial ideas, National Socialist ideas, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia, so to speak, says Gustafsson.
