The Key to Nuclear Restraint by Thomas Jonter

Author:Thomas Jonter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK, London

Erlander asked Undén to participate in the party board meeting even though he was not a member. The task Erlander gave Undén was ‘to begin with an overview of how the United Nations addressed the issue of a ban on nuclear weapons, etc.’45 Erlander had also asked Torsten Nilsson to give an account of the position on the nuclear weapons issue from the Swedish military’s perspective, and to suggest that a decision on the matter should be postponed to a future date. His intention was to build a consensus around the idea of postponement and to let both the yea-sayers and the nay-sayers present their arguments internally to avoid conflict and unnecessary divisions.

As planned, the Social Democratic Party Board convened on 21 February 1956 to discuss nuclear weapon plans.46 Among the members of the party board, the former minister of defence Sköld, was a strong supporter, as was Torsten Nilsson. There were also strong critics on the board such as Inga Thorsson, Chairman of the Social Democratic Women’s Federation. As planned, Undén started the meeting by informing the party leadership of the disarmament talks at the United Nations. He maintained that these talks had not been successful because it had been difficult to develop a control system accepted by all the states involved. Despite the lack of success in disarmament negotiations thus far, it did not mean that one should give up. Undén finished his introduction by stating that the United Nations put these weapons in a class of their own, and for that reason it has been argued that it would be desirable:To get them banned and that one thereby also expresses the feeling that exists in many countries, such that even if we cannot immediately get these weapons to be prohibited, not all people, however, shall feel obliged to contribute to the advancement of providing fuel to the great fire, which perhaps one day will consume us all.47

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