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The financial class has often posited itself in opposition to the nationalist right in Europe. The strains between these groups are often inherent; nationalists tend to be working class, somewhat rural, and are sceptical of political and financial institutions. The financial class is highly educated, urban, and works and lives in a very global context, working alongside or in cooperation with global institutions.
What I mean by financial class is a broad category of professions. It is the industry leaders, the big tech entrepreneurs, the big businessmen – it is not merely the white collar class of the private sector, but rather their executives. The people who stand the most to gain from the dismantling of borders and the least to lose on the centralisation of political power away from nations and unto Brussels.
In Sweden, this varied category of persons is often, in typical Swedish corporatist fashion, labelled simply as ‘näringsliv’, a term for the shared environments of business life, industry, and commerce. This ‘class’ is organised into interest groups which weighs in on political decisions and promotes business-friendly policies. This tradition of organisation, as well as the relatively limited size of the Swedish entrepreneurial class in terms of number of people, has caused the Swedish business realm to often appear as a unified voice in Swedish politics. This has easily set the stage for direct political antagonism between certain parties and business interests on the one hand, and political symbiosis with other parties on the other. The Moderates, the main centre-right, is occasionally described as the party of näringslivet, though the accuracy of that may definitely be debated. Its main antagonist is not The Social Democrats as one might think, as they are historically known for their tradition of encouraging negotiation between labour unions and the entrepreneurs’ confederation. Instead that would be the Left Party, the currently socialist but historically communist party of Sweden.
The Sweden Democrats, the nationalist party, has an incidence for upsetting the ‘financial class’ due to its Euroscepticism and criticism of mass immigration (though not nearly as much as the Left Party, naturally). Various branches of Swedish business have over the years openly criticised the Sweden Democrats for their values and views on identity and belonging, which challenge the laissez-faire attitude espoused by the entrepreneurs.
This clash between business and nationalism has, despite the Moderate-led government, continued into the rule of the Tidö parties, which is coloured by the Sweden Democrats’ immigration policy. An ongoing battle between the party and the organised business interests concern labour migration, and the minimum wage for worker visas. The näringsliv frequently defends the generous immigration rules that are now being tightened, and shows a disinterest in the values that the Sweden Democrats say are undermined by large-scale immigration. The businesses are arguing that considerable labour migration enriches Sweden and provides growth; the Sweden Democrats counter that migration cannot be justified on short-term economic grounds if it weakens national security and undercuts the domestic work force.
A few weeks ago however, a small exchange of words on a podcast challenged the perception of the cold war between näringslivet and the Sweden Democrats.
The “tech bro” who “praises the Sweden Democrats”
The leader of the Centre Party, Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, who is increasingly taking on the role as the sole defender of neoliberalism in Swedish politics, featured in an interview podcast by the Swedish newspaper Kvartal. The format allowed her to bring a “+1” of her choosing, which is an opportunity offered to the party leaders on the show to broaden their appeal and accentuate their political priorities. Thand Ringqvist invited the “tech millionaire” Fredrik Hjelm, the founder of the Swedish unicorn Voi, which has become one of the leading e-scooter manufacturers in Europe. Hjelm’s status as a prolific entrepreneur and the booming e-scooter industry, which is linked to “green” political sensibilities, is ostensibly a core part of the Centre Party’s image.
What went down on the podcast was something unexpected. On the question of immigration, which Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist has been comically underprepared to discuss on previous media appearances, Hjelm weighed in with a surprising perspective; he said that the Sweden Democrats were right on immigration – the kind of acknowledgement that should arouse the ire of every Centre politician.
Thand Ringqvist’s immediate reaction was passive, and the conversation quickly shifted away from the topic. But in the following days, the rift that was created between the party leader and Hjelm led to an open disavowal between the two. Thand Ringqvist later described Hjelm as a “tech bro” who “praises the Sweden Democrats” in a statement to the media. The “tech bro” did not appreciate the party leader’s duplicity.
To clarify, Hjelm did not “praise” the Sweden Democrats as a whole, nor even the nationalist party’s entire immigration programme. He criticised their strict policy on labour migration, but acknowledged that the party was very early in realising the problems with asylum immigration and illegal immigration. But this is still an indication that the näringsliv, for the past few decades in direct opposition to nationalism, can come around to the conservative position after all. In the general picture of the political leanings of Swedish business, it is a drop in the ocean, but the admission that unregulated immigration was a mistake is a significant first step towards a perhaps more constructive culture in the Swedish industry elite.
A divorce between ideology and business?
There are a few reasons that this development can be considered predictable. Entrepreneurs, especially highly successful ones, have strong pragmatic tendencies. They are less likely in the long term to be motivated by the kind of idealism that enabled and encouraged mass immigration. Their bread and butter is instead the highly specific skilled immigration, that can contribute to their companies’ developments. With technological advances and AI, the traditional demand for “unskilled” labourers, which has played a large part in Swedish labour migration policy, is also likely to drop. The focus has shifted more towards a selective approach to international recruitment, which is noticeable in previously very pro-migration parties such as the Moderates – the government party that is second only to the Sweden Democrats in enacting tighter control, executing deportations, and raising the thresholds for entry into the country.
On the same topic, there is a partial international trend that elite business interests are changing their views on immigration. Notorious Blackrock CEO Larry Fink, now the co-chair of the World Economic Forum, said at the 2024 global Davos summit that the future may belong to the countries that did not embrace mass immigration, but instead allowed technology to solve the problems of an aging population. While the West has in large part used immigration as a means to fill the void left by their dying natives, countries such as Japan, China, and South Korea have come to face the consequences of a shrinking population with AI and robotics instead. This spurs technological advancement and enhances the quality of life for the population, at least if the promises are delivered.
The World Economic Forum and Blackrock are otherwise associated with the elitist tendencies that shrugged off the common concerns of what mass immigration would do to countries. Now the elite may instead be realising that mistakes were made. Elon Musk serves as another example of a tech magnate who to a large extent started to embrace the counter-position of what is usually expected from people of his status and role in society, albeit in occasionally off-putting and bombastic expressions. Perhaps the era of business-driven legitimisation of mass immigration is coming to a close, with this divorce between ideology and industry.