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3520. PelleNilsson - 1/21/2006 6:46:35 PM I don't think it is inspired by any socialist tract. Socialism is about the class struggle and the need to overthrow capitalism, but the speech is about class cooperation. It also shows a von oben perspective on the working class.
To the extent that your grandmother's speech is the fruit of any political idea it would rather be what we now call corporatism, the notion that the working class and the capitalists can work together in harmony for their common good under the paternal guidance of the state.
The best-known example of a corporatist state is Italy under Mussolini. But it would be wrong to think of it as a fascist idea per se. It can - and has been - argued that all the countries in north-western Europe are more or less corporatist.
3521. PelleNilsson - 1/21/2006 7:38:24 PM We, too went through some old stuff and this class photo from 1951 or -52 surfaced.
Over the years I have posted many photos of myself at various ages. You should be able to pinpoint my position on the photo. Can you? Click on the pic for a larger version. 3522. wonkers2 - 1/21/2006 7:46:48 PM I'm aware of the definition of socialism and your observation is correct that her theme was more one of cooperation than overthrow. I hesitate to hold forth on Sweden in a discussion with you, but I seem to recall hearing Sweden's political/economic system referred to as democratic socialism or welfare capitalism. Whatever it's called, it didn't work out as a struggle to overthrow capitalism. I'm sure my grandmother didn't make up the speech out of thin air, but rather from what she heard in the Swedish-American community around the turn of the century. Your characterization of her theme as more one of cooperation than overthrow albeit with a class conscious overtone. Her father worked with his hands as a carpenter and cabinet maker. Her maternal grandfather as we previously discussed was a ship captain/farmer (not a ship owner) which I'm guessing was considered lower-middle class? 3523. robertjayb - 1/21/2006 8:09:24 PM The kid with the beanie seated to the left of the group. 3524. wonkers2 - 1/21/2006 8:31:16 PM And I doubt seriously that there were any Italians in Stromsburg at the turn of the last century or this century for that matter! 3525. judithathome - 1/21/2006 9:21:31 PM Pelle was into hats at a very young age, evidently! 3526. RickNelson - 1/21/2006 9:26:09 PM either that kid with the hat or the one looking with a side glance. 3527. alistairConnor - 1/21/2006 9:48:12 PM I'm thinking the little blond kid, dead centre. 3528. Marc-Albert - 1/21/2006 9:53:35 PM Has to be the boy in the back row, far left, looking at the photographer with amused skepticism. 3529. PelleNilsson - 1/21/2006 10:10:31 PM No hit so far. Tomorrow I may post a hint. 3530. alistairConnor - 1/21/2006 10:14:06 PM That's an invitation for a second guess... on reflection, you're the one to the left of the stern-looking teacher, beside the beanie boy. 3531. RickNelson - 1/21/2006 10:20:42 PM LOL, I've got it.
You've got your face dead center in front of your teacher.
Planned that didn't yah? 3532. PelleNilsson - 1/21/2006 11:28:17 PM You're on the right track, alistair. I haven't seen this photo for ages and at first glance I mistook myself for the kid you mention. 3533. anomie - 1/22/2006 1:39:42 AM Based on that clue, you've got to be top left. 3534. thoughtful - 1/22/2006 5:13:59 PM Must be the one with the stern looking grimance under the teacher's boobs... he looks like he just found someone posting a political remark in the good life thread! 3535. PelleNilsson - 1/22/2006 7:01:09 PM Here is the class photo again and below it another one from the same period.
I take this opportunity to requote my immortal ode to that photo:
Pelle drives a Ferguson;
a Ferguson, a Ferguson.
Pelle drives a Ferguson;
a Massey, Massey Ferguson. 3536. robertjayb - 1/22/2006 7:48:26 PM Fourth from the left in the middle row, directly in front of the tall person with lots of hair. 3537. wonkers2 - 1/22/2006 8:03:13 PM w2 agrees with rjb. But w2 prefers International Harvester or John Deere tractors. Nothing runs like a Deere!! 3538. jexster - 1/22/2006 8:57:49 PM Speakeasy Restaurants in Bay Area
Speakeasy restaurants with chic cuisine and rock-bottom prices are springing up around the Bay Area right in people's homes -- such as this one in Oakland's Rockridge district that is preparing lamb chops over fennel-cornbread stuffing and browned brussels sprouts. Getting in is all about who you know (and who they know.)
Underground Gourmet 3539. PelleNilsson - 1/22/2006 9:10:52 PM You are right, of course.
The small Ferguson tractor was exactly what was needed when the large-scale mechanisation of farming started here after WWII. The village smiths were busy refitting horse-pulled contraptions for tractor-pulling. The only big investment needed, apart from the tractor itself, was a plow, usually with two blades, which together with the higher speed and inexhaustible stamina of the tractor meant a massive productivity increase.
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