A rainy walk, more beer, and political rock
It's been a good day.
We took a walk up Owl Crag (Uvberget) in the rain. We had our fika in the dry in the small hut on top of the crag. We noticed someone had set up new curtains and given the place a really good clean.
Once down and back home I set off a new beer kit. (Ginger beer this time.) After the barley wine disaster, flooding the kitchen with beer, I needed to get a new one going to renew my confidence. It's on the bathroom floor so even if ferments over (which I'm sure it won't) it will be a simple clean-up.
Then we were off to Ådalen, near Kramfors, to get a new dose of left wing inspiration. We listened to The Ådals Band telling the story of the shooting of demonstrators that happened here in 1931. When I write "here" I mean it literally. We are inside the Lunde Community Hall (foketshus) and one ot the people who was shot dead was watching the demonstration just outside this same building.
So what happened? On this day (14 May) in 1931 several thousand demonstrators marched 6 kilometers to this place, Lunde, where the military had been called in to protect 60 strikebreakers, housed on a boat. It was a peaceful demonstration with families taking part and a band playing at the head of the procession. However, as the marchers arrived there was confusion and the soldiers opened fire. Five people were killed and five wounded.
It would have been much worse but in the band near the front of the demonstration was a trumpeter, Tore Andersson, who blew the command "Cease firing" on his trumpet, which the soldiers did. (Having defused the situation and saved many lives Tore was threatened with prosecution for illegally taking command of the military!)
There's a good description of this on the English language Wikipedia.
The pictures on either side of the stage are of Eira Söderberg, the bystander who was killed, and of Tore Andersson, the trumpeter who saved the situation.
This event certainly helped the Social Democrats win the next election, and they remained in power for over 40 years!
Though this all happened 94 years ago the hall was filled to capacity because this event is still part of the living culture in this part of Sweden.
The four workers who were killed were buried together in a local churchyard. Every year, on this day, red roses and red carnations are laid on the grave. The carnations come from The Left Party (then Communist), who in 1931 were the political force among the demonstrators. The roses come from the Social Democrats who were critical of the demonstrators at the time, but then used the momentum to gain power.
Today a Social Democrat welcomed the band onto the stage, but at the end of the performance they got a carnation from the Left Party!
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